Occitano-Romance languages

The Occitano-Romance or Gallo-Narbonnese (Catalan: llengües occitanoromàniques; Occitan: lengas occitanoromanicas), or rarely East Iberian,[1] is a branch of the Romance language group that encompasses the Catalan/Valencian and Occitan languages spoken in parts of southern France and northeastern Spain.[2][3]

Occitano-Romance
Gallo-Narbonnese
East Iberian
Geographic
distribution
France, Spain, Andorra, Monaco, Italy
Linguistic classificationIndo-European
Early forms
Subdivisions
GlottologNone

Extent

The group covers the languages of the southern part of France (Occitania including Northern Catalonia), eastern Spain (Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands, La Franja, Carche, Northern Aragon), together with Andorra, Monaco, parts of Italy (Occitan Valleys, Alghero, Guardia Piemontese), and historically in the County of Tripoli and the possessions of the Crown of Aragon. The existence of this group of languages is discussed on both linguistic and political bases.

Classification of Catalan

According to some linguists both Occitan and Catalan/Valencian should be considered Gallo-Romance languages. Other linguists concur as regarding Occitan but consider Catalan and Aragonese to be part of the Ibero-Romance languages.

The issue at debate is as political as it is linguistic because the division into Gallo-Romance and Ibero-Romance languages stems from the current nation states of France and Spain and so is based more on territorial criteria than historic and linguistic criteria. One of the main proponents of the unity of the languages of the Iberian Peninsula was Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal, and for a long time, others such as Swiss linguist Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke (Das Katalanische, Heidelberg, 1925) have supported the kinship of Occitan and Catalan. Also, due to Aragonese not having been studied as much as both Catalan and Occitan, many people still label it as a Spanish dialect.[4]

From the 8th century to the 13th century, there was no clear sociolinguistic distinction between Occitania and Catalonia. For instance, the Provençal troubadour, Albertet de Sestaró, says: "Monks, tell me which according to your knowledge are better: the French or the Catalans? And here I shall put Gascony, Provence, Limousin, Auvergne and Viennois while there shall be the land of the two kings."[5] In Marseille, a typical Provençal song is called 'Catalan song'.[6]

Internal variation

Most linguists separate Catalan and Occitan, but both languages have been treated as one in studies by Occitan linguists attempting to classify the dialects of Occitan in supradialectal groups, such is the case of Pierre Bec[7] and, more recently, of Domergue Sumien.[8]

Both join together in an Aquitano-Pyrenean or Pre-Iberian group including Catalan, Gascon and a part of Languedocien, leaving the rest of Occitan in one (Sumien: Arverno-Mediterranean) or two groups (Bec: Arverno-Mediterranean, Central Occitan).

The answer to the question of whether Gascon or Catalan should be considered dialects of Occitan or separate languages has long been a matter of opinion or convention, rather than based on scientific ground. However, two recent studies support Gascon's being considered a distinct language. For the very first time, a quantifiable, statistics-based approach was applied by Stephan Koppelberg in attempt to solve this issue.[9] Based on the results he obtained, he concludes that Catalan, Occitan, and Gascon should all be considered three distinct languages. More recently, Y. Greub and J.P. Chambon (Sorbonne University, Paris) demonstrated that the formation of Proto-Gascon was already complete at the eve of the 7th century, whereas Proto-Occitan was not yet formed at that time.[10] These results induced linguists to do away with the conventional classification of Gascon, favoring the "distinct language" alternative. Both studies supported the early intuition of late Kurt Baldinger, a specialist of both medieval Occitan and medieval Gascon, who recommended that Occitan and Gascon be classified as separate languages.[11][12]

Linguistic variation

Similarities between Catalan, Occitan and Aragonese

  • Both Catalan and Occitan have apocope on terminal latin vowels , (later -e, -o):
    LatinCatalanOccitanSpanish
    OrthographyIPAOrthographyIPAOrthographyIPA
    TRÚNCU(M)[ˈt̪rʊŋ.kʊ̃ˑ]tronc[tɾoŋ(k)]tronc[tɾuŋ(k)]tronco
    LIGNṒSU(M)[lʲɪŋˈn̪oː.sʊ̃ˑ]llenyós[ʎəˈɲos]lenhós[leˈɲus]leñoso

    This evolution does not occur when the ellision of -e or -o results in a terminal consonant cluster.

    LatinOld OccitanCatalanOccitan
    ÁRBORE(M)ARBREarbrearbre
    QUÁTTORQUÁTROquatrequatre
  • A large part of the lexicon is shared, and in general written words in Catalan and Occitan are mutually intelligible. Similar to the differences in lexicon between Portuguese and Spanish (although this is not always the case with spoken language and varies from dialect to dialect). There are also notable cognates between Catalan, Occitan and Aragonese.
    EnglishLatinOccitanCatalanAragonese
    oldVÉCLA(M)vielhavellaviella
    middle / halfMÉDIU(M)miègmigmeyo
    IÉGOieu ~ jojoyo
    to followSÉQUEREseguir ~ siegereseguirseguir(e)
    leafFÓLIA(M)fuòlha ~ fuèlhafullafuella ~ folla

Differences between Catalan and Occitan

Most of the differences of the vowel system stem from neutralizations that take place on unstressed syllables. In both languages a stressed syllable has a great number of possible different vowels, while phonologically different vowels end up being articulated in the same way in an unstressed syllable. Although this neutralization is common to both languages, the details differ markedly. In Occitan the form of neutralization depends on whether a vowel is pretonic (before the stressed syllable) or posttonic (after the stressed syllable). For example /ɔ/ articulates as [u] in pretonic position and as [o] in posttonic position, and only as [ɔ] in stressed position. In contrast neutralization in Catalan is the same regardless of the position of the unstressed syllable (although it differs from dialect to dialect). Many of these changes happened in the 14th or late 13th century.

Slightly older are the palatalizations present in Occitan before a palatal or velar consonant:

OccitanCatalanEnglish
vielhavellaOld
miègmigMiddle/Half
ieu/jojoI
seguirseguirTo follow
fuèlhafullaLeaf

Lexical comparison

Variations in the spellings and pronunciations of numbers in several Occitano-Romance dialects:[13][14]

Numeral Occitan Catalan Aragonese[15] PROTO-
OcRm
Northern Occitan Western Occitan Eastern Occitan Eastern Catalan Northwestern Catalan
AuvergnatLimousin Gascon LanguedocienProvençal
1vyn / vynɐ
vun / vunå
/ ynɔ
un / una
y / yo
un / ua
/ yno
un / una
/ yno
un / una
un / unə
un / una
un / una
un / una
un~uno / una
un~uno / una
*un / *una
2du / dua
dou / duas
du / dua
dos / doas
dys / dyos
dus / duas
dus / duos
dos / doas
dus / duas
dous / douas
dos / duəs
dos / dues
dos/dues
dos / dues
dos / duas
dos / duas
*dos~dus / *duas
3tʀei
trei
trei
tres
tres
tres
tres
tres
tʀes
tres
trɛs
tres
trɛs
tres
tɾes
tres
*tres
4katʀə
catre
katre
quatre
kwatə
quatre
katre
quatre
katʀə
quatre
kwatrə
quatre
kwatre
quatre
kwatro~kwatre
quatro / quatre
*kwatre
5ʃin
sin
ʃin
cinc
siŋk
cinq
siŋk
cinq
siŋ
cinq
siŋ / siŋk
cinc
siŋ / siŋk
cinc
θiŋko~θiŋk
cinco / cinc
*siŋk
6ʃei
siei
ʃiei
sieis
ʃeis
sheis
siɛis
sièis
siei
sieis
sis
sis
sis
sis
seis~sieis
seis / sieis
*sieis
7se
ʃe
sèt
sɛt
sèt
sɛt
sèt

sèt
sɛt
set
sɛt
set
siet~sɛt
siet / set
*sɛt
8
veu
jɥe
uèch
weit
ueit
ɥet͡ʃ
uèch
vɥe
vue
buit / vuit
vuit
vuit / wit
vuit / huit
weito~weit
ueito / ueit
*weit
9niø~nou
nieu~nou
nɔu
nòu
nau
nau
nɔu
nòu
nu
nòu
nɔu
nou
nɔu
nou
nweu~nɔu
nueu / nou
*nɔu
10die~de
dié~
diɛ~de
detz
dɛt͡s
dètz
dɛt͡s
dèts
dɛs
dès
dɛu
deu
dɛu
deu
dieθ~deu
diez / deu
*dɛt͡s

The numbers 1 and 2 have both feminine and masculine forms agreeing with the object they modify.

References

  1. "Ibero-Romance". Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  2. "Mas se confrontam los parlars naturals de Catalonha e d'Occitania, i a pas cap de dobte, em en preséncia de parlars d'una meteissa familha linguistica, la qu'ai qualificada d'occitano-romana, plaçada a egala distància entre lo francés e l'espanhòl." Loís Alibèrt, Òc, n°7 (01/1950), p. 26
  3. Lozano Sierra J, Saludas Bernad A.. Aspectos morfosintácticos del Belsetán. Saragossa: Gara d'Edizions, 2007, p. 180. ISBN 84-8094-056-5.
  4. Tomás Arias, Javier. Elementos de lingüística contrastiva en aragonés: estudio de algunas afinidades con gascón, catalán y otros romances (Thesis). Universitat de Barcelona, 2016-07-08
  5. Monges, causetz, segons vostre siensa qual valon mais, catalan ho francés?/ E met de sai Guascuenha e Proensa/ E lemozí, alvernh’ e vianés/ E de lai met la terra dels dos reis.
  6. Manuel Milá y Fontanals (1861). De los trovadores en España: Estudio de lengua y poesía provenzal. J. Verdaguer. p. 14.
  7. Pierre BEC (1973), Manuel pratique d’occitan moderne, coll. Connaissance des langues, Paris: Picard
  8. Domergue SUMIEN (2006), La standardisation pluricentrique de l'occitan: nouvel enjeu sociolinguistique, développement du lexique et de la morphologie, coll. Publications de l'Association Internationale d'Études Occitanes, Turnhout: Brepols
  9. Stephan Koppelberg, El lèxic hereditari caracteristic de l'occità i del gascó i la seva relació amb el del català (conclusions d'un analisi estadística), Actes del vuitè Col·loqui Internacional de Llengua i Literatura Catalana, Volume 1 (1988). Antoni M. Badia Margarit & Michel Camprubi ed. (in Catalan)
  10. Chambon, Jean-Pierre; Greub, Yan (2002). "Note sur l'âge du (proto)gascon". Revue de Linguistique Romane (in French). 66: 473–495.
  11. Baldinger, Kurt (1962). "La langue des documents en ancien gascon". Revue de Linguistique Romane (in French). 26: 331–347.
  12. Baldinger, Kurt (1962). "Textes anciens gascons". Revue de Linguistique Romane (in French). 26: 348–362.
  13. "Indo-European numerals (Eugene Chan)". Archived from the original on 2012-02-12. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  14. Cardinals en l'argonés
  15. "Los números en aragonés: Cardinales". Archived from the original on 2019-04-21. Retrieved 2019-05-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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