OCCITAN LINGUISTICS

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PHONETIC EVOLUTION

The evolution from latin

can be easily discribed:

-Classical latin to late spoken latin (almost common to all romance languages evolution):


-Simplification of the declension system to 2 cases
-Disappearence of deponent conjugation
-evolution of the opposition between short/long vowels to the opposition between open/shut vowels


a long, a short -> a
e long -> closed e (french é)
e short -> open è (french è)
i long -> i
i short -> closed e (french é)
o long -> closed o (as in 'saw', french 'beau')
o short -> open o (as in french 'pomme')
u long -> u (as in 'foot', french ou)
u short -> closed o (as in 'saw', french 'beau')



-C+E and C+I pronounced [tse],[tsi]
-G+E and G+I pronounced [dje],[dji]


hence,


-Spoken latin to occitan


-No more declension
-Vanishing of final vowel exept a.
-the u sound turns to [ü] like in french or german
-later, the shut o sound turns to u sound, so the present vocal system is:
ü
a o u
è é i


The specificities of occitan

as opposed to other romance languages are:



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Inner evolutions, dialects.

Little is known about the different dialects in the middle ages. They must have existed, since several differences between the dialects spoken nowadays seem to have deep roots in the past, but almost all texts of the medieval period are written in some sort of common-tongue, used as well by poets ("Trobadors") as by administrators and lawyers so the knowledge about the spoken tongue is rather tiny.
There are now six major dialects, which are:

Southern dialects


-Lengadocian (fr:Langudocien) Ethnologue Database
-Gascon Ethnologue Database
-provençal Ethnologue Database


Northern dialects


-Lemosin (fr:limousin) Ethnologue Database
-Auvernhat (fr:Auvergnat) Ethnologue Database
-Vivaro-Alpin



The differences between these dialects can be made clear by considering a three-poles-hypothesis, from where the innovations would have scattered:
-the Pyenees area
-the flat northern half of France

-Massis Septentrional (fr: Massif Central), but the role of this area may have only been to stop the evolutions coming from the north, since it is a mountainous area, where communications are not easy.(see below CT>CH)

These evolutions should be added to the description of the evolution from latin described in the previous section.





THE PYRENEAN POLE

This is the area where dialects have been most influenced by the formerly spoken non-indoeuropean languages. As a matter of fact, the gaul population in this area had been, at most, very recent by the time of the roman conquest, and in many places, the previous languages, where still in use. (Julius Caesar wrote: GALLOS AB AQUITANIS GARUMNA FLUMEN DIVIDIT) They share certain phonetical evolutions with Euskara (Basque) and Iberic dialects like Aragones and Castellano (standard spanish). Actually, these languages may have been those of the Basques' ancestors. (For information about more recent influences between Basque and Occitan -Gascon dialect.) The influences coming from this pole are:



-a general strong conservatism of the latin consonantic system

-the sound [i] as the mark of the first person of the singular{1}:
canti: I am singing, cantavi: I was singing, cantèri: I sang

-abscence or degradation of labio-dental consonnants f and v:
v is always a voiced bilabial sound, plosive or approximant
f has been kept in the eastern part, while it has turned to h sound (like in english) in the western part.
VINU -> vin pronounced [bi],[bin] (everywhere){2},
HABEBAT>aveva [a'wewo] (west), [a'bebo](east) {3}
FILIA -> "hilha"(west), or "filha"(east) pronounced ['hiljo],['filjo].{4}

-the vanishing of intervocalic N{5}:
UNA,LUNA,SEMENARE>ua,lua,semear(semiar)['üo, 'lüo,seme'a(sem'ya)]
This phenomenon also occured in Portuguese, and maybe in Basque too. It may be related to the vanishing of all final n in Lengadocian and Catalan.

-the latin group -CT- has turned to -IT(-){6}.
LECTU>lèit, DICTU>dit OCTO>ueit

-the AI diphtong tends towards [ei]: LACTE -> lait [lèit]{7}

-the latin groups -IS-, -SC- and -CS- turn to -SH- sound:{8}
PISCE> peish, LAXARE>laishar, AXE>aish, *PISSARE->pishar

-the latin group -LL- has two different evolutions. In the east, it goes to [lj] sound, like in Catalan. Thus
BELLA,CASTELLU>bèlha, castèlh pronounced [bèljo, kastèlj].{9}
In the west BELLU>*BELL>beth [bètj], whereas BELLA>bèra [bèro]. This is to be compared to the evolution from Aquitanian ILLI (town) to the Basque IRI (town, village).{10}

-The use of the preposition 'a' to introduce a 'thinking object complement'(as in spanish), e.g
Vesi un ostal: I can see a house
Vesi a un òme: I can see a man. {11}

-the last point is the large use of words like "que","ja","be","e" to give more strengh to the verb in the sentences as this exists with "que" and "ya" in Spanish. This is most developped in the south western part, where "que" is almost necessary to use any verb. Que veni=I'm coming(litt. That I' coming).{12}

-One should also notice that the evolution of latin U in [ü] is not general or complete in areas under pyrenean influence:
.some dialects [Narbona (Narbonne) Savès:Hòrgas (Forgues) Bragairac, Lombès] pronounce it [ö]{13}
.the western dialects have no [üe] diptong, they have a [we] diptong instead.{14}



This pyrenean influences are very strong within the following limits: the pyrenees range in the south, except at the westmost part, where is the Pays Basque, and the eastern part where is the Northern-Catalan area. In the north, the limit is a line from Bordèu to Narbona (Bordeaux-Narbonne). The eastern limit of the F>H, LL>TH/R,AVA>awa evolutions starts by the city of Tolosa (Toulouse), and goes southward approximately in a straight line to the spanish border. Of course, all these phenomena do not stop a the same place, and there are interference bands. The western dialects are tradi tionnally called "Gascon" dialects. The eastern dialects are the southern part of the traditionnally called "Lengadocian pireneenc(Languedocien Pyrénéen)" dialects.
But some spread further away. To have more details about this see the mapof pyrenean influences.



THE NORTHERN POLE

The innovations assumed to come from the flat northern part of France are often shared with (old) french. They are stronger in the north, but some have spread as far as the mediterranean coast: see the mapof their extention. They are:



-the evolution since the VIth century of latin CA,GA towards CHA,JA pronounced [tsha],[dja]. This is shared with old french. Thus{15}
CANTARE>chantar, CASTELLU>chastèl, GALLINA>jalina.

-the sound [e] as the mark of the first person of the singular{16}:
cante: I am singing, cantave: I was singing, cantère: I sang

-the vocalization of all L not followed by a vowel:{17}
CASTELLU>chastèl> chastèu, SALTARE> sautar

-the evolution of s-sound followed by p,t or k into a sound [x] lying between [h] and [y] (greek khi), and then its vanishing{18}:
ESCOLA>[exkola]>ecola, espiar>epiar, chastèu>chatèu
This is shared with old french.

-the vanishing of intervocalic latin D, instead of its evolution towards a [z] sound in the southern dialects:{19}
SUDARE,NUDA>suar,nua instead of susar, nusa in the south.
this is shared with (old) french

-the disappearance of all final consonants{20}
bèc> [bè], còp>[ko], nuech>[nüè],[nyö]

-the trend to turn the unstressed [a] sound into an [o] sound{21}
hence caval >[ko'val],[tsho'val]



As most of these specificities are common with old french, Northern occitan can really be regarded as a transition language between the southern occitan system and the french system, making the change rather continuous, as it should be exspected in an area where no major language change has occurred since 20 centuries.
The limit between northern occitan and french is taken conventionnally to be the line where long free latin A becomes [e] (french side) or remains [a] (occitan side). The limit between northern occitan and southern occitan is the line where CA becomes CHA.




THE Massìs-Septentrional POLE


There are two phenomena that can be thought to be specific to the Massìs-Septentrional zone, and that may be related with one another:



-the evolution of the latin group CT (and some times PT)into -ch{22}:
LACTE>lach, NOCTE> nuoch, nuech, LECTU>lièch, FACTA>facha.
Only spanish and some northern italian dialect present the same evolution. This may be due to some old population groups remaining in these rocky areas. It may be related to the palatalization trend described in the northern occitan section above. The limits of the phenomenon are the Bordèu-Narbona line in the south and a bow cutting in the middle the northern occitan area in the north.

-the trend to palatalyse all consonants{23}:
s>sh , d>dy or dj, t>ty or tsh, v>vy, n>ny, etc...
ex: vinha >['vyinya], libre ['lyibre], tuba > ['tshüba], sonar [shu'na] etc
This evolution has spread on a much smaller territory, essentially Auvernha.



THE FEATURES OF THE MAIN DIALECTS



-Gascon has the features {1},{2},{3},{4},{5},{6},{7},{8},{10},{11},{12},{13} in Savès, {14} and {17}

-Southern Lengadocian has the features{1},{2},{6},{8},{9},+{7}in the Pyrenees Mountains, +{12} in the area of Narbona
-Northern Lengadocian has the features{1},{2},{22},+{21} in the north, +{17} in the east.

-Provençal has the features {16},{17},{20},{22}, +{19} around Niça.

-Limousin has the features {6} in the north {23} in the south,{15},{16},{17},{18},{19},{20},{21}

-Auvergnat has the features {23},{15},{16},{2} in the south,{17},{18},{19},{20},{21},{23}

-Vivro-Alpin has the features



references

Alibèrt (Loìs) Grammatica Occitana (segon los parlars lengadocians), Institut d'Estudis Occitans, Montpellier 1976(Toulouse 1935)
Bèc (Pèire)

La langue occitane, Que Sais-je? #1059, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1963, 1995
Manuel pratique de philologie romane,Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1971


Darrigand (Robert) Initiation au Gascon, Per Nòste, Pau 1974
Seguy (Jean) Atlas Linguistique et ethnographique de la Gascogne, Editions du CNRS, 1954-1964.
Ravier (Xavier) Atlas Linguistique du Languedoc Occidental,Editions du CNRS, 1984.

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