Provençal language
| Provençal | |
|---|---|
|
Prouvençau (mistralian norm) Provençau (classical norm) |
|
| Native to | France, Italy, Monaco |
|
Native speakers
|
(350,000 cited 1990) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
None (mis) |
| Glottolog | prov1235 |
Provençal /prɒvɒnˈsæl/ (Occitan: Provençau or Prouvençau [pʀuveⁿˈsaw]) is a variety of Occitan spoken by a minority of people in southern France, mostly in Provence. In the English-speaking world, the term Provençal has historically also been used to refer to all of Occitan, but is now mainly understood to refer to the variety spoken in Provence.
Provençal is also the customary name given to the older version of the Occitan language used by the troubadours of medieval literature, while Old French or the langue d'oïl was limited to the northern areas of France. Thus the ISO 639-3 code for Old Occitan is [pro].
In 2007, all the ISO 639-3 codes for Occitan dialects, including [prv] for Provençal, were retired and merged into [oci] Occitan.
The main subdialects of Provençal are:
Gavòt (in French Gavot), spoken in the Western Occitan Alps, around Digne, Sisteron, Gap, Barcelonnette and the upper County of Nice, but also in a part of the Ardèche, is not exactly a subdialect of Provençal, but rather a closely related Occitan dialect, also known as Vivaro-Alpine. So is the dialect spoken in the upper valleys of Piedmont, Italy (Val Maira, Val Varacha, Val d'Estura, Entraigas, Limon, Vinai, Pignerol, Sestriera). Some people view Gavòt as a variety of Provençal since a part of the Gavot area (near Digne and Sisteron) belongs to historical Provence.
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