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By Dvid Uhlr
Our language is mainly spoken in France where it is not officialized in spite of a huge number of claims from its speakers. It is also spoken in Italy (las Valadas) and Spain (Val d'Aran), where it has an official status. The word Occitan, already in use more than 700 years ago, comes from "c" (mainly pron. []) which means "yes" in our language. Currently it is difficult to know its exact number of speakers but it's worth noting that Occitan was THE European language in the Middle Ages (remember the Trobadors). Nowadays, lots of people try to protect the original language of Occitnia but the harm's already done: like other languages of the french State, Occitan is very endangered. I hope this modest page (my modest contribution to a Country I love) will bring its small brick to the wall of survival of la polida lenga nstra. Never forget before learning our language that, despite what claims France to make a fool of us, Occitan is not a dialect or a patois of French; it is a true language with its own rules; a language written and sung much before French (French is nothing more than le patois du roi (the king's dialect) itself) Why should someone learn Occitan? The first masterpieces of the european litterature come mainly from the Trobadors. Knowing their language can help the reading of these texts and the penetration of their culture. Nowadays Occitan is spoken, above all in France, by speakers who are often ashamed of speaking their own language because of french educational system. If you know France you have certainly noticed that speakers from the South speak French with an "accent". This accent is caused by the Occitan substratum. If you come to them and show Occitan is not a contagious disease, it will help our language to recover its rights in its Country. Moreover, because of its roots, Occitan can be an excellent bridge to those who want to learn easily Spanish, Catalan, Italian, French or Portuguese. Some claim (and justly!) that it is easier to shade one's thoughts in Occitan than in any other european language: Occitan has more than 160,000 words (French: about 40,000). Where is spoken Occitan? Which dialects*? Occitan is spoken in the South of the french State (Migjorn de la Frana = French Midi). We now call this linguistic area Occitnia. Occitnia has 13 million inhabitants and its surface area is 190,000 km2.
Occitan's closest language is obviously Catalan. Lots of linguists even consider that Occitan and Catalan are the same language. Occitan is closer to Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian than French. *The word 'dialect' means here 'linguistic variant of a language'. It has not the racist meaning used in France, where 'dialect' means Untersprache=everything which is not French... Provenal is a dialect of Occitan the same way US English or Cockney are dialects of standard English. The main dialects are:
o o
Southern Occitan: Gascon, Languedocian, Provenal. Nothern Occitan: Limousin dialect, Auvergne dialect, Alpine Provenal.
It is already essential to point out the fact that there is no dominant dialect. Each dialect is Occitan and the intercomprehension between each dialect is good (even with Catalan). The dialect we will learn here is Languedocian. This dialect is the most conservative among Occitan dialects and is thus the best bridge to the other dialects. See in chap. VI examples of texts in different dialects.
To see the main characteristics of each Occitan dialect click here. To know more about occitanism click here. To know more about Provence click here.
Que vstra volontat nos ajude a salvar nstres mots II/ The pronounciation of Languedocian:
To present the basic pronounciation of the Lengadc's Occitan I will make comparisons with the closest latin languages: Spanish, Catalan and French. I'll also try to give an English approximate pronunciation, when it's possible...
Vowels:
A (end of a word); ;
E, O, I, U,
Fr march, Spa de Fr aprs, Cat fet, Ger Mdchen, Eng get Fr Toulouse, German Mutter, Eng fool Fr souris, Eng kill Fr Lune, Ger fr
Consonants:
Spa hubo, uva Eng kill Spa salir Eng salt Spa dedo Eng daddy
R(in a word) Spa pero, It per R (end of a word) T Isn't pronounced Fr tante, Eng tell
Eng exam
LH
Spa botella, Cat lluna, Italian famiglia, Eng Million Spa nio, Eng Kenya Ger zuviel, Hebrew kibbuts It anno
NH TZ
G(end of a word); TG; Spa mucho, Cat TJ; CH freig, Eng church L M N; M (end of a word); MP P Fr Lune, Eng link Eng mother Fr nez, Eng nose Fr papa, Eng put
GN
The Occitan alphabet is: A, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, x, z. Note the absence of 3 letters: k (replaced by c or qu), w (replaced by v or o), y (replaced by i).
Words which end by a vowel, an s or an n(only in conjugation): stress on the last but one syllable Words which end by a consonant (but s) or a diphthong: stress on the last syllable The exceptions wear a written accent on the stressed syllable.
How to write special letters? Just type on your keyboard ALT, keep pressed this key and type the following numbers. When you release the ALT key the letter will appear.
0231
0199
-Lengadocian:
It is the most conservative dialect and that's the reason why it became the root of standard normalized Occitan. Like in Spanish and Catalan, V is pronounced B. Vida is pronounced [bido]. In Southern Lengadocian final -CH becomes -IT. Hence fach (done) becomes fait. Eastern Lengadocian is really close to Provenal.
-Provenal:
It became differentiated from Lengadocian in the XVI Century only. This may explain why in nowadays English the word Provenal is used instead of Occitan to name our language. Provenal is a famous dialect thanks to the fabulous work of Provenal poets such as Frederic Mistral. Mistral (Nobel Prize in Litterature) wrote an incredible number of masterpieces in his own dialect (the Southern Rhone dialect), by means of a special spelling (grfia mistralenca). This spelling is not that far from standardized Occitan and is the one used to write places' names in Provence (Aix-en-Provence is written Ais-de-Provena in normalized Occitan and Ais-de-Prouvno in Mistralian). V is pronounced V. Vida is pronounced [vido] or [vid]. Final -L and -LH become -U. Provenal becomes Provenau [Proovenssaw]; cl (sky) is cu. R is not rolled; it is mainly pronounced the French (Parisian) way. Final consonants are not pronounced. Parlar (to speak), parlat (spoken) are pronounced [parl]. Numerous nasalization: pan (bread) is [p]. Open o () often diphthongizes in [w], everywhere but in the Rhone region. Bn (good) is pronounced [bwn]. 1st person of singular in present tense is -e in the Rhone region, -i in maritime Provenal and -o in alpine Provenal. To know more about Provence click here.
-Gascon:
Like Castilian Spanish, Gascon was under the influence of the Basque language which explains the majority of its oddities. Initial F- becomes H. Thus, filha (girl) becomes hilha [hilyo]. Compare with Spanish hija! Final Latin -LL becomes -TH (pronounced -t', -tch,...). Latin aucell(u) -> austh. Intervocalic Latin -LL- becomes -R. Bella -> bra. As in Provenal, final -L becomes -U. Intervocalic -N- disappears. Una (one) becomes ua.
Initial R- often becomes ARR-. Riu (river) becomes arriu. Compare with Spanish rio/arroyo! QU- and GU- are pronounced [kw] and [gw]. V is pronounced B. Common metathesis of -R-. Languedocian cambra (room) becomes cramba. Oddities in conjugation: enunciative particles added to the verb: que (assertion), e (interrogation), be (exclamation). Preterit is done in -c and -oc (instead of -t).
The main conjugations of the Langadc's Occitan will be given hereafter. First and foremost we could make a comparison between some verbs endings from different Indo-European languages so as to see that knowing one language can help us to know the others.
Portuguese: o/as/a/amos/(ais)/am Greek: o/eis/ei/oume/ete/oun Russian: u/esh/et/em/ete/ut Czech: u/esh/e/eme/ete/ou
m/atz/an
s/ez/ent
m/eu/en
/ate/ano
Hey! Easy to find similarities, isn't it? But back to our wonderful Occitan
Present
Parli Parlas Parla Parlam Parlatz Parlan
Imperfect
Parlavi Parlavas Parlava Parlvem Parlvetz Parlavan
Preterit
Parlri Parlres Parlt Parlrem Parlretz Parlron
Subjunctive present
Parle Parles Parle Parlem Parletz Parlen
Subjunctive past
Parlsse Parlsses Parlsse Parlssem Parlssetz Parlsson
Future
Parlarai Parlars Parlar Parlarem Parlaretz Parlarn
Conditionnal
Parlarii Parlaris Parlari Parlariam Parlariatz Parlarin
Imperative
Parla Parlem Parlatz
Second group (with suffix): dormir (to sleep), dormit (slept), dormint (sleeping)
Present
Dormissi Dormisses Dorms Dormissm Dormisstz Dormisson
Imperfect
Dormissii Dormissis Dormissi Dormissiam Dormissiatz Dormissin
Preterit
Dormiguri Dormigures Dormigut Dormigurem Dormiguretz Dormiguron
Subjunctive present
Dormisca Dormiscas Dormisca Dormiscam Dormiscatz Dormiscan
Subjunctive past
Dormigusse Dormigusses Dormigusse Dormigussem Dormigussetz Dormigusson
Future
Dormirai Dormirs Dormir Dormirem Dormiretz Dormirn
Conditionnal
Dormirii Dormiris Dormiri Dormiriam Dormiriatz Dormirin
Imperative
Dorms Dormiscam Dormisstz
Second group (without suffix: some few verbs): sentir (to feel), sentit (felt), sentent (feeling)
Present
Senti Sentes Sent Sentm Senttz Senton
Imperfect
Sentii Sentis Senti Sentiam Sentiatz Sentin
Preterit
Sentiguri Sentigures Sentigut Sentigurem Sentiguretz Sentiguron
Future
Sentirai Sentirs Sentir Sentirem Sentiretz Sentirn
Conditionnal
Sentirii Sentiris Sentiri Sentiriam Sentiriatz Sentirin
Imperative
Sent Sentiam Senttz
Present
Bati Bates Bat Batm Battz Baton
Imperfect
Batii Batis Bati Batiam Batiatz Batin
Preterit
Batri Batres Batt Batrem Batretz Batron
Future
Batrai Batrs Batr Batrem Batretz Batrn
Conditionnal
Batrii Batris Batri Batriam Batriatz Batrin
Imperative
Bat Batam Battz
Present
Soi s/Ss Es Sm Stz Son
Imperfect
ri ras ra rem retz ran
Preterit
Foguri Fogures Fogut Fogurem Foguretz Foguron
Subjunctive present
Si Sis Si Siam Siatz Sin
Subjunctive past
Fogusse Fogusses Fogusse Fogussem Fogussetz Fogusson
Future
Serai Sers Ser Serem Seretz Sern
Conditionnal
Serii Seris Seri Seriam Seriatz Serin
Imperative
Si Siam Siatz
Present
Ai As A Avem Avtz An
Imperfect
Avii Avis Avi Aviam Aviatz Avin
Preterit
Aguri Agures Agut Agurem Aguretz Aguron
Future
Aurai Aurs Aura Aurem Auretz Aurn
Conditionnal
Aurii Auris Auri Auriam Auriatz Aurin
Imperative
Aja Ajam Ajatz
saber (to know) Sabi sabes sap sabetz sabm Sabon escriure (to write) Escrivi Escrives Escriu Escrivm Escrivtz Escrivon caler (to be necessary)
devi deves deu devetz devm devon poder (to be able to)
vivi vives viu vivetz vivem vivon stre (to be) Soi Ss, s Es Sm Stz Son recebre (to receive) recebi recebes recep recebm recebtz recebon anar (to go)
Fau Fas Fa Fasm Fastz Fan metre (to put) meti metes met metm mettz meton caar (to hunt)
Vau Vas Va Anam Anatz Van valer (to be worth) vali vales val valm valtz valon parisser (to appear) pareissi pareisses pareis pareissm pareisstz pareisson nisser (to be born) naissi naisses nais naissm naisstz naisson
cal
d. Reflexive verbs:
Se levar (to get up)
Present
Me lvi Te lvas Se lva Nos levam Vos levatz Se lvan
Imperative
lva-te
e. Negation
-Basic negation is "pas", which follows the verb. Its translation is "not" ("yes" is said "c" and "no" is said "non"). Ex1: parli pas (I speak-not=I don't speak) Ex2: An pas parlat (have-not-spoken=they haven't spoken)
-Pas can be combined with other negative words Ex3: I vesi pas res (I-see-not-nothing=I don't see anything) Ex4: Lo trbi pas enluc (him-find-not-nowhere=I don't find him anywhere) Ex5: Sorts pas jamai (goes out-not-never=he never goes out) Ex6: Degun es pas vengut (nobody-is-not-come=nobody came)
Darrir=Behind=Derrire=Detrs Sus=On=Sur=Sobre Desss=Above=Dessus=Encima Jos=Under=Sous=Bajo Dejs=Below=Dessous=Abajo Tanben=Too=Aussi, galement=Tambin Qu?=What?=Quoi?=Qu? Ont?=Where?=O?=Dnde? Perqu?=Why?=Pourquoi?=Por qu? Qualqu'un=Someone=Quelqu'un=Alguin Plan=Well, very=Bien, trs, beaucoup=Bien, mucho Pas vertat?=Isn't it? (question tag)=N'est-ce-pas?=No es verdad? Segur=Sure, certainly=Sr, srement=Seguramente Tanpauc=Neither, not either=Non plus=Tampoco Coss?=How?=Comment=Cmo? Maique=Morethan=Plusque=Msque Mensque=Lessthan=Moinsque=Menosque Tancoma=Asas=Autantque=Tantocomo Lo mai=The most=Le plus=Lo ms Lo mens=The less, the least=Le moins=Lo menos Mas=But=Mais=Pero aquel, pr'aqu=However=Pourtant, cependant=Sin embargo Encara=Again=Encore=Todava, an Tan=As=Aussi=Tanto Despui=Since=Depuis=Desde
Lu=Quick, soon==Vite, bientt=Rpido, pronto Lu-lu=Quickly=Bien vite=Rpidamente Coma cal=Properly=Comme il faut=Como hace falta Rai=What does it matter=Peu importe=Qu importa! Atal=Thus, like this=Ainsi=As Benlu=Perhaps=Peut-tre=Quizs Cada=Each, every=Chaque=Cada Totjorn=Always=Toujours=Siempre Coma=As, like=Comme=Como Solide=Certainly=Srement=Seguramente Quant?=How much/many?=Combien?=Cundo? A mon vejaire=In my opinion=A mon avis=A mi parecer En de X=At X's home=Chez X=A casa de X Mig/mija=Half=Demi=Medio/a Cal=It's necessary=Il faut=Hace falta D'ora=Early=Tt=Temprano Quicm=Something=Quelque chose=Algo Un pauc=A little, some=Un peu=Un poco Que te sabi?=I dunno!=Que sais-je?=Yo qu s? Pui=Then=Puis=Entonces Fins a=As far as, till=Jusqu'=Hasta Pro=Enough=Assez=Bastante Ui=Today=Aujourd'hui=Hoy Ir=Yesterday=Hier=Ayer Deman=Tomorrow=Demain=Maana
Lunh=Far=Loin=Lejos Prp=Near=Prs=Cerca, prximo Endacm mai=Besides=D'ailleurs=Por otra parte Lo biais=The way=La manire, la faon=La manera Jamai=Never=Jamais=Jams, nunca De cps=sovent=Often=Souvent=A menudo M'agrada=I like=Cela me plat=Me gusta Baste que, mas que=Provided that=Pourvu que=Ojal Perque=Since, because=Puisque, parce que=Porque, ya que Tre que=As soon as=Ds que=En cuanto Ni mai=Neither=Ni=Ni Cap=No, not any=Aucun=Ninguno Espra qu'esperars=By dint of waiting=A force d'attendre=A fuerza de esperar Cap e tot=Totally=Tout fait, compltement=Totalmente Meteis(sa)=Same=Mme=Mismo/a Endacm=Somewhere=Quelque part=En algn sitio Endacm mai=Elsewhere=Ailleurs=En otro sitio Sonque=Only=Seulement=Slo Marrit=Bad=Mauvais=Malo Ne vls aqu n'as!=More than you wanted=En veux-tu en voil!=Ms que esperabas! D'arru=Following=A la suite=Despus de Un tr de=A kind of (pej.)=Une espce de (pj.)=Una especie de (pey.) Far a son sicap=To do as one pleases=Faire sa guise=Hacer a su gusto Tant val dire=One might as well say=Autant dire=Tanto vale decir Ni pauc ni pro=In no way=D'aucune faon=De ninguna manera
Fin finala=Finally=Finalement=Finalmente A pro pena=Not easily=Non sans peine=Difcilmente Per astre=Fortunately=Par chance=Por suerte Per malastre=Unfortunately=Par malheur=Por desgracia De contunh=Non-stop, continuously=Sans arrt, continuellement=Sin parar Entre tot=In the main=Dans l'ensemble=Globalmente L'ime=The (good) sense=Le bon sens=El bun sentido Quicm atal=Something like that=Qqch de ce genre=Algo as Que no sai=I don't know how many=Je ne sais combien=No s cuntos Per subreps=Moreover=Par dessus le march=Por aadidura S'avisar=To be aware of sthg=Se rendre compte=Darse cuenta Coss que si=In any case, anyway=De toute faon=De toda manera Gaireben=Almost, virtually=Presque=Casi Mai que mai=Above all=Surtout=Sobretodo Alavetz, alara, aladonc=So, then=Alors=Entonces Pasmens=However=Pourtant, cependant=Sin embargo Ren, res=Nothing=Rien=Nada Sul pic=Immediately=Immdiatement=Al instante Totara=In a little while=Tout l'heure=Luego, ms tarde Amb, amb, am=With=Avec=Con
V/ Basic grammar:
a. The numbers:
The cardinals:
0 zro 1 un, una 2 dos, dos 3 tres 4 quatre 5 cinc 6 siis 7 st 8 uch 9 nu 10 dtz
11onze 12 dotze 13 tretze 14 catrze 15 quinze 16 setze 17 dtz-e-st 18 dtz-e-uch 19 dtz-e-nu 20 vint 21 vint-e-un
30 trenta 40 quaranta 50 cinquanta 60 seissanta 70 setanta 80 ochanta 90 nonanta 100 cent 200 dos cents 1,000 mila 1,000,000 un milion
1998=mila nu cents nonanta uch. The ordinals: 1st=primir, primira 2nd=segond, segonda Then just add -en, -ena to the number.
Let's take advantage of this chapter to see the name of the days and months in Occitan Los jorns de la setmana: diluns (Monday), dimar, dimecres, dijus, divendres, dissabte, dimenge. Los meses de l'an: genir (january), febrir, mar, abril, mai, junh, julh, agost, setembre, octbre, novembre, decembre.
L' is used like in French in front of a word which begins by a vowel. NB: a+lo(s)=al(s); de+lo(s)=del(s); per+lo(s)=pel(s); sus+lo(s)=sul(s) Indefinite article (a): Singular Masculine Feminine un una Plural de, d' de, d'
D' is used like in French in front of a word which begins by a vowel. Gender & Number: Generally the feminine form of a word is formed by adding an a at the end of the word (like in Spanish). The plural form is formed by adding an s at the end of the word.
c. Pronouns; possessives:
Demonstratives (this, that, these, those): Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter Aiceste/Aqueste/Aquel Aicesta/Aquesta/Aquela Aqu Plural Aicestes/Aquestes/Aqueles Aicestas/Aquestas/Aquelas Aqu
The three possibilities given here correspond theorically to a grade of distance (see in English This/That). Possessives: Thing possessed is Singular Possessor: I You (sing) He, She, It We & Masculine Mon Ton Son Nstre & Feminine Ma Ta Sa Nstra Thing possessed is Plural & Masculine Mos Tos Sos Nstres & Feminine Mas Tas Sas Nstras
Vstre Lor
Vstra
Vstres Lors
Vstras
Subject personal pronouns: Ieu=I Tu=You (sing) El=He(It); Ela=She(It) Nosautres/Nosautras/Nos=We Vosautres/Vosautras/Vos=You (plur) Eles/Elas=They
NB: Vos is conjugated with a plural but corresponds to the polite form of you for one person.
"-Veni A! me'n parletz pas, que las cambas me pdon pas tner Veni Veni de lunh simplament per vos demandar si, si, per cp d'aqstre auriatz pas aic qualqu'un de Cucunhan "-A! fc del Cl! fas la bstia, tu, coma se sabis pas que tot Cucunha es aic. Te, corbats, fai-te ena e gaita: veirs coss te los adobam aic, tos famoses Cucunhanencs
Lemosin Occitan D'aqueu temps la drolleta avi trobat los s de son frair, e, per se n'amusar, los enterrts jos 'n espinasson. L'ivern passt; a la prima, los s germeneren e lo petit tornt surtir d'en la terra, emb son crs de drollichon, e de las alas d'ausel. Qu era lo pus estonant ausel qu'm poguessa mas veire. Prenguet la volada, ant tot drech au molin. Aqu 'trapt entre sas pautas la grssa mla que mu lo blat, e coma de res, la n'emportt a la cresta-cima de la maison de sos paires. Asss se bott de chantar.
Gascon Occitan I avva, un cp, un me e ua hemna qu'avvan tres mainatges. Los dus drlles ran desj frts e hardits coma bths lions. La bra Joaneton anava sus sos quinze ans. Era cent cps ms bra que lo jorn. Quan se pintoava, lo blat li tombava deus peus, a bths boishths. Quan se lavava las mans, los dobles los d'aur e los quadruples d'Espanha lo tombavan deus dits per dotzenas. La bra Joaneton dambe sos dus frairs s'aimavn ms que non se pt diser.
Provenal Occitan Aqueu jorn que vos parli, apres una matinada cauda pr la sason, aqu que lei niulas se metron a far de castus. Sus d'auadas a donar lo lordum, de pelotassas blancas s'amolonavan coma de caulets-flors gigants. Pui, aquelei niulassas se toquron, tapron tot lo cu e venguron negras coma lo cuu d'una sartan. E lo trn comenct son estampu! Totei lei ulhau amagats dins lo nivolum amavan bn venir sus aqueu pas. La montanha fra auta porgi un bn sti ai niulas. De barras de siis cnts mtres d'aplomb acompanhavan sus sei doas ribas un riu cascarelant e, entre barras e montanha,
un vilatjon quilhava seis ostaus prchi d'un gran prat totjorn verdejant e clafit de pibolas.
Auvernhat Occitan Per passar una bona velhada se chau assetar davant un bon fuc. Atencion a las belhisas que vos traunquen pas las brajas. Per faire fuc chau prendre de papeir, de bsc menut e d'estelas que copam am una ascha. a cada cp d'ascha, se tustam frt, fasem de clapas. Aqu's l'ora de cachar de notz e de despelonar las chastanhas.