Franco-Provençal language

Spoken in

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Roa ( other Romance languages ​​)

Frp

The Frankoprovenzalische (also Franco- Provencal ) or Arpitanische (French francoprovençal or Arpitan ) is a Romance language in eastern France (Middle Rhone Valley and Savoy), in most of the French-speaking Switzerland ( Romandie) and in northwestern Italy (especially in Valle d'Aosta ) is spoken in different dialects. It, together with the Langues d'oc ( Occitan ) and the Langues d' oïl group of Gallo- Romance languages.

Name of the language

Since the Franco- Provençal has not formed an independent standard language and the language should be also formed a political unit in modern history, exists in the native speakers no common name for the language.

The name Franco- Provençal in 1873, influenced by the Italian linguist Graziadio - Isaia Ascoli as a collective term for those Gallo- Romance dialects, after dialectological criteria neither to the langues d' oïl ( who were then collectively known as French) is still one of the langues d' oc ( who were then referred to collectively as Provençal) include, but form a separate third group, which occupies an intermediate position between the other two. This name has become accepted in the Romanist literature, but is hardly ever used outside of academic circles and also misleading, because it can falsely give the impression that it was not a stand-alone language variety.

In more recent times, the name Arpitanisch ( Arpitan ) is used mainly in France, sometimes only for the dialects of the Alpine region, sometimes for the entire Franco- Provencal.

Spread of the language

France

Franco-Provençal was for centuries the vernacular in a large part of the current French region of Rhône -Alpes ( Beaujolais, Bresse, Bugey, Dauphiné, Dombes, Lyonnais, Savoy), south of the Franche -Comté ( départements of Jura and Doubs ) and in the southeast of the Burgundy region ( Louhannais, in the department of Saône- et- Loire). This Romanesque language was spread by the Rhône- metropolis Lyon. In France, it is ( born before 1940) in its various dialects only by older people understood ( unlike, say, in the Aosta Valley and the Swiss Evolène ) and the least of them even used as a second language in the family. Since the French in Lyon quickly replaced Latin as the official language, Franco-Provençal in France never had the status of an official language. Unlike some regional languages ​​there was never an attempt at unification, so it never came as the language in question and is not recognized by the French Ministry of Education as a high school subject ( unlike, say, Provencal, Breton, etc.). The language was written but still, especially to songs and spoken to hand down traditional stories, but also to texts with literary sophistication to dense. 2006 even one of the popular Tintin comics ( Tintin ) was translated into Franco- Provencal, more precisely, into Bressanische, a dialect variant, which is spoken in the Bresse region. There are relatively many people who patois (like the dialects are either disparaging, but called with pride in his voice ) at least understand, though less and less talk itself.

The Manuel and Josine Meune translated into their dialect issue Lé Pèguelyon de la Castafiore ( The Jewels of the singer, Casterman ) was very well received in the Bresse, in the Rhone- Alpes. This testifies to a certain renewed interest of the younger generations in this straight tendencies into oblivion linguistic heritage. As everywhere in France, these regional language was suppressed in the school, so at the beginning of the 20th century many had internalized the view that their patois is nothing more than a primitive " rural language ". After all, the language has left many traces in spoken French Regional - what many do not necessarily aware of. Was used in the Tintin book a semi- phonetic spelling ( " graphy de Conflans "), which is based on the French language. But in 2007, a new Tintin book appear: Arpitanisch on how the Frankoprovenzalische is called in this case, so not to give the impression that it was not a separate language. A new, elaborated by linguist Dominique stitch standardized spelling should then be used, in the hope that the dialect speaker (or writer ) from the different regions in the future use this written language.

Switzerland

Originally ( Romandie) Franco-Provençal was widely spoken throughout the contemporary French-speaking Switzerland. The only exception to the Canton of Jura, the northern part of the canton of Neuchâtel and the French-speaking part of the canton of Bern, where Langues d' oïl the varieties were spoken.

Over the recent period, the varieties of Provençal in Switzerland however, have been almost entirely supplanted by regional forms of French, except in the Canton of Fribourg ( Gruyère ) and especially in the canton of Valais, where the village Evolène the vernacular for children nor the vernacular is.

Italy

Frankoprovenzalische dialects is referred to in the Aosta Valley and in some valleys of the Piedmont region, in the Val Sangone, in the Valle Cenischia, in Piantonetto Valley and Val Soana. Another frankoprovenzalische linguistic island lies in the two communities in Apulia: Faeto and Celle di San Vito.

In Valle d'Aosta the Frankoprovenzalische is still dominated by 70,000 speakers. But the official languages ​​of the region are Italian and French.

Language structure

Unlike most Romance languages ​​are available for the Frankoprovenzalische no standardized norm, which is also related that the language is spoken in several countries and so could not cause any " sense of belonging " the spokesman said. None of the languages ​​spoken in Switzerland, Italy and France Provençal dialects reached the necessary size and importance within the present European speech spectrum. Due to the large fragmentation of the number of users decreases sharply, especially in the 20th century.

The following are all dialects common characteristics:

• Palatalization of / k / and / g / before / a /, where the sound level is in some dialects spoken in Italy as in Old French: tsantà [ tsan'ta ] < Latin CANTARE ' sing '. In the French Savoy about this Gallu is spirantisiert loud and Latin CANTARE results thantò [ θanto ] ( th pronounced as in Engl. Ciento think or span. Likewise vlat. > Gial.
• Stay of the final vowels of the Latin / a /, / i /, / o /, / e / received on the end of words
• No Diphtongierung from Latin ǒ and Ĕ: vlat. CǑRE > cor ( but cuore Italian, French cœur ), Pede > pe (but piede Italian, French pied ) ( Exception: the following schwachtonige syllable ends in- i, eg Latin Heri > ier )
• Retention of Latin starktonigem -A (which in French to / e / is ): vlat. Pratu > pra (but French pré ), CANE > ca, tha or tsa (but French Republic)
• Sonication intervocalic Okklusiva: Latin RAPA > Rabo
• As in Romansh (especially the Friulian ) maintaining the Latin muta cum liquida beginning of a word ( PL, FL, BL, CL, GL ): Latin CLAVE > clau (but Italian chiave, port. chave, span. llave, Rumanian. cheie )

• Condensed infinitive, as in many Italian dialects (Latin -RE - endings silent, Endbetonung on ending vowel): tsantà or thantò
• Sigma Phonetic plural ( by adding- s to the singular)
• Feminine nouns usually end in-o: Latin AQUA > aigo