Gallo-Romance languages

The Gallo- Romance languages ​​are a subgroup of the Romance languages ​​, which in turn constitute a branch of the Indo-European language family. The Gallo-Roman languages ​​in northern France, including French, the langues d'oc in the south of France, Franco-Provençal, Piedmontese and in a broader sense Catalan and other languages ​​of northern Italy langues d' oïl include (for example Lombard ). The Gallo- Romance languages ​​developed from the spoken Latin, the term refers to the Gallo-Roman Celtic people of Gaul, who settled earlier in the circulation area of ​​the Gallo- Romance languages ​​and influenced to a probably relatively high degree the regional Latin. The distribution of the Gallo-Roman languages ​​is called Gallo Romania.

• 3.1 dissemination
• 3.2 characterization
• 3.3 Development History

The emergence of the Gallo- Romance languages

The Gallo-Roman languages ​​belong to the Romance languages ​​that have Latin as its common origin. Latin, originally the language of Rome, spread with the expansion of the Roman Empire in many parts of Europe, including in the area of ​​present-day France, Italy and Switzerland, where the Gallo- Romance languages ​​are located.

In the 1st and 2nd centuries BC, the Romans conquered Gaul. After they had subjected it militarily, they led her there administrative, education and legal system, all based on the Latin language. The population was suitable the new language soon to trade or can pursue a career in business, public administration and politics. This process is called Romanization or Latinization. The Latin that was spoken in the conquered territories, was not classical Latin writers, but also in Rome used a colloquial language, the so-called Vulgar Latin. Classical Latin was, however, taught in schools, and the linguistic unity throughout the Roman empire was ensured by the central influence of Rome.

The actual history of the Gallo- Romance languages ​​began with the collapse of the Empire in the 5th century. The political and cultural influence shifted from Rome to the centers of each province. The Roman school system collapsed and the unified written Latin was soon no longer be controlled. The Vulgar Latin evolved and changed differently in different regions. Influenced it was through the languages ​​that were spoken before the arrival of Latin, such as Ligurian, Basque or Iberian, but especially by the Celtic tribes of Gaul. An even greater influence exerted the Franconian that came with the acquisition of land by the tribe of the Franks in the 4th to 6th centuries in the territory of the Gallo Romania.

Dissemination

French is the best known and most widely spoken of the Gallo- Romance languages. It is the national language of France and is used on the entire territory in all public areas of about 48 million speakers. French is also found in many other countries of Europe as a parent, official or common language: in southern Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and the Channel Islands. Outside of Europe, you will find communities of speakers who have French as their mother tongue, as in Canada and the U.S., as well as communities of speakers with French as official or working language, in South America, on many islands in the Indian Ocean and in the Caribbean, Oceania and Africa are located. This wide spread of the language goes back to the Kolonialisierungstätigkeit France. The French-speaking world, that is, the entire French -speaking world, approximately 104 million includes speakers, French thus takes sixth of the world's languages ​​.

Characterization

The French has become more removed from the Latin than the other Gallo- Romance languages ​​; this difference is due to several factors: the conquest by the Romans and the Romanized related was from the south and reached the north of Gaul relatively late. The influence of Celtic languages ​​so it was stronger in the north, the area Latinized weaker. The settlement movement of francs on the other hand, from the north at the south and reached later, the Franco- Germanic influence was therefore in the north influential than in the south.

History of development

The French was originally one of many language varieties in the area of ​​present-day France, it has developed in the area around Paris, the Ile de France later. Between the 5th and the 8th century, they took off rapidly and farther from the Latin. Early this dialect, called Fran Zische to spread from Paris began. The central city was already in the 11th century as the center of the country, as evidenced by seals that time; two centuries later, Paris was the official capital of the Kingdom of France. From the 12th century influenced the language of Paris ' literary and non-literary texts of the North. This development was supported by the geographical expansion of the king; more and more previously independent territories came under French rule. The regional language varieties disappeared largely in favor of the Governing Language. It has already spoken a relatively homogeneous language in the 13th century in the northern part of the country, was clearly different from the usual in southern dialects. During this time, the terms " langue d' oïl " ( language of the " oïl " ) for the northern and " langue d' oc" (the language of " oc" ) for the southern language area came up where " oïl ", the old French word for "yes " and " oc" the altprovenzalische, common in the south.

In the 14th century, the French changed dramatically in terms of the word order in the sentence and the phonetics. Here, the actual character of the language began to emerge, which is why you see this time as the transition from the old to the modern French. The spelling of words that had mostly played the earlier articulation remained fairly accurately, there are just the pronunciation changed, which explains the complicated spelling of today's French.

Over the centuries, the French invaded the South and pushed back the regional languages. Edicts arranged on the sole use of French; the printing press promoted only the French, as the other languages ​​were mainly transmitted orally. The French Revolution spread French-speaking ideas and laws throughout the country; military service compulsory for mastery of the French language, and with the threat posed by North industrialization permeated the language, the country. 1881 compulsory education was introduced, the language of instruction was French. Today, French is everywhere in France, even in areas frequented by other Gallo- Romance languages ​​, the predominant language. Among the born after 1970 you will also find there scarcely one who has not learned French as a first language.

Occitan

Dissemination

The Occitan is the most significant regional language of France. The circulation area covers about a third of the French state, namely south of a line beginning at the mouth of the Garonne, a piece of the barrel of the Dordogne follows, continues in a northwesterly direction, which includes the Massif Central, south of Lyon meets the Rhône and near Monaco reaches the sea. Occitan d' Aran is also spoken in Spain and in the Waldensian valleys in Italy Val. There are approximately 200 000 active speaker and about 6 million potential speakers with more or less active skills; Occitan is the second language for most.

Characterization

The Occitan, the langue d' oc is less uniform than the Langue d' oïl; there are different dialects: the Provencal and the Languedokisch, which are summarized as südokzitanische dialects, the Auvergnat, Limousinische and Alpenprovenzalische that are considered nordokzitanische dialects, and the Gaskognische, which is classified by some linguists as a separate Romance language. Earlier it was for the Occitan often used the term " Provençal ", which is no longer common today because of the risk of confusion with the Provençal dialect is. The term " Occitan " is based on the French " occitain ", which in turn refers to the term langue d'oc. The Occitan has many syntactic similarities with the Ibero-Romance languages ​​and is closely related to the Catalan; in Altprovenzalischen to find phonetic similarities to northern Italy. It is a conservative Romance language and has less far away from Latin as French. Many phonetic changes, comprising the French have not taken place in Occitan.

History of development

The Occitan was the first of the Gallo- Romance languages ​​a literary form, the troubadour poetry emerged in the Middle Ages. Around the year 1000 the first lyrical texts emerged with them began the two centuries of heyday of troubadour poetry. In science and management, where previously only Latin was common, the Occitan was used early; the first document dates from the year 1102 The end of this heyday was from the 13th century with the Albigensian Crusades ( 1209-1229 ). an. These were directed against a religious group in the western Occitania to Albi, moved and had turned against the Catholic Church. As a result of these crusades Occitania was incorporated into the dominion of the French king. Especially the troubadour lyric lost with the Occitan courts their basis, and also in administration and politics, the French became more and more common. The Edict of Villers- Cotterets ( 1539) finally wrote its exclusive use in legal and administrative ago, and also the writer turned to the French, who won more and more prestige. Thus in the 16th century, the written language was lost, and with it the feeling of togetherness of the speaker; different dialects develop. Nevertheless, Occitan remained until the 19th century, the spoken language of the rural South of France, French has been used exclusively for official speech occasions and in correspondence. Since a large part of the population could neither read nor write, Occitan was often the only language dominated.

Another important event in the Occitan language history was the French Revolution. With new laws, notices and the ideas of the revolution and their language came vehemently against the South. In addition, there have been systematically attacked by the various regional languages ​​of the country by the government and the French propagated. The most effective measure in this direction was the general compulsory education, which was introduced in 1881. In the schools was only taught in the official language, the use of Occitan was forbidden the children with punishment. At the same time the prestige of the language declined, many parents no longer gave their Occitan mother tongue to their children. The distribution of French-language media such as newspapers and radio, and the migration to industrial cities in the north changed the language situation in Occitania fundamentally until the end of World War II. From the 1970s, Occitan is acquired only as a second language or parallel to the French. Today Occitan may be taught in schools again, an additional examination in the language can improve the final grade. However, the Okzitanischunterricht is hardly promoted and therefore seldom practiced.

The Occitan is today used mainly in rural areas. There is no universally accepted written language, but different dialectal variations, and especially on high- level linguistic deficits, although the Institut d' Estudis Occitains a norm, the so-called Referenzokzitanisch, was established, which is the language taught in schools.

Efforts to revive the Occitan, there were already in the 16th century. However, it is better known, the movement of " Félibrige ", which was founded in 1854 by the Provencal poets Mistral, Aubanel and Roumanille. Mainly due to the literary success of Frédéric Mistral, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature for his epic poem " Mirèio " was the " Félibrige " the most significant literary renaissance movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. Another institution that promotes Occitan, is the Societat Founded in 1930, d' Estudis Occitans, from 1945, the Institut d' Estudis Occitans apparent. Nevertheless, the minority languages ​​of France are not officially recognized until today by the government.

Franco-Provençal

The Frankoprovenzalische is located in the southeast of France, in Franche -Comté, in the Lyonnais, Savoy and the northern Dauphiné ( with Grenoble), also in Italy in Aosta Valley and in the Suisse Romande (except in the Bernese Jura and the Canton of Jura). The number of speakers amounted to 60,000 to 200,000. Status of the Provençal is controversial, some linguists it is not regarded as an independent language, but a dialect. The argument for this thesis can be seen that the Frankoprovenzalische is not uniform but varies from region to region. Also, there is no set standard or a written literature. Seen phonetically it forms a bridge between North and South: Part of his development is consistent with those in French, the other with those in Occitan. From this fact, the term is derived from Franco-Provençal, Franco- points on the line with the French in the one - Provence ( is as the name formerly used of Occitan ) to those with the Provencal. Coined the term Graziadio Isaia Ascoli 1874 by. This linguists made ​​the confusion to an end, which ruled over the border between the French and Occitan: He noted that the contentious area had its own language variety, which he described as Franco-Provençal.

Today, the Frankoprovenzalische in France is increasingly displaced from the French, especially in urban areas. Lively is the Frankoprovenzalische in the Italian Aosta Valley, where it still the everyday language has remained for much of the population. in the Swiss Romandie Franco-Provençal is spoken almost exclusively in the community Evolène.

Catalan

Some linguists reckon Catalan to the Gallo- Romance languages ​​, others associate it, however, the Iberoromania to. On the one hand there is a close relationship with the Occitan - Catalan has more phonetic and lexical similarities with the Occitan than with the other languages ​​of the Iberian Peninsula. On the other hand, however, the Catalan match some features with Ibero-Romance languages. It can therefore be seen as a kind of bridge between the two language Romance language groups. The language area covers the eastern part of the French Pyrenees, eastern Spain and the Balearic Islands with a total of 9.4 million speakers and 11.6 million who understand Catalan.

Moselromanisch

As Moselromanisch is called a linguistic area at the end of the Roman Empire, inhabited by the Celtic tribes province of Belgica I ( the area around the Mosel and Saar) has formed. Then the Franks migrated into the area. Despite the onset of speech overlay survived some Romansh-speaking islands until the 11th century.