Editing Occitan language (section)

==Linguistic characterization==
{{further|Occitan phonology}}
{{More footnotes needed|section|date=July 2011}}
Jules Ronjat has sought to characterize Occitan with 19 principal, generalizable criteria. Of those, 11 are phonetic, five morphologic, one syntactic, and two lexical. For example, close rounded vowels are rare or absent in Occitan. This characteristic often carries through to an Occitan speaker's French, leading to a distinctive ''[[Meridional French|méridional]]'' accent. Unlike French, it is a [[pro-drop language]], allowing the omission of the subject ({{lang|oc|canti}}: I sing; {{lang|oc|cantas}} you sing)—though, at least in Gascon, the verb must be preceded by an "enunciative" in place of the pronoun, {{lang|oc|e}} for questions, {{lang|oc|be}} for observations, {{lang|oc|que}} for other occasions: {{abbr|e.g.|for example}}, {{lang|oc|que soi}} (I am), {{lang|oc|E qu'ei?}} (He/she is?), {{lang|oc|Be qu'èm.}} (We are.).<ref>''Lo gascon lèu e plan'', p.14</ref> Among these 19 discriminating criteria, 7 are different from Spanish, 8 from Italian, 12 from Franco-Provençal, and 16 from French.

===Features of Occitan===
Most features of Occitan are shared with either [[French language|French]] or [[Catalan language|Catalan]], or both.

====Features of Occitan as a whole====
Examples of pan-Occitan features shared with French, but not Catalan:
* Latin {{smallcaps|ū}} [uː] (Vulgar Latin {{IPA|/u/}}) changed to {{IPA|/y/}}, as in French (Lat. {{smallcaps|dv̄rvm}} &gt; Oc. ''dur'').
* Vulgar Latin {{IPA|/o/}} changed to {{IPA|/u/}}, first in unstressed syllables, as in Eastern Catalan (Lat. {{smallcaps|romānvs}} > Oc. ''roman'' [ruˈma]), then in stressed syllables (Lat. {{smallcaps|flōrem}} > Oc. ''flor'' [fluɾ]).

Examples of pan-Occitan features shared with Catalan, but not French:
* Stressed Latin {{smallcaps|a}} was preserved (Lat. {{smallcaps|mare}} > Oc. ''mar'', Fr. ''mer'').
* Intervocalic -{{smallcaps|t}}- was lenited to {{IPA|/d/}} rather than lost (Lat. {{smallcaps|vitam}} > Oc. ''vida'', Fr. ''vie'').

Examples of pan-Occitan features not shared with Catalan or French:
* Original {{IPA|/aw/}} preserved.
* Final {{IPA|/a/}} becomes {{IPA|/ɔ/}} (note in [[Valencian language|Valencian]] (Catalan), {{IPA|/ɔ/}} may appear in word-final unstressed position, in a process of [[vowel harmony]]).
* Low-mid {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} diphthongized before velars. {{IPA|/ɛ/}} generally becomes {{IPA|/jɛ/}}; {{IPA|/ɔ/}} originally became {{IPA|/wɔ/}} or {{IPA|/wɛ/}}, but has since usually undergone further fronting (e.g. to {{IPA|[ɥɛ], [ɥɔ], [jɔ], [œ], [ɛ], [ɥe], [we]}}, etc.). Diphthongization also occurred before palatals, as in French and Catalan.
* Various assimilations in consonant clusters (e.g. {{angle bracket|cc}} in ''Occitan'', pronounced {{IPA|/utsiˈta/}} in conservative Languedocien).

====Features of some Occitan dialects====
Examples of dialect-specific features of the northerly dialects shared with French, but not Catalan:
* Palatalization of {{smallcaps|ca-, ga-}} to {{IPA|/tʃa, dʒa/}}.
* Vocalization of syllable-final {{IPA|/l/}} to {{IPA|/w/}}.
* Loss of final consonants.
* Vocalization of syllable-final nasals to [[nasal vowel]]s.
* [[Uvular R|Uvularization]] of some or all {{angle bracket|r}} sounds.

Examples of dialect-specific features of the southerly dialects (or some of them) shared with Catalan, but not French:
* Latin {{smallcaps|-mb-,-nd-}} become {{IPA|/m, n/}}.
* [[Betacism]]: {{IPA|/b/}} and {{IPA|/v/}} merge (feature shared with Spanish and some Catalan dialects; except for Balearic, Valencian and Algherese Catalan, where {{IPA|/v/}} is preserved).
* Intervocalic voiced stops {{IPA|/b d ɡ/}} (from Latin {{smallcaps|-p-, -t, -c-}}) become voiced fricatives {{IPA|[β ð ɣ]}}.
* Loss of word-final single {{IPA|/n/}} (but not {{IPA|/nn/}}, e.g. ''an'' "year" < {{smallcaps|ānnvm}}).

Examples of [[Gascon language|Gascon]]-specific features not shared with French or Catalan:
* Latin initial {{IPA|/f/}} changed into {{IPA|/h/}} (Lat. {{smallcaps|filivm}} > Gasc. ''hilh''). This also happened in [[History of Spanish|medieval Spanish]], although the {{IPA|/h/}} was eventually lost, or reverted to {{IPA|/f/}} (before a consonant). The Gascon {{angle bracket|h}} has retained its [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspiration]].
* Loss of {{IPA|/n/}} between vowels. This also happened in [[History of Portuguese|Portuguese]] and [[Galician language|Galician]] (and moreover also in [[Basque language|Basque]]).
* Change of {{smallcaps|-ll-}} to {{angle bracket|r}} {{IPA|/ɾ/}}, or {{angle bracket|th}} word-finally (originally the [[voiceless palatal stop]] {{IPA|/c/}}, but now generally either {{IPA|/t/}} or {{IPA|/tʃ/}}, depending on the word). This is a unique characteristic of Gascon and of certain [[Aragonese language|Aragonese]] dialects.

Examples of other dialect-specific features not shared with French or Catalan:
* Merging of syllable-final nasals to {{IPA|/ŋ/}}. This appears to represent a transitional stage before nasalization, and occurs especially in the southerly dialects other than Gascon (which still maintains different final nasals, as in Catalan).
* Former intervocalic {{IPA|/ð/}} (from Latin {{smallcaps|-d-}}) becomes /z/ (most dialects, but not Gascon). This appears to have happened in primitive Catalan as well, but Catalan later deleted this sound or converted it to {{IPA|/w/}}.
* Palatalization of {{IPA|/jt/}} (from Latin {{smallcaps|ct}}) to {{IPA|/tʃ/}} in most dialects or {{IPA|/(j)t/}}: ''lach'' vs ''lait'' (Gascon ''lèit'') 'milk', ''lucha'' vs ''luta'' (Gascon ''luta'') 'fight'.
* Weakening of {{IPA|/l/}} to {{IPA|/r/}} in the Vivaro-Alpine dialect.

===Comparison with other Romance languages and English===
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:80%"
|----- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
|+ Common words in Romance languages, with English (a Germanic language) for reference
||'''Latin'''<br />(all nouns in the [[ablative case]])|| '''Occitan'''<br />(including main regional varieties)|| '''Catalan'''|| '''French''' || '''Norman''' || '''Romansh (Rumantsch Grischun)''' || '''Ladin (Gherdëina)''' ||'''Lombard'''|| '''Italian'''|| '''Spanish''' || '''Portuguese''' || '''Sardinian''' || '''Romanian''' || '''English'''
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
||{{smallcaps|cantare}}
||cantar (chantar)
||cantar
||chanter
||canter, chanter
||chantar
||cianté
||cantà
||cantare
||cantar
||cantar
||cantare
||cânta(re)
||'(to) sing'
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
||{{smallcaps|capra}}
||craba (chabra, chaura)
||cabra
||chèvre
||quièvre
||chaura
||cëura
||cavra
||capra
||cabra
||cabra
||craba
||capră
||'goat'
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
||{{smallcaps|clave}}
||clau
||clau
||clé, clef
||clef
||clav
||tle
||ciav
||chiave
||llave
||chave
||crae
||cheie
||'key'
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
||{{smallcaps|ecclesia}}, {{smallcaps|basilica}}
||glèisa (esglèisa, glèia)
||església
||église
||église
||baselgia
||dlieja
||giesa
||chiesa
||iglesia
||igreja
||gresia/creia
||biserică
||'church'
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
||{{smallcaps|formatico}} ([[Vulgar Latin]]), {{smallcaps|caseo}}
||formatge (fromatge, hormatge)
||formatge
||fromage
||froumage, fourmage
||chaschiel
||ciajuel
||furmai/furmagg
||formaggio
||queso
||queijo
||casu
||caș
||'cheese'
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
||{{smallcaps|lingva}}
||lenga (lengua, luenga, linga)
||llengua
||langue
||langue
||lingua
||lenga, rujeneda
||lengua
||lingua
||lengua
||língua
||limba
||limbă
||'tongue, language'
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
||{{smallcaps|nocte}}
||nuèch (nuèit, nueit, net, nuòch)
||nit
||nuit
||nît
||notg
||nuet
||nocc
||notte
||noche
||noite
||nothe
||noapte
||'night'
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
||{{smallcaps|platea}}
||plaça
||plaça
||place
||plache
||plazza
||plaza
||piassa
||piazza
||plaza
||praça
||pratza
||piață<ref name="ReferenceA">Modern loanword from Italian or Greek (Iordan, Dift., 145)</ref>
||'square, plaza'
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
||{{smallcaps|ponte}}
||pont (pònt)
||pont
||pont
||pont
||punt
||puent
||punt
||ponte
||puente
||ponte
||ponte
||punte (small bridge)
||'bridge'
|}

===Lexicon===
A comparison of terms and word counts between languages is not easy, as it is impossible to count the number of words in a language. (See [[Lexicon]], [[Lexeme]], [[Lexicography]] for more information.)

Some have claimed around 450,000 words exist in the Occitan language,<ref>Avner Gerard Levy & Jacques Ajenstat: [http://www.kodaxil.org/kManifesto.pdf ''The Kodaxil Semantic Manifesto'']{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} (2006), Section 10 – ''Modified Base64 / Kodaxil word length, representation'', p. 9: "the English language, as claimed by Merriam-Webster, as well as the Occitan language – are estimated to comprise over 450,000 words in their basic form."</ref> a number comparable to English (the ''[[Webster's Third New International Dictionary]]'', Unabridged with 1993 addenda reaches 470,000 words, as does the Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition). The Merriam-Webster website estimates that the number is somewhere between 250,000 and 1&nbsp;million words.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

The magazine [[GEO (magazine)|''Géo'']] (2004, p.&nbsp;79) claims that American English literature can be more easily translated into Occitan than French, excluding modern technological terms that both languages have integrated.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

A comparison of the lexical content can find more subtle differences between the languages. For example, Occitan has 128 synonyms related to cultivated land, 62 for wetlands, and 75 for sunshine (''Géo''). The language went through an eclipse during the [[Industrial Revolution]], as the vocabulary of the countryside became less important. At the same time, it was disparaged as a [[patois]]. Nevertheless, Occitan has also incorporated new words into its lexicon to describe the modern world. The Occitan word for web (as in World Wide Web) is {{wikt-lang|oc|oèb}}, for example.

===Differences between Occitan and Catalan===
The separation of Catalan from Occitan is seen by some{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} as largely politically (rather than linguistically) motivated. However, the variety that has become standard Catalan differs from the one that has become standard Occitan in a number of ways. Here are just a few examples:
* [[Phonology]] {{Main|Occitan phonology|Catalan phonology}}
** Standard Catalan (based on Central Eastern Catalan) is unique in that Latin short ''e'' developed into a close vowel {{IPA|/e/}} (''é'') and Latin long ''e'' developed into an open vowel {{IPA|/ɛ/}} (''è''); that is precisely the reverse of the development that took place in Western Catalan dialects and the rest of the Romance languages, including Occitan. Thus Standard Catalan ''ésser'' {{IPA|[ˈesə]}} corresponds to Occitan ''èsser/èstre'' {{IPA|[ˈɛse/ˈɛstre]}} 'to be;' Catalan {{lang|ca|carrer}} {{IPA|[kəˈre]}} corresponds to Occitan ''carrièra'' {{IPA|oc|karˈjɛɾo̞|}} 'street', but it is also ''carriera'' {{IPA|oc|karˈjeɾo̞|}}, in Provençal.
** The distinctly Occitan development of word-final ''-a'', pronounced {{IPA|[o̞]}} in standard Occitan (''chifra'' 'figure' {{IPA|[ˈtʃifro̞]}}), did not occur in general Catalan (which has ''xifra'' {{IPA|[ˈʃifrə]}}). However, some Occitan varieties also lack that feature, and some Catalan ([[Valencian language|Valencian]]) varieties have the {{IPA|[ɔ]}} pronunciation, mostly by vowel harmony.
** When in Catalan word stress falls in the antepenultimate syllable, in Occitan the stress is moved to the penultimate syllable: for example, Occitan ''pagina'' {{IPA|[paˈdʒino̞]}} vs. Catalan ''pàgina'' {{IPA|[ˈpaʒinə]}}, "page". However, there are exceptions. For example, some varieties of Occitan (such as that of [[Nice]]) keep the stress on the antepenultimate syllable ''(pàgina)'', and some varieties of Catalan (in Northern Catalonia) put the stress on the penultimate syllable ''(pagina)''.
** [[Diphthong]]ization has evolved in different ways: Occitan ''paire'' vs. Catalan ''pare'' 'father;' Occitan ''carrièra (carrèra, carrèira)'' vs. Catalan ''carrera''.
** Although some Occitan dialects lack the [[voiceless postalveolar fricative]] phoneme {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, others such as southwestern Occitan have it: general Occitan ''caissa'' {{IPA|[ˈkajso̞]}} vs. Catalan ''caixa'' {{IPA|[ˈkaʃə]}} and southwestern Occitan ''caissa, caisha'' {{IPA|[ˈka(j)ʃo̞]}}, 'box.' Nevertheless, some [[Western Catalan|Valencian dialects]] like Northern Valencian lack that phoneme too and generally substitute {{IPA|/jsʲ/}}: ''caixa'' {{IPA|[ˈkajʃa]}} (Standard Valencian) ~ {{IPA|[ˈkajsʲa]}} (Northern Valencian).
** Occitan has developed the [[close front rounded vowel]] {{IPA|/y/}} as a [[phoneme]], often (but not always) corresponding to Catalan {{IPA|/u/}}: Occitan ''musica'' {{IPA|[myˈziko̞]}} vs. Catalan ''música'' {{IPA|[ˈmuzikə]}}.
** The distribution of [[palatal consonant]]s {{IPA|/ʎ/}} and {{IPA|/ɲ/}} differs in Catalan and part of Occitan: while Catalan permits them in word-final position, in central Occitan they are [[Phoneme#Neutralization, archiphoneme, underspecification|neutralized]] to {{IPA|[l]}} and {{IPA|[n]}} (Central Occitan ''filh'' {{IPA|[fil]}} vs. Catalan ''fill'' {{IPA|[fiʎ]}}, 'son'). Similarly, [[Algherese dialect|Algherese Catalan]] neutralizes palatal consonants in word-final position as well. Non-central varieties of Occitan, however, may have a palatal realization (e.g. ''filh, hilh'' {{IPA|[fiʎ, fij, hiʎ]}}). 
** Furthermore, many words that start with {{IPA|/l/}} in Occitan start with {{IPA|/ʎ/}} in Catalan: Occitan ''libre'' {{IPA|[ˈliβɾe]}} vs. Catalan ''llibre'' {{IPA|[ˈʎiβɾə]}}, 'book.' That feature is perhaps one of the most distinctive characteristics of Catalan amongst the Romance languages, shared only with [[Asturian language|Asturian]], [[Leonese language|Leonese]] and [[Mirandese language|Mirandese]]. However, some transitional varieties of Occitan, near the Catalan area, also have initial {{IPA|/ʎ/}}.
** While {{IPA|/l/}} is always clear in Occitan, in Catalan it tends to be [[velarization|velarized]] {{IPA|[ɫ]}} ("[[dark l]]"). In coda position, {{IPA|/l/}} has tended to be vocalized to {{IPA|[w]}} in Occitan, while remained dark in Catalan.
** Standard [[Eastern Catalan]] has a [[schwa|neutral vowel]] {{IPA|[ə]}} whenever ''a'' or ''e'' occur in unstressed position (''passar'' {{IPA|[pəˈsa]}}, 'to happen', but ''passa'' {{IPA|[ˈpasə]}}, 'it happens'), and also {{IPA|[u]}} whenever ''o'' or ''u'' occur in unstressed position, e.g. ''obrir'' {{IPA|[uˈβɾi]}}, 'to open', but ''obre'' {{IPA|[ˈɔβɾə]}}, 'you open'. However, that does not apply to [[Western Catalan]] dialects, whose vowel system usually retains the ''a''/''e'' distinction in unstressed position, or to Northern Catalan dialects, whose vowel system does not retain the ''o''/''u'' distinction in stressed position, much like Occitan.
* [[Morphology (linguistics)|Morphology]]
** Verb [[grammatical conjugation|conjugation]] is slightly different, but there is a great variety amongst dialects. Medieval conjugations were much closer. A characteristic difference is the ending of the second person plural, which is ''-u'' in Catalan but ''-tz'' in Occitan. {{further|Occitan conjugation|Catalan conjugation}}
** Occitan tends to add an [[analogy|analogical]] -''a'' to the [[grammatical gender|feminine]] forms of adjectives that are invariable in standard Catalan: for example, Occitan ''legal'' / ''legala'' vs. Catalan ''legal'' / ''legal''.
** Catalan has a distinctive past tense formation, known as the 'periphrastic preterite', formed from a variant of the verb 'to go' followed by the infinitive of the verb: ''donar'' 'to give,' ''va donar'' 'he gave.' That has the same value as the 'normal' preterite shared by most Romance languages, deriving from the Latin perfect tense: Catalan ''donà'' 'he gave.' The periphrastic preterite, in Occitan, is an archaic or a very local tense.
* [[Orthography]]
** The writing systems of the two languages differ slightly. The modern Occitan spelling recommended by the [[Institut d'Estudis Occitans]] and the [[Conselh de la Lenga Occitana]] is designed to be a pan-Occitan system, and the Catalan system recommended by the [[Institut d'Estudis Catalans]] and [[Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua]] is specific to Catalan and Valencian. For example, in Catalan, word-final ''-n'' is omitted, as it is not pronounced in any dialect of Catalan (''Català'', ''Occità''); central Occitan also drops word-final ''-n'', but it is retained in the spelling, as some eastern and western dialects of Occitan still have it (''Catalan'', ''Occitan''). Some digraphs are also written in a different way such as the sound {{IPA|/ʎ/}}, which is ''ll'' in Catalan (similar to Spanish) and ''lh'' in Occitan (similar to Portuguese) or the sound {{IPA|/ɲ/}} written ''ny'' in Catalan and ''nh'' in Occitan.

===Occitano-Romance linguistic group===
Despite these differences, Occitan and Catalan remain more or less [[mutual intelligibility|mutually comprehensible]], especially when written – more so than either is with Spanish or French, for example, although this is mainly a consequence of using the classical (orthographical) norm of the Occitan, which is precisely focused in showing the similarities between the Occitan dialects with Catalan. Occitan and Catalan form a common diasystem (or a common [[Abstandsprache]]), which is called [[Occitano-Romance]], according to the linguist [[Pierre Bec]].<ref>Bec, Pierre. (1995). ''La langue occitane'', coll. Que sais-je? nr. 1059. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France [1st ed. 1963]</ref> Speakers of both languages share early historical and cultural heritage.

The combined Occitano-Romance area is 259,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, with a population of 23&nbsp;million. However, the regions are not equal in terms of language speakers. According to Bec 1969 (pp.&nbsp;120–121), in France, no more than a quarter of the population in counted regions could speak Occitan well, though around half understood it; it is thought that the number of Occitan users has decreased dramatically since then. By contrast, in the [[Catalonia]] administered by the [[Government of Catalonia]], nearly three-quarters of the population speak Catalan and 95% understand it.<ref>[http://www6.gencat.net/llengcat/socio/coneix.htm Gencat.net] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060709074538/http://www6.gencat.net/llengcat/socio/coneix.htm |date=9 July 2006 }}</ref>