Editing Occitan language (section)

===Usage in France===
[[File:Place Mage (Toulouse) - plaques.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|This bilingual street sign in [[Toulouse]], like many such signs found in Toulouse's historical districts, is maintained primarily for its antique charm, and is typical of what little remains of the {{Lang|oc|lenga d'òc}} in southern French cities.]]

Though it was still an everyday language for most of the rural population of southern France well into the 20th century, the language is now declining in every region where it was spoken.

A 2020 study<ref>{{Cite web |title=LANGUE OCCITANE: ÉTAT DES LIEUX 2020 |url=https://www.ofici-occitan.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/OPLO_Enquete-sociolingusitique-occitan-2020_Resultats.pdf |website=ofici-occitan.eu}}</ref> conducted by the Office Public de la Langue Occitane on the territories of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie regions estimated around 540,000 speakers in these two regions. It is worth noting that the survey was conducted in the Occitan language for respondents who declared they were proficient in it. However, the regions including Auvergne and Provence were effectively excluded from this census, as the Office in question does not currently have a partnership with these territories.

According to the 1999 census, there were 610,000 native speakers (almost all of whom were also native French speakers) and perhaps another million people with some exposure to the language. Following the pattern of [[language shift]], most of this remainder is to be found among the eldest populations. Occitan activists (called ''Occitanists'') have attempted, in particular with the advent of Occitan-language preschools (the ''[[Calandreta]]s''), to reintroduce the language to the young.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bahrami |title=The language the French forbade |agency=BBC |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

Nonetheless, the number of proficient speakers of Occitan is thought to be dropping precipitously. A tourist in the cities in southern France is unlikely to hear a single Occitan word spoken on the street (or, for that matter, in a home), and is likely to only find the occasional vestige, such as street signs (and, of those, most will have French equivalents more prominently displayed), to remind them of the traditional language of the area.<ref>{{Cite web |last=@NatGeoUK |date=2013-01-15 |title=Toulouse: Occitan |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2013/01/toulouse-occitan |access-date=2022-07-02 |website=National Geographic |language=en-gb |archive-date=2 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702060342/https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2013/01/toulouse-occitan |url-status=live }}</ref>

Occitan speakers, as a result of generations of systematic suppression and humiliation (see [[Vergonha]]), seldom use the language in the presence of strangers, whether they are from abroad or from outside Occitania (in this case, often merely and abusively referred to as ''Parisiens'' or ''Nordistes'', which means ''northerners''). Occitan is still spoken by many elderly people in rural areas, but they generally switch to French when dealing with outsiders.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Field |first=Thomas T. |date=1980 |title=The Sociolinguistic Situation of Modern Occitan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/391694 |journal=The French Review |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=37–46 |jstor=391694 |issn=0016-111X |access-date=4 May 2022 |archive-date=4 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504101147/https://www.jstor.org/stable/391694 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Occitan's decline is somewhat less pronounced in [[Béarn]] because of the province's history (a late addition to the Kingdom of France), though even there the language is little spoken outside the homes of the rural elderly. The village of [[Artix, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Artix]] is notable for having elected to post street signs in the local language.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Klingebiel |first1=Kathryn |title=LANGUAGE |journal=The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies |date=2001 |volume=63 |pages=208–220 |jstor=25833682 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25833682 |issn=0084-4152 |access-date=12 February 2023 |archive-date=15 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215005058/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25833682 |url-status=live }}</ref>