Data collected by the Latin Union, engaged to promote the cultural heritages of their 37 member states.

Data on Provençal

Alternative names: Prouvençaou, Patois, Langue d’Oc, Prouvençau, Occitan

Classification: Indo-European, Romance, variant of Occitan

Area: Europe – southeastern France and northwestern Italy

Number of speakers: 1 million

Blanchet (1999a) accounts for ca. 1 million speakers, including 5,000,000 active speakers, and 250,000 who speak it fluently.

Language status:

Institutions:

Collectif Prouvènço for the Provençal language and culture

Consulta provenzale

Coumboscuro Cèntre Prouvençal (Italy)

CREO Provence (Centre Régional d’Études Occitanes de Provence – “Provence regional centre for Occitan studies”)

I.E.O. (Institut d’Estudis Occitans)

L’Escolo dei Felibre de la Mar

The Félibrige (Lou Félibrige)

Lou Prouvençau a l’Escolo

Parlaren

Unioun Prouvençalo

Unioun Prouvençalo Transaupino

Vitality & Transmission:

Provençal is considered as seriously endangered by UNESCO.

Media & Education:

Music: A large repertoire of traditional, religious (Christmas canticles), and folk songs, performed by various groups.

Music: Bands of young musicians who perform songs in Provençal (“Occitan”) on modern rhythmics and orchestrations (Massilia Sound System, Gacha Empega, Dupain…)

Music, dance, and costumes: Numerous folk groups who sing and perform, among others, in Provençal.

André Chiron, Provençal singer (Vaucluse department)

Channel France 3 Méditerranée – a few news broadcasts in Provençal, weekend programs on a regular basis, dubbing of cartoons in Provençal (Tintin, Cédric, children’s stories…).

Vaqui – weekly television program in Provençal, on channel France 3 Méditerranée.

Newspapers

Aquo d’Aqui, monthly bilingual French/Provençal paper, with Occitan script.

Coumboscuro, issue from an Italian association of the same name.

L’Astrado Prouvençalo, publishing house issuing a journal under the same name.

La Calanco, bilingual French/Provençal journal of the Escolo dei Felibre de la Mar association.

La Marseillaise (French daily paper): a few short columns every Thursday, in Occitan script.

La Provence (French daily paper): a short column every Sunday in Mistralian script.

La Valaddo (Italy), journal of the Provençal/Occitan valleys of Italy.

Li Nouvello de Prouvènço, news review in Provençal issued by the Parlaren associations.

Lou journau de Prouvènço sus lou net (Prouvènço-Presso), online magazine in Provençal.

Me disoun Prouvènço, semi-annual bilingual journal issued by the Collectif Prouvènço.

Several small-scale magazines and journals issued by local associations.

Prouvènço d’Aro, monthly issue in Provençal.

Books

A few rare novels, poetry collections, and plays are still being published (J.-P. Tennevin)

Education

Optional classes beginning in secondary school.

Historical observations

• 12th and 13th centuries: Provençal is viewed as the language of great Western lyric poetry, through the work of troubadours. Though more than a language of communication, it is essentially a literary Koine.
• 1246: Charles I, brother of Louis IX, marries Beatrice of Provence, daughter of the Count of Barcelona, and becomes Count of Provence.
• 1480: King René of Anjou, Count of Provence, bequeaths the Provençal crown to his nephew Charles du Maine. But Charles III of Provence dies in 1481; the crown of Provence is passed on to the king of France, his cousin and protector, under certain conditions, in particular that of respecting the privileges, rights, and local regulations specific to Provence.
• 1482: Louis XI accepts Charles III’s will.
• 1486: Charles VIII, son of Louis XI to whom he succeeds, signs the Act of Union between Provence and France.
• 1487: The estates of Provence, meeting in Aix-en-Provence, ratify the union of Provence to France.
• 1595: Obros et rimos provensalos, by Bellaud de la Bellaudière, 1st book printed in Marseille.
• 16th-18th century: Provençal, in contact with French, sees its prestige decline. Certain representatives of the Provence bourgeois elite and nobility seeking for social promotion begin to learn French. Overall, however, the people speak Provençal.
• 19th century: French gradually becomes the mainstream in the cities (Marseille). Provençal is still spoken in the working-class areas. The people of Provence are in a period of bilingualism.
• 1854: Foundation of the Félibrige, a literary movement for the defence and recognition of the language, with Frédéric Mistral.
• 1859: Mireille, by F. Mistral. Through this book, Mistral contributes to a large diffusion of the spelling system he has worked on with his friend Joseph Roumanille.
• 1880-1886: Mistral publishes a Provencal/French dictionary, Lou Tresor dóu Felibrige.
• 1904: Frédéric Mistral is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (shared).
• 1946: Creation of the Lou Prouvençau à l’escolo association (“Provençal at school”).
• 1951: Deixonne law of January 11, in favour of the teaching of « local languages and dialects in the regions they are spoken in », that is, at the time, Breton, Basque, Catalan, and Occitan.
• 1975: Haby law of July 11, which, in article 12, declares that « the teaching of regional languages and cultures can be delivered throughout the entire schooling period ».
• 1977: TV channel FR3-Méditerranée broadcasts its first program in Provençal.
• 1981: A decree from the chief education officer of the Aix-Marseille regional academy makes the teaching of Occitan script compulsory in Provence, alongside Mistralian script, sparking strong protest among “provençalists”.
• 1982: A report ordered by the French Ministry of Culture to occitanist Henri Giordan causes another public outcry in Provence, where provençalists refuse to have their language blended in under the term Occitan.
• 1984: The 1981 decree is legally annulled following a complaint of the union of Provençal authors.
• 1988: Ministry decree regarding the teaching of regional languages. Education programs henceforth respect the script used by the studied authors, and acknowledge different varieties of Oc.
• 1992: Creation of an “Occitan-langue d’oc” secondary school teaching qualification (CAPES)
• 1993: The French government, aiming to maintain its historical and cultural heritage, encourages certain enactments in order for schools to teach Provençal as well as other regional languages.
• 1999: In Marseille, the « capoulié » (President) of the Félibrige and the President of the IEO agree on the mutual respect of both Mistralian/classical or Occitan scripts.
• 2003: The DGLFLF (“General Delegation for the French language and the languages of France”) attempts to coordinate Oc movements to bring southern France together on the subject and discuss linguistic planning with one and the same representative, yet the reactions are quite negative towards what is viewed as a move for Occitan control over linguistic diversity and the specificity of each language, especially in Provence.
• May 17: General assembly of the Provençal and Niçard languages held in Pernes-les-Fontaines, on request of the Collectif Prouvènço, and in reaction to the intentions of the DGLFLF.
• May 24: Regional languages general assembly held in Fuveau, Provence.

Sociolinguistic observations

The term Provençal used to be employed as a hypernym referring to all the linguistic varieties of southern France. This use was frequent in the Middle Age.

Nowadays, Provençal refers to a specific variety spoken in Provence and its close surroundings, in southeastern France.

For most people in Provence, Provençal is not a dialect of Langue d’Oc or Occitan, but a language in its own right. This linguistic awareness and sense of identity appear very strong in the positions and linguistic representations they carry. One may speak on an actual individuation of the language.

Thus two different perspectives should be taken into account. On one hand, one considers the existence of a linguistic unity around one language, Occitan, whose dialects would be Languedocien, Limousin, Provençal, etc. One the other hand, one considers that the fragmentation is such that one can no longer speak of dialects, but only of « languages of Oc » (langues d’Oc). Certain areas (Gascogne, Provence) strongly underline their particularisms to distinguish themselves from what they view as artificial standardisation. (see Occitan)

A distinction should be made between “active” and “passive” speakers. A number of people in Provence understand the Provençal language (close to French in structure) but do not speak it. Provençal has largely influenced (and still influences) regional French of Provence, the best-known variety of which being that of Marseille (“speaking Marseillese”). Thus many people in Provence know Provençal through regional French and the many Provençal expressions it includes.

Sources & additional bibliography

Sources & Bibliography

BARTHELEMY-VIGOUROUX, Alain, MARTIN, Guy (2000), Manuel pratique de provençal contemporain, Edisud.
BLANCHET, Philippe (1992), Le provençal. Essai de description sociolinguistique et différentielle, Institut de Linguistique de Louvain, Peeters, Louvain-la-Neuve.
BLANCHET, Philippe (1999a), Parlons provençal, L’Harmattan.
BLANCHET, Philippe (1999b), « L’enseignement du “provençal-langue d’oc” aujourd’hui : quels contenus pour quels objectifs ? », in Lidil, n° 20, « Les langues régionales – Enjeux sociolinguistiques et didactiques », Université Stendhal, Grenoble III.
BOUVIER, Jean-Claude, « L’occitan en Provence. Le dialecte provençal, ses limites et ses variétés », in Revue de Linguistique romane, t. 43, n° 169-170, janvier-juin 1979, pp. 46-62.
HAGEGE, Claude (1996), Le français : histoire d’un combat, Editions Michel Hagège, Le Livre de Poche.

Links for further information

Occitan-Provençal (DGLF)