Provençal ( / ˌ p r ɒ v ɒ̃ ˈ s ɑː l / , also UK : /- s æ l / , US : / ˌ p r oʊ -, - v ən -/ ; Occitan : provençau or prouvençau [pʀuvenˈsaw] ) is a variety of Occitan , spoken by people in Provence and parts of Drôme and Gard . The term Provençal used to refer to the entire Occitan language, but more recently it has referred only to the variety of Occitan spoken in Provence. However, it can still be found being used to refer to Occitan as a whole, e.g. Merriam-Webster states that it can be used to refer to general Occitan, though this is going out of use.
20-526: Saint-Chamas (in Provençal Occitan : Sanch Amàs in classical orthography , Sant Chamas according to Mistralian orthography) is a commune in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southern France . Saint-Chamas is situated on the shore of the Étang de Berre , 15 km south of Salon-de-Provence and 50 km north-west of Marseille , in
40-590: A part of the region that has not been industrialised. The highest point of the town is Le Verdon at an altitude of 121 metres. Inhabitants are called Saint-Chamasséens . Archaeological investigation of rock shelters has proved that the site of Saint-Chamas was already occupied in the Paleolithic era. During the Iron Age , the site was used by the Ligures , who constructed an oppidum (a fortified village), and then by
60-471: A site that was easy to defend and from which the surrounding region could be surveyed. In 1564, the castle was sufficiently comfortable to accommodate the king Charles IX and the regent Catherine de' Medici . The 17th century saw the construction of the modern town. The old village on the Baou , now felt to be too cramped, was abandoned as soon as the new quarters of Perthuis and au Delà were built. A town hall
80-573: A variety of Provençal since a part of the Gavot area (near Digne and Sisteron) belongs to historical Provence. When written in the Mistralian norm (" normo mistralenco "), definite articles are lou in the masculine singular, la in the feminine singular and li in the masculine and feminine plural ( lis before vowels). Nouns and adjectives usually drop the Latin masculine endings, but -e remains;
100-561: Is - o (like in Italian, Catalan, Castilian, and Portuguese, but also in Piemontese, which is neighboring): parlo for parli or parle ("io parlo"), parlavo for parlavi or parlave ("io parlavo"), parlèro for parlèri or parlère ("io ho parlato, io parlavo"). A common trait is the rhotacism of l (shift from l to r): In the dialects of the Alps, Vivaro-Alpine maintained the pronunciation of
120-638: Is a variety of Occitan spoken in southeastern France (namely, around the Dauphiné area) and northwestern Italy (the Occitan Valleys of Piedmont and Liguria ). There is also a small Vivaro-Alpine enclave in the Guardia Piemontese , Calabria , where the language is known as gardiòl . It belongs to the Northern Occitan dialect bloc, along with Auvergnat and Limousin . The name “vivaro-alpine”
140-599: Is also the customary name given to the older version of the Occitan language used by the troubadours of medieval literature , when Old French or the langue d'oïl was limited to the northern areas of France. Thus, the ISO 639-3 code for Old Occitan is [pro]. In 2007, all the ISO 639-3 codes for Occitan dialects, including [prv] for Provençal, were retired and merged into [oci] Occitan. The old codes ([prv], [auv], [gsc], [lms], [lnc]) are no longer in active use, but still have
160-580: Is now clearly recognized as a dialect of its own. The UNESCO Atlas of World's languages in danger uses the Alpine Provençal name, and considers it as seriously endangered. Glottolog recognizes the Gardiòl variety of the dialect as a distinct language within the Occitanic language family. Vivaro-Alpine is classified as an Indo-European, Italic, Romance, or Western-Romance language. Vivaro-Alpine shares
180-557: The Celts . The Romans built the Pont Flavien in the 1st century BC, a triumphal bridge which crosses the River Touloubre . Saint-Chamas owes its name to Sanctus Amantius ( Saint Amans , by tradition the first bishop of Rodez ), in whose honour a chapel was built in the 7th century. The settlement was initially constructed on the Baou , a chalk hill which overlooks the Étang de Berre,
200-473: The French Revolution the town was renamed Port-Chamas . The two main quarters, one of which developed around the town hall, the other in proximity to the port, were linked by a tunnel called la Goule which collapsed in 1863. Today Saint-Chamas has become a residential and tourist town which has preserved its heritage and its appearance of a Provençal village. Proven%C3%A7al (dialect) Provençal
220-424: The r of the infinitive verbs (excepting modern Occitan). An estimated 70% of languages are estimated to have "interrogative intonation contours which end with rising pitch." However, Vivaro Alpine follows the opposite pattern with yes/no questions—an initial high tone followed by a fall. Questions that end in a rising pitch are so common that they are often considered "natural." One reason that questions begin with
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#1732876092200240-457: The Latin masculine endings, but -e [e] remains; the feminine ending is -a [ɔ]. Nouns inflect for number, all adjectives ending in vowels ( -e or -a ) become -ei/-eis [ej/ejz = i/iz] in some syntactic positions, and most plural adjectives take -s . Pronunciation remains the same in both norms (Mistralian and classical), which are only two different ways to write the same language. The IETF language tags register oc-provenc-grmistr for
260-420: The Mistralian orthography and oc-provenc-grclass for the classical one. Modern Provençal literature was given impetus by Nobel laureate Frédéric Mistral and the association, Félibrige , which he founded with other writers, such as Théodore Aubanel . The beginning of the 20th century saw other authors like Joseph d'Arbaud , Batisto Bonnet and Valère Bernard . It has been enhanced and modernized since
280-582: The Western Occitan Alps, around Digne , Sisteron , Gap , Barcelonnette and the upper County of Nice , but also in a part of the Ardèche , is not exactly a subdialect of Provençal, but rather a closely related Occitan dialect, also known as Vivaro-Alpine . So is the dialect spoken in the upper valleys of Piedmont , Italy ( Val Maira , Val Varaita , Val Stura di Demonte , Entracque , Limone Piemonte , Vinadio , Sestriere ). Some people view Gavòt as
300-457: The feminine ending is -o (this is the opposite of the neighbouring Italian masculine gender). Nouns do not inflect for number, but all adjectives ending in vowels ( -e or -o ) become -i , and all plural adjectives take -s before vowels. When written in the classical norm (" nòrma classica "), definite articles are masculine lo [lu], feminine la [la], and plural lei/leis [lej/lejz = li/liz]. Nouns and adjectives usually drop
320-534: The meaning assigned to them when they were established in the Standard. Some groups have called for Provençal's recognition as a full language, distinct from Occitan. The Regional Council of Provence has variously labelled Provençal as a dialect of Occitan or as a distinct language, depending on different lobbies and political majorities. The main subdialects of Provençal are: Gavòt (in French Gavot ), spoken in
340-399: The palatization of consonants k and g in front of a with the other varieties of North Occitan (Limosino, Alverniate), in particular with words such as chantar ("cantare," to sing) and jai ("ghiandaia," jay). Southern Occitan has, respectively, cantar and gai. Its principal characteristic is the dropping of simple Latin dental intervocalics: The verbal ending of the first person
360-517: The second half of the 20th century by writers such as Robèrt Lafont , Pierre Pessemesse , Claude Barsotti , Max-Philippe Delavouët [ Wikidata ] , Philippe Gardy [ Wikidata ] , Florian Vernet [ Wikidata ] , Danielle Julien [ Wikidata ] , Jòrgi Gròs [ Wikidata ] , Sèrgi Bec [ Wikidata ] , Bernat Giély , and many others. Vivaro-Alpine Vivaro-Alpine ( Occitan : vivaroalpenc, vivaroaupenc )
380-541: Was coined by Pierre Bec in the 1970s. The Vivaro-Alpine dialects are traditionally called "gavot" from the Maritime Alps to the Hautes-Alpes . Vivaro-Alpine had been considered as a sub-dialect of Provençal , and named provençal alpin (Alpine Provençal) or Northern Provençal. Its use in the Dauphiné area has also led to the use of dauphinois or dauphinois alpin to name it. Along with Ronjat and Bec, it
400-508: Was erected and the port laid out. The parish church of Saint-Léger was built between 1660 and 1668, but the bell tower was not finished until 1740. The church now contains the Saint-Anne reredos which dates from the sixteenth century. In 1690, construction was initiated by Louis XIV on the royal black powder mill, La Poudrerie ; this remained for a long time the town's principal industry until it shut down in 1974. For several years during
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