Occitània

Sujets

• Partit Occitan
• Gustave Alirol
• Autonomisme
• Régionalisme
• Occitanie
• Occitania
• Alliance libre européenne

Informations

• Publié par: Voxpopuli
• Nombre de lectures: 15
• Langue: English

Extrait

Occitània

Land of the Occitan language

Occitània is composed of:

•

The southern half of the French state: Provence, Drôme-Vivarais, Auvergne,

Limousin, Guyenne, Gascony and Languedoc

1

,

•

The Occitan valleys, in the Alps (Italian state) where the Occitan language received

legal status in 1999,

•

The Aran valley, in the Pyrenees (Spanish state) where Occitan has been an official

language since 1987.

Occitan or langue d'oc is a Latin language in the same way as Spanish, Italian or

French. There are six main regional varieties with easy intercomprehension between

them: Provençal (including «Niçois», Vivarais-alpine, Auvergnat, Limousin, Gascon

(including «Bearnais» and Languedocien. All those varieties of the Occitan language are

written and valid. «Standard Occitan» is a synthesis.

Catalan is a language very similar to Occitan and there are quite strong historical

1 Belonging to Occitania are the east of Charente, the south of Isère (except Grenoble), the Fenouillèdes

and a few parishes in Loire, Cher, Indre, and Vienne. In Bayonne and Biarritz, Occitan has been spoken

since the 14

th

century. Basque has also been spoken there since the 20

th

century.

© Partit occitan 2000

and cultural links between Occitania and Catalonia.

1200 years' history

The Occitan language appeared in the 9

th

century: it was used at once in legal then

litterary, scientific and religious texts.

Occitania in the Middle-Ages was a free country, united by its culture, but divided

between its sovereigns: from the 11

th

to the 13

th

century, the dukes of Aquitaine, the

counts of Toulouse and the Catalan kings rivalled in their attempts at unifying the country.

The Occitan litterature was glorious and flourishing at that time: in the 12

th

and 13

th

century, the troubadours invented courtly love (

fin'amor

) and the langue d'oc spread

throughout all European cultivated circles. Actually, the terms «langue d'oc», «Occitan»

and «Occitania» appeared at the end of the 13

th

century.

But from the 13

th

to the 17

th

century, the French kings gradually conquered

Occitania sometimes slaughtering the population (one million people were killed during the

Albigensian crusade !).

In the days of the Ancien Régime (16

th

to 18

th

century), the French kings abolished

autonomous parliaments in the Occitan regions. The nobility and bourgeoisie started

learning French while the people stuck to the langue d'oc. In 1539, François I

st

issued the

Villers-Cotterêts edict that imposed the use of French instead of Occitan in

administration

2

.

In 1789, the revolutionary committees tried to re-establish the autonomy of the

«Midi» regions: they used the Occitan language but the Jacobin power neutralized them.

The 18

th

century witnessed a strong revival of the Occitan litterature and the writer

Frederic Mistral was awarded the Nobel Prize for litterature in 1904.

But from 1881 onwards, the children who spoke Occitan at school were punished

ans traumatized in accordance with minister Jules Ferry's recommendations. That led to a

depreciation of the language: everyone spoke Occitan in 1914, but French gained the

upper hand during the 20

th

century. The situation got worse with the media excluding the

use of the langue d'oc. In spite of that decline, the Occitan language is still alive and trying

to gain fresh impetus...

A living culture

There are 13 million inhabitants in Occitania today: 6 million (nearly one half)

understand Occitan and 3 million speak it. The Institut d'Estudis Occitans has been

modernizing the Occitan language since 1945. Nowadays Occitan is used in the most

modern musical and litterary styles such as rock'n roll, detective stories or science-fiction.

It is on the internet. Association schools (Calandretas) teach children in Occitan.

The Occitan political movement has been developping since the beginning of the

20

th

century and particularly since post-war years. In 1987, several organisations merged

2 Occitan remained Bearn's official language until French annexion in 1620.

© Partit occitan 2000

into the Partit Occitan. The Occitan Party is a member of "Régions et Peuples solidaires"

(a grouping of autonomist and regionalist parties in the French state) and of the European

Free Alliance (EFA-DPEP).

The Occitan political movement is part of a huge worldwide drive of peoples

towards a modern organisation logic, based on cultural and human realities.

At the time of Europe's emerging Regions, Occitania can become a federation of strong

regions, with a lively culture and open to the world.

Occitània es lo futur !

PARTIT OCCITAN

BP 31

F- 16270 ROMASIERAS

[e-mail]

http://partitoccitan.org

© Partit occitan 2000