This map shows the regions
of the world where Provençal is commonly spoken
(red circle). Ultimately, Provençal traces its
roots to the Italic branch of Indo-European. It descended
from classical
Latin. In the medieval period,
Provençal was known as langue d'oc, and it
was an important literary language competing linguistically
with
the northern Parisian French known as langue d'oil.
The Albigensian crusades and the rising political power of
Paris,
however, led to its diminishment. Today, in spite of many attempts
at literary revival, Provençal remains a second-class
language spoken by southern peasants. Provençal is
is most closely related to French,
Italian, Spanish,
Portugeuse, Catalan,
and Galician. It is
more distantly related to Romansch
and Romanian.
| Daniel M. Short originally created this
map and the other Indo-European language charts for his website at http://www.danshort.com/.
I reproduce these images here with the author's permission, but they are
copyrighted by Daniel Short as of 2002. These charts should not be reproduced
or reused without Mr. Short's approval. You may contact him at danshort@gte.net
for more information. These images are not public domain. |