Below is a consonant chart that covers multiple dialects. Where symbols for consonants occur in pairs, the left represents avoiceless consonant and the right represents avoiced consonant.
The phoneme/ʃ/ is mostly found in Southern Occitan (written⟨(i)sh⟩ inGascon,⟨ch⟩ inProvençal, and⟨(i)ss⟩ inLanguedocien).
The distinction between/v/⟨v⟩ and/b/⟨b⟩ is general in Provençal,Vivaro-Alpine,Auvergnat andLimousin. However, in Languedocien and Gascon, the phonemes/b/ and/v/ are neutralized as/b/ (thus/v/ has disappeared).
the phonemes/ts/ and/tʃ/ are neutralized as/ts/ (thus/tʃ/ has disappeared).
the phonemes/dz/ and/dʒ/ are neutralized as/dz/ (thus/dʒ/ has disappeared).
InAuvergnat, most of the consonants, except/r/, can have apalatalized sound beforei andu. Consequently, the consonant phonemes have two kinds of sounds, one being not palatal (by default) and the other being palatal (beforei andu):/p/ →[p,pj];/b/ →[b,bj];/t/ →[t,tj];/d/ →[d,dj];/k/ →[k,kj];/ɡ/ →[ɡ,ɡj];/f/ →[f,fj];/v/ →[v,vj];/s/ →[s,ʃ];/z/ →[z,ʒ];/ts/ →[ts,tʃ];/dz/ →[dz,dʒ];/m/ →[m,mj];/n/ →[n,nj];/l/ →[l,lj].
In one part (and only one part) ofLimousin,[which?] a transphonologization has occurred:
The old phonemes/ts/,/dz/ have now become[s],[z], less frequently[θ],[ð].
The old phonemes/s/,/z/ have now become[ʃ],[ʒ], less frequently[h],[ɦ].
In theProvençal in general, and partially in other dialects, the phonemes/j/ and/ʎ/ are neutralized as/j/ (thus/ʎ/ has disappeared).
The originalrhotic consonants,/ɾ/ (tapped) and/r/ (trilled), have shown important evolutions:
In Provençal and partially in other dialects, there is now an opposition between/ɾ/ (tapped) and/ʀ/ (uvular) (whereas/r/ has disappeared). This feature is shared withPortuguese. In the cases when the opposition is impossible between the two phonemes, the default realization is/ʀ/ (it was/r/ in the original pattern).
In most of Limousin, Auvergne, Vivarais andNiçard, the phonemes/ɾ/ and/r/ are neutralized as/r/ (or even/ʀ/).
The phonemes/b,d,ɡ/ have the same realization as described above for Languedocien.
The phonemes/b/ and/v/ of the general pattern are neutralized as/b/. It seems possible, however, that the phoneme/v/ never existed in Gascon.
Gascon and Southern Languedocien do not have thesemivowel/ɥ/ (Gascon has/w/, SL has/β/) and have the same distribution for the phonemes/dʒ/⟨tg, tj⟩ and/ʒ/⟨j, g⟩.
A glottal fricative sound/h/ is recognized among the dialects of Gascon.
In one part of Gascon,[which?] thepalatal affiricates/tʃ//dʒ/ becomeplosive palatal consonants:[c],[ɟ].
In an unstressed position, some vowels cannot be realized and become more closed vowels:
The stressed vowel/ɛ/⟨è⟩ becomes the unstressed vowel[e]⟨e⟩. For instance (stress underlined):tèrra/ˈtɛrrɔ/ →terrassa/teˈrrasɔ/.
The stressed vowel/ɔ/⟨ò⟩ becomes the unstressed vowel[u]⟨o⟩. For instance (stress underlined):còde/ˈkɔde/ →codificar/kudifiˈka/.
In some local dialects, especially in theLanguedocien variety ofGuyenne, the stressed vowel/a/⟨a⟩ becomes the unstressed vowel[ɔ]⟨a⟩. For instance (stress underlined):bala/ˈbalɔ/ →balon/bɔˈlu/.
Also in Guyenne, the vowel⟨a⟩, when stressed, is pronounced[ɔ] when followed by a nasal consonant such as/n,m,ɲ/⟨n, m, nh⟩ or a final⟨n⟩ that is silent:montanha, pan/munˈtɔɲɔ,ˈpɔ/ (instead of/munˈtaɲɔ,ˈpa/).Javanese also similarly has such vowel rounding, although the penultimate vowel/ɔ/ (</*a/) could occur before any consonant.
InLimousin,Auvergnat,Vivaro-Alpine and in most ofProvençal (though not inNiçard), the stressed diphthong/aw/⟨au⟩ becomes the unstressed diphthong[ɔw]⟨au⟩. For instance (stress underlined):sauta/ˈsawtɔ/ →sautar/sɔwˈta/.
In Limousin, Auvergnat, Vivaro-Alpine and in most of Provençal (though not in Niçard), the stressed diphthong/aj/⟨ai⟩ becomes the unstressed diphthong[ej]⟨ai⟩. For instance (stress underlined):laissa/ˈlajsɔ/ →laissar/lejˈsa/.
One typical characteristic of Auvergnat (also a feature of some neighbouring dialects ofVivaro-Alpine) is the transformation of the following phonemes:
The old phoneme/ɛ/ has become[e].
The old phoneme/e/ has become[ə] or[ɪ].
In an unstressed position, some vowels cannot be realized and become more closed vowels:
The stressed vowel/e/⟨è⟩ becomes the unstressed vowel[ə(ɪ)]⟨e⟩. For instance (stress underlined):tèrra/ˈterɔ/ →terrassa/təˈrasɔ/.
The stressed vowel/ɔ/⟨ò⟩ becomes the unstressed vowel[u]⟨o⟩. For instance (stress underlined):còde/ˈkɔdə/ →codificar/kudifiˈka/.
In the northern part ofAuvergne, the stressed vowel/a/⟨a⟩ (unrounded) becomes the unstressed vowel[ɒ]⟨a⟩ (rounded). For instance (stress underlined):bala/ˈbalɔ/ →balon/bɒˈlu/.
The stressed diphthong/aw/⟨au⟩ becomes the unstressed diphthong[ɔw(u,œ)]⟨au⟩. For instance (stress underlined):sauta/ˈsawtɔ/ →sautar/sɔwˈta/.
The stressed diphthong/aj/⟨ai⟩ becomes the unstressed diphthong[ej(i)]⟨ai⟩. For instance (stress underlined):laissa/ˈlajsɔ/ →laissar/lejˈsa/.
A strong characteristic of Limousin (also a feature of some neighbouring dialects ofVivaro-Alpine) is the neutralization of the phonemes/e/ and/ɛ/ in one single phoneme/e/, that can have various degrees of opening.
In words of popular formation, the sequences⟨as, es, is, òs, os, us, ues⟩[as,es,is,ɔs,us,ys,œs], when at the end of a syllable, first became[ah,eh,ih,ɔh,uh,yh,œh] and have now become long vowels,[aː,(ej),iː,ɔː,uː,yː,œː], which tends to create new phonemes with a relevant opposition between short vowels and long vowels. The same phenomenon exists in one part ofVivarais,[which?] and also occurred inthe transition from Old to Middle French.
In unstressed positions, vowels/i,y,u/ become lax sounds[ɪ,ʏ,ʊ].
In an unstressed position, some vowels cannot be realized and become more closed vowels:
The stressed vowel/ɔ/⟨ò⟩ becomes the unstressed vowel[u]⟨o⟩. For instance (stress underlined):còde/ˈkɔde/ →codificar/kudifiˈka/.
The stressed vowel/a/⟨a⟩ (unrounded) becomes the unstressed vowel[ɒ]⟨a⟩ (rounded). For instance (stress underlined):bala/ˈbalɔ/ →balon/bɒˈlu/.
The stressed diphthong/aw/⟨au⟩ becomes the unstressed diphthong[ɔw]⟨au⟩. For instance (stress underlined):sauta/ˈsawtɔ/ →sautar/sɔwˈta/.
The stressed diphthong/aj/⟨ai⟩ becomes the unstressed diphthong[ej]⟨ai⟩. For instance (stress underlined):laissa/ˈlajsɔ/ →laissar/lejˈsa/.
InLimousin andAuvergnat, final consonants, except for⟨nh⟩ and⟨m⟩, are generally muted when not directly followed by a word with a vocalic initial:filh[fi],potz[pu],fach[fa],limon[liˈmu] butestelum[ejteˈlun],estanh[ejˈtan],un fach ancian[ynfatsɔnˈsja].
In Limousin and Auvergnat, when adiphthong starts in⟨o⟩ or⟨u⟩, it is always arising diphthong:boisson[bwiˈsu] (Auvergnat) and[bwejˈsu] (Limousin) versus[bujˈsu] (Languedocien) or[bujˈsun] (Provençal).
In all dialects butLanguedocien, final⟨l⟩ is heavilyvelarized ("dark l") and therefore usually spelled⟨u⟩:especial[espeˈsjaɫ] /especiau[espeˈsjaw] butespeciala[espeˈsjalɔ] in the feminine (except inGascon where it stays asespeciau).
Word stress has limited mobility. It can only fall on:
the last syllable (oxytones ormots aguts 'acute words')
the penultimate syllable (paroxytones ormots plans 'plain words').
However, inNiçard, and less commonly in the Cisaupenc dialect of theOccitan Valleys, the stress can also fall on the antepenultimate (third from last) syllable (proparoxytones ormots esdrúchols 'slip words'). These were regarded as irregular stress in the orthography and they marked by diacritics (see below).
These proparoxytones are equivalent to paroxytones in all other dialects. For instance (stress underlined):
general pattern (no proparoxytones)
Cisaupenc (some proparoxytones)
Niçard (many proparoxytones)
pagina
pàgina
pàgina
arma,anma
ànima,anma
ànima
dimenge
diamenja
diménegue
manja,marga
mània
mànega
The stress is oxytone if the last syllable ending in a consonant or a diphthong ending in-u or-i (occitan /utsiˈta/,verai); while the stress is penultimate if the last syllable ending in a vowel (or vowel +-s) and vowel +-n when in the case of third-person plural verb forms (libre,libres,parlan), the stress is also penultimate when the syllable ending in two different vowels (estatua). Irregular stresses is normally marked orthographically by acutes (á,é,í,ó,ú) and graves (à,è,ò).
As aRomance language, Occitan developed fromVulgar Latin.Old Occitan (around the eighth through the fourteenth centuries) had a similar pronunciation to present-day Occitan; the major differences were:
Before the 13th century,⟨c⟩ had softened beforefront vowels to[t͡s],[2] not yet to[s].[3]
In the earlyMiddle Ages,⟨z⟩ between vowels represented the affricate[d͡z],[2] not yet/z/.
In early Old Occitan,⟨z⟩ represented[t͡s] in final position.[4]
In the late Middle Ages, the letter⟨a⟩ went from[a] to[ɑ] in unaccented position and in stressed syllables followed by a nasal consonant.[5]
When not part of a diphthong, the vowel spelled⟨o⟩ was probably pronounced as[ʊ],[6] not yet[u].
Between vowels, the letter⟨i⟩ or⟨j⟩ represented, for most speech inOccitania,[j]. However, this could become[ʒ], especially down south:[7] it later became[d͡ʒ], which, in turn, would locally depalatalize to[d͡z] in Middle Occitan.
In words where/ɾ/ was preceded by a diphthong whose second element was[j], it was sometimespalatalized to[rʲ].[8]
In earlier times, some dialects used[ç] instead of the more common[ʃ]: despite their similarity, this often led to contrasting spellings (⟨laishar⟩ or⟨laischar⟩[lajˈʃaɾ] vs.⟨laichar⟩[lajˈçaɾ];⟨fois⟩ or⟨foish⟩[fʊjʃ] vs.⟨foih⟩[fʊiç]) before it became[s] commonly across the language (⟨laissar⟩[lajˈsaɾ],⟨Fois⟩[fujs]).[8][9]
In the pre-literary period of earlyOld Occitan/u/ had not been fronted to[y], although strong doubts exist as to when the change actually happened.[2]
When between vowels,/d/ lenited to[ð], though this is still true for onlyGascon andLanguedocien dialects; elsewhere, it eventually turned to[z] or was deleted.[10]
In Gascon, there was one voiced labial phoneme that was[b] in the beginning of a word and[β] between vowels.[11] This still happens today and has spread to the neighbouring Languedocien dialect.
The phoneme⟨lh⟩ was exclusively pronounced[ʎ] (it is now[j] in intervocalic or final position in some dialects).[12]
The confusion of spellings, such asse force,voluntat forvolontat, indicate the accomplishment of a phonetic evolution (here[t͡s] >[s] and atonic[o] >[u]).
Althoughz originally denoted the voiced affricate[dz], it simplified to[z], as[t͡s] simplified to[s], but at an earlier date. The spellingss andz alternate even in the earlier troubadours, indicating the pronunciation[z] in such words ascortesia/cortezia,rosa/roza,gilosa/giloza. In final position-z is pronounced[t͡s], also spelled-tz:toz/totz,maritz,amanz,parlatz,tertz.
When we note that tonic-a followed by unstablen does not rhyme with regular tonic-a, we have confirmation of twoa-phonemes, the normal[a] (anteriora) and the posterior[ɑ], as well as confirmation that Old Occitan does not nasalize vowels followed by nasal consonants, as Old French does.
Les manuscrits ne distinguaient pasi intervocalique dej: on hésite donc sur la prononciation des mots suivants:veraia,aia,raia,saia, etc. Lienig, se fondant sur le témoignage et sur la graphie desLeys [d'Amor], admet comme vraisemblable une prononciation dei voyelle ou semi-consonne dans le Nord de l'Occitanie, et dej dans le Sud. La prononciation-aja (comme dans fr.âge) serait rare dans les rimes destroubadours.
...plusieurs dialectes de l'ancienne langue, y compris le limousin, comme le prouvent des textes de Limoges et de Périgueux, changeaient souvent l's dure suivanti, particulièrementi engagé dans une diphthongue, en une consonne probablement identique auch français, et qu'on figuraitsch,sh ouch. Sursh, voyez un passage desLeys d'amors, I, 62, qui prouve clairement que cette combinaison n'avait pas la valeur d'unes simple. Les trois notations, ou seulement deux d'entre elles, sont quelquefois employées concurremment dans les mêmes textes, ce qui démontre leur équivalence. Ainsi les Coutumes de Limoges ontayschí,punischen, mais plus souvent, parch,laychen,poicha, etc.
The Italian notationgl and the Catalanizedll, both indicating[ʎ], give evidence of the palatalized pronunciation of Occitanlh. Likewise, the transcription of Occitan words in non-Latin alphabets such as Hebrew or Greek may confirm their pronunciation with more precision.
Grandgent, C.H. (1905).An Outline of the Phonology and Morphology of Old Provençal. Heath's modern language series. Boston: Heath.OL14032936M.
McGee, Timothy James;Rigg, A. G.; Klausner, David N. (1996).Singing Early Music: The Pronunciation of European Languages in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Vol. 1.
Wheeler, Max (1997). "Occitan". In Harris, Martin; Vincent, Nigel (eds.).The Romance Languages. Routledge Language Family Descriptions. Routledge. pp. 246–278.ISBN0-415-16417-6.
