endonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...
: ) is a northern dialect of Occitan spoken in central and southern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, in particular in the former administrative region of
Auvergne
Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...
.
Currently, research shows that there is not really a true Auvergnat dialect but rather a vast northern Occitan linguistic area.
The word "Auvergnat" is above all a local historiographical creation. According to
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...
Jean Roux, "It is by simplification that we use this term, because in no case Auvergnat can be considered as an autonomous linguistic entity".
With around 80,000 speakers in the Auvergne region at the beginning of the 21st century, it is considered to be severely
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...
.
Classification
Auvergnat falls under the following categories and subcategories: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Gallo-Iberian, Gallo-Romance, Occitan.
History
Several
troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a '' trobair ...
s were from the Auvergne, including
Castelloza
Na Castelloza (fl. early 13th century) was a noblewoman and trobairitz from Auvergne.
Life
According to her later '' vida'', Castelloza was the wife of Turc de Mairona, probably the lord of Meyronne.''Vidas'', p. 26. Turc's ancestors had partic ...
Peire d'Alvernhe
Peire d'Alvernhe or d'Alvernha (''Pèire'' in modern Occitan; b. c. 1130) was an Auvergnat troubadour (active 1149–1170) with twenty-oneGaunt and Kay, 287. or twenty-fourEgan, 72.Aubrey, ''The Music of the Troubadours'', 8. surviving works ...
, Peire Rogier and Pons de Capduelh. They did not, however, compose in the Auvergnat dialect, but in the standard literary register of
Old Occitan
Old Occitan ( oc, occitan ancian, label= Modern Occitan, ca, occità antic), also called Old Provençal, was the earliest form of the Occitano-Romance languages, as attested in writings dating from the eighth through the fourteenth centuries. Ol ...
.
Official documents in Auvergnat become common around 1340 and continue to be found down to 1540, when the transition to French was complete. The high point for the use of Auvergnat as an official language was between 1380 and 1480. There is a passion play, ''Passion d'Auvergne'', first performed in Montferrand in 1477, that is written mainly in French but which contains an Auvergnat section of 66 lines. Auvergnat had been replaced by French in official usage in the Montferrand already in 1388. French had also supplanted Auvergnat as the language of the upper classes, but it remained the language of rural communities.
Geographical distribution
The effective borders of Auvergnat do not completely coincide with those of the current Region of Auvergne or the historical region of Auvergne but can be described as follows:
* The entire
aside Yssingeaux which speaks Vivaro-Alpine,
* the southern half of
Allier
Allier ( , , ; oc, Alèir) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that borders Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire to the east, Puy-de-Dôme to the south, and Creuse to the south-west. Named after ...
, or the Bourbonnais province, near
Montluçon
Montluçon (; oc, Montleçon ) is a commune in central France on the river Cher. It is the largest commune in the Allier department, although the department's prefecture is located in the smaller town of Moulins. Its inhabitants are known a ...
and
Vichy
Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais.
It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...
There are strong oppositions between Pierre Bonnaud (for whom the Auvergnat is a language of its own, see the light orange line on the map – note it is including the easternmost part of the Marchois dialect) and for instance Roger Teulat.
* 0: Absence of paroxytonic stress in the north – defines the Marchois dialect, a name often given to the Occitan spoken in the Croissant area. The area labelled m is that of the Marchois dialect.
* 3: The ca/cha boundary separated Northern Occitan (Limousin, Auvergnat, Vivaro-Alpine, Marchois) and Southern Occitan (Gascon, Languedocien, Provençal). It is part of the Auvergnat boundary, along with 7, in Cantal. Area lm is for the Limousin dialect, va for Vivaro-Alpine, lg for Languedocien.
* 4: Feminines in ''–ada'' have lost intervocalic ''d'' and became ''–aa'': this separates Auvergnat and Vivaro-Alpine (almost the same boundary for first person indicative present in ''–o'' another characteristic of Vivaro-Alpine).
Definition boundaries
These are not characteristic of Auvergnat as a whole but allow for defining a boundary:
* 5 and 6: These match the Core Auvergnat, according to Pierre Bonnaud. They may be used for the western boundary of Auvergnat. Area 5 has the pronunciation aRof ''èr'' (around �R, area 6 has the palatalisation of 'cl' to ʎor �ʎ
* 7: Southeastern boundary has an opposition between ''dreita'' and ''drecha''
* 8: This is for the southern boundary: the plural of ''braç'' has the same pronunciation than the singular; only the article allows differentiation.
Note that most Occitanists use rather 7 than 8 to define the southern boundary.
Internal variation
Note some of the definition boundaries allow defining an internal variation. The most traditional one between Lower or Northern Auvergnat and Upper or Southern Auvergnat is the mutation of ''s'' before and (line 9). Lower Auvergnat, defined by Teulat, is the light green area labelled 1 on the map. Upper Auvergnat, defined by Teulat, is the light brown-yellow area labelled 2 on the map. A broader area (light yellow) is generally defined. A Northwestern Auvergnat may be defined as well by 5 and 6. The Northeastern (East of 5 and 6, North of 9) has, according to Bonnaud, a stronger influence from French phonetics (a bit like Marchois).
Subdialects
Auvergnat is most often categorized in the Northern Occitan dialect group, along with
Limousin
Limousin (; oc, Lemosin ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. On 1 January 2016, it became part of the new administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienn ...
and Vivaro-Alpine.
There are two primary distinctions in Auvergnat:
* Northern Auvergnat (''nord-auvergnat'', also ''bas-auvergnat'') in Puy-de-Dôme and Allier (Bourbonnais) and Haute-Loire north of Brioude.
** In the south of Allier (Bourbonnais), the local ''nord-auvergnat'' has been heavily influenced by French, but Auvergnat linguistic traits remain dominant. This transition zone to French, called locally ''le Croissant'', includes the northern fringe of Limousin. See also the article on
.
* Southern Auvergnat (''sud-auvergnat'', also ''haut-auvergnat'') spoken in Cantal, Haute-Loire (with a part of Ardèche and most of Lozère).
The suggestion that Auvergnat is an independent language, distinct from Occitan, has found little resonance with linguists, especially Romance linguists. It is strongly defended by those who espouse the ''norme bonnaudienne'' a standardization of Auvergnat.
Languages of France
Of the languages of France, French is the sole official language according to the second article of the French Constitution. French, a Gallo-Romance language, is spoken by nearly the entire population of France.
In addition to French, several ...
Occitan language
Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valle ...