Occitan valleys

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Localization of the Occitan valleys (blue zone) within Occitania (red line)

The Occitan valleys ( Occitan Valadas occitanas , Italian: Valli occitane ) of Piedmont are a series of Alpine valleys on Italian territory in which, in addition to Italian and Piedmontese , Occitan (more precisely: Alpine provence) is spoken. They extend along the Italian-French border in the metropolitan city of Turin , the province of Cuneo and partly in the province of Imperia (Liguria). In addition to Italian, which is spoken by the general population, 49.5% of the population speak Occitan. In addition, 65.1% of the population speak the Piedmontese language.

geography

The Occitan valleys form an area of ​​approx. 4,500 km² with 174,476 inhabitants (July 2013). It is an orographically complex area: many parallel valleys that rise in a westerly direction and are separated from one another by mountain ranges. The exchange and communication between the valleys are difficult, but each of them can be easily reached via the Po Valley. The Po Valley also forms the border of the Occitan-speaking area. Nevertheless, thanks to the two passes Colle della Maddalena (French: Col de Larche ) and Colle del Monginevro (French: Col de Montgenèvre ), over the centuries the valleys developed close ties to the large Occitan-speaking area, which extends from northern Catalonia over the entire area of ​​southern France.

language

The Occitan spoken in the Piedmontese valleys belongs to the vivaro-apline (also called Alpine Provençal or gavot) varieties. It is very similar to the Occitan varieties of the Provencal Alps.

Occitan is not spoken in all valleys of Piedmont. The Locana Valley and the Lanzotal form the Franco-Provencal language area with the Aosta Valley . The linguistic borderline is in the Susa Valley , which thus occupies a special position. Occitan is spoken in the high valley of the Susa Valley, and Franco-Provencal in the lower valley, including Susa. Thus, the Susa valley has the characteristic of being five languages ​​(Occitan in the high valley, Franco-Provencal in the lower valley, Piedmontese in the larger cities, French in Susa, and generally Italian).

literature

  • Sabine Bade / Wolfram Mikuteit: Piedmont hiking . Michael-Müller-Verlag, Erlangen 2010, ISBN 978-3-89953-566-2

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Istituto di Ricerche Economico Sociale del Piemonte (2007): Le lingue del Piemonte . (Collana di Ricerche, 113). Retrieved June 11, 2011.