Consonants

Below is an abstract consonant chart that covers multiple dialects. Where symbols for consonants occur in pairs, the left represents a voiceless consonant and the right represents a voiced consonant.

IPA chart Occitan consonants

Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals...	Dental/ Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...	Palato- alveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate...	Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...		Dorsal Dorsal consonant Dorsal consonants are articulated with the mid body of the tongue . They contrast with coronal consonants articulated with the flexible front of the tongue, and radical consonants articulated with the root of the tongue.-Function:...
			plain	lab.	velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....	uvular Uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and...
Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...	m	n		ɲ		ŋ
Plosive	p   b   β	t   d				k   ɡ
Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...		ts   (dz)	tʃ   dʒ
Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...	f   (v)	s   z   ð	(ʃ)   (ʒ)			ɣ
Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no...				j	ɥ	w
Lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth....		l		ʎ
Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular....		r					(ʀ)
Flap Flap consonant In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator is thrown against another.-Contrast with stops and trills:...		ɾ

Please note:

• The phoneme /ʃ/ is mostly found in words coming from Gascon and in some words of foreign origin.
• The distinction between /v/ (v) and /b/ (b) is general in Provençal, Vivaro-Alpine, Auvergnat and Limousin. However, in Languedocien and Gascon, the phonemes /b/ and /v/ are neutralized as /b/ (thus /v/ has disappeared).
• In Languedocien:
  • the phonemes /b, d, g/ indicate two kinds of sound, depending on what surrounds them:
    • a plosive sound [p, t, k] by default.
    • a fricative
      Fricative consonant
      Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...
      
       [β, ð, ɣ] between two vowels or in conjunction with [r, l, z].
  • the phonemes /ts/ and /dz/ and the sequences /p+s/, /k+s/ are neutralized as /ts/ (thus/dz/, /p+s/ and /k+s/ have disappeared).
• In Auvergnat and Limousin, and locally in other dialects,
  • 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).
• In Auvergnat, most of the consonants, except /r/, can have a palatized
  Palatal consonant
  Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...
  
   sound before i and u. Consequently, the consonantic phonemes have two kinds of sound, one being not palatal (by default) and the other being palatal (before i and u): /p/ => [p, pj]; /b/ => [b, bj]; /t/ => [t, tj]; /d/ => [d, dj]; /k/ => [k, kj]; /g/ => [g, gj]; /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) of Limousin
  Limousin (province)
  Limousin is one of the traditional provinces of France around the city of Limoges. Limousin lies in the foothills of the western edge of the Massif Central, with cold weather in the winter...
  
  , a transphonologization has occurred:
  • The old phonemes /ts/, /dz/ have now become /s/, /z/.
  • The old phonemes /s/, /z/ have now become /ʃ/, /ʒ/.
• In Provençal in general, and partially in other dialects, the phonemes /j/ and /ʎ/ are neutralized as /j/ (thus /ʎ/ has disappeared).
• The original rhotic consonants
  Rhotic consonant
  In phonetics, rhotic consonants, also called tremulants or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek letter rho, including "R, r" from the Roman alphabet and "Р, p" from the Cyrillic alphabet...
  
  , /r/ (tapped) and /rr/ (trilled) have known important evolutions:
  • In Provençal and partially in other dialects, there is now an opposition between /r/ (tapped) and /ʀ/ (uvular
    Uvular consonant
    Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and...
    
    ) (whereas /rr/ has disappeared). This feature is shared with Portuguese
    Portuguese language
    Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
    
    . 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 and in Niçard
    Niçard
    Niçard , Nissart/Niçart , Niçois , or Nizzardo is considered a distinct subdialect of the Occitan language spoken in the city of Nice and in the historical County of Nice Niçard (Classical orthography), Nissart/Niçart (Mistralian orthography), Niçois (French, IPA: ), or Nizzardo (Italian, IPA: )...
    
    , the phonemes /r/ and /rr/ are neutralized as /r/ (or even /ʀ/).

Gascon consonants

• Gascon shares some traits with Languedocien:
  • The phonemes /b, d, g/ indicate two kinds of sound, depending on what surrounds them:
    • a plosive sound [p, t, k] by default.
    • a fricative
      Fricative consonant
      Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...
      
       [β, ð, ɣ] between two vowels or in conjunction with [r, l, z].
  • The phonemes /b/ and /v/ of the general pattern are neutralized as /b/. It seems possible, however, that the phoneme /v/ has never existed in Gascon.
• Gascon and southern Languedocien don't use the semivowel
  Semivowel
  In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel is a sound, such as English or , that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.-Classification:...
  
   /ɥ/ and have the same distribution for the phonemes /dʒ/ (tg, tj) and /ʒ/ (j, g).
• In one part of Gascon, the palatal
  Palatal consonant
  Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...
  
   affricates /tʃ/, /dʒ/ become plosive palatal consonants: /c/, /ɟ/.

Vowels

IPA Examples English equivalent Vowel Vowel In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some... s a quatre sack e fetge say (without the y sound) ɛ mètge sect i vitz cease ɔ escòla cause u Tolosa soup y luna as in French rue and German Blüte

IPA: Diphthong Diphthong A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel... s IPA Examples English approximation aj maire tie ej rei bay ɛj glèisa ɔj jòia boy ɔw plòure aw pausa now ew Euròpa ɛw benlèu ja embestiar yard je oriental yes jɛ fièr jɔ luòc yawn ju accion you iw viure uj soi wa qüadragenari wag we bilingüe wait wɛ oèst wet ɥɛ fuèlha wɔ doás war wi Loís weed ɥi ambigüitat

IPA: Triphthong Triphthong In phonetics, a triphthong is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel quality to another that passes over a third... s IPA Examples English approximation jaw suau jej fieiral jɛj fièira jew ieu jɛw camaièu jɔw buòu ɥɛj puèi

Please note:

• The grapheme -a, when in final position and after the word's stress, is pronounced /ɔ/ in general (locally: /a/, [ə]).
• The grapheme á is pronounced /ɔ/ in general (locally: /e/, /ɛ/).

General ablaut

Indo-European ablaut

In linguistics, ablaut is a system of apophony in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages...

 

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 the Languedocien variety of Guyenne
  Guyenne
  Guyenne or Guienne , , ; Occitan Guiana ) is a vaguely defined historic region of south-western France. The Province of Guyenne, sometimes called the Province of Guyenne and Gascony, was a large province of pre-revolutionary France....
  
  , the stressed vowel /a/ (a) becomes the unstressed vowel /ɔ/ (a). For instance (stress underlined): bala /ˈbalɔ/ > balon /bɔˈlu/.
  • Please note- 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 not heard: montanha, pan /munˈtɔɲɔ, ˈpɔ/ (instead of /munˈtaɲɔ, ˈpa/).
• In Limousin, Auvernhat, Vivaro-Alpine and in most of Provençal (though not in Niçard
  Niçard
  Niçard , Nissart/Niçart , Niçois , or Nizzardo is considered a distinct subdialect of the Occitan language spoken in the city of Nice and in the historical County of Nice Niçard (Classical orthography), Nissart/Niçart (Mistralian orthography), Niçois (French, IPA: ), or Nizzardo (Italian, IPA: )...
  
  ), the stressed diphtong /aw/ (au) becomes the unstressed diphtong /ɔw/ (au). For instance (stress underlined): sauta /ˈsawtɔ/ > sautar /sɔwˈta/.
• In Limousin, Auvernhat, Vivaro-Alpine and in most of Provençal (though not in Niçard), the stressed diphtong /aj/ (ai) becomes the unstressed diphtong /ej/ (ai). For instance (stress underlined): laissa /ˈlajsɔ/ > laissar /lejˈsa/.

The ablaut in Auvergnat 

One typical characteristic of Auvergnat (also a feature of some neighbouring dialects of Vivaro-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 of Auvergne
  Auvergne (province)
  Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
  
  , the stressed vowel /a/ (a) (unrounded) becomes the unstressed vowel /ɒ/ (a) (rounded). For instance (stress underlined): bala /ˈbalɔ/ > balon /bɒˈlu/.
• The stressed diphtong /aw/ (au) becomes the unstressed diphtong /ɔw (u, œ)/ (au). For instance (stress underlined): sauta /ˈsawtɔ/ > sautar /sɔwˈta/.
• The stressed diphtong /aj/ (ai) becomes the unstressed diphtong /ej (i)/ (ai). For instance (stress underlined): laissa /ˈlajsɔ/ > laissar /lejˈsa/.

The ablaut in Limousin 

A strong characteristic of Limousin (also a feature of some neighbouring dialects of Vivaro-Alpine) is the neutralization of the phonemes /e/ and /ɛ/ in one single phoneme /e/, that can have various degrees of opening.

In the 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 of Vivarais

Vivarais

Vivarais is a traditional region in the south-east of France, covering the département of Ardèche, named after its capital Viviers on the river Rhône...

.

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 diphtong /aw/ (au) becomes the unstressed diphtong /ɔw/ (au). For instance (stress underlined): sauta /ˈsawtɔ/ > sautar /sɔwˈta/.
• The stressed diphtong /aj/ (ai) becomes the unstressed diphtong /ej/ (ai). For instance (stress underlined): laissa /ˈlajsɔ/ > laissar /lejˈsa/.

Regional variation

IPA Examples English equivalent Auvergnat v vent valid œ fuelha blur ʃ servici shoe wɔ pòrta war ɥi ajuidar œj nueit

IPA Examples English equivalent Gascon Gascon language Gascon is usually considered as a dialect of Occitan, even though some specialists regularly consider it a separate language. Gascon is mostly spoken in Gascony and Béarn in southwestern France and in the Aran Valley of Spain... ʒ joença measure h hemna high ʃ Foish shoe yw cuu wew ueu

IPA Examples English equivalent Limousin v vent valid œ fuelha blur o còsta between spoke and sport

IPA Examples English equivalent Provençal v vent valid ʒ age measure œ fuelha blur wɔ bòna war ʀ tèrra French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...  rue

IPA Examples English equivalent Vivaro-Alpine Vivaro-Alpine Vivaro-Alpine or Vivaroalpenc, Vivaroaupenc is the northeastern dialect of the Occitan language. It belongs to the Northern Occitan dialectal group. Vivaro-Alpine is spoken in Southern France and North-Western Italy, and in the remote Guardia Piemontese, Calabria, where it is known as gardiol... v vent valid

Word stress

Stress (linguistics)

In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...

 

Word stress has limited mobility. It can only fall on:

• the last syllable (oxytones
  Oxytone
  An oxytone is a word with the stress on the last syllable, such as the English words correct and reward. A paroxytone is stressed on the penultimate syllable. A proparoxytone is stressed on the antepenultimate syllable.-See also:*Barytone...
  
   or mots aguts)
• the penultimate syllable (paroxytones
  Paroxytone
  Paroxytone is a linguistic term for a word with stress on the penultimate syllable, that is, the syllable before the last syllable, e.g, the English word potato...
  
   or mots plans).
• However, in Niçard
  Niçard
  Niçard , Nissart/Niçart , Niçois , or Nizzardo is considered a distinct subdialect of the Occitan language spoken in the city of Nice and in the historical County of Nice Niçard (Classical orthography), Nissart/Niçart (Mistralian orthography), Niçois (French, IPA: ), or Nizzardo (Italian, IPA: )...
  
  , and less commonly in the Cisaupenc dialect of the Occitan Valleys
  Occitan Valleys
  The Occitan Valleys are the part of Occitania which is situated within the borders of Italy.It is a mountainous territory, situated in the southern Alps: most of its valleys are oriented eastward and descend toward the plains of Piedmont.The population is estimated at inhabitants.Main towns are...
  
  , the stress can also fall on the antepenultimate (third from last) syllable (proparoxytones
  Proparoxytone
  Proparoxytone is a linguistic term for a word with stress on the antepenultimate syllable, e.g the English words cinema and operational. Related terms are paroxytone and oxytone .In English, most nouns of three or more syllables are proparoxtones...
  
   or mots esdrúchols). 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

Historical development

As a Romance language, Occitan developed from Vulgar Latin

Vulgar Latin

Vulgar Latin is any of the nonstandard forms of Latin from which the Romance languages developed. Because of its nonstandard nature, it had no official orthography. All written works used Classical Latin, with very few exceptions...

. 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, /k/ had softened before front vowel
  Front vowel
  A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...
  
  s to [t͡s], not yet to [s].
• In the early Middle Ages
  Middle Ages
  The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
  
  , ⟨z⟩ between vowels represented the affricate /dʒ/, not yet /z/.
• In early Old Occitan, ⟨z⟩ represented [t͡s] in final position.
• 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.
• When not part of a diphthong, the vowel spelled ⟨o⟩ was probably pronounced as ʊ, not yet [u].
• Between vowels, the letter ⟨i⟩ or ⟨j⟩ represented, for most speech in Occitania
  Occitania
  Occitania , also sometimes lo País d'Òc, "the Oc Country"), is the region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken, and where it is sometimes still used, for the most part as a second language...
  
  , j. However, this could become ʒ, especially down south: 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 sometimes palatalized
  Palatalization
  In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
  
   to [rʲ].
• 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]).
• In the pre-literary period of early Old Occitan /u/ had not been fronted to [y], although strong doubts exist as to when the change actually happened.
• When between vowels, /d/ lenited to ð, though this is still true for only Gascon
  Gascon language
  Gascon is usually considered as a dialect of Occitan, even though some specialists regularly consider it a separate language. Gascon is mostly spoken in Gascony and Béarn in southwestern France and in the Aran Valley of Spain...
  
   and Languedocien dialects; elsewhere, it eventually turned to [z] or was deleted.
• In Gascon, there was one voiced labial phoneme that was [b] in the beginning of a word and [β] between vowels. 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).

Old Occitan phonology

Consonants IPA Examples English approximation b beutatz beauty ç Foih German ich d domna doll ð foudatz this f fol fool g gay garage dʒ jorn raging tʃ chansó match k cansó neglect l lauzeta laundry m amors marine n benanansa natural p perduda captain ɾ vestidura Italian mare r(r) rossinhols Spanish rápido s sospir last ʃ laishar shoe t tuih fact v Ventadorn valid v Ventadorn valid ks francx box z roza amazing ts amanz cats

Full vowels IPA Examples English approximation a quar sack e fetz say (without the y sound) ɛ melhs sect i vida cease ɔ midons cause u Tholoza soup y negús French lunette

Diphtongs IPA Examples English approximation aj esmai tie ej mezeis bay ɛj gleiza ɔj enoyós boy ɔw mou aw lauzengiers now ew Deus ɛw leu ja chastiar yard je nien yes jɛ quier jɔ huoills yawn ju jauzion you iw chaitiu uj cui wa aquatic wag wɛ oest wet ɥɛ fuelha wi Loís weed

Triphtongs IPA Examples English approximation jaw suau jej fieyral jɛj fieyra jew yeu jɔw buou ɥɛj pueys

Further reading

• Lavalade, Yves: Dictionnaire Occitan - Français
• Omelhièr, Cristian: Petiòt diccionari Occitan d'Auvèrnhe - Francés