Occitan belongs to the Gallo-Iberian branch of the Italic-Romance languages (Indo-European language family). The Occitan language is spoken in the southern third of France, the Aran Valley in the northwest of Catalonia and in a number of Alpine valleys in the north of Italy.
Occitan is only recognised as an official language (the local variety of Aranese) in Catalonia, next to Castillian-Spanish and Catalan. It is not recognised in France, where the only official language is French.
Historically Occitan is the main form of the “langue(s) d’oc”, which differ from the “langue(s) d’oil” in the north of France, of which the main form is French.
The Romance languages of the south developed in a different direction to those of the north; for example Occitan in the south was hardly influence by the Franconian superstratum as was Old French and retained much more similarity with other Romance languages.
Hello - bonjorn
Cheers - A la vòstra
Whereas Old Occitan, just like Old French, still had the nominative and accusative cases, modern Occitan no longer has any nominal case anymore. Syntax-relations are expressed with word place and with prepositions.
Occitans in Italy (178.000 Speaker)
Occitans in France (5.760.000 Speaker)
Occitans in Spain (4.000 Speaker)
Occitans in Monaco (4.500 Speaker)