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Vivaro-Alpine Dialect
The Vivaro-Alpine dialect (Occitan: vivaroalpenc, vivaroaupenc) is a dialect of the Occitan language. It belongs to the group of North Occitan languages, along with Limosinoe Auvernhat (a dialect of Auvergnat, from the ancient Gallo-Roman region of Auvergne). The dialect is spoken in Velay, in the south of the Dauphiné, in Italy and in the Guardia Piemontese (province of Cosenza), and in the Occitan valleys of Piedmont and Liguria. The name “vivaro-alpine” was coined by Pierre Bec in the 1970's. The Vivaro-Alpine dialects are traditionally called “gavot” from the Maritime Alps to the Hautes-Alpes.



The Occitan Language
Occitan is not exactly a language, rather it is a collection of six varied dialects spoken mostly in Southern France, but also in other areas of Europe. Occitan is known as "Lenga d’òc" by its native speakers. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in Gaul, feudalism expanded, and with no central government multiple dialects emerged. Vivaro-Alpine emerged from this diffusion of language.

Sub-dialects
Vivaro-alpine has two sub-dialect groups:


 * Aupenc (Alpine), or Eastern Vivaro-Alpine, which is spoken in Italy in the Occitan Valleys of Piedmont and in Guardia Piemontese (province of Cosenza); known as Guardiolo (Gardiol);
 * Vivarodaufinenc, or Western Vivaro-Alpine, spoken in the south of Isère, in Drôme and in Haute-Loire.

Nomination and Classification
For a long time, Vivaro-Alpine was considered a sub-dialect of Provencal, under the denomination of Alpine-Provencal or even North-Provencal. Its extension into the southern part of the Delfine has earned it the nickname dauphinois. In its Atlas of threatened languages, Unesco classifies it as a language "in peril".

Characterization
Vivaro-Alpine is classified as an Indo-European, Italic, Romance, or Western-Romance language.

Vivaro-Alpine shares the palatization of consonants k and g in front of a with the other varieties of North Occitan (Limosino, Alverniate), in particular with words such as chantar ("cantare," to sing) and jai ("ghiandaia," jay). Souther Occitan has, respectively, cantar and gai.

Its principal characteristic is the dropping of simple Latin dental intervocalics:


 * chantaa or chantaia for chantada ("cantata," sung),
 * monea for moneda ("moneta," coin),]
 * bastia or bastiá for bastida ("imbastitura, tack),
 * maür for madur ("maturo," mature).

The verbal ending of the first person is -o (like in Italian, Catalan, Castilian, and Portugese, but also in Piemontese, which is neighboring): parlo per parli or parle ("io parlo"), parlavo per parlavi or parlave ("io parlavo"), parlèro for parlèri or parlère ("io ho parlato, io parlavo").

A common trait is the rotacismo of l (passage from l to r):


 * barma for balma or bauma ("grotta," cave),
 * escòra for escòla ("scuola," school),
 * saraa or sarai for salada ("insalata," salad).

In the dialects of the Alps, Vivaro-Alpine maintained the pronunciation of the r of the infinitive verbs (excepting modern Occitan).

An estimated 70% of languages are estimated to have "interrogative intonation contours which end with rising pitch." However, Vivaro Alpine follows the opposite pattern with yes/no questions--an initial high tone followed by a fall. Questions that end in a rising pitch are so common that they are often considered "natural." One reason that questions begin with a high tone in some languages is that the listener is immediately being alerted to the fact that they are being asked a question.

Status
Vivaro-Alpine is an endangered language. There are approximately 200,000 native speakers of the language worldwide. Transmission of the language is very low. Speakers of Vivaro-Alpine typically also speak either French or Italian.

Examples
These are the lyrics to a traditional Occitan song, called "Se chanta."

Lyrics:

References: