Gascon dialect

Gascon is a special way of speaking used mainly in a place called Gascony in France. Many people think of it as a type of a bigger group of languages called Occitan, but some believe it should be its own language because it is quite different.

You can hear Gascon mostly in southwestern France, in areas like Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées, Landes, Gers, Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, Haute-Garonne, and Ariège. It is also spoken in the Val d'Aran in Catalonia.

There is a special form of Gascon called Aranese, used in Catalonia alongside the languages Catalan and Spanish. People there often know all three languages. Since 2006, Aranese has been an official language in Catalonia.

Linguistic classification

Further information: Debates concerning Occitan linguistic classification

Most people think that Occitan is one language, but some experts think differently. They say that Occitan is actually a group of different languages, not just dialects of one language. Gascon is different enough that some even say it is its own separate language.

Basque substrate

The language spoken in Gascony before Roman times was part of the Basque language family. This is why the word "Gascon" comes from the same root as "Basque." Because of this Basque influence, Gascon has some unique features. For example, where other languages might use a "f" sound at the start of a word, Gascon often uses an "h" sound or sometimes no sound at all. This happened because Basque did not have the "f" sound.

Over time, Basque influence in the area lessened, and the Latin language became more common. However, Basque still affected the Gascon language in some words and ways of speaking.

Gascon varieties

Gascon has three main varieties or sub-groups: Western Gascon, which includes the Landese dialect and North-Gascon; Eastern or interior Gascon, known as parlar clar (Béarnese); and Pyrenean or southern Gascon, which includes the Aranese dialect.

In the past, the Jews of Gascony, living in cities like Bordeaux and Bayonne, spoke a special form of Gascon called Judeo-Gascon. This form was used until the early 1900s and has since been replaced by a special way of speaking French.

Béarnais, the official language when Béarn was independent, includes all three forms of Gascon spoken in different parts of Béarn.

Usage of the language

A study from 1982 in Béarn found that many people could speak or understand Gascon, and most thought it was important to keep the language alive. However, fewer people use Gascon today because French is often encouraged more. Gascon is rarely taught to young children except in special schools called Calandretas.

By April 2011, only around 250,000 people spoke Gascon as their first language. The way people speak Gascon can change depending on where you are in the region. For example, a word ending in 'a' might sound different in various places. Béarnais has been considered distinct from Gascon since the 1500s, but this is mostly about history rather than the actual sounds of the language.

Influences on other languages

Gascon has some special features that it shares with other Latin languages. This happened because of old connections between different places. These languages include Aragonese and far-western Catalan, spoken in La Franja.

Gascon also helped shape the Basque language, along with Spanish and Navarro-Aragonese and French.

Examples