Occitan as being a koine, a supradialectal language of general communication. Although
the Occitan koine accepts some traits of various dialects, its origin lies probably in
Languedoc.
Medieval Occitan shares some phonetic characteristics with French but is closer to
Catalan and Italian. Since it has a fairly strong expiratory stress affecting at least one
syllable in most words, intertonic and posttonic vowels usually fall
(DELICATUM>delgat ‘delicate’), except that a remains (rather than being weakened as
in French): MIRABILIAM>meravelha ‘wonder.’ Stressed e and o tend to diphthongize
less than in French and only in certain phonetic contexts and dialects (MEUM>meu, mieu
‘my’; FOLIAM>folha, fuelha ‘leaf), though more frequently than in most other Romance
idioms. Vowels are, at least in the Middle Ages, not perceptibly nasalized before a nasal
vowel. The Vulgar Latin prosthetic vowel before s+consonant remains as e
(SCHOLAM>escola ‘school’).
Intervocalic consonants or consonants that become word-final generally do not drop,
though they are often altered in various ways. Notably, single intervocalic unvoiced
consonants generally become voiced : RIPAM>riba ‘shore,’ VITAM>vida ‘life,’
AMICAM>amiga ‘friend’ (f.), PRESENTEM (with /s/)>presen (with /z/) ‘present.’
Some consonants become palatalized in certain positions; for example, g before e or i
(SIGILLUM > sagel ‘seal’) or, dialectally, before a (amija, also reduced to amia, for
amiga). The initial sounds /g/ and /k/ are palatalized to and before a only in
northern Occitan (CANTUM>can, chan ‘song’).
Unlike the case in French, intervocalic n that becomes word-final can optionally drop
without leaving any trace (FINEM>fi(n) ‘end’). Many consonants vocalize in certain
positions (e.g., ALBAM>alba, auba ‘dawn’), though not always following the same
patterns as in French; the result is a series of diphthongs and triphthongs that is even
richer than in Old French. The combination CT has two principal dialectal outcomes,
and /jt/: NOCTEM>nuech, nueit ‘night.’ The behavior of certain groups, notably those
ending in /j/ and /w/, is complex and in some cases surprising: BRACHIUM>bratz, bras
‘arm,’ DEBUIT>dec’he/she owed.’
The consonant h, whether derived from Latin or Germanic h, is not pronounced and
there is no Occitan version of French “h aspiré” (however, h is used in various
combinations representing the affricative and Gascon h, derived from Latin f,
represents a strong /h/ sound).
Occitan vocabulary is almost entirely derived from Latin, without the influx of
Germanic and Arabic words that marked French and Spanish, respectively. The few
Germanic words are largely widespread Romance borrowings in the expected semantic
areas, denoting colors (BLANK>blanc ‘white’), military objects (HELM>elm ‘helmet’),
geography (BUSK>bosc ‘forest’). There is also the usual assortment of learned terms
derived from Greek: filosophia, propheta.
The “classical” (late 12th-c.) literary language contains the following twenty-five
consonant phonemes: /p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/, /ts/, /dz/, /f/, /s/, /v/, /z/, /r/, /rr/,
/l/, /λ/, /ł/, /m/, /n/, The vowels were /i/, /y/, /a/, /u/ (there were no /
ø/ and /œ/ as in French), and semivowels were /j/, /w/, and /Ч/. Combinations of these
yield about sixteen distinct diphthongs and four triphthongs. All of these categories
contain more phonemes than in Old French. As in Old French, authors and scribes render
these sounds in varied and confusing ways, and modern editors use different conventions
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1280