Aranese dialect

Not to be confused with Aragonese.

Aranese (Occitan: Aranés) is a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Vall d'Aran, in north western Catalonia on the border between Spain and France, where it is one of the three official languages besides Catalan and Spanish. Recently, it was named the third official language of the whole of Catalonia by Parliament of Catalonia.

Aranese area map, in the Occitan language territory

Once considered to be an endangered language , spoken mainly by older people, it is now experiencing a renaissance; it enjoys co-official status with Catalan and Spanish within Vall d'Aran, and since 1984 has been taught bilingually alongside Castilian in schools.

About 90% of the inhabitants of Vall d'Aran can understand it, and about 65% can speak it.

The official spellings of towns in Vall d'Aran are Aranese; for example, the Aranese spelling Vielha is used on maps and road signs instead of the Catalan and Spanish Viella.

Most Aranese are also fluent in Catalan, Spanish, and to a lesser extent also in French.

Phonological characteristics

General Gascon characteristics:

• Latin f > h: huec (fire). (In Aranese, aspiration has almost disappeared.)
• Latin ll > th (final) or r (in intervocalic position): illa > era (she)
• Vocalisation of l in final position into u: mau (bad)
• Loss of n in intervocalic position: lua (moon)

Specific Aranese characteristics:

• General Gascon finals in -as pronounced and written -es: hemnes (women), parles (you speak)
• Intervocalic v written u when pronounced w: cantaua (he was singing)
• Reduction of plural definite articles: eths, eras both > es

Written publications in Aranese

Grammar

A reference on usage and conjugation of Aranese verbs was written by Veronica Bares and published in 2003. A descriptive and normative reference grammar book, written in Aranese by Aitor Carrera, was published in March 2007. This grammar includes detailed breakdown of phonological and grammatical differences between varieties of Aranese in different villages in the valley.

Dictionaries

A dictionary of Aranese was written by the Catalan linguist Joan Coromines as his doctoral thesis.

A simple four-language Spanish-Aranese-Catalan-French dictionary exists, written by Frederic Vergés Bartau (see Bibliography).

An Aranese-English and English-Aranese dictionary was published in 2006. It was written by Ryan Furness, a young man from Minnesota, after he became curious about the language when he traveled to Vall d'Aran.

A detailed one-volume Catalan-Occitan and Occitan-Catalan dictionary was published under the auspices of the governments of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya) and Vall d'Aran (Conselh Generau d'Aran). Although it calls the language "Occitan", it uses Aranese spelling and its preface says that special attention is given to the Aranese variety.

Periodicals and commercial publications

A local monthly magazine Toti and local newspapers are published partly in the language.

See also

• Occitan language
• Languages of Spain

Bibliography

• Le Gascon de poche, Jean-Marc Leclercq & Sèrgi Javaloyès, Assimil 2004, ISBN 2-7005-0345-7
• Carrera, Aitor (2007). Gramatica Aranesa (in Aranese). Lleida: Pagès Editors. ISBN 9788497794848.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Barés Moga, Verònica (2003). Es vèrbs conjugadi: morfologia verbau aranesa. Barcelona: Llibres de l’Index. ISBN 8495317478.
• Vergés Bartau, Frederic (1991). Petit diccionari: castelhan-aranés (occitan)-catalan-francés, aranés (occitan)-castelhan-catalan-francés. Vielha, Vall dʾAran, Lhèida : Conselh Comarcau dera Val DʾAran -. ISBN 8460601757.
• Diccionari Occitan-Catalan

External links

• Aranese Training with the Conselh generau d'Aran Template:Es c. Template:Oc
• Aranese in Catalonia in Spain - Database for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages