Gascon dialect

Gascon is a special way of speaking that people use mainly in a place called Gascony in France. Many 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 from other similar languages.

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 a place called 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, and this mix sometimes makes Aranese a bit different from Gascon spoken in France. Since 2006, Aranese has been an official language in Catalonia, just like Catalan and Spanish.

Linguistic classification

Further information: Debates concerning Occitan linguistic classification

Most people think that Occitan is one language, but some experts disagree. They believe that Occitan is really a group of different languages, not just dialects of one language. Gascon stands out enough that some even call it 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 is divided into three 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.

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 This form has since been replaced by a special way of speaking French.

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

Usage of the language

A survey done in Béarn in 1982 showed that 51% of people could speak Gascon, 70% understood it, and 85% thought protecting the language was important. But, the use of Gascon has dropped a lot in recent years because of efforts to promote French instead. Gascon is not often taught to younger people anymore, except in special schools called Calandretas.

By April 2011, it was estimated that only about 250,000 people still spoke Gascon as their first language. There isn’t just one Béarnais way of speaking, as the language sounds different in various parts of the area. For example, a word ending in 'a' might sound like "ah" in the west, "o" in the east, or "œ" in the south. Béarnais has been seen as different from Gascon since the 1500s, but this is more about history than the actual sounds of the language.

Influences on other languages

Gascon shares some special features with other Latin languages because of old connections between places. These languages include Aragonese and far-western Catalan, which is spoken in La Franja.

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

Examples