Auvergnat
Auvergne, Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Allier, Cantal, Communities in Limousin
80,000 (2004)[1]
auv (retired); subsumed in oci
51-AAA-gi
Currently, research shows that there is not really a true Auvergnat dialect but rather a vast northern Occitan linguistic area.
The word "Auvergnat" is above all a local historiographical creation.[7][8] According to linguist Jean Roux, "It is by simplification that we use this term, because in no case Auvergnat can be considered as an autonomous linguistic entity".[9]
With around 80,000 speakers in the Auvergne region at the beginning of the 21st century, it is considered to be severely endangered.
Classification[edit]
Auvergnat falls under the following categories and subcategories: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Gallo-Iberian, Gallo-Romance, Occitan.
History[edit]
Several troubadours were from the Auvergne, including Castelloza, Dalfi d'Alvernhe, the Monje de Montaudon, the Vesques de Clarmon, Peire d'Alvernhe, Peire Rogier and Pons de Capduelh. They did not, however, compose in the Auvergnat dialect, but in the standard literary register of Old Occitan.[10]
Official documents in Auvergnat become common around 1340 and continue to be found down to 1540, when the transition to French was complete. The high point for the use of Auvergnat as an official language was between 1380 and 1480.[11] There is a passion play, Passion d'Auvergne, first performed in Montferrand in 1477, that is written mainly in French but which contains an Auvergnat section of 66 lines. Auvergnat had been replaced by French in official usage in the Montferrand already in 1388. French had also supplanted Auvergnat as the language of the upper classes, but it remained the language of rural communities.[12]
Auvergnat is most often categorized in the Northern Occitan dialect group, along with Limousin and Vivaro-Alpine.
There are two primary distinctions in Auvergnat:
The suggestion that Auvergnat is an independent language, distinct from Occitan, has found little resonance with linguists, especially Romance linguists. It is strongly defended by those who espouse the norme bonnaudienne a standardization of Auvergnat.
An understanding of the vitality and overall usage of Auvergnat can be garnered from a survey carried out in 2006 in the Auvergne region.[15]
The largest group of the two languages spoken in the Auvergne region is referred to as patois (78% of the population) compared with other regional terms, with certain cultural identities emerging, such as auvergnat (10%), occitan (8%), bourbonnais (5%) or langue d'oc (4%).
The regional language, whether Occitan (in the whole of the Auvergne region) or Oïl (the north of Allier), represents a strong presence in the region:
A large part of the population that understands or speaks even a little or, moreover, fluently, neither know how to write nor read in that language.
Language learning is found to be essential within the home, according to the survey, (grandparents noted as 61%, or other family members at 50%) with a very weak result from the schools (10%). Herein is found the problem of language-transmission when dependent upon State sponsorship. 40% of adults who did not teach their language to their children report regretting it at the time of the survey. This feeling is reported more strongly among the 35 or less demographic, at 58%. The desire to learn the local language is reported strongly, with increasing representation among the young, reported at 23%. According to the survey the desire to incorporate local language learning in schools is as follows: Haute-Loire (53%), Puy-de-Dôme (51%) et Cantal (74%). The desire to teach to their own children is strong (41%) and is stronger still with the 35 and under demographic (58%). 71% of the region's inhabitants are favorable to the idea of maintaining the regional language and culture, with a stronger result in the 35-and-unders (76%). To achieve this desire, different institutions are expected to play a role (in percentage of those surveyed):
The following are authors who have published in Auvergnat:
Poets using Auvergnat:
Songwriters using Auvergnat: