BENVENGUDA A LA LENGUA OCCITANA

By Dvid Uhlr

I/ The Occitan language:

Our language is mainly spoken in France where it is not officialized in spite of a huge number of claims from its speakers. It is also spoken in Italy (las Valadas) and Spain (Val d'Aran), where it has an official status. The word Occitan, already in use more than 700 years ago, comes from "c" (mainly pron. []) which means "yes" in our language. Currently it is difficult to know its exact number of speakers but it's worth noting that Occitan was THE European language in the Middle Ages (remember the Trobadors). Nowadays, lots of people try to protect the original language of Occitnia but the harm's already done: like other languages of the french State, Occitan is very endangered. I hope this modest page (my modest contribution to a Country I love) will bring its small brick to the wall of survival of la polida lenga nstra. Never forget before learning our language that, despite what claims France to make a fool of us, Occitan is not a dialect or a patois of French; it is a true language with its own rules; a language written and sung much before French (French is nothing more than le patois du roi (the king's dialect) itself) Why should someone learn Occitan? The first masterpieces of the european litterature come mainly from the Trobadors. Knowing their language can help the reading of these texts and the penetration of their culture. Nowadays Occitan is spoken, above all in France, by speakers who are often ashamed of speaking their own language because of french educational system. If you know France you have certainly noticed that speakers from the South speak French with an "accent". This accent is caused by the Occitan substratum. If you come to them and show Occitan is not a contagious disease, it will help our language to recover its rights in its Country. Moreover, because of its roots, Occitan can be an excellent bridge to those who want to learn easily Spanish, Catalan, Italian, French or Portuguese. Some claim (and justly!) that it is easier to shade one's thoughts in Occitan than in any other european language: Occitan has more than 160,000 words (French: about 40,000). Where is spoken Occitan? Which dialects*? Occitan is spoken in the South of the french State (Migjorn de la Frana = French Midi). We now call this linguistic area Occitnia. Occitnia has 13 million inhabitants and its surface area is 190,000 km2.

Occitan's closest language is obviously Catalan. Lots of linguists even consider that Occitan and Catalan are the same language. Occitan is closer to Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian than French. *The word 'dialect' means here 'linguistic variant of a language'. It has not the racist meaning used in France, where 'dialect' means Untersprache=everything which is not French... Provenal is a dialect of Occitan the same way US English or Cockney are dialects of standard English. The main dialects are:
o o

Southern Occitan: Gascon, Languedocian, Provenal. Nothern Occitan: Limousin dialect, Auvergne dialect, Alpine Provenal.

It is already essential to point out the fact that there is no dominant dialect. Each dialect is Occitan and the intercomprehension between each dialect is good (even with Catalan). The dialect we will learn here is Languedocian. This dialect is the most conservative among Occitan dialects and is thus the best bridge to the other dialects. See in chap. VI examples of texts in different dialects.

To see the main characteristics of each Occitan dialect click here. To know more about occitanism click here. To know more about Provence click here.

Que vstra volontat nos ajude a salvar nstres mots II/ The pronounciation of Languedocian:

To present the basic pronounciation of the Lengadc's Occitan I will make comparisons with the closest latin languages: Spanish, Catalan and French. I'll also try to give an English approximate pronunciation, when it's possible...

Vowels:

Letter A (beginning or in a word);

Pronounciation French, Spanish papa ~English butter

A (end of a word); ;

Fr and Catalan port Eng John

E, O, I, U,

Fr march, Spa de Fr aprs, Cat fet, Ger Mdchen, Eng get Fr Toulouse, German Mutter, Eng fool Fr souris, Eng kill Fr Lune, Ger fr

Consonants:

Letter B,V (beg. of a word)

Pronounciation Spa botella, vino Eng beer

Letter R(beginning of a word); RR

Pronounciation Spa ratn, tierra, It terra

B, V (in a word) C(in front of a,o,u); QU C(in front of e,i); ; S; SC; SS D

Spa hubo, uva Eng kill Spa salir Eng salt Spa dedo Eng daddy

R(in a word) Spa pero, It per R (end of a word) T Isn't pronounced Fr tante, Eng tell

Eng exam

Fra fils Eng film

Fr zro, Eng zoo

G(in front a,o,u); GU(in front e,i)

Spa garganta Eng get Eng John

LH

Spa botella, Cat lluna, Italian famiglia, Eng Million Spa nio, Eng Kenya Ger zuviel, Hebrew kibbuts It anno

G(in front of e,i), J

NH TZ

G(end of a word); TG; Spa mucho, Cat TJ; CH freig, Eng church L M N; M (end of a word); MP P Fr Lune, Eng link Eng mother Fr nez, Eng nose Fr papa, Eng put

GN

The Occitan alphabet is: A, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, x, z. Note the absence of 3 letters: k (replaced by c or qu), w (replaced by v or o), y (replaced by i).

The tonic stress in Occitan:

Words which end by a vowel, an s or an n(only in conjugation): stress on the last but one syllable Words which end by a consonant (but s) or a diphthong: stress on the last syllable The exceptions wear a written accent on the stressed syllable.

Examples: La mecanica; destriar; culher; cantan; pens; gaton.

How to write special letters? Just type on your keyboard ALT, keep pressed this key and type the following numbers. When you release the ALT key the letter will appear.

0225 0224 0193 0192

0233 0237 0243 0250 0232 0242 0218

0231

0201 0205 0211 0200 0210

0199

Some distinctive features of each Occitan dialects

-Lengadocian:
It is the most conservative dialect and that's the reason why it became the root of standard normalized Occitan. Like in Spanish and Catalan, V is pronounced B. Vida is pronounced [bido]. In Southern Lengadocian final -CH becomes -IT. Hence fach (done) becomes fait. Eastern Lengadocian is really close to Provenal.

-Provenal:
It became differentiated from Lengadocian in the XVI Century only. This may explain why in nowadays English the word Provenal is used instead of Occitan to name our language. Provenal is a famous dialect thanks to the fabulous work of Provenal poets such as Frederic Mistral. Mistral (Nobel Prize in Litterature) wrote an incredible number of masterpieces in his own dialect (the Southern Rhone dialect), by means of a special spelling (grfia mistralenca). This spelling is not that far from standardized Occitan and is the one used to write places' names in Provence (Aix-en-Provence is written Ais-de-Provena in normalized Occitan and Ais-de-Prouvno in Mistralian). V is pronounced V. Vida is pronounced [vido] or [vid]. Final -L and -LH become -U. Provenal becomes Provenau [Proovenssaw]; cl (sky) is cu. R is not rolled; it is mainly pronounced the French (Parisian) way. Final consonants are not pronounced. Parlar (to speak), parlat (spoken) are pronounced [parl]. Numerous nasalization: pan (bread) is [p]. Open o () often diphthongizes in [w], everywhere but in the Rhone region. Bn (good) is pronounced [bwn]. 1st person of singular in present tense is -e in the Rhone region, -i in maritime Provenal and -o in alpine Provenal. To know more about Provence click here.

-Gascon:
Like Castilian Spanish, Gascon was under the influence of the Basque language which explains the majority of its oddities. Initial F- becomes H. Thus, filha (girl) becomes hilha [hilyo]. Compare with Spanish hija! Final Latin -LL becomes -TH (pronounced -t', -tch,...). Latin aucell(u) -> austh. Intervocalic Latin -LL- becomes -R. Bella -> bra. As in Provenal, final -L becomes -U. Intervocalic -N- disappears. Una (one) becomes ua.

Initial R- often becomes ARR-. Riu (river) becomes arriu. Compare with Spanish rio/arroyo! QU- and GU- are pronounced [kw] and [gw]. V is pronounced B. Common metathesis of -R-. Languedocian cambra (room) becomes cramba. Oddities in conjugation: enunciative particles added to the verb: que (assertion), e (interrogation), be (exclamation). Preterit is done in -c and -oc (instead of -t).

-Northern Occitan (Auvernhat, Lemosin, Provenal Aupin):

The characteristics of Northern dialects is the transformation of -CA into -CHA and -GA into -JA. Example: cantar (to sing) becomes chantar; galina (hen) becomes jalina. Most of final consonants are not pronounced. V is pronounced V. As in Provenal, final -L becomes -U. Common aphaeresis (disapppearance of initial vowel): aqu -> 'qu; una -> 'na, etc.

III/ The Languedocian Verb:

The main conjugations of the Langadc's Occitan will be given hereafter. First and foremost we could make a comparison between some verbs endings from different Indo-European languages so as to see that knowing one language can help us to know the others.
Portuguese: o/as/a/amos/(ais)/am Greek: o/eis/ei/oume/ete/oun Russian: u/esh/et/em/ete/ut Czech: u/esh/e/eme/ete/ou

m/atz/an

s/ez/ent

m/eu/en

/ate/ano

mos/is/an (Finnish (not an Indo-European language!): n/t/a/mme/tte/vat)

Hey! Easy to find similarities, isn't it? But back to our wonderful Occitan

a. The regular Verb:

First group: parlar (to speak), parlat (spoken), parlant (speaking)

Present
Parli Parlas Parla Parlam Parlatz Parlan

Imperfect
Parlavi Parlavas Parlava Parlvem Parlvetz Parlavan

Preterit
Parlri Parlres Parlt Parlrem Parlretz Parlron

Subjunctive present
Parle Parles Parle Parlem Parletz Parlen

Subjunctive past
Parlsse Parlsses Parlsse Parlssem Parlssetz Parlsson

Future
Parlarai Parlars Parlar Parlarem Parlaretz Parlarn

Conditionnal
Parlarii Parlaris Parlari Parlariam Parlariatz Parlarin

Imperative
Parla Parlem Parlatz

Second group (with suffix): dormir (to sleep), dormit (slept), dormint (sleeping)

Present
Dormissi Dormisses Dorms Dormissm Dormisstz Dormisson

Imperfect
Dormissii Dormissis Dormissi Dormissiam Dormissiatz Dormissin

Preterit
Dormiguri Dormigures Dormigut Dormigurem Dormiguretz Dormiguron

Subjunctive present
Dormisca Dormiscas Dormisca Dormiscam Dormiscatz Dormiscan

Subjunctive past
Dormigusse Dormigusses Dormigusse Dormigussem Dormigussetz Dormigusson

Future
Dormirai Dormirs Dormir Dormirem Dormiretz Dormirn

Conditionnal
Dormirii Dormiris Dormiri Dormiriam Dormiriatz Dormirin

Imperative
Dorms Dormiscam Dormisstz

Second group (without suffix: some few verbs): sentir (to feel), sentit (felt), sentent (feeling)

Present
Senti Sentes Sent Sentm Senttz Senton

Imperfect
Sentii Sentis Senti Sentiam Sentiatz Sentin

Preterit
Sentiguri Sentigures Sentigut Sentigurem Sentiguretz Sentiguron

Subjunctive Subjunctive present past

Senta Sentas Senta Sentam Sentatz Sentan Sentigusse Sentigusses Sentigusse Sentigussem Sentigussetz Sentigusson

Future
Sentirai Sentirs Sentir Sentirem Sentiretz Sentirn

Conditionnal
Sentirii Sentiris Sentiri Sentiriam Sentiriatz Sentirin

Imperative
Sent Sentiam Senttz

Third group: batre (to beat), batut (beaten), batent (beating)

Present
Bati Bates Bat Batm Battz Baton

Imperfect
Batii Batis Bati Batiam Batiatz Batin

Preterit
Batri Batres Batt Batrem Batretz Batron

Subjunctive Subjunctive present past

Bata Batas Bata Batam Batatz Batan Batsse Batsses Batsse Batssem Batssetz Batsson

Future
Batrai Batrs Batr Batrem Batretz Batrn

Conditionnal
Batrii Batris Batri Batriam Batriatz Batrin

Imperative
Bat Batam Battz

b. The Verbs To be and To have:

sser/stre (to be), estat (been), essent (being)

Present
Soi s/Ss Es Sm Stz Son

Imperfect
ri ras ra rem retz ran

Preterit
Foguri Fogures Fogut Fogurem Foguretz Foguron

Subjunctive present
Si Sis Si Siam Siatz Sin

Subjunctive past
Fogusse Fogusses Fogusse Fogussem Fogussetz Fogusson

Future
Serai Sers Ser Serem Seretz Sern

Conditionnal
Serii Seris Seri Seriam Seriatz Serin

Imperative
Si Siam Siatz

Aver (to have), agut (had), avent (having)

Present
Ai As A Avem Avtz An

Imperfect
Avii Avis Avi Aviam Aviatz Avin

Preterit
Aguri Agures Agut Agurem Aguretz Aguron

Subjunctive Subjunctive present past

Aja Ajas Aja Ajam Ajatz Ajan Agusse Agusses Agusse Agussem Agussetz Agusson

Future
Aurai Aurs Aura Aurem Auretz Aurn

Conditionnal
Aurii Auris Auri Auriam Auriatz Aurin

Imperative
Aja Ajam Ajatz

c.Present forms of other important verbs:

dire (to say)

deure (to have to)

voler (to want)

saber (to know) Sabi sabes sap sabetz sabm Sabon escriure (to write) Escrivi Escrives Escriu Escrivm Escrivtz Escrivon caler (to be necessary)

prene (to take)

veire (to see)

viure (to live)

disi dises ditz disetz dism dison venir (to come)

devi deves deu devetz devm devon poder (to be able to)

vli vls vl voltz Vlem Volon far (to do)

preni prenes Prend prentz prenm prenon

vesi veses vei vestz vesm veson

vivi vives viu vivetz vivem vivon stre (to be) Soi Ss, s Es Sm Stz Son recebre (to receive) recebi recebes recep recebm recebtz recebon anar (to go)

aver (to have)

Veni Venes Ven Venm Ventz Venon creire (to believe)

Pdi Pdes, Ps Pt Podm Podtz Pdon tner (to hold)

Fau Fas Fa Fasm Fastz Fan metre (to put) meti metes met metm mettz meton caar (to hunt)

Ai As A Avm Avtz An respondre (to answer) respondi respondes

Vau Vas Va Anam Anatz Van valer (to be worth) vali vales val valm valtz valon parisser (to appear) pareissi pareisses pareis pareissm pareisstz pareisson nisser (to be born) naissi naisses nais naissm naisstz naisson

cresi creses crei cresm crestz creson vendre (to sell)

teni tenes ten tenm tentz tenon beure (to drink)

cal

respond respondm respondtz respondon ploure (to rain)

conisser (to know) coneissi coneisses

vendi vendes vend vendm vendtz vendon

bevi beves beu bevm bevtz bevon

caci caas caa caam caatz caan plou

coneis coneissm coneisstz coneisson

d. Reflexive verbs:
Se levar (to get up)

Present
Me lvi Te lvas Se lva Nos levam Vos levatz Se lvan

Imperative
lva-te

levem-nos levatz-vos tenon

e. Negation
-Basic negation is "pas", which follows the verb. Its translation is "not" ("yes" is said "c" and "no" is said "non"). Ex1: parli pas (I speak-not=I don't speak) Ex2: An pas parlat (have-not-spoken=they haven't spoken)

-Pas can be combined with other negative words Ex3: I vesi pas res (I-see-not-nothing=I don't see anything) Ex4: Lo trbi pas enluc (him-find-not-nowhere=I don't find him anywhere) Ex5: Sorts pas jamai (goes out-not-never=he never goes out) Ex6: Degun es pas vengut (nobody-is-not-come=nobody came)

IV/ Tool Words:

This small list is aimed to help you in building good sentences in a good Occitan. The translation of the words are given in French, English and Spanish. A costat de=Near=A ct de=Al lado de Dins=Into=Dans=Dentro Davant=In front of=Devant=Delante

Darrir=Behind=Derrire=Detrs Sus=On=Sur=Sobre Desss=Above=Dessus=Encima Jos=Under=Sous=Bajo Dejs=Below=Dessous=Abajo Tanben=Too=Aussi, galement=Tambin Qu?=What?=Quoi?=Qu? Ont?=Where?=O?=Dnde? Perqu?=Why?=Pourquoi?=Por qu? Qualqu'un=Someone=Quelqu'un=Alguin Plan=Well, very=Bien, trs, beaucoup=Bien, mucho Pas vertat?=Isn't it? (question tag)=N'est-ce-pas?=No es verdad? Segur=Sure, certainly=Sr, srement=Seguramente Tanpauc=Neither, not either=Non plus=Tampoco Coss?=How?=Comment=Cmo? Maique=Morethan=Plusque=Msque Mensque=Lessthan=Moinsque=Menosque Tancoma=Asas=Autantque=Tantocomo Lo mai=The most=Le plus=Lo ms Lo mens=The less, the least=Le moins=Lo menos Mas=But=Mais=Pero aquel, pr'aqu=However=Pourtant, cependant=Sin embargo Encara=Again=Encore=Todava, an Tan=As=Aussi=Tanto Despui=Since=Depuis=Desde

Lu=Quick, soon==Vite, bientt=Rpido, pronto Lu-lu=Quickly=Bien vite=Rpidamente Coma cal=Properly=Comme il faut=Como hace falta Rai=What does it matter=Peu importe=Qu importa! Atal=Thus, like this=Ainsi=As Benlu=Perhaps=Peut-tre=Quizs Cada=Each, every=Chaque=Cada Totjorn=Always=Toujours=Siempre Coma=As, like=Comme=Como Solide=Certainly=Srement=Seguramente Quant?=How much/many?=Combien?=Cundo? A mon vejaire=In my opinion=A mon avis=A mi parecer En de X=At X's home=Chez X=A casa de X Mig/mija=Half=Demi=Medio/a Cal=It's necessary=Il faut=Hace falta D'ora=Early=Tt=Temprano Quicm=Something=Quelque chose=Algo Un pauc=A little, some=Un peu=Un poco Que te sabi?=I dunno!=Que sais-je?=Yo qu s? Pui=Then=Puis=Entonces Fins a=As far as, till=Jusqu'=Hasta Pro=Enough=Assez=Bastante Ui=Today=Aujourd'hui=Hoy Ir=Yesterday=Hier=Ayer Deman=Tomorrow=Demain=Maana

Lunh=Far=Loin=Lejos Prp=Near=Prs=Cerca, prximo Endacm mai=Besides=D'ailleurs=Por otra parte Lo biais=The way=La manire, la faon=La manera Jamai=Never=Jamais=Jams, nunca De cps=sovent=Often=Souvent=A menudo M'agrada=I like=Cela me plat=Me gusta Baste que, mas que=Provided that=Pourvu que=Ojal Perque=Since, because=Puisque, parce que=Porque, ya que Tre que=As soon as=Ds que=En cuanto Ni mai=Neither=Ni=Ni Cap=No, not any=Aucun=Ninguno Espra qu'esperars=By dint of waiting=A force d'attendre=A fuerza de esperar Cap e tot=Totally=Tout fait, compltement=Totalmente Meteis(sa)=Same=Mme=Mismo/a Endacm=Somewhere=Quelque part=En algn sitio Endacm mai=Elsewhere=Ailleurs=En otro sitio Sonque=Only=Seulement=Slo Marrit=Bad=Mauvais=Malo Ne vls aqu n'as!=More than you wanted=En veux-tu en voil!=Ms que esperabas! D'arru=Following=A la suite=Despus de Un tr de=A kind of (pej.)=Une espce de (pj.)=Una especie de (pey.) Far a son sicap=To do as one pleases=Faire sa guise=Hacer a su gusto Tant val dire=One might as well say=Autant dire=Tanto vale decir Ni pauc ni pro=In no way=D'aucune faon=De ninguna manera

Fin finala=Finally=Finalement=Finalmente A pro pena=Not easily=Non sans peine=Difcilmente Per astre=Fortunately=Par chance=Por suerte Per malastre=Unfortunately=Par malheur=Por desgracia De contunh=Non-stop, continuously=Sans arrt, continuellement=Sin parar Entre tot=In the main=Dans l'ensemble=Globalmente L'ime=The (good) sense=Le bon sens=El bun sentido Quicm atal=Something like that=Qqch de ce genre=Algo as Que no sai=I don't know how many=Je ne sais combien=No s cuntos Per subreps=Moreover=Par dessus le march=Por aadidura S'avisar=To be aware of sthg=Se rendre compte=Darse cuenta Coss que si=In any case, anyway=De toute faon=De toda manera Gaireben=Almost, virtually=Presque=Casi Mai que mai=Above all=Surtout=Sobretodo Alavetz, alara, aladonc=So, then=Alors=Entonces Pasmens=However=Pourtant, cependant=Sin embargo Ren, res=Nothing=Rien=Nada Sul pic=Immediately=Immdiatement=Al instante Totara=In a little while=Tout l'heure=Luego, ms tarde Amb, amb, am=With=Avec=Con

V/ Basic grammar:

a. The numbers:
The cardinals:

0 zro 1 un, una 2 dos, dos 3 tres 4 quatre 5 cinc 6 siis 7 st 8 uch 9 nu 10 dtz

11onze 12 dotze 13 tretze 14 catrze 15 quinze 16 setze 17 dtz-e-st 18 dtz-e-uch 19 dtz-e-nu 20 vint 21 vint-e-un

30 trenta 40 quaranta 50 cinquanta 60 seissanta 70 setanta 80 ochanta 90 nonanta 100 cent 200 dos cents 1,000 mila 1,000,000 un milion

1998=mila nu cents nonanta uch. The ordinals: 1st=primir, primira 2nd=segond, segonda Then just add -en, -ena to the number.

Let's take advantage of this chapter to see the name of the days and months in Occitan Los jorns de la setmana: diluns (Monday), dimar, dimecres, dijus, divendres, dissabte, dimenge. Los meses de l'an: genir (january), febrir, mar, abril, mai, junh, julh, agost, setembre, octbre, novembre, decembre.

b. The articles; gender&number:

Definite article (the): Singular Masculine Feminine lo, l' la, l' Plural los Las

L' is used like in French in front of a word which begins by a vowel. NB: a+lo(s)=al(s); de+lo(s)=del(s); per+lo(s)=pel(s); sus+lo(s)=sul(s) Indefinite article (a): Singular Masculine Feminine un una Plural de, d' de, d'

D' is used like in French in front of a word which begins by a vowel. Gender & Number: Generally the feminine form of a word is formed by adding an a at the end of the word (like in Spanish). The plural form is formed by adding an s at the end of the word.

c. Pronouns; possessives:
Demonstratives (this, that, these, those): Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter Aiceste/Aqueste/Aquel Aicesta/Aquesta/Aquela Aqu Plural Aicestes/Aquestes/Aqueles Aicestas/Aquestas/Aquelas Aqu

The three possibilities given here correspond theorically to a grade of distance (see in English This/That). Possessives: Thing possessed is Singular Possessor: I You (sing) He, She, It We & Masculine Mon Ton Son Nstre & Feminine Ma Ta Sa Nstra Thing possessed is Plural & Masculine Mos Tos Sos Nstres & Feminine Mas Tas Sas Nstras

You (plur) They

Vstre Lor

Vstra

Vstres Lors

Vstras

Subject personal pronouns: Ieu=I Tu=You (sing) El=He(It); Ela=She(It) Nosautres/Nosautras/Nos=We Vosautres/Vosautras/Vos=You (plur) Eles/Elas=They

NB: Vos is conjugated with a plural but corresponds to the polite form of you for one person.

VI/ A few texts:

Standard Occitan (Lengadocian) Lo curat de Cucunhan ra un long caminl tot caladat de brasa roja. Trantalhant coma s'ri bandat, a cada pas trabucavi; ri tot en aiga, cada pel de mon cs fasi sa gota e pantugavi de la set... Mas, per ma fe, grcia a las sandalas que lo brave sant Pire m'avi prestadas, me cremri pas los ps. A pro pena de trabucar, balint-balant, vegri a man esqurra una prta, non, un portal, un portals, alandat coma la boca d'un grand forn. O! paures enfants! quin espectacle! Aqu, vos demandan pas lo nom; aqu cap de registre. Per fornadas, a plena prta, se dintra aqu, mos cares fraires, coma dintratz a l'aubrja lo dimenje. Tressusavi e -que-la ri raulit, tridolavi. Lo pel se me quilhava sul cap. Sentissii a rabinat, a carn rostida, quicm coma la falira que s'espands per las carriras de Cucunhan quand Ali, lo faure, crma per la ferrar la bata d'un vilh ase. Perdii l'alen dins aquel aire abrasat e pudent; ausissii una orresca clamada, unis gemcs, unis rencs, unis brams! "E ben, tu! Dintras o dintras pas? me fagut un diable banut en me ponchant amb sa foissina. "-Ieu? Dintri pas. Soi un amic de Dieu. "-Un amic de Dieu? Mas, bogre de tinhs! qu venes qurre aic?

"-Veni A! me'n parletz pas, que las cambas me pdon pas tner Veni Veni de lunh simplament per vos demandar si, si, per cp d'aqstre auriatz pas aic qualqu'un de Cucunhan "-A! fc del Cl! fas la bstia, tu, coma se sabis pas que tot Cucunha es aic. Te, corbats, fai-te ena e gaita: veirs coss te los adobam aic, tos famoses Cucunhanencs

Lemosin Occitan D'aqueu temps la drolleta avi trobat los s de son frair, e, per se n'amusar, los enterrts jos 'n espinasson. L'ivern passt; a la prima, los s germeneren e lo petit tornt surtir d'en la terra, emb son crs de drollichon, e de las alas d'ausel. Qu era lo pus estonant ausel qu'm poguessa mas veire. Prenguet la volada, ant tot drech au molin. Aqu 'trapt entre sas pautas la grssa mla que mu lo blat, e coma de res, la n'emportt a la cresta-cima de la maison de sos paires. Asss se bott de chantar.

Gascon Occitan I avva, un cp, un me e ua hemna qu'avvan tres mainatges. Los dus drlles ran desj frts e hardits coma bths lions. La bra Joaneton anava sus sos quinze ans. Era cent cps ms bra que lo jorn. Quan se pintoava, lo blat li tombava deus peus, a bths boishths. Quan se lavava las mans, los dobles los d'aur e los quadruples d'Espanha lo tombavan deus dits per dotzenas. La bra Joaneton dambe sos dus frairs s'aimavn ms que non se pt diser.

Provenal Occitan Aqueu jorn que vos parli, apres una matinada cauda pr la sason, aqu que lei niulas se metron a far de castus. Sus d'auadas a donar lo lordum, de pelotassas blancas s'amolonavan coma de caulets-flors gigants. Pui, aquelei niulassas se toquron, tapron tot lo cu e venguron negras coma lo cuu d'una sartan. E lo trn comenct son estampu! Totei lei ulhau amagats dins lo nivolum amavan bn venir sus aqueu pas. La montanha fra auta porgi un bn sti ai niulas. De barras de siis cnts mtres d'aplomb acompanhavan sus sei doas ribas un riu cascarelant e, entre barras e montanha,

un vilatjon quilhava seis ostaus prchi d'un gran prat totjorn verdejant e clafit de pibolas.

Auvernhat Occitan Per passar una bona velhada se chau assetar davant un bon fuc. Atencion a las belhisas que vos traunquen pas las brajas. Per faire fuc chau prendre de papeir, de bsc menut e d'estelas que copam am una ascha. a cada cp d'ascha, se tustam frt, fasem de clapas. Aqu's l'ora de cachar de notz e de despelonar las chastanhas.