Gascon language - Definition and Overview

The Gascon language is an Occitan dialect mostly spoken in Gascony (in the French départements of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées, Landes, Gers, Gironde, a part of Lot-et-Garonne, a part of Haute-Garonne, and a part of Ariège), and in the small Spanish valley Val d'Aran, in the Northwest of Catalonia. Some linguists consider it a separate language but usually these are not speakers of Gascon. Gascon comprises four subdialects:

• Landese (Landais)
• Bearnese (Béarnais)
• Ariegese (Ariégeois)
• Aranese (Aranès)

Of these, only Aranese is spoken in Spain. Aranese has been greatly influenced by Catalan and Aragonese. This influence differentiates it from the dialects of Gascon spoken in France. Aranese is co-official with Spanish and Catalan in the Val d'Aran.

Gascon and the Basque language have had mutual influences.

See also: Languages of France

External link

• Ethnologue report for Gascon (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=GSC)