Occitans

Occitans
Los occitans
Total population
c. 16 million
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Occitan (native); French, as well as Italian, Spanish, Catalan (as a result of language shift)
Religion
Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism), Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Catalans, French, Spaniards, Italians, Basques

The Occitans (Occitan: los occitans) are an indigenous Romance language speaking ethnic group, originating in Occitania (southern France, northeastern Spain and northwestern Italy).[1][2][3][4][5]

The Occitan language is still used to varying levels by between 100,000 and 800,000 speakers in southern France and northern Italy. Since 2006, the Occitan language is recognized as one of the official languages in Catalonia, an autonomous region of Spain.

The Occitans are concentrated in Occitania, but also in big urban centres in neighbouring regions: Lyon, Paris, Turin, Barcelona. There are also Occitan speakers in Guardia Piemontese (Calabria, as well as Argentina, Mexico and the United States).

References

  1. Pèire Bec, "Occitan", in Rebecca Posner, John N. Green eds. Language and philology in Romance, Walter de Gruyter, 1982.
    Reprint Volume 3 Language and Philology in Romance. 2011. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. Retrieved 24 Nov. 2015, from http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/48412
  2. Gregory Hanlon, Confession and Community in Seventeenth-century France: Catholic and Protestant Coexistence in Aquitaine, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993, p. 20
  3. Robert Gildea, France since 1945, Oxford University Press, 1996
  4. Peter McPhee, "Frontiers, Ethnicity and Identity in the French Revolution: Catalans and Occitans", in Ian Coller, Helen Davies, and Julie Kalman, eds, French History and Civilisation: Papers from the George Rudé Seminar, Vol. 1, Melbourne: The George Rudé Society, 2005
  5. Jeffrey Cole, Ethnic Groups of Europe: An Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, 2011
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