page_title: Franco-Provençal language
section_title: Geographic distribution
hierarchical_section_title: Franco-Provençal language / Geographic distribution
caption_attribution_description: Franco-Provençal language map showing cities &amp; political divisions, Revision 1
context_page_description: Franco-Provençal is a dialect group within Gallo-Romance spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland, northwestern Italy, and in enclaves in the Province of Foggia in Apulia, Italy.
  Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is separate from but closely related to neighboring Romance dialects.
  The designation Franco-Provençal dates to the 19th century. Traditionally, the dialect group is also referred to as patois
  , and since the late 20th century as Arpitan, and its areal as Arpitania. The number of speakers of Franco-Provençal has been declining significantly. According to UNESCO, Franco-Provençal is a "potentially endangered language" in Italy and an "endangered language" in Switzerland and France.
  Formerly spoken throughout the territory of Savoy, Franco-Provençal speakers are now found in the Aosta Valley, an autonomous administrative division of Italy.
  The language is also spoken in alpine valleys in the Metropolitan City of Turin, two isolated towns in the Province of Foggia, and rural areas of the Swiss Romandie.
context_section_description: The historical linguistic domain of the Franco-Provençal language are:
caption: Language area map with standard place names and modern political divisions.
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