page_title: Occitan language
section_title: Usage outside France
hierarchical_section_title: Occitan language / Geographic distribution / Usage outside France
caption_attribution_description: Des panneaux en aranais à Bossòst
context_page_description: Occitan, also known as lenga d'òc by its native speakers, is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, as well as Spain's Val d'Aran; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitania. It is also spoken in the linguistic enclave of Guardia Piemontese. Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the distance between this language and some Occitan dialects is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. In fact, Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative.
  Occitan is an official language of Catalonia, where a subdialect of Gascon known as Aranese is spoken in the Val d'Aran. Since September 2010, the Parliament of Catalonia has considered Aranese Occitan to be the officially preferred language for use in the Val d'Aran.
  Across history, the terms Limousin, Languedocien, Gascon, and later Provençal have been used as synonyms for the whole of Occitan; nowadays, "Provençal" is understood mainly as the Occitan dialect spoken in Provence, in southeast France.
context_section_description: In the Val d'Aran, in the northwest corner of Catalonia, Spain, Aranese (a variety of Gascon) is spoken. It is an official language of Catalonia together with Catalan and Spanish.
  In Italy, Occitan is also spoken in the Occitan Valleys (Alps) in Piedmont and Liguria. An Occitan-speaking enclave also has existed at Guardia Piemontese (Calabria) since the 14th century. Italy adopted in 1999 a Linguistic Minorities Protection Law, or "Law 482", which includes Occitan; however, Italian is the dominant language. The Piedmontese language is extremely close to Occitan.
  In Monaco, some Occitan speakers coexist with remaining native speakers of Monégasque (Ligurian). French is the dominant language.
  Scattered Occitan-speaking communities have existed in different countries:
  There were Occitan-speaking colonies in Württemberg (Germany) since the 18th century, as a consequence of the Camisard war. The last Occitan speakers were heard in the 1930s.
  In the Spanish Basque country, Gascon was spoken in the centre of Donostia-San Sebastián, perhaps until the beginning of the 20th century.
  In the Americas, Occitan speakers exist:
  in the United States, in Valdese, North Carolina
  in Canada, in Quebec where there are Occitan associations such as Association Occitane du Québec and Association des Occitans.
  Pigüé, Argentina – Community settled by 165 Occitans from the Rodez-Aveyron area of Cantal in the late 19th century.
  Guanajuato, Mexico – A sparse number of Occitan settlers are known to have settled in that state in the 19th century.
caption: Aranese signage in Bossòst, Val d'Aran, Spain
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