Occitan, also known as lenga d'oc by its native speakers, is a Romance language. It is spoken in southern France, Italy's Occitan Valleys, Monaco, and Spain's Val d'Aran; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitania. Occitan is also spoken in the linguistic enclave of Guardia Piemontese (Calabria, Italy). However, there is controversy about the unity of the language, as some think that Occitan is a macrolanguage. Others include Catalan in this family, as the distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as the Gascon language) is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. In fact, Catalan was considered an Occitan dialect until the end of the 19th century.

Today, Occitan is an official language in Catalonia, where a subdialect of Gascon known as Aranese is spoken in the Val d'Aran. Occitan's closest relative is Catalan. 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 ("Lemosin"), Languedocien ("Lengadocian"), Gascon, and later Provencal ("Provencal", "Provencau" or "Prouvencau") have been used as synonyms for the whole of Occitan; nowadays, "Provencal" is understood mainly as the Occitan dialect spoken in Provence.

Answer the following questions:
1. What is Occitan the official language of?
2. What subdialect is spoken there?
3. What is Occitan known as by native speakers?
4. What type of language is it?
5. Where is it spoken?
6. Where else?
7. Anywhere else?
8. Where?
9. What are these areas sometimes called?
10. Is there controversy about the language?
11. What kind?
12. What do some think?
13. What about others?
14. What do they think it is similar to?

Numbered answers:
1. Catalonia
2. Aranese
3. lenga d'oc
4. a Romance language
5. in southern France
6. Italy's Occitan Valleys
7. yes
8. Monaco and Spain's Val d'Aran
9. Occitania
10. yes
11. about the unity of the language
12. that Occitan is a macrolanguage
13. some include Catalan in this family
14. the distance among different Occitan dialects