FRANCO-PROVENAL DIALECT

any of a group of Romance dialects spoken in east-central France in a region roughly corresponding to Burgundy and in adjacent areas of Italy and Switzerland. Franco-Provenal is purely rural and nonstandardized, young speakers are few, and speech forms are heavily influenced by French, which has been the standard and urban language of the area for several hundred years. Franco-Provenal has no standard or literary language, and its regional and local dialects are extremely diversified; they may be classified into Lyonnais, Neuchtelois, Dauphinois, Savoyard, and, in Italy, Valle d'Aosta dialect groups. Linguistically, Franco-Provenal is midway between the Occitan (Provenal) and French languages in its grammar and sound system. In general, vowel sounds are similar to those of Occitan, while consonants conform more nearly to those of French. Except for a brief period when the (now extinct) Franco-Provenal dialect of Geneva was the official language of the Swiss Republic, Franco-Provenal has never had a standard or literary form. Literature is limited; the earliest written material recognized is the Alexander fragment, part of a poem, dating from the 11th or 12th century. There is some controversy as to whether this ought not to be considered a Provenal work with French influences.