Frédéric Mistral / Poet and Leader in Provence

by Charles Alfred Downer

The oral vowels are in general like the French. It is curious that the close o is heard only in the infrequent diphthong óu, or as an obscured, unaccented final. This absence of the close o in the modern language has led Mistral to believe that the close o of Old Provençal was pronounced like ou in the modern dialect, which regularly represents it. A second element of the "accent du Midi" just referred to is the substitution of an open for a close o. The vowel sound of the word peur is not distinguished from the close sound in peu. In the orthography of the Félibres the diagraph ue is used as we find it in Old French to represent this vowel. Probably the most striking feature of the pronunciation is the unusual number of diphthongs and triphthongs, both ascending and descending. Each vowel preserves its proper sound, and the component vowels seem to be pronounced more slowly and separately than in many languages. It is to be noted that u in a diphthong has the Italian sound, whereas when single it sounds as in French. The unmarked e represents the French é, as the e mute is unknown to the Provençal.

The c has come to sound like s before e and i, as in French. Ch and j represent the sounds ts and dz respectively, and g before e and i has the latter sound. There is no aspirate h. The r is generally uvular. The s between vowels is voiced. Only l, r, s, and n are pronounced as final consonants, l being extremely rare. Mistral has preserved or restored other final consonants in order to show the etymology, but they are silent except in liaison in the elevated style of reading.

The language is richer in vowel variety than Italian or Spanish, and the proportion of vowel to consonant probably greater than in either. Fortunately for the student, the spelling represents the pronunciation very faithfully. A final consonant preceded by another is mute; among single final consonants only l, m, n, r, s are sounded; otherwise all the letters written are pronounced. The stressed syllable is indicated, when not normal, by the application of practically the same principles that determine the marking of the accent in Spanish.

The pronunciation of the Félibres is heard among the people at Maillane and round about. Variations begin as near as Avignon.[5]

Koschwitz' Grammar treats the language historically, and renders unnecessary here the presentation of more than its most striking peculiarities. Of these, one that evokes surprise upon first acquaintance with the dialect is the fact that final o marks the feminine of nouns, adjectives, and participles. It is a close o, somewhat weakly and obscurely pronounced, as compared, for instance, with the final o in Italian. In this respect Provençal is quite anomalous among Romance languages. In some regions of the Alps, at Nice, at Montpellier, at Le Velay, in Haute-Auvergne, in Roussillon, and in Catalonia the Latin final a is preserved, as in Italian and Spanish.

The noun has but one form for the singular and plural. The distinction of plural and singular depends upon the article, or upon the demonstrative or possessive adjective accompanying the noun. In liaison adjectives take s as a plural sign. So that, for the ear, the Provençal and French languages are quite alike in regard to this matter. The Provençal has not even the formal distinction of the nouns in al, which in French make their plural in aux. Cheval in Provençal is chivau, and the plural is like the singular. A curious fact is the use of uni or unis, the plural of the indefinite article, as a sign of the dual number; and this is its exclusive use.

The subject pronoun, when unemphatic, is not expressed, but understood from the termination of the verb. Iéu (je), tu (tu), and éu (il) are used as disjunctive forms, in contrast with the French. The possessive adjective leur is represented by si; and the reflective se is used for the first plural as well as for the third singular and third plural.

The moods and tenses correspond exactly to those of the French, and the famous rule of the past participle is identical with the one that prevails in the sister language.

Aside from the omission of the pronoun subject, and the use of one or two constructions not unknown to French, but not admitted to use in the literary language, the syntax of the Provençal is identical with that of the French. The inversions of poetry may disguise this fact a little, but the lack of individuality in the sentence construction is obvious in prose. Translation of Provençal prose into French prose is practically mere word substitution.

Instances of the constructions just mentioned are the following. The relative object pronoun is often repeated as a personal pronoun, so that the verb has its object expressed twice. The French continually offers redundancy of subject or complement, but not with the relative.