01. Data about the language
Language group
Indo-European / Romance
Area
Francoprovençal dialects are spoken in all the Aost Valleys and in some of the Alpine valleys of Piemonte and in Turin province (Val Sangone, part of Val de Suse, Val Cenischia, Viù and Ala Valleys, Val Grande, Val Locana, Piantonetto valleys and Val Soana). A linguistic island of francoprovençal still remains in two villages of Puglia: ; Faeto and Celle san Vito.
French is spoken in the Valle d'Aosta, where it comes under the influence of Francoprovencal dialects spoken locally, and in the region of Piedmont in some valleys in the province of Turin (Val Germanasea, and the valleys of Cluson and Pélis) where it comes under the influence of Occitan.
Updated, sourced data, checked on 14 October 2026 · scope : Italie (Vallée d'Aoste)
Numerical strength
According to the Fondation Émile Chanoux survey of the early 2000s, nearly 72% of Aosta Valley respondents had Italian as their first language and 15.43% patois (Franco-Provençal)1.
Status
In public administration, French enjoys institutional parity with Italian only in the Aosta Valley, under the 1948 special statute, which has protected the language effectively and was decisive for regional autonomy1.
Education
Since regional law 53/1994, French has been taught in the Aosta Valley on an equal footing with Italian; in neighbouring Piedmont, it is taught as a foreign language1.
Sources
- E. Autelli, « Il francoprovenzale e il francese nell'Italia settentrionale », Linguistik online 130, 6/24, Universität Bern (revue Linguistik online) ; auteure : universités d'Innsbruck et de Sassari, 2024.
02. Linguistic description
French has two genders and does not mark case on nouns1. Its negation can be double (ne… pas), the first element being optional1. The word thé comes from Fujian Chinese te, brought to Europe by Dutch traders2.
Sources
The 2003 CD had no description of this language: this text was written for the site from the sources below.
- WALS Online – French, World Atlas of Language Structures, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 2013 (v2026).
- Ö. Dahl, « Tea », chapitre 138 du WALS, World Atlas of Language Structures, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 2013.
03. Cartoon
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