Davidbamfordbphilthesis1973
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University of St Andrews Full metadata for this thesis is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by original copyright EL DIALEGTO ARANES A study of the speech and way of life of the inhabitants of the central reach of the Vald'Aran in the province of Lerida, taking as its limits the towns of Viella and Bosost and incorporating the villages of Casau, Gausach, Vilach, Montj Montcorbau, BetIan, Aubert, Vila, Arros, Vilamos, Arres, Begos, Benos, Arru, Las Bordas arid La Bordeta submitted by David Bamford for the degree of B.Phil, in Hispanic Studies in the University of St. Andrews S t. And rews July 1973 'Tu. % Bm&SXst&L1 I hereby certify that David Bamford 1ms spent 6 terms engaged in part-time research work under my direction and that he has fulfilled the conditions of General Ordinance Ho. 12 (Resolution of the University Court No# 8, 1969)» and that he is qualified to submit the accompanying thesis for the degree of Eaohelor of Philosophy. SupervliSar I hereby declare that the following thesis is based on work carried out by me, that the thesis is my own composition and that no part of it has been presented previously for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in April 1969 under General Ordinance No# 12 and enrolled as a candidate for the degree of B.Phil, under this Resolution. The research was conducted in the Val d'Aran during the summer of 1970 and 1971 and in the Department of Spanish, University of St. Andrews, under the direction of Mr. D.J. Gifford. • • • Candidate LIST OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements i List of Informants ii Note on Transcription iii List of Abbreviations v INTRODUCTION: The Val d 'Aran 1 1. The geographical situation 1 2. The historical situation 3 3. The linguistic situation 7 4» The present social situation 10 CHAPTER I : The Valley and the Livelihood that it Provides . 13 1. The village 13 2. Industry 16 3« Agriculture 18 (a) The year's cycle 18 (b) Cattle 19 (c) Sheep 21 (d) Crops 22 4. Tourism 25 CHAPTER II : The Aranes Dialect 29 1. Phonology 29 (a) Tonic vowels 29 (b) Atonic vovrels 34 (c) Consonants 36 (d) Groups 43 2. Morpho-Syntax 49 (a) The definite article 49 (b) The indefinite article 51 (c) The partitive article 51 (d) Nouns 51 (e) Pronouns 56 (f) Adverbs 61 b (g) Affirmation 61 d (h) Negation 61 d (j) Verbs ' 61 e (k) Note on construction que + affirmative statement . 61j CHAPTER III : What is Aranes? 62 1. The basic differences between Aranes and Catalan .. 65 (a) Vowels 65 (b) Consonants 66 (c) Groups 67 2. List of Contents (continued) page 2. The similarities with southern French dialects .. .67 3. The relationship with other northern Spanish dialects . 69 4. Present linguistic influences in Aranes 71 VOCABULARY OF THE STUDY AREA 7g APPENDICES: A. Transcriptions of Tape Recordings 88 B. , Poems . 90 C. Maps of the Val d'Aran, showing 1. Geographical location 94 2. Boundaries and communications . .. .95 3. Area of study 96 D. Photographs 97 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 105 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am much indebted to D. Jose Calberto Barra, mayor of Viella, and to the staff of the avuntamiento for furnishing me with valuable historical data from the town's archives." I was unable to gain access to the archives themselves as re- cataloguing was in progress throughout the period of my study. Information concerning livelihood v^as gained from informants in the villages (listed overleaf) during two visits to the valley, In August 197^ fund July-August 1971* Informa¬ tion relating to industry and tourism was supplied by the ayuntamiento in Viella. 'I wish to express my gratitude to Mile Suzanne Castaing for her help with Gascon vocabulary. In the vocabulary section all Gascon forms were supplied by her unless otherwise stated. Sources of geographical JLnformationJ - Michelin Carte Regionale no. 86 (Luchon-Perpignan) Ramon do Semir i Arquer, La Vail d'Aran, turistica y documental Editorial Alpina, 1968 IHFOIMAM'S For information regarding livelihood and vocabulary I am deeply indebted to:- D. Luis Puig Forcada (82), shopkeeper and poet — Les. Jose Bernadets Socasau (56), farmer — Vilamos. Andres For Vilanova (55)» forest warden—Las Bordas. Mercedes Aunos (5^0? bar proprietress — Las Bordas. Angel Coronas Rxu (59)» painter and decorator — Benos. Antonio Caubet (38), cattle farmer — Arros. Rosalia Sans Puig (50)5 bar proprietress — Vilach. Valuable additional and corroborative information was provided by the following people J - Magdalena Aunos de Eyo (52) —Benos. Francisca Arro (56)? bar proprietress — Arros. Pedro Bemadets (53)? sheep farmer—Las Bordas. Joaquin Bemadets (87)5 farmer — Arru. Francisco Carita (54)5 farmer — Montcorbau. Jose Castet (59)? farmer — Arres. Prudenciano Castet (7^)? builder — Mont. Manuel Caubet Farrer (6l), farmer—Benos. Eugenia Condo (71)—Betlan. Pedro Condo (48), farmer — Arres. Juan Cuny (67)j bar proprietor — Casau. Antonio Farrer (54), farmer — Vilamos. Maid ome ro Masip (47) ? farme r — Mont. Fernando Monge (75)? farmer — Mont. Francisco Pena (38), farmer — Vilamos. Maria Puig (78), bar proprietress—Vilach. Maldomero Rodriguez (55)? sheep farmer—Las Bordas. Jose Servat (58), cattle farmer—Vila- Riqueta Villamates (64)? bar proprietress—Arres /figures in brackets indicate age/ Informant on Gasc.s- Mlle Suzanne Castaing, jeweller—Rieumes (Toulouse). (ii) NOTE CM TRANSCRIPTION There is no set system of written conventions for Aranes, as it is not used as a written medium of communication, except by those inhabitants of the valley who write poetry in the dialect. There are not many of these and those with whom I talked made up their own spelling and maintained that it was correct. In the Introduction to his Estudio sobre el Dialecto Aranes Adema states that he was criticised on account of the orthographic system that he adopted in the first edition of the book (1966):- Los conocedores ... de las normas aceptadas por el Institut d'Estudis Occitans, me recriminaron no haber usado la ortografla aceptada y propugnada por esta institucion. ... RecibI, entre otras, 'una carta de un provenzal, en la que ... se pemitla hacerme estas dos reflexio- nesi (a) que el dialecto aranes, no es mas que una variente sub- dialectal del gascon, una de las ramas de la lengua occitana, por lo que no hay necesidad de buscarle otra filiacion, y, (b) que no siendo el aranes, mas que una variedad del gascon, integrado dentro de la gran familia de las lenguas occitanas, debe escribirse segun la orto¬ grafia moderna de esta lengua. (Adem4 p# ^ The first of these two points is valid, but not the second as it disregards the role of the national frontier as a dividing wall between the national standard speeches of the people living on either side of it. The ortho¬ graphic system of modern Gascon is based on that of French, but the written norm of speakers of Aranes is Castilian Spanish; it is therefore more logical for the orthography of Aranes to be based on that of the latter than on that of Gascon. For this reason I have adopted, in the main, Adema's system, making amendments where these are required. The points to note in my transcription are the followings- a - same value as in Cast. | a | in phonetic transcription. In individual final position heard in individual instances as neutral vowel | s>, | in phonetic transcription, e - stressed close /e7 I^Fr. b_le.), ( ej in phon. trans, e - stressed open /e/ (Fr. tres),1 in phon. trans. (NB: In orthographic transcriptions I offer no diacritics to distin¬ guish between pronunciation of close and open atonic /&/ as I do not consider there to be a significant phonemic difference (iii) (iv) between thenu In phonetic transcriptions I use the symbols above.) i - as in Cast. |_i_| in phon. trans., j_ij_ |_in positions of major stress. As semi-consonhnt and semi-vowel j j | in phon. trans, o - represents open /o/, as in Cast, rooa; |_oJ_in phon. trans, u - has same value as in Cast, as full vowel; |_u_| in phon. trans., | u:J in position of major stress; also as semi-consonant and semi-vowel, |_w | in phon. trans, u - as in Pr. vue, fy-] in phon. trans. axr en in final position in /n/ is velar as in Eng. bring, | nj in phon. trans. Einal on /-nc/ has same value, same phon. symbol. Phon. symbol un |_n_| in final position represents /-nt/ in orthographic transcrip¬ tion. un> l>jV,d,g - as in Cast, occlusive in initial position, .DO »J dD »_LaD in phon. trans. Intervocalically, fricative: j_b j, | §""] |^Jin phon. trans. In initial /gua-/,_/gue-/ consonant is'not pro¬ nounced in study area: | wa j, |_we (, I wj. | in phon. trans, c - voiceless occlusive |_k j. Before /e/,/i/ voiceless sibilant ( s j. 5 - voiceless sibilant, (~s~| in phon. trans. Corresponds to Cast. f© | which does not exist in Ar. ch - as in Cast, chico, |_tj" | in phon. trans, dj - as in Eng. general Pd3J in Phon» trans. h - never pronounced. Used in orthographic trans, where L. root word has /f/. j - as in Fr. jouer, | 3J in phon. trans. 11 - as in Cast, calle j~x~j in phon. trans, nn - "long" /n/, |_nn | in phon. trans, ny - as in Cast, cana, jjiJ in phon. trans. r - as in Cast._ Initially rolled, | rl in phon. trans.; medially flapped, j_rj . irr - rolled in medial position, |~r [. s - voiceless sibilant, |_sj in phon. trans. In intervocalic position voiced, j z (. ss - voiceless sibilant | s | in intervocalic position, tj - between /ch/ and /j/: |_t3J_in_ phon. trans, x - palatal, as in Eng.