Arpitan language
Arpitan (IPA: [axpetan]) or Francoprovençal is a definitely-endangered Gallo-Romance language spoken in Rhône-Alpes and Franche-Comté (southeastern France), Aosta and a few areas in Piedmont (northwestern Italy), and French-speaking Switzerland. It is spoken by about 150,000 people.[1]. It is most similar to the Occitan and Gallo-Italic languages. Written mutual intelligibility with French is somewhat limited, while spoken mutual intelligibility is low.
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Etymology
The name Franco-Provençal (franco-provenzale) was coined by Graziadio Isaia Ascoli (1878), chosen because the dialect group was seen as intermediate between French and Provençal (Occitan language spoken in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur).
France
Language speakers refer to it as Patois or with the name of their specific dialect (e.g. Savoyard, Lyonnais).
France hosts an estimated 80,000 speakers. By comparison, there are a total of 5.6 million residents in Rhône-Alpes.
Italy
The local variant in Aosta is known as Valdôtain, Valdotèn, Valdŏtèn, or Valdouhtan. It was spoken by 68,000 people (out of about 120,000) in Aosta in 2003[2], and an additional 22,000 in Piedmont.
In Aosta, it is an official language with special protection[3], unlike most other Romance languages native to Italy.
Switzerland
In Switzerland, it is also known as Romand (not to be confused with the Rhaeto-Romance Romansh language). It use is in decline, and it is not considered an official language.
