What most distinguishes Provencal as compared with French is the fact that it keeps the Latin accented a of free syllables and Latin unaccented final a,while French has changed them respective ly to c and slurred or mute e (cf. Provencal aunt and Old French am et, modern French aims; Pro vencal bona and French bonne). In modern Pro vencal the final unaccented a has become o, and palatalized 1 has tended to become the palatal semivowel y as in French. Nasalization of vowels has not at ally time been a regular feature of the language. The word-accent has always fallen on the last or the next to the last syllable. In the older period there was a ease distinction of nominative and accusative for substantives, ex cept those coming from the Latin first declension; thus, nominative singular son', 'sister.' accusative singular seror, nominative plural scrors, accusa tive plural serorn: nominative singular cavaliers, 'knight,' accusative singular cavalier, nominative plural en re leer, accusative plural cavaliers; but nominative and accusative singular donna, 'lady.' I nominative and accusative plural donnas. In the modern speech the plural sign s is silent ex cept in liaison. The four conjugations of Latin persisted in Provencal; but only the first (in finitive in -or) and the fourth (infinitive in -ir) remained with sufficient vitality to attract new verbs to them. As in the earliest Old French, and as occasionally even nowadays in Spanish and Portuguese, the Latin pluperfect indicative (cantaveram, etc.) had in early documents an ' indicative value (either pluperfect or aorist, usually the latter) ; it had oftener, however, the imperfect subjunctive or conditional force that has prevailed also in the Iberian Peninsula.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Stengel, Die beiden iiltestenBibliography. Stengel, Die beiden iiltesten provenzalischen Grammatiken, Lo Donut: pro rensals und Las rasos de trobar (Marburg. 1STS; editions of treatises on grammar and versifica tion prepared in Provencal as early as the thir teenth century) ; Suchier, "Die franziisische und provenzalische Sprache und ihre Muudarten," in Grober, Gni ndriss der ro ni on ischen Philologic (Strasburg, 1888; in French translation, Le franrais it he provencal, by P. Monet, Paris. 1891, with corrections by Suchier) ; Diez, Grammatik der romanischen Sprachen (3d ed., Bonn, 1870-72) ; Meyer-Ltibke, Grammatik der' romonischen Sprachen (Leipzig, 1890 et seq.; trans. into French as Grammairc des bangles romanes, Paris, 1890-1900) ; Creseini, II a a ua let to prorenzale (Verona. 1892) ; Rccueil d'unciens testes bas-latins, proreneaus et fran cais (Paris, 1874-77) : Suchier. Denhmnler pro renzalischer Lit terat ur und ,`.prache 1SS3): Chabaneau. Grammaire limousine (Park, 1876) ; Lienig, Dic Grammatik dcr• prorenza lischen Legs d'Amors vergliehen ,nit der Sprach(' der Troubadours (Breslau, 1890) ; Koschwitz, Ueber die prorenzalischen Fclibcr und line For gunge,- (Berlin, 1894) ; id., Grammaire de la longue des (Paris, 1894). Dictionaries: Raynouard, Lcsique IL (6 cols., Paris, 44). is to be used only in connection with E. Levy. Prorenzalisches AYupplement-Thurterbuch (Leipzig, 1892 et seq.) ; :Mistral, Lou tresor ddu Felibrige on Dietionnaire prot•cnt,'ul-fran;•ni.s (Paris. 1579 S6). For additional articles recourse may be had to the various reviews dealing with Romance phi lology, such as the Romania, the Zeitschrift fair romanische Philulogie, the Phonetische Studien, the Annales du Midi, the Revue des langues ro manes, the Romrvnisebe Forschungen, the Archivio glottologico, etc.
PROVENcAL LITERATURE. The litera ture written in the various dialects of the south of France, and more particularly that written during the Middle Ages in the dialect of Li mousin. Its earliest monument. a fragment of a moral poem called Boi'thins, belongs to the first half of the eleventh century. The courtly lyrics. however. which constitute its main glory, were nearly all written between 1090 and 1350. The songs of over four hundred poets who composed during this period have come down to us, and we know the names of almost seventy others whose works have perished. Among these au thors we find not only singers and court minstrels. but knights, ladies, barons, counts, and even kings. The amenity of the cli mate, the refinement of manners. the frequency of travelers, merchants, and pilgrims, the blithe and easy life in rich cities and baronial palaces, favored the development of a form of poetry which found its inspiration and its support in a luxurious and frivolous aristocratic society. The troubadours (q.v.) wrote, not for readers. but for• hearers; their pieces were sung at court fes tivals either by the authors themselves or by the more humble jongleurs. Music and words were usually composed by the same person. This in timate connection between words and music strongly influenced the form of these lyrics. Elaborate artificiality is a predominant trait. Every variety of rhyming scheme was attempted, the rhymes of one stanza being repeated in all the others throughout a poem. Word-play, alliteration, conceits, and forced constructions abound, and difficulties of every kind were sought. There even grew up a style called the trobar clue, or oscur, the chief merit of which was that it could hardly be understood. A treatise on verse written in the fourteenth century (Legs mors) mentions many different kinds of poems, the most important of Nvhich are the vers and CIIIISO, the sirrintes and t he tcnso. Between and conso no very clear distinction has been ob served, except that the rcrs was the earlier and simpler form. The canso was an elaborate lyric of from five to seven stanzas with complicated rhymes, and it dealt always with love, and re quired a melody of its own. The sort of love thus treated was peculiar to the Middle Ages and seems to have been shaped by the social condi tions of the period. The ladies who presided over the almost independent court of Southern France were the natural subjects of the praise and adoration of the singers. who expressed largely a feigned passion in artificial formulas. Yet. how ever innocent for the most part these love affairs actually were, the semblance of an illicit rela tionship was preserved. In general. love is rep resented as the greatest good, the height of bless ings, the source of all virtue and glory. Spring time is its season; its cause, beauty which, pene trating the lover's eyes, smites his heart, within which it inflicts a wound that causes infinite suf fering. Yet lie dares not speak, though he grows pale and sleepless. Nothing can change his de votion and his absolute submission to his lady's will; for her noble qualities brighten the world and ennoble all who approach her. Her grace and mercy are his only hope. Such, in general, though played upon in every variety of style. sometimes even in parody, is the subject matter of the ranso.