Vivaro-Alpine () is a variety of Occitan spoken in southeastern France (namely, around the Dauphiné area) and northwestern Italy (the Occitan Valleys of Piedmont and Liguria). There is also a small Vivaro-Alpine enclave in the Guardia Piemontese, Calabria, where the language is known as gardiòl. It belongs to the Northern Occitan dialect bloc, along with Auvergnat and Limousin. The name “vivaro-alpine” was coined by Pierre Bec in the 1970s. The Vivaro-Alpine dialects are traditionally called "gavot" from the Maritime Alps to the Hautes-Alpes. Naming and classification Vivaro-Alpine had been considered as a sub-dialect of Provençal, and named provençal alpin (Alpine Provençal) or Northern Provençal. Its use in the Dauphiné area has also led to the use of dauphinois or dauphinois alpin to name it. Along with Ronjat and Bec, it is now clearly recognized as a dialect of its own. The UNESCO Atlas of World's languages in danger uses the Alpine Provençal name, and considers it as seriously endangered. Glottolog recognizes the Gardiòl variety of the dialect as a distinct language within the Occitanic language family. Subdialects Western: vivarodaufinenc (native name) or vivaro-dauphinois (French name) near northern Vivarais (Annonay), northeastern Velay (Yssingeaux), a southern fringe of Forez (Saint-Bonnet-le-Château and around Saint-Étienne), Drôme department (Valence, Die, Montélimar) and a fringe in southern Isère department. Eastern: Alpine (English name) or alpenc, aupenc (native name), in the Occitan Alps. gavòt (native name) or gavot (French name) in the western Occitan Alps, which are located in France, around Digne, Sisteron, Gap, Barcelonnette and the upper County of Nice. Cisalpine or Eastern Alpine (native names: cisalpenc or alpenc oriental) in the eastern Occitan Alps Occitan Valleys, which are located in Italy (Piedmont and Liguria). Characterization Vivaro-Alpine is classified as an Indo-European, Italic, Romance, or Western-Romance language. Vivaro-Alpine shares the palatization of consonants k and g in front of a with the other varieties of North Occitan (Limosino, Alverniate), in particular with words such as chantar ("cantare," to sing) and jai ("ghiandaia," jay). Southern Occitan has, respectively, cantar and gai. Its principal characteristic is the dropping of simple Latin dental intervocalics: chantaa or chantaia for chantada ("cantata," sung), monea for moneda ("moneta," coin),] bastia or bastiá for bastida ("imbastitura, tack), maür for madur ("maturo," mature). The verbal ending of the first person is -o (like in Italian, Catalan, Castilian, and Portuguese, but also in Piemontese, which is neighboring): parlo for parli or parle ("io parlo"), parlavo