Guernésiais

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Guernésiais

Spoken in

guernseyguernsey guernsey
speaker 1330
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Official language in guernsey

Guernésiais , also known as Dgèrnésiais or Guernsey French , is the variety of the Norman language spoken in Guernsey . It is also known on the island as " patois ". As a Langue d'oïl , it has its roots in Latin , but has been influenced by the Norse and English languages over the course of history .

There is little difficulty in mutual understanding with the Jèrriais from the neighboring island of Jersey and other Norman varieties from Normandy . Guernésiais is most closely related to the Norman dialect of La Hague on the Cotentin Peninsula .

The Guernésiais was less influenced by French than the Jèrriais, but more by English, which results in modern word imports such as le bike or le gas-cooker .

There is a rich tradition of poetry in the Guernsey language. The songs are influenced by the sea, by colorful rhetoric, traditional folklore and the natural beauty of the island. The island's greatest poet was George Métivier (1790–1881), a contemporary of Victor Hugo , who influenced and inspired local poets to print and publish their traditional works. Métivier combined local place names and animal names, traditional proverbs and orally transmitted fragments of medieval poetry to create his Rimes Guernesiaises (1831). Denys Corbet (1826–1910) was considered the "last poet" of Guernsey French and published many poems in the original island language in newspapers and private collections.

«Que l'lingo since bouan ou mauvais
J'pâlron coum'nou pâlait autefais»

"Be the 'Lingo' good or bad,
I will speak as we cultivate it."

- George Métivier

The current dictionary des Guernésiais, which bears the title Dictiounnaire Angllais-Guernesiais and was published in April 1967 by the Société Guernesiaise and revised in 1982, was written by Marie de Garis (1910-2010). De Garis received the MBE title for her work in 1999 .

status

Multilingual welcome sign in Guernsey's tourist office in St. Peter Port - at the very top of Guernésiais

The census of 2001 showed that 1,327 inhabitants (of which 1262 born on the island) and therefore 2% of the population the language fluently, dominate over 3% they understand completely. 70%, i.e. 934 of these 1327 residents who are able to speak the language fluently, are over 64 years old. Only 0.1% of the young population can speak perfectly Guernésiais. 14% of the population say they understand the language somewhat .

  • L'Assembllaïe d'Guernesiais , an association of Guernésiais speakers founded in 1957, publishes a magazine. Les Ravigoteurs , another association, published a picture book and a compact cassette for children.
  • The forest school ( English forest school , a school concept for outdoor teaching) organizes an annual speaker competition for primary school students aged six years.
  • The annual Eisteddfod provides an opportunity for performances in the language, and radio programs and newspapers bring regular contributions.
  • There is some instruction in the language in voluntary courses in Guernsey.
  • There are evening schools (as of 2013).
  • Lunchtime courses are offered by the Guernsey Museum (as of 2013).
  • Guernésiais is (along with Jèrriais , Irish , Scottish Gaelic , Welsh , Manx and Scots ) a regional language recognized by the British and Irish governments .
  • Both Guernsey BBC Local Radio and Guernsey Press offer occasional courses.
  • A language development officer (Engl. Guernsey language development officer ) was appointed in January 2008.

There are few radio programs on Guernésiais, local Channel Television largely ignores the language, and only occasional short programs are broadcast on BBC Radio Guernsey , mostly for learners.

Despite the clear historical development of the Norman languages, many do not classify the Guernésiais as an independent language, but consider it a French dialect . Since the script is based on that of French, Francophones can understand much of the written Guernésiais.

The founding of its own language commission ( Guernsey Language Commission ) was announced on February 7, 2013 as a government initiative to preserve the language culture.

history

  • The poet George Métivier (1790–1881), who lives on Guernsey - known as the " Burns of Guernsey" - was the first to write a dictionary of the Norman language in the Channel Islands , the Dictionnaire Franco-Normand (1870). This established the first standard orthography , which was later modified and modernized. Among his works of poetry are the Rimes Guernesiaises , published in 1831.
  • Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte published a translation of the parable of the fourfold arable field in Guernésiais in 1863 as part of his philological research.
  • Like Métivier, Tam Lenfestey (1818–1885) published poems in local newspapers and in book form.
  • Denys Corbet (1826–1909) described himself as draïn rimeux - the last poet , but the art of poetry persisted. Corbet is best known for his poetry, particularly the short story L'Touar de Guernesy , a mischievous journey through the parishes of Guernsey. As editor of the French-language newspaper Le Bailliage , he also wrote feature articles in Guernésiais under the pseudonym Badlagoule ("chatterbox"). In 2009 the island hosted a special Corbet exhibition in Forest Parish to commemorate the centenary of his death, during which a contemporary portrait of Corbet by artist Christian Corbet, a cousin of Denys Corbet, was unveiled.
  • Thomas Martin (1839–1921) translated the Bible into Guernésiais, as well as the plays by William Shakespeare , twelve plays by Pierre Corneille , three by Thomas Corneille , 27 by Molière , 20 by Voltaire and The Spanish Student by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow .
  • Thomas Henry Mahy (1862-1936) wrote Dires et Pensées du Courtil Poussin from 1916 , a regular column in La Gazette Officielle de Guernesey . A collection of these was published as a booklet in 1922. He continued to publish occasional poetry and prose until the early 1930s.
  • Thomas Alfred Grut (1852–1933) published Des lures guernesiaises , also a collection of newspaper columns , in 1927 . He also translated some of the Jèrriais stories by Philippe Le Sueur Mourant into Guernésiais.
  • Marjorie Ozanne (1897–1973) wrote stories that were published between 1949 and 1965 in the Guernsey Evening Press . Some earlier works were found in La Gazette de Guernesey in the 1920s .
  • Métivier's dictionary was replaced by Marie de Garis ' (1910-2010) Dictiounnaire Angllais-Guernésiais ; the first edition came out in 1967, followed by 1969, 1973 and 1982.
  • When the Channel Islands were occupied by Germany in World War II , the Guernésiais experienced a small renaissance. Many residents did not always want to be understood by the Germans, some of whom spoke English.
  • Victor Hugo used Guernésiais words in some of his island novels. In " The workers of the sea " ( French: Les Travailleurs de la mer ) he introduces the Guernésiais word pieuvre for octopus - the standard French word would be poulpe .
  • P'tites Lures Guernésiaises , a collection of short stories in Guernésiais and English by various writers, was published in 2006.

Phonology

The metathesis of / r / is widespread in Guernésiais, as well as in Sercquiais and Jèrriais.

Guernésiais Sercquiais Jèrriais French English German
kérouaïe krwee crouaix croix cross cross
méquerdi mekrëdi Mêcrédi mercredi Wednesday Wednesday

Further examples are pourmenade (promenade), persentaïr (present), terpid (tripod).

Verbs

aver - have (auxiliary verb)
Present preterite Past tense Future tense Conditional
j'ai j'aëus j'avais j'érai j'érais
t'as t'aëus t'avais t'éras t'érais
il a il aëut il avait il éra il érait
all 'a all 'aeut all 'avait all 'éra all 'érait
j'avaöns j'eûnmes j'avaëmes j'éraöns j'éraëmes
vous avaïz vous aeutes vous avaites vous éraïz vous eras
il moans il aëurent il avaient il éraönt il éraient
oimaïr - to love (regular conjugation)
Present preterite Past tense Future tense Conditional
j'oime j'oimis j'oimais j'oim'rai j'oim'rais
t'oimes t'oimis t'oimais t'oim'ras t'oim'rais
il oime il oimit il oimait il oim'ra il oim'rait
all 'oime all 'oimit all 'oimait all 'oim'ra all 'oim'rait
j'oimaöns j'oimaëmes j'oimaëmes j'oim'rons j 'oim'raëmes
vous oimaïz vous oimites vous oimaites vous oim'raïz vous oim'raites
il 'oiment il 'oimirent il 'oimaient il 'oim'raönt il 'oim'raient

Examples

"Learn Guernésiais your voice in the islands with the BBC
BBC Guernsey
"
Guernésiais English French German
Quaï temps qu'i fait? What's the weather like? Quel temps fait-il? What's the weather like?
I 'fait caoud ogniet. It's warm today. Il fait chaud aujourd'hui. It is warm today.
Tchi qu'est vote naom? What's your name? Quel est votre nom? What's your name?
Coume tchi ​​que l'affaire va? How are you? Comment from les affaires? How are you?
Quaï heure qu'il est? What's the time? Source heure est-il? What time is it?
À la perchoine! See you next time! À la prochaine! See you soon!
Mercie bian! Thank you very much! Merci bien! Thank you so much!
chén-chin this ceci this)
ch'techin this one celui-ci this one here
Lâtchiz-mé! Leave me! Laissez-moi! Let me!

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2001 census
  2. ↑ a b Learn Guernsey's language in a lunch break. ( Memento from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Guernesiais promoter starts work. BBC , accessed September 24, 2014 .
  4. ^ Language commission to be formed. Guernsey Press, accessed September 24, 2014 .
  5. ^ The Guernsey Norman French Translations of Thomas Martin: A Linguistic Study of an Unpublished Archive , Mari C. Jones, Leuven 2008, ISBN 978-90-429-2113-9
  6. ↑ P'tites Lures Guernésiaises , ed. Hazel Tomlinson, Jersey 2006, ISBN 1-903341-47-7

See also

literature

  • Marie De Garis: Dictiounnaire Angllais-Guernésiais . Phillimore & Co Ltd, November 5, 1982, ISBN 978-0-85033-462-3 .

Web links

Commons : Guernésiais  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikipedia in Norman (also Guernésiais)