Corsican language

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Corsican (Corsu)

Spoken in

Corsica ( France ), (as a variety) also in Sardinia ( Italy )
speaker An estimated 100,000 in Corsica, 100,000 in Sardinia (according to another classification 250,000), including second speakers, possibly up to 400,000 speakers worldwide
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Recognized minority /
regional language in
CorsicaCorsica Corsica

Flag of Sardinia.svg Sardinia

Language codes
ISO 639 -1

co

ISO 639 -2

cos

ISO 639-3

cos

Corsican (Corsican corsu , Gallurese cossu ) is the Romance idiom originally spoken by the inhabitants of the Mediterranean island of Corsica . In terms of the linguistic system, it belongs more precisely to the group of Italian-Romance languages or dialects and is particularly closely related to Tuscan Italian and the northern Sardinian dialect of Gallurese (and, to a lesser extent, Sassarean ). Gallurese is - although it is spoken on the other side of the Strait of Bonifacio - to be considered a variety of Corsican and not Sardinian . Corsican has been largely replaced by the official language French .

Status and classification

Bilingual signposting in Corsica
Bilingual place-name sign of Tèmpiu ( Sardinia )

In France , Corsican has the status of a recognized regional language and can - but does not have to - be taught as a school subject in Corsica and used as an administrative language. For example, practically all place-name signs and signposts on the entire island are bilingual. However, the use of Corsican as a written language is low. French, which is the only official language on the island , clearly dominates here .

At the University of Corti , which reopened in 1981 , Corsican is a compulsory minor in all fields of study. In addition, you can take the Corsican language and culture as both a Bachelor and a Master degree . The university is considered the only one in the world where Corsican is also taught.

In Sardinia, Sassarese and Gallurese are also recognized by the regional government. Here, too, there is sometimes bilingual signage.

Language or dialect

According to linguistic criteria, Corsican does not necessarily have to be viewed as an independent language, as it is very closely related to the central Italian dialects and is largely mutually understandable with them . For example, Corsican is much more closely related to Tuscan than Tuscan to the southern Italian dialects, not to mention the Galloital dialects of northern Italy. Nevertheless, the term lingua corsa ("Corsican language") has largely established itself . The situation is , so to speak, a mirror image of that of Sardinian , which linguistically is so far apart from Italian that it must undoubtedly be a separate language, but is often viewed as an Italian dialect due to Sardinia's political affiliation to Italy.

Although still discussed, Corsican is still widely regarded as an independent Romance language that has developed directly from the local Vulgar Latin . Accordingly, it is by no means an imported, "transplanted" or modified Italian, as was often assumed earlier (and sometimes still).

Occasionally, however, Corsican is viewed as a variety within central Italian , especially Tuscan. This is because the Tuscans, who ruled Corsica for a long time, had an enormous influence on the language there. In addition, Corsican was originally only used in oral communication. It was countered by Italian as the written and umbrella language . From this point of view, Corsican could (and can) be regarded as a dialect.

Later, under French rule, there was a separate written form, which made it possible to clarify and consolidate the peculiarities and differences of Corsican in vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar compared to standard Italian and Tuscan. This fact, in turn, sets Corsican apart from the concept of dialect and brings it (closer) to that of language, as the presence of a (standardized) written language is an essential point of demarcation here.

In its problem of recognition as an independent language, Corsican can be compared with Maltese , which was once “just” a dialect of Arabic, but is now considered a separate language. A comparison with Portuguese , which developed out of Galician , is also not far away . As a “compromise” on this question of status, the current Corsican can also be described as a cultural dialect or extension language .

Relationship and comparison of languages

Distribution area and dialects of Corsican in Corsica and northern Sardinia
Further overview map of the linguistic zones in Corsica

Regarding the already described strong linguistic systematic connection to Tuscan, it should be noted that this applies above all to the northern dialects of Corsica (called corsu supranu or cismuntincu ), while the southern ( corsu suttanu or pumuntincu ) is particularly closely related to the dialects of Gallurese spoken in northern Sardinia ( gadduresu ) and Sassaresisch ( sassaresu ) are related. One often speaks of the Sardo- Corsican varieties or transition dialects. The Corsican language also has similarities with Sicilian and Roman . The many u - and regionally occurring sch -Laute audible similarities arise with the (European) Portuguese (eg identical pronunciation Corsican. Portu and Portuguese postage - harbor, beautiful -According before "t": Corsican Cumu s ? Tà , Portuguese Como e s tá? - How are you?). Nasal sounds reinforce this impression and are reminiscent of the French language. For example, the number cinquanta (fifty) sounds like a mixture of the equally written Italian word and the French cinquante : / ʧiŋ'kwɑ̃ta / . In general, it can be said that Corsican has a darker sound than standard Italian, but on the other hand it sounds more melodic and softer. The Corsican vocabulary is generally very close to Italian, while a number of words seem more French or are borrowed from French. Other expressions are typically Corsican:

French Corsican Gallurese Sassarean Italian Latin German
voilà eccu eccu accò ecco ecce here / there is
danger perìculu pirìculu pirìguru pericolo periculum danger
rivière fiume riu riu fiume or rio flume flow
cook gara from fr. cook stazioni isthazioni stazione statio railway station
voiture vittura màcchina màcchina macchina or vettura carrus automobile
travailler travaglià trabaddà trabaglià lavorare laborare work
regarder fidïà figghjulà figgiurà guardare spectare watch
fromage casgiu càsgiu càsgiu formaggio or cacio caseus cheese
plague marina spiagghja ippiàggia spiaggia or marina litus Beach
arriver ghjunghje ghjugnì giugnì arrivare or giungere advenire arrive
prendre piglià piddà piglià prendere or pigliare prendere to take
garçon zitellu , ziteddu steddu pizzinnu ragazzo puer Boy

history

Latinity , which was only gradually becoming established, united the islands of Corsica and Sardinia into one linguistic area on the basis of the common pre-Roman (including Libyan, Phoenician, Etruscan) substrate and oriented Corsica towards central and southern Italy. The linguistic unity with the neighboring island of Sardinia broke up from the 9th century when both islands came under different political influence. Corsica first came under the control of the margravate of Tuscany (from 828), which was followed by the Pisans in 1077 . After the naval battle at Meloria (1284), Pisa lost the island to Genoa . The linguistic "Tuscanization" of Corsica continued during the Genoese period (1284–1768), as Genoa used the Tuscan-based written language. During this period, Corsican was regarded as a dialect (dialetto) that was used for everyday oral communication, while standard Italian was used as the written language. When Corsica passed to France in 1768, the cultural and linguistic "Frenchization" of the island began. From a linguistic point of view, Corsican lost its " roofing " through Italian as a written and identity-creating cultural language.

In 1852 the written language Italian was banned from all official areas. As a result, Corsican was " expanded " into an independent language in the second half of the 19th century by standardizing uniform spelling and highlighting and emphasizing the differences to Italian in terms of vocabulary and grammar. This created a sense of identity based on the Corsican idiom, which is expressed linguistically in the increasing production of Corsican, mostly literary texts. This first blossoming of Corsican in written texts, which from a sociolinguistic point of view can be described as a “preliminary phase”, did not take place within the framework of institutionally controlled, language planning activities. However, the introduction of compulsory schooling (with French as the only language of instruction in the entire country) in 1882 brought about a strengthening of French and a weakening of Corsican.

In the 1920s, the will to develop Corsican as a written language underwent a political reinterpretation, which was reflected in the founding of the Partitu corsu d'azzione party, which advocated the autonomy of Corsica . This political organization emerged from the circle around the newspaper A Muvra (The Mouflon ), which with its corsisme formed an ideological counterpart to the more Francophile-oriented cyrneisme of the almanac Annu Corsu (later Année Corse ). The view of the Italian irredentists (and fascists), who saw Corsica as an “unredeemed” part of Italy ( Benito Mussolini declared Corsica to be an integral part of Italy in 1936), was rejected by the Corsicans, who in the meantime developed their own (also linguistic) identity and no longer felt that they belonged to Italian in linguistic terms. This attitude was expressed in the 1938 oath of Bastia, through which the Corsicans swore their affiliation to France and rejected Italian "liberation" efforts.

In 1973 Jean Rocchi founded the scola aperta , voluntary summer schools for children who wanted to learn Corsican, which is forbidden in school. Corsican became an important symbol of Corsican identity . In 1974, Corsican was recognized as a regional language by the French Republic as part of the amendment to the Loi Deixonne and is now taught to a limited extent in schools. Since 1989, Corsican has had the status of an administrative language on an equal footing with French ; However, many Corsicans are striving for further institutionalization and thus a situation of official bilingualism . In December 2015, the newly elected President of the Corsican Regional Parliament ( Assemblée de Corse ), Jean-Guy Talamoni , attracted a lot of attention when he delivered a speech in Corsican at the opening of Parliament. In the regional elections , the moderate nationalists striving for autonomy ( Femu a Corsica ) and the radical nationalists striving for independence ( Corsica libera ), to which Talamoni belonged, won a majority with 16 and 8 out of 41 seats respectively. Numerous French politicians condemned both the content of the speech and the fact that it was given in Corsican instead of French.

Number of speakers and use

Anti-French vandalism on bilingual signposts

The information on the number of speakers in Corsican vary greatly or sometimes contradict each other. It is estimated, among other things, that there are around 100,000 speakers in Corsica itself; there are also 33,000 who live on mainland France. If one adds the speakers of Gallurese (up to 100,000) and those of Sassarese (up to 150,000) (which is, however, controversial), the total number of speakers in France and Italy is 383,000. Estimates of over 400,000 speakers worldwide are therefore extremely generous. Other sources name only 60,000 speakers for Corsica, while others are much more optimistic with more than 200,000.

As a result, the number of speakers is seen on the one hand as falling - partly due to the dominance of the French language in education and in business - on the other hand it has increased in recent years. However, Corsican is far less acutely endangered than other minority languages ​​in France . B. Alsatian or Lorraine still has a lot of young speakers.

Current statistics show that around 98% of Corsican primary school students ( école primaire , scola primaria ) have at least one and a half hours of Corsican lessons per week. At the secondary schools, it is a good 59% of the pupils in the lower secondary level ( collège , cullegiu ) and around 22% in the upper secondary level ( lycée , liceu ). However, it also states that only 2% of families pass the language on to the next generation and that French-Corsican is actually bilingual. Although many Corsicans advocate official bilingualism, previous efforts in this regard have failed because of the French central government. Preservation and use of the language are therefore strongly dependent on regional, local and, last but not least, personal commitment. There is a very strong Corsican identity. UNESCO currently classifies Corsican as a potentially endangered language .

Structure of the Corsican

Morphology and syntax

The definite article goes back to the Latin demonstrative ille, Illud, ILLA as in almost all Romance languages.

Definite article
number Masculine Feminine
Singular u, l '(before vowel) a, l '(before vowel)
Plural i, l '(before vowel) e, l '(before vowel)

The indefinite article is un for masculine, una for feminine or un ' for feminine starting with a vowel.

The personal pronouns are eo / eiu, tù, ellu / ella, noi, voi, elli / elle for German "I, you, he / she, we, you, she (mask.) / She (fem.)". As in standard Italian, the placement of the pronoun is not compulsory: parlu "I speak". The pronoun is used for emphasis: eo parlu "I speak (not you)".

The possessive pronouns are as in Italian with the definite article: u million , and to "my", "your", etc.

The most important auxiliary verbs are esse and avè “to be” and “have”. Above all, they also serve to form the perfect. As can be seen from avè , the infinitive has lost its typical Latin -RE ending in Corsican; however, esse is still the same as in Latin. In addition to the perfect tense, as in all Romance languages ​​and dialects, there is an imperfect tense, in spoken Corsican the present tense is used for the future.

Like standard Italian (Tuscan) and Romanian (Eastern Romanian), Corsican has no plural forms ending in -s. Masculine words usually end in -u and form the plural on -i : lettu , letti (bed, beds). Feminine words usually form the singular on -a and the plural on -e : scala, scale (stairs, stairs). Words that end in -e can be masculine or feminine and form the plural on -i or (in the north) -e : noce, noci / noce (nut, nuts).

Introductory literature / phrasebook

  • MARCHETTI, Pascal: Le Corse de poche , Éd. Assimil, Chennevières-sur-Marne, 2005.

literature

  • FALCUCCI, Francesco Domenico: Vocabolario dei dialetti della Corsica , 1915
  • MARCHETTI, Pascal: Intricciate è cambiarine , Éd. Beaulieu, 1971
  • CECCALDI, Mathieu: Dictionnaire corse-français , Éditions Klincksieck, 1974
  • MARCHETTI, Pascal: Le corse sans peine (U corsu senza straziu) , Chennevières sur Marne: Assimil, 1974
  • MELILLO, AM: Profilo dei dialetti italiani: Corsica , Pisa: Pacini Editore, 1977
  • AGOSTINI, Pàulu Marì :. L'usu di a nostra lingua , 1984
  • FUSINA, Jacques: Les racines de la vie, La Corse naturelle , Paris: Éditions CRITT / DRAE / DRT, 1991
  • FUSINA, Jacques: Parlons Corse , Paris: Éditions L'Harmattan, 1999
  • HOLTUS, Günter / METZELTIN, Michael / SCHMITT, Christian (edd.): Lexicon of Romance Linguistics (LRL) , Tübingen, Niemeyer, 1988–2005 (12 volumes); Volume IV: Italian, Corsican, Sardinian , 1988.
  • MARCHETTI, Pascal. L'usu còrsu (diziunariu corsu-talianu-francese) , Éditions Stamperia Sammarcelli, 2001
  • DURAND, Olivier: La lingua còrsa , Brescia: Paideia Editrice, 2003 - ISBN 88-394-0674-3
  • MARCHETTI, Pascal: Corsican - word for word (gibberish volume 165), REISE KNOW-HOW Verlag Peter Rump, from the French original Le Corse de poche (ASSIMIL France), 2003 - ISBN 3-89416-343-7
  • FABELLINI, Simona: Language competition in Corsica from approx. 1852 to approx. 1920 , Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Verlag, 2010 - ISBN 978-3-631-59013-3
  • FABELLINI, Simona: "Corsican", in: Janich, Nina / Greule, Albrecht , Sprachkulturen in Europa , Tübingen, 2002, pp. 129-134.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Bossong : The Romance Languages. A comparative introduction. Buske, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-87548-518-9 , pp. 203, 226.
  2. a b c d Georg Bossong : The Romance languages. A comparative introduction. Buske, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-87548-518-9 , pp. 197-198.
  3. ^ Bossong: The Romance Languages. 2008, p. 23.
  4. http://www.europe1.fr/politique/regionales-les-discours-en-corse-ne-plaisent-pas-aux-politiques-du-continent-2638491
  5. A lingua corsa fattore d'integrazione - short report (2017, French)
  6. Presentation ( Memento of January 22, 2019 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 13, 2012
  7. Inchiesta - Que reste-t-il de la langue corse? - Information broadcast (report, discussion) on the situation of the Corsican language (2018, French, partly Corsican)

Web links