Walloon language
| Walloon | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
 Belgium , France
|
|
| speaker | 1.2 million | |
| Linguistic classification |
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
wa |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
wln |
|
| ISO 639-3 |
wln |
|
Walloon is a regional language belonging to the Oïl languages of the Gallo-Roman group and spoken in Wallonia (the French-speaking part of Belgium ) and in north-eastern France near the Belgian border. However, the traditional distribution area only covers around 70 to 75 percent of the Wallonia region; otherwise, other languages are spoken in the West Picard , in the southeast Champenois and lothringisch that Oïl languages of Champagne and Lorraine , as well as to Arlon Luxembourgish and in the far east German .
Walloon is seen by some as a separate language, and by some as a French regiolect . However, it differs greatly from standard French and is that of the Gallo-Roman Oïl languages, in which most of the Lower Franconian and Dutch language influences have been preserved.
In the Middle Ages, Walloon was also used in writing, but in this function it was completely superseded by French. More recently, Walloon literature has developed again, and French continues to be used as the official language, which today all speakers of Walloon speak.
In 1908, the number of speakers of Walloon was a good two million people; today it is estimated at around 1.2 million.
Language example
Below is the first article of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Walloon, French and German.
- Walloon: Tos lès-omes vinèt-st-å monde lîbes, èt so-l'minme pîd po çou qu'ènn'èst d'leu dignité èt d'leus dreûts. I n'sont nin foû rêzon èt-z-ont-i leû consyince po zèls, çou qu'èlzès deût miner a s'kidûre onk 'po l'ôte tot come dès frés.
- French: Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits. Ils sont doués de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les uns envers les autres dans un esprit de fraternité.
- German: All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should meet one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
literature
- Léon Pirsoul: Dictionnaire wallon-français , Volume 1, Mechlin 1902.
See also
Web links
- Presentation of Walloon by Lucien Mahin (in English, in the conference "Promoting or demoting: the transmission of minority languages from past to present", Poitiers, France, 6 and 7 April 2018)
- Free Walloon Dictionary
- Walloon - a French dialect?
- Definition and classification with secondary sources on glottopedia.org