Guernésiais 704116 224824020 2008-07-10T16:07:05Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other {{language |name=Guernésiais |nativename=Dgèrnésiais |familycolor=Indo-European |states={{flag|Guernsey}} |speakers= 1,327 (2%) fluent |fam1=[[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] |fam2=[[Italic languages|Italic]] |fam3=[[Romance languages|Romance]] |fam4=[[Italo-Western languages|Italo-Western]] |fam5=Western |fam6=[[Gallo-Iberian languages|Gallo-Iberian]] |fam7=[[Gallo-Romance languages|Gallo-Romance]] |fam8=[[Gallo-Rhaetian languages|Gallo-Rhaetian]] |fam9=[[Oïl languages|Oïl]] |fam10=[[Norman language|Norman]] |iso2=roa }} '''Guernésiais''', also known as '''Dgèrnésiais''', '''Guernsey French''', '''Guernsey Norman French''', is the variety of [[Norman language]] spoken in [[Guernsey]]. It is sometimes known on the island, by the semi-disparaging name "[[patois]]". As one of the [[Langues d'oïl|Oïl languages]], it has its roots in the [[Latin]] language, but has had strong influence from both [[Norse language|Norse]] and [[English language|English]] at different points in its history. There is [[Mutually intelligible languages|intercomprehension]] (with some difficulty) with [[Jèrriais]]-speakers from [[Jersey]] and Norman-speakers from mainland [[Normandy]]. Guernésiais most closely resembles the Norman [[dialect]] of [[La Hague]] in the [[Cotentin Peninsula]] ([[Cotentinais]]). Guernésiais has been influenced less by [[French language|French]] than has [[Jèrriais]], but conversely has been influenced to a greater extent by [[English language|English]]. New words have been imported for modern phenomena "le bike", "le gas-cooker". There is a rich tradition of poetry in the Guernsey language. Guernsey songs were inspired by the sea, by colourful figures of speech, by traditional folk-lore, as well as by the natural beauty of the island. The island's greatest poet was [[Georges Métivier]] (1790-1881), a contemporary of [[Victor Hugo]], who influenced and inspired local poets to print and publish their traditional poetry. Métivier blended together local place-names, bird and animal names, traditional sayings 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 his day in his native tongue in the island newspaper and privately. ''Que l'lingo seit bouan ou mauvais / J'pâlron coum'nou pâlait autefais'' (whether the “lingo” be good or bad, I’m going to speak the way we spoke back then), wrote Métivier. The last dictionary of Guernsey French was titled "English-Guernsey Dictionary, Dictiounnaire Angllais-Guernesiais" and published by La Societe Guernesiais, April 1967 written by Marie De Garis - she received an [[MBE]] for her work. ==Current status== [[Image:Dgernesiais welcome sign St Peter Port Guernsey.jpg|thumb|Dgèrnésiais tops this list of welcome messages at Guernsey's tourism office in [[St. Peter Port]]]] The 2001 census showed that 1,327 (1,262 Guernsey-born) or 2% of the population speak the language fluently while 3% fully understand the language. However most of these, 70% or 934 of the 1,337 fluent speakers are aged over 64. Among the young only 0.1% or one in a thousand are fluent speakers. However, 14% of the population claim some understanding of the language. *L'Assembllaïe d'Guernesiais, an association for speakers of the language founded in 1957, has published a periodical. Les Ravigoteurs, another association, has published a storybook and cassette for children. *The annual [[Eisteddfod]] provides an opportunity for performances in the language, and radio and newspaper outlets furnish regular media output. *There is some teaching of the language in voluntary classes in schools in Guernsey. *Dgèrnésiais is recognised (along with [[Jèrriais]], [[Irish language|Irish]], [[Scottish Gaelic language|Scottish Gaelic]], [[Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Manx language|Manx]] and [[Scots language|Lowland Scots]] (in Scotland and [[Ulster Scots language|Northern Ireland]])) as a [[regional language]] by the British and Irish governments within the framework of the [[British-Irish Council]]. *[[BBC Radio Guernsey]] and the ''Guernsey Press'' both feature occasional lessons, the latter with sometimes misleading phonetics. * A Guernsey language development officer was appointed (with effect from January 2008).<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/guernsey/7164246.stm BBC: Guernesiais promoter starts work</ref> There is little broadcasting in the language, with [[Channel Television]] more or less ignoring the language, and only the occasional short feature on [[BBC Radio Guernsey]], usually for learners. Despite the clear historical development of the Norman languages, many believe that Dgèrnésiais is not a language in its own right, instead viewing it as a [[dialect]] of French. As the [[writing system]] of Dgèrnésiais is based on that of French, a native French-speaker can understand much of written Dgèrnésiais. ==History== *Guernsey poet, [[George Métivier]] (1790-1881) - nicknamed the ''Guernsey [[Robert Burns|Burns]]'', was the first to produce a [[dictionary]] of the Norman language in the [[Channel Islands]], the ''Dictionnaire Franco-Normand'' (1870). This established the first standard [[orthography]] - later modified and modernised. Among his poetical works are ''Rimes Guernesiaises'' published in 1831. *Prince [[Louis Lucien Bonaparte]] published a translation of the ''Parable of the Sower'' in Dgèrnésiais in 1863 as part of his philological research. *Like Métivier, [[Tam Lenfestey]] (1818-1885) published poetry in Guernsey newspapers and in book form. *[[Denys Corbet]] (1826-1910) described himself as the ''Draïn Rimeux'' (last poet), but literary production continued. Corbet is best known for his poems, especially the [[Epic poetry|epic]] ''L'Touar de Guernesy'', a [[picaresque]] tour of the [[parish]]es of Guernsey. As editor of the French-language newspaper ''Le Bailliage'', he also wrote prose columns in Dgèrnésiais under the [[pen name]] ''Badlagoule'' ("chatterbox"). [[Image:T H Mahy.jpg|thumb|T H Mahy, author of ''Dires et Pensées du Courtil Poussin'']] *[[Thomas Henry Mahy]] ([[1862]]-[[21 April]] [[1936]]) wrote ''Dires et Pensées du Courtil Poussin'', a regular column in ''La Gazette Officielle de Guernesey'', from 1916. A collection was published in booklet form in 1922. He was still publishing occasional pieces of poetry and prose by the start of the 1930s. *[[Thomas Alfred Grut]] (1852-1933) published ''Des lures guernesiaises'' in 1927, once again a collection of newspaper columns. He also translated some of the Jèrriais stories of [[Philippe Le Sueur Mourant]] into Dgèrnésiais. *[[Marjorie Ozanne]] (1897-1973) wrote stories, published in the ''Guernsey Evening Press'' between 1949 and 1965. Some earlier pieces can be found in ''La Gazette de Guernesey'' in the 1920s. *Métivier's dictionary was superseded by [[Marie de Garis]]' (born 1910) ''Dictiounnaire Angllais-Guernésiais''; first edition published in 1967. *When the Channel Islands were invaded by [[Germany]] in [[World War II]], Dgèrnésiais experienced a minor revival. Many locals did not always wish the occupying forces to understand what they were saying, especially as some of the soldiers had some knowledge of English. *[[Victor Hugo]] includes the odd word of Dgèrnésiais in some of his Channel Island novels. ==Phonology== [[Metathesis (linguistics)|Metathesis]] of /r/ is common in Guernésiais, by comparison with Sercquiais and Jèrriais. {| !width="100"|Guernésiais !width="100"|Sercquiais !width="100"|Jèrriais !width="100"|French !width="100"|English |- |kérouaïe||krwee||crouaix||croix||cross |- |méquerdi||mekrëdi||Mêcrédi||mercredi||Wednesday |} Other examples are ''pourmenade'' (promenade), ''persentaïr'' (present), ''terpid'' (tripod). ==Verbs== ''aver'' - have (auxiliary verb) {| width="100%" cellpadding="3" | '''present''' | '''preterite''' | '''imperfect''' | '''future''' | '''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 éthêtes |- | il aönt | il aëurent | il avaient | il éraönt | il éraient |} ''oimaïr'' - to love (regular conjugation) {| width="100%" cellpadding="3" | '''present''' | '''preterite''' | '''imperfect''' | '''future''' | '''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== [[Image:Guernésiais BBC sticker.jpg|thumb|"Learn Guernésiais with the BBC<br> [[BBC Radio Guernsey|Guernsey BBC]] <br> Your voice in the Islands"]] {| | '''Guernésiais''' | '''English''' | '''French''' |- | Quaï temps qu’i fait? | What's the weather like? | Quel temps fait-il ?<br/>Colloquial: Quel temps qu'il fait ? |- | I' fait caoud ogniet | It's warm today | Il fait chaud aujourd'hui |- | Tchi qu’est vote naom? | What's your name? | Comment vous appelez-vous ?<br>Quel est votre nom? |- | Coume tchi que l’affaire va? | How are you? <br>Lit. How's business going? | Comment vont les affaires ?<br/>Coll: comment que vont les affaires ? |- | Quaï heure qu'il est? | What's the time? | Quelle heure est-il ?<br/>Coll: Quelle heure qu'il est ? |- | À la perchoine | See you next time | Au revoir<br/>À la prochaine |- | Mercie bian | Thank you very much | Merci beaucoup<br/>Coll: Merci bien |- | chén-chin | this | ceci |- | ch'techin | this one | celui-ci |- | Lâtchiz-mé | Leave me | Laissez-moi |} {{Norman language}} {{Romance languages}} ==References== {{reflist}} *Dictiounnaire Angllais-Guernésiais (most recent edition 1982) ISBN 0-85033-462-4 ==See also== *[[Sarnia Cherie]] *[[Auregnais]] *[[Sercquiais]] ==External links== {{interwiki|Norman language (including Guernésiais)|code=nrm}} *[http://user.itl.net/~panther/dguern.htm What is Dgernesiais?] *[http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/multilingual/guernesiais.shtml Guernesiais today] by Julia Sallabank - from the [[BBC]] *[http://www.societe-jersiaise.org/langsec/dgernesiais.html Texts in Dgèrnésiais] *[http://harmoniamundi.com Guernesiase songs "Les Travailleurs de la Mer"] *[http://www.societe.org.gg La Societe Guernesiaise] {{Poetry of different cultures and languages}} [[Category:Culture of Guernsey]] [[Category:Languages of Europe]] [[Category:Norman language]] [[af:Guernésiais]] [[an:Dgèrnésiais]] [[br:Gwernenezeg]] [[fr:Guernesiais]] [[nl:Dgèrnésiais]] [[nrm:Guernésiais]] [[pl:Dgèrnésiais]]