Guernésiais | |
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Spoken in | Guernsey |
Native speakers | 1,330 fluent (date missing) 2% of population |
Language family | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Linguist List | fra-dge |
Linguasphere | 51-AAA-hc |
Guernésiais, also known as Dgèrnésiais, Guernsey French, and Guernsey Norman French, is the variety of the Norman language spoken in Guernsey. It is sometimes known on the island by the semi-disparaging name "patois". As one of the Oïl languages, it has its roots in Latin, but has had strong influence from both Norse and English at different points in its history.
There is 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 than has Jèrriais, but conversely has been influenced to a greater extent by 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 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.
Wrote Métivier, 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 like dear old dad).
The most recent dictionary of Guernésiais, titled "Dictiounnaire Angllais-Guernesiais" (English-Guernsey Dictionary) and published by La Société Guernesiaise, April 1967 (revised edition published 1982), was written by Marie de Garis (1910–2010). In 1999 De Garis received an MBE for her work.
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The 2001 census showed that 1,327 (1,262 Guernsey-born) or 2 percent of the population speak the language fluently while 3 percent fully understand the language. However most of these, 70% or 934 of the 1,327 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.
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.
Metathesis of /r/ is common in Guernésiais, by comparison with Sercquiais and Jèrriais.
Guernésiais | Sercquiais | Jèrriais | French | English |
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kérouaïe | krwee | crouaix | croix | cross |
méquerdi | mekrëdi | Mêcrédi | mercredi | Wednesday |
Other examples are pourmenade (promenade), persentaïr (present), terpid (tripod).
aver - have (auxiliary verb)
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 éraites |
il aönt | il aëurent | il avaient | il éraönt | il éraient |
oimaïr - to love (regular conjugation)
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 |
Guernésiais (Pronunciation) |
English | French |
Quaï temps qu’i fait? | What's the weather like? | Quel temps fait-il ? 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 ? Quel est votre nom? |
Coume tchi que l’affaire va? (kum chik la-fehr va) |
How are you? Lit. How's business going? |
Comment vont les affaires ? Coll: comment que vont les affaires ? |
Quaï heure qu'il est? | What's the time? | Quelle heure est-il ? Coll: Quelle heure qu'il est ? |
À la perchoine (a la per-shoy-n) |
See you next time | Au revoir À la prochaine |
Mercie bian | Thank you very much | Merci beaucoup Coll: Merci bien |
chén-chin | this | ceci |
ch'techin | this one | celui-ci |
Lâtchiz-mé | Leave me | Laissez-moi |
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