Jèrriais (French: Jersiais [ʒɛʁzjɛ]; also known as the Jersey language, Jersey French and Jersey Norman French in English) is a Romance language and the traditional language of the Jersey people. It is a form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey, an island in the Channel Islands archipelago off the coast of France. Its closest relatives are the other Norman languages, such as Guernésiais, spoken in neighbouring Guernsey, and the other langues d'oïl.
Jèrriais | |
---|---|
jèrriais | |
Native to | Jersey and Sark |
Native speakers | 1,900 (2011 census) 2,800 L2 speakers of Jersey and Guernsey [citation needed] |
Early forms | Old Latin
|
Official status | |
Official language in | Jersey |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | nrf (incl. Guernésiais) |
Glottolog | jerr1238 |
ELP | Jèrriais |
Linguasphere | 51-AAA-hc |
IETF | nrf-JE |
Jèrriais is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
Use of Jèrriais has been in decline over the past century, as English has increasingly become the language of education, commerce and administration on Jersey. There are very few people who speak Jèrriais as a mother tongue and, owing to the age of the remaining speakers, their numbers decrease annually. Despite this, efforts are being made to keep the language alive.
The language of Sark, Sercquiais, is a descendant of the Jèrriais brought by the Jersey colonists who settled Sark in the 16th century, with mutual intelligibility with the Norman language of mainland Normandy.
Jèrriais is often called "Jersey French" or "Jersey Norman French" in English (though this may give the impression that the language is a dialect of French) and jersiais or normand de Jersey in French. Jèrriais is distinct from the Jersey Legal French used for legal contracts, laws and official documents by the government and administration of Jersey. For this reason, some prefer using the term "Jersey Norman" to avoid ambiguity and to dissociate the language from standard French.
History
Although few now speak Jèrriais as a first language, until the 19th century it was used as the everyday language for the majority of the population of Jersey; even as late as the beginning of the Second World War, up to half the population could still communicate in the language. Despite this, awareness of the decline of language use became apparent in the 19th century in scholarly circles. Among foreign linguists, Louis Lucien Bonaparte visited Jersey and interested himself in the language and its literature. Victor Hugo, during his exile in Jersey, took an interest in the language and numbered some Jèrriais writers among his circle of acquaintances and supporters.
Sir Robert Pipon Marett's prestige and influence helped to reinforce the movement toward standardisation of the writing system based on French orthography, a trend which was also helped by the Norman literary revival beginning in the neighbouring Cotentin Peninsula of mainland Normandy, where writers inspired by the example of the Norman writers of Jersey and Guernsey, also began to produce literary works. However, differing (if mutually comprehensible) writing systems have been adopted in Jersey, Guernsey, and mainland Normandy. It is sometimes asked whether Jèrriais should move to a writing system based on French orthography; however, this would have implications for the continuity of the literary tradition over two centuries or more, though some features of the language's writing system, such as the digraph "th" for the typical dental fricative of Jèrriais, have evidently been borrowed from English orthography.
As English became dominant in Jersey in the 20th century, efforts were made to preserve the Jèrriais language. The Jersey Eisteddfod has included a Jèrriais section since 1912. Associations were founded; L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais was founded in 1951, while Le Don Balleine is a trust set up in accordance with the will of Arthur E. Balleine (1864–1943), who bequeathed funds for the promotion of the language. L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais launched a quarterly magazine in 1952, which has been published since (with the occasional hiatus, and latterly under the editorship of Le Don Balleine); a standard grammar Lé Jèrriais pour tous (by Paul Birt) appeared in 1985; cassettes, booklets and other materials have also been produced.
George d'la Forge's maintenance of the language in the North American diaspora is not as surprising as it might seem, as considerable numbers of Jersey people had been involved in the economic development and exploitation of the New World (see New Jersey). Much of the concentration focused on the cod fisheries of the Gaspé peninsula in Quebec, Canada, which were controlled into the early 20th century by Jersey-based companies or companies of Jersey origin employing Jersey labour. The common language of business was Jèrriais, and it is reported[by whom?] that there were still some Jèrriais-speakers in Gaspé villages in the 1960s. The Gaspesian expression "faire une runne" (to go and work outside the region) comes from the Jèrriais word "run" applied to a fishing station.
The use of Jèrriais is also noted during the German Occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War; the local population used it among themselves as a language which neither the occupying Germans, nor their French interpreters, could understand. However, the social and economic upheaval of the War meant that use of English increased dramatically after the Liberation.
It is considered that the last monolingual adult speakers probably died in the 1950s[citation needed], although monolingual children were being received into schools in St. Ouen as late as the late 1970s.[citation needed]
Famous Jèrriais speakers include Lillie Langtry and Sir John Everett Millais, the Pre-Raphaelite painter, who are reported to have spoken to each other in the language when he was painting her portrait.
Dictionaries
The history of Jèrriais dictionaries goes back to 19th century manuscript glossaries of Philippe Langlois, A. A. Le Gros, and Thomas Gaudin. These were later revised and expanded into the Glossaire du Patois Jersiais published in 1924 by La Société Jersiaise. The 1960 Glossary of Jersey French (Nichol Spence) recorded Jèrriais in a phonetic script. The 1924 Glossaire inspired the research by Frank Le Maistre that culminated in the Dictionnaire Jersiais–Français published in 1966 to mark the 900th anniversary of the Norman Conquest of England. The first practical English–Jèrriais dictionary was the English-Jersey Language Vocabulary (Albert Carré in collaboration with Frank Le Maistre and Philip de Veulle, 1972) which was itself based on the Dictionnaire Jersiais–Français. A children's picture dictionary, Les Preunmié Mille Mots, was published by La Société Jersiaise in 2000. In 2005, a Jèrriais–English dictionary, Dictionnaithe Jèrriais-Angliais was published by La Société Jersiaise, in collaboration with Le Don Balleine. A revised, modernised and expanded English–Jèrriais dictionary, Dictionnaithe Angliais-Jèrriais, was published in 2008 by Le Don Balleine.
Status
The latest figures come from the Jersey Annual Social Survey issued on 5 December 2012. The survey of 4200 households took place in June 2012 and resulted in 2400 returns. It showed that 18% of the population could speak some Jèrriais words and phrases, with more than 7% of those over 65 being fluent or able to speak a significant amount of Jèrriais. Two-thirds of adults said that they could not understand spoken Jèrriais, but more than a quarter were able to understand some, and 5% could usually or fully understand someone speaking Jèrriais. 4% of people said that they could write some Jèrriais, although under 1% could write fluently. Just under a third (32%) said that they could understand something written in Jèrriais.
These figures update those of the census of 2001, which showed that approximately 3% of the island's population spoke Jèrriais in their personal interactions, although research suggests that up to 15% of the population have some understanding of the language. The latest census figures also showed an increase in declarations of children speaking the language: the first such increase recorded in census figures (although this may be due to greater consciousness among parents rather than to language use), doubtless encouraged by the introduction of a Jèrriais teaching programme into Jersey schools.
The parish with the highest proportion of Jèrriais speakers (8%) is Saint Ouen, and the parish with the lowest proportion (2.1%) is Saint Helier, although that is the largest parish and has the highest number of Jèrriais speakers. The number of census respondents who stated that they "usually" spoke Jèrriais was 113; 2,761 respondents stated that they "sometimes" spoke it. A survey carried out among a sample of Jèrriais speakers in 1996 found that 18% spoke the language more often than English, 66% spoke it as often as English, and 16% spoke it less often than English.
The States of Jersey fund the teaching programme in schools and provide some support in terms of signage, such as welcome signs at harbours and the airport. Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is under discussion. In September 2005, the States approved the development of a cultural strategy, one of whose strategic objectives was as follows:
Jersey almost lost its language in the 20th century. By 2001 there were less than 3,000 speakers of Jèrriais. In the 21st century strenuous efforts are being made to re-establish it. Le Don Balleine, funded by the States, is leading a programme in schools teaching Jèrriais. L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais promotes the language generally. Language brings distinctiveness, a sense of localness and a whole new set of skills all of which are important qualities in attracting the creative economy. It is fundamental to the Island's identity. This objective is to work with these organisations to help in the revival and status of the language.
In September 2009, a partnership agreement was signed by the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture and the President of Le Don Balleine to formalise the role of L'Office du Jèrriais in protecting and promoting Jèrriais and to develop a language plan to help make the language more prominent on a daily basis; there is newspaper and radio output in the language, and as part of the language's promotion, from 2010, Jersey banknotes carry the value of the note written out in Jèrriais. Jèrriais is currently classified as "threatened" by the Endangered Languages Project.
Jèrriais is recognised as a regional language by the British and Irish governments within the framework of the British–Irish Council. On 13 February 2019, the States of Jersey adopted Jèrriais as an official language, and the language is set to be used on signage and official letter headings.
Literature
The tradition of literature in Jèrriais can be traced back to Wace, a 12th century Jersey-born poet, although there is little surviving literature in Jèrriais dating to before the introduction of the first printing press in Jersey in the 1780s. The first printed Jèrriais appeared in the first newspapers at the end of the 18th century, and the earliest identified dated example of printed poetry is a fragment by Matchi L'Gé (Matthew Le Geyt 1777 – 1849), dated to 1795. A boom in competing newspapers and journals throughout the 19th century provided a platform for poets and writers to publish regularly – typically, satirical comment on the week's news, elections, Jersey politicians and notables. The first printed anthology of Jèrriais poetry, Rimes Jersiaises, was published in 1865.
Influential writers include "Laelius" (Sir Robert Pipon Marett 1820 – 1884, Bailiff of Jersey, 1880–1884), "A.A.L.G." (Augustus Aspley Le Gros, 1840–1877), and "St.-Luorenchais" (Philippe Langlois, 1817–1884). "Elie" (Edwin J. Luce, 1881–1918) was editor of the French language newspaper La Nouvelle Chronique de Jersey, and a poet who wrote topical poems for the newspaper. He was also active in promoting the development of drama in Jèrriais and organised performances, ultimately leading to the establishment of a Jèrriais section of the Jersey Eisteddfod in 1912.
During the German occupation of the Channel Islands, Nazi censors permitted little original writing to be published. However, many older pieces of literature were re-published in the newspapers as an act of cultural self-assertion and morale-boosting. Following the end of Occupation, and with the re-establishment of the free press, (1877–1964) revived a weekly column in 1946 with a letter from "Ph'lip et Merrienne", supposedly a traditional old couple who would comment on the latest news or recall times past.
The most influential writer of Jèrriais in the 20th century was a U.S. citizen, George Francis Le Feuvre (1891–1984), whose pen-name was "George d'la Forge". He emigrated to North America after the First World War, but for almost forty years maintained a flow of articles in Jèrriais back to Jersey for publication in newspapers. Selections of his articles have been published in book form.
(1910–2002), compiler of the dictionary Dictionnaire Jersiais–Français, maintained a literary output starting in the 1930s with newspaper articles under the pseudonym "Marie la Pie", poems, magazine articles, research into toponymy and etymology. Since Le Maistre, Geraint Jennings has been influential in preserving the language by compiling thousands of pages of Jèrriais text online in Les Pages Jèrriaises, including parts of the Bible.
Vocabulary
Although Jèrriais is occasionally misleadingly described as a mixture of Old Norse and French, it is more linguistically accurate to describe the language as Norse adapted to langue d'oïl; when Norse-speaking Normans (lit. "North-man") conquered the territory now known as Normandy, they began speaking the language of their new subjects, leading to its influence on the language. The Norman language is therefore in essence a Romance language with a certain amount of vocabulary of Norse origin, with the inclusion of later loanwords from other languages.
Influence of Norse
Norse origins can be seen in Jèrriais words such as these:
- mielle (sand dune)
- mogue (mug)
- bel (yard)
- gradile (blackcurrant)
- mauve (seagull)
- graie (to prepare)
- hèrnais (cart)
- bète (bait)
- haûter (to doze)
Influence of Breton
Jèrriais has also adopted a small number of words from the Breton language (e.g. pihangne 'spider crab', from Breton bihan 'small'; quédaine 'fast', from Breton gaden 'hare'), although the influence on today's language has overwhelmingly been from French and, increasingly, English.
Influence of French
A large number of gallicisms have been introduced into the language due to the use of French as an official language and the cultural influence of France and French literature. Some French words have displaced in modern usage Jèrriais words that can still be found in older texts from the 18th and 19th centuries, for example:
- French leçon (in the form léçon) has displaced native lichon (lesson)
- French garçon has displaced native hardé (boy)
- French chanson has displaced native canchon (song)
Efforts are being made to maintain some Jèrriais words which are competing in usage with French forms, for example:
- native hielle is being promoted over French huile (oil)
- native huiptante (eighty) is being promoted over French quatre-vingts (fourscore)
Influence of English
Some maritime vocabulary was borrowed from English at an early date, for example baûsouîn (boatswain), but by the late 18th century some domestic vocabulary, such as:
- bliatchinner (to polish shoes, from blacking)
- coutchi (to cook)
- grévîn (gravy)
- ouâchinner (to rub in soapy water, from washing)
- scrobbine-broche (scrubbing brush)
- sâsse-paine (saucepan)
- stchilet (skillet)
- ticl'ye (from tea-kettle)
- code à phôner (phone code)
entered the language through the employment of Jèrriais-speaking servants in the houses of bourgeois English-speaking immigrants.
Other words borrowed from English before 1900 include:
- chârer (to share)
- drâses (underpants, from drawers)
- ouothinner (to worry)
- ouadinne (cotton wool, from wadding)
- nosse (nurse)
- souîndgi (to throw, from swing)
- sténer (to stand, to endure)
However, care needs to be taken in attempting to identify anglicisms because some words, such as mogue (mug) and canne (can), which are often assumed to have been borrowed from English, were in fact Norman words exported to England in the wake of the Norman Conquest; and words such as fliotchet (flock) and ridgi (rig) are Norman cognates of English words.
More recently, words such as boutchi (to book), partchi (to park) and tyeur (tyre) have been absorbed into the language, although current initiatives in creating neologisms for technological and social innovations prefer to avoid wholesale borrowing where possible. Among recent coinings are words such as textéthie for texting, maître-pêtre for webmaster (literally master-spider) and mégabouochi for megabyte.
Phonology
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar/ glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||
Plosive/ affricate | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | ||
voiced | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | |||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | ||
voiced | v | ð | z | ʒ | |||
Rhotic | r | ||||||
Approximant | plain | l | j | ||||
labial | ɥ | w |
/r/ may also be heard as an approximant sound [ɹ].
The phonological influence of Norse is debated, although the aspirated "h" may be due to Norse influence.[citation needed]
|
|
Palatalisation
The palatalisation of Latin /k/ and /ɡ/ before /a/ that occurred in the development of French did not occur in northern dialects of Norman, including Jèrriais:
Jèrriais | English | French |
acater | to buy | acheter |
cat | cat | chat |
cow | vache | |
caud | warm | chaud |
gardîn | garden | jardin |
gambe | leg | jambe |
However the palatalisation of /k/ before front vowel produced different results in the Norman dialect that developed into Jèrriais than in French. (Many developments are similar to those in Italian, cf. cento-hundred and faccia-face).
Jèrriais | English | French |
bachîn | basin | bassine |
face | face | |
faichon | fashion | façon |
chent | hundred | cent |
At a later date surviving /k/ and /ɡ/ underwent a secondary process of palatalisation:
Jèrriais | English | French |
motchi | to mock | moquer |
patchet | packet | paquet |
dgide | guide | guide |
idgiot | idiot | idiot |
This palatalisation continues to operate (except in initial position) as can be seen by recent borrowings from English:
Jèrriais | English |
beustchi | to busk |
coutchi | to cook |
pliodgi | to plug |
braidgeux | bragger |
Dental fricative
A feature of Jèrriais that is immediately noticeable and distinguishes it from neighbouring languages is the voiced dental fricative /ð/, written th, that typically occurs in intervocalic position:
Jèrriais | French | English |
bathi | barril | barrel |
m'suther | mesurer | to measure |
paiethie | paierie (payment office) | payment |
ouothilyi | oreiller | pillow |
Or in final position:
Jèrriais | French | English |
méthe | mère | mother |
braithe | braire (bray) | to cry |
The fricative devoices to assimilate with a neighbouring unvoiced consonant in words such as paqu'thie (packing) or malaûc'theux (disgusting).
The fricative developed from /r/ + front vowel, but evidently after the 16th century as this feature is unknown in the language of Sark (colonised by Jersey families). Although the voiced dental fricative is standard in the literary language, it is not found in the eastern dialects.
Some older speakers in St. Ouen use a dental fricative in positions where other dialects show a /z/. This may be represented in the orthography of particular writers.
standard Jèrriais | St. Ouennais | English |
maîson | maiethon | house |
ouaîselîn | ouaiethelîn | birds (collective) |
tchaîse | tchaîthe | chair |
anglyiciser | anglyicîther | anglicise |
The dental fricative in the dialect of such speakers may also be heard in liaison:
standard Jèrriais | St. Ouennais | English |
ous êtes | ous'th êtes | you are |
ches ôtis | ches'th ôtis | these tools |
nou-s-a | nou-th-a | one has |
Length
Length is phonemic in Jèrriais. Long vowels are usually indicated in writing by a circumflex accent. A noun ending in a vowel lengthens the final vowel to indicate the plural (shown in writing by adding an s).
Gemination occurs regularly in verb tenses, indicated by a consonant-apostrophe-consonant trigraph, for example: ou pâl'la (she will speak); jé c'mench'chons (we will begin); i' donn'nait (he would give). Gerunds will also regularly contain geminate consonants, for example: faîs'sie (doing, making); chant'tie (singing); tith'thie (shooting); brîng'gie (sweeping); gângn'nie (winning).
Orthography
IPA | English equivalent | Examples | |
---|---|---|---|
b | [b] | b | bé, bouon |
c | [k] | k | couochi, cat |
c (before e, i, y) | [s] | s | cidre, cŷnge |
ç | |||
ch | [ʃ] | sh | fache, scienche |
d | [d] | d | dithe, d'vanté |
dg | [dʒ] | j | dgèrre, Dgèrnésy |
f | [f] | f | fé, f'nêntre |
g | [ɡ] | g | Galles, g'nachon |
∅ | silent | vîgnt | |
g (before e, i) | [ʒ] | zh (French j; s as in measure or vision) | géniche, g'nors |
h | ∅ | silent | histouaithe, êbahi |
[h] | h | happer, hâvre | |
i | [j] | y | ièrs, ieux |
j | [ʒ] | zh (French j; s as in measure or vision) | janne, Jèrri |
k | [k] | k | kilomètre |
l | [l] | l | labouother, oulle |
l (before i or y) except l'ye | ∅ | silent | pliat meubl'ye |
-ill | [j] | y | travailli (ex. mille) |
m | [m] | m | méthe, èrmèrtchi |
n | [n] | n | nouvé, nièr |
ngn | [ɲ] | ny (onion); think Spanish "ñ" | gâgni |
p | [p] | p | péthe, pommyi |
∅ | silent | corps, sept | |
qu | [k] | k | qui, quédaine |
r | [r] | rr in Spanish | vèr, hardi |
∅ | silent | haler, aimer | |
s | [s] | s | saver, sé |
[z] | z | rose, loûser | |
sc | [s] | s | scîn |
t | [t] | t | tither, té |
tch | [tʃ] | ch | motchi, patchet |
ti(on) | [s] | s | suffocâtion |
th | [ð] | "hard" or "voiced" th-sound (as in that) | péthe, muthâle |
[θ] | "soft" or "voiceless" th-sound (as in thin) | maqu'thé | |
v | [v] | v | vèrt, vyi |
w | [w] | w | loan words |
x | [s]/[z] | s or z | souaixante |
y | [j] | y | yi, preunmyi |
z | [z] | z | gâzette, zoulou |
IPA | English equivalent | Examples | |
---|---|---|---|
i | i | ||
iː | î | ||
y | u | ||
yː | û | ||
u | ou | ||
uː | oû | ||
e | é | ||
eː | ée | ||
ø | oe | ||
øː | oê | ||
o | o | ||
oː | oê | ||
ɛ | è | ||
ɛː | ê | ||
œ | òe | ||
œː | òê | ||
a | a | ||
aː | â | ||
ẽ | in | ||
ẽː | în | ||
ø̃ | un | ||
ø̃ː | ûn | ||
õ | on | ||
õː | ôn | ||
ɛ̃ | en | ||
ɛ̃ː | ên | ||
ɑ̃ | an | ||
ɑ̃ː | ân |
Grammar
Verbs
Aspect
Jèrriais distinguishes between simple, progressive and perfect aspect:
Past:
preterite | j'pâlînmes | we spoke |
progressive | ou 'tait à pâler | she was speaking |
perfect | ous avez pâlé | you have spoken |
imperfect | j'pâlais | I spoke |
Future:
simple | j'pâl'lai | I will speak |
progressive | tu s'sa à pâler | you will be speaking |
perfect | oulle étha pâlé | she will have spoken |
Present:
simple | j'pâle | I speak |
progressive | i' sont à pâler | they are speaking |
Iterative
Verbs can be made iterative in aspect by prefixing èr- (long form) or r' (short form):
aver | have |
èraver | have again |
êt' | be |
èrêt' | be again |
netti | clean |
èrnettit | clean again |
muchi | hide |
èrmuchi | hide again |
èrgarder | watch |
èrèrgarder | watch again |
téléphoner | phone |
èrtéléphoner | phone again |
Gerunds
Verbs can be transformed into gerunds, which are commonly used:
chanter | sing |
chant'tie | singing |
faithe | make |
faîs'sie | making |
haler | pull |
hal'lie | hauling, haulage |
partchi | park |
parqu'thie | parking |
liéthe | read |
liéthie | reading |
faxer | fax |
faxéthie | faxing |
Examples
Jèrriais | French | English |
Jèrri | Jersey | Jersey |
beinv'nu | bienvenue | welcome |
bel | cour | garden (yard) |
bieauté | beauté | beauty |
bouônjour | bonjour | hello |
pantalon | trousers | |
brînge | brosse | brush |
chièr | cher | dear |
compather | comparer | compare |
l'êtrangi | l'étranger | abroad |
janmais | jamais | never |
lian | lien | link |
sac | bag | |
tchaîse | chaise | chair |
chien | dog | |
ticl'ye | bouilloire | kettle |
viages | voyages | journeys |
yi | œil | eye |
See also
- Auregnais
- Culture of Jersey
- Sercquiais
Notes
- There is, conversely, no complete Bible in Jèrriais; despite the widespread use of the language, French was the predominant language used by the Church in Jersey until the 20th century. However, versions of well-known Bible texts in Jèrriais do exist, and most sermons would be preached, or passages of the Bible explained, in Jèrriais in country areas.
References
- Jèrriais at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (24 May 2022). "Glottolog 4.8 - Oil". Glottolog. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on 11 November 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
- Manuel pratique de philologie romane, Pierre Bec, 1970–1971
- "Jèrriais/Guernésiais". IANA language subtag registry. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- "Jersey". IANA language subtag registry. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
- "World Atlas of Languages: Jèrriais". en.wal.unesco.org. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- Fallu, Jean-Marie. "La Gaspésie jersiaise" (PDF). Magazine Gaspésie, Été 2012, no 174. Musée de la Gaspésie. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
- Dictionnaithe Angliais-Jèrriais, Jersey 2008, ISBN 1-904210-09-0
- "Jersey Annual Social Survey 2012" (PDF). 2012.
- Jèrriais: Jersey's Native Tongue, Jones 2003
- "Development of a Cultural Strategy for The Island - States of Jersey". Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- Jersey, States of. "Jersey's bank notes". www.gov.je.
- "Endangered Languages Project - Jèrriais". Retrieved 10 September 2019.
- "States agree to promote Jèrriais". statesassembly.gov.je.
- "Jèrriais words of Norse origin". members.societe-jersiaise.org.
- Liddicoat, Anthony (1994). A Grammar of the Norman French of the Channel Islands The Dialects of Jersey and Sark. De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 103–140.
Literature
- Lé Jèrriais Pour Tous by Paul W. Birt, 1985.
- Dictionnaire Jersiais–Français, 1966.
- A Grammar of the Norman French of the Channel Islands: The Dialects of Jersey and Sark by Anthony J. Liddicoat, 1994. ISBN 978-3-11-087728-1
- Jersey Norman French: A Linguistic Study of An Obsolescent Dialect . Mari C. Jones, 2001
- Jèrriais: Jersey's Native Tongue by Mari C. Jones, 2003. ISBN 978-1-904210-03-0
- Dictionnaithe Jèrriais-Angliais. 2005. ISBN 0-901897-40-X
- Les Chroniques du Don Balleine/Les Nouvelles Chroniques du Don Balleine (magazine). Jersey 1979 – current.
External links
- Media related to Jèrriais at Wikimedia Commons
- L'Office du Jèrriais
- La Société Jersiaise – La Section de la langue Jèrriaise
- La Société Jersiaise – Les Pages Jèrriaises
- BBC Radio Jersey – Jèrriais
- The Lord's prayer in Jèrriais
- Jèrriais and Sercquiais today by Mari C. Jones – from the BBC
- “The secret British language that was used to outwit the Nazis”, BBC
Jerriais French Jersiais ʒɛʁzjɛ also known as the Jersey language Jersey French and Jersey Norman French in English is a Romance language and the traditional language of the Jersey people It is a form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey an island in the Channel Islands archipelago off the coast of France Its closest relatives are the other Norman languages such as Guernesiais spoken in neighbouring Guernsey and the other langues d oil JerriaisjerriaisNative toJersey and SarkNative speakers1 900 2011 census 2 800 L2 speakers of Jersey and Guernsey citation needed Language familyIndo European ItalicLatino FaliscanLatinicRomanceItalo WesternWesternGallo Iberian Gallo RomanceGallo Rhaetian Arpitan OilOilFrankish zoneNorthern NormanAnglo NormanJerriaisEarly formsOld Latin Vulgar Latin Proto Romance Old Gallo Romance Old French Old NormanOfficial statusOfficial language inJerseyLanguage codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code nrf class extiw title iso639 3 nrf nrf a incl Guernesiais Glottologjerr1238ELPJerriaisLinguasphere51 AAA hcIETFnrf JEJerriais is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World s Languages in DangerThis article contains IPA phonetic symbols Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of Unicode characters For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA source source Jerriais teacher Ben Spink speaks Jerriais and tells the words of the song Man Bieau P tit Jerri by Frank Le Maistre Use of Jerriais has been in decline over the past century as English has increasingly become the language of education commerce and administration on Jersey There are very few people who speak Jerriais as a mother tongue and owing to the age of the remaining speakers their numbers decrease annually Despite this efforts are being made to keep the language alive The language of Sark Sercquiais is a descendant of the Jerriais brought by the Jersey colonists who settled Sark in the 16th century with mutual intelligibility with the Norman language of mainland Normandy Jerriais is often called Jersey French or Jersey Norman French in English though this may give the impression that the language is a dialect of French and jersiais or normand de Jersey in French Jerriais is distinct from the Jersey Legal French used for legal contracts laws and official documents by the government and administration of Jersey For this reason some prefer using the term Jersey Norman to avoid ambiguity and to dissociate the language from standard French HistorySome bilingual or trilingual signage may be seen in Jersey such as this welcome sign at a supermarket Although few now speak Jerriais as a first language until the 19th century it was used as the everyday language for the majority of the population of Jersey even as late as the beginning of the Second World War up to half the population could still communicate in the language Despite this awareness of the decline of language use became apparent in the 19th century in scholarly circles Among foreign linguists Louis Lucien Bonaparte visited Jersey and interested himself in the language and its literature Victor Hugo during his exile in Jersey took an interest in the language and numbered some Jerriais writers among his circle of acquaintances and supporters Sir Robert Pipon Marett s prestige and influence helped to reinforce the movement toward standardisation of the writing system based on French orthography a trend which was also helped by the Norman literary revival beginning in the neighbouring Cotentin Peninsula of mainland Normandy where writers inspired by the example of the Norman writers of Jersey and Guernsey also began to produce literary works However differing if mutually comprehensible writing systems have been adopted in Jersey Guernsey and mainland Normandy It is sometimes asked whether Jerriais should move to a writing system based on French orthography however this would have implications for the continuity of the literary tradition over two centuries or more though some features of the language s writing system such as the digraph th for the typical dental fricative of Jerriais have evidently been borrowed from English orthography As English became dominant in Jersey in the 20th century efforts were made to preserve the Jerriais language The Jersey Eisteddfod has included a Jerriais section since 1912 Associations were founded L Assembliee d Jerriais was founded in 1951 while Le Don Balleine is a trust set up in accordance with the will of Arthur E Balleine 1864 1943 who bequeathed funds for the promotion of the language L Assembliee d Jerriais launched a quarterly magazine in 1952 which has been published since with the occasional hiatus and latterly under the editorship of Le Don Balleine a standard grammar Le Jerriais pour tous by Paul Birt appeared in 1985 cassettes booklets and other materials have also been produced George d la Forge s maintenance of the language in the North American diaspora is not as surprising as it might seem as considerable numbers of Jersey people had been involved in the economic development and exploitation of the New World see New Jersey Much of the concentration focused on the cod fisheries of the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec Canada which were controlled into the early 20th century by Jersey based companies or companies of Jersey origin employing Jersey labour The common language of business was Jerriais and it is reported by whom that there were still some Jerriais speakers in Gaspe villages in the 1960s The Gaspesian expression faire une runne to go and work outside the region comes from the Jerriais word run applied to a fishing station An inscription reading Liberated in Jerriais was installed at La Pieche de l Av nin in St Helier in 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Liberation The use of Jerriais is also noted during the German Occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War the local population used it among themselves as a language which neither the occupying Germans nor their French interpreters could understand However the social and economic upheaval of the War meant that use of English increased dramatically after the Liberation It is considered that the last monolingual adult speakers probably died in the 1950s citation needed although monolingual children were being received into schools in St Ouen as late as the late 1970s citation needed Famous Jerriais speakers include Lillie Langtry and Sir John Everett Millais the Pre Raphaelite painter who are reported to have spoken to each other in the language when he was painting her portrait Dictionaries The history of Jerriais dictionaries goes back to 19th century manuscript glossaries of Philippe Langlois A A Le Gros and Thomas Gaudin These were later revised and expanded into the Glossaire du Patois Jersiais published in 1924 by La Societe Jersiaise The 1960 Glossary of Jersey French Nichol Spence recorded Jerriais in a phonetic script The 1924 Glossaire inspired the research by Frank Le Maistre that culminated in the Dictionnaire Jersiais Francais published in 1966 to mark the 900th anniversary of the Norman Conquest of England The first practical English Jerriais dictionary was the English Jersey Language Vocabulary Albert Carre in collaboration with Frank Le Maistre and Philip de Veulle 1972 which was itself based on the Dictionnaire Jersiais Francais A children s picture dictionary Les Preunmie Mille Mots was published by La Societe Jersiaise in 2000 In 2005 a Jerriais English dictionary Dictionnaithe Jerriais Angliais was published by La Societe Jersiaise in collaboration with Le Don Balleine A revised modernised and expanded English Jerriais dictionary Dictionnaithe Angliais Jerriais was published in 2008 by Le Don Balleine StatusJersey Airport greets travellers with Welcome to Jersey in JerriaisLocal newspaper Jersey Evening Post hosts a Jersey Norman French feature with Jerriais texts accompanied by their translation into English The latest figures come from the Jersey Annual Social Survey issued on 5 December 2012 The survey of 4200 households took place in June 2012 and resulted in 2400 returns It showed that 18 of the population could speak some Jerriais words and phrases with more than 7 of those over 65 being fluent or able to speak a significant amount of Jerriais Two thirds of adults said that they could not understand spoken Jerriais but more than a quarter were able to understand some and 5 could usually or fully understand someone speaking Jerriais 4 of people said that they could write some Jerriais although under 1 could write fluently Just under a third 32 said that they could understand something written in Jerriais These figures update those of the census of 2001 which showed that approximately 3 of the island s population spoke Jerriais in their personal interactions although research suggests that up to 15 of the population have some understanding of the language The latest census figures also showed an increase in declarations of children speaking the language the first such increase recorded in census figures although this may be due to greater consciousness among parents rather than to language use doubtless encouraged by the introduction of a Jerriais teaching programme into Jersey schools The parish with the highest proportion of Jerriais speakers 8 is Saint Ouen and the parish with the lowest proportion 2 1 is Saint Helier although that is the largest parish and has the highest number of Jerriais speakers The number of census respondents who stated that they usually spoke Jerriais was 113 2 761 respondents stated that they sometimes spoke it A survey carried out among a sample of Jerriais speakers in 1996 found that 18 spoke the language more often than English 66 spoke it as often as English and 16 spoke it less often than English The States of Jersey fund the teaching programme in schools and provide some support in terms of signage such as welcome signs at harbours and the airport Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is under discussion In September 2005 the States approved the development of a cultural strategy one of whose strategic objectives was as follows Jersey almost lost its language in the 20th century By 2001 there were less than 3 000 speakers of Jerriais In the 21st century strenuous efforts are being made to re establish it Le Don Balleine funded by the States is leading a programme in schools teaching Jerriais L Assembliee d Jerriais promotes the language generally Language brings distinctiveness a sense of localness and a whole new set of skills all of which are important qualities in attracting the creative economy It is fundamental to the Island s identity This objective is to work with these organisations to help in the revival and status of the language In September 2009 a partnership agreement was signed by the Minister for Education Sport and Culture and the President of Le Don Balleine to formalise the role of L Office du Jerriais in protecting and promoting Jerriais and to develop a language plan to help make the language more prominent on a daily basis there is newspaper and radio output in the language and as part of the language s promotion from 2010 Jersey banknotes carry the value of the note written out in Jerriais Jerriais is currently classified as threatened by the Endangered Languages Project Jerriais is recognised as a regional language by the British and Irish governments within the framework of the British Irish Council On 13 February 2019 the States of Jersey adopted Jerriais as an official language and the language is set to be used on signage and official letter headings LiteratureThe tradition of literature in Jerriais can be traced back to Wace a 12th century Jersey born poet although there is little surviving literature in Jerriais dating to before the introduction of the first printing press in Jersey in the 1780s The first printed Jerriais appeared in the first newspapers at the end of the 18th century and the earliest identified dated example of printed poetry is a fragment by Matchi L Ge Matthew Le Geyt 1777 1849 dated to 1795 A boom in competing newspapers and journals throughout the 19th century provided a platform for poets and writers to publish regularly typically satirical comment on the week s news elections Jersey politicians and notables The first printed anthology of Jerriais poetry Rimes Jersiaises was published in 1865 Influential writers include Laelius Sir Robert Pipon Marett 1820 1884 Bailiff of Jersey 1880 1884 A A L G Augustus Aspley Le Gros 1840 1877 and St Luorenchais Philippe Langlois 1817 1884 Elie Edwin J Luce 1881 1918 was editor of the French language newspaper La Nouvelle Chronique de Jersey and a poet who wrote topical poems for the newspaper He was also active in promoting the development of drama in Jerriais and organised performances ultimately leading to the establishment of a Jerriais section of the Jersey Eisteddfod in 1912 During the German occupation of the Channel Islands Nazi censors permitted little original writing to be published However many older pieces of literature were re published in the newspapers as an act of cultural self assertion and morale boosting Following the end of Occupation and with the re establishment of the free press 1877 1964 revived a weekly column in 1946 with a letter from Ph lip et Merrienne supposedly a traditional old couple who would comment on the latest news or recall times past The most influential writer of Jerriais in the 20th century was a U S citizen George Francis Le Feuvre 1891 1984 whose pen name was George d la Forge He emigrated to North America after the First World War but for almost forty years maintained a flow of articles in Jerriais back to Jersey for publication in newspapers Selections of his articles have been published in book form 1910 2002 compiler of the dictionary Dictionnaire Jersiais Francais maintained a literary output starting in the 1930s with newspaper articles under the pseudonym Marie la Pie poems magazine articles research into toponymy and etymology Since Le Maistre Geraint Jennings has been influential in preserving the language by compiling thousands of pages of Jerriais text online in Les Pages Jerriaises including parts of the Bible VocabularyAlthough Jerriais is occasionally misleadingly described as a mixture of Old Norse and French it is more linguistically accurate to describe the language as Norse adapted to langue d oil when Norse speaking Normans lit North man conquered the territory now known as Normandy they began speaking the language of their new subjects leading to its influence on the language The Norman language is therefore in essence a Romance language with a certain amount of vocabulary of Norse origin with the inclusion of later loanwords from other languages Influence of Norse Norse origins can be seen in Jerriais words such as these mielle sand dune mogue mug bel yard gradile blackcurrant mauve seagull graie to prepare hernais cart bete bait hauter to doze Influence of Breton Jerriais has also adopted a small number of words from the Breton language e g pihangne spider crab from Breton bihan small quedaine fast from Breton gaden hare although the influence on today s language has overwhelmingly been from French and increasingly English Influence of French In this road sign mostly in French the word pouclee is Jerriais for dolmen A large number of gallicisms have been introduced into the language due to the use of French as an official language and the cultural influence of France and French literature Some French words have displaced in modern usage Jerriais words that can still be found in older texts from the 18th and 19th centuries for example French lecon in the form lecon has displaced native lichon lesson French garcon has displaced native harde boy French chanson has displaced native canchon song Efforts are being made to maintain some Jerriais words which are competing in usage with French forms for example native hielle is being promoted over French huile oil native huiptante eighty is being promoted over French quatre vingts fourscore Influence of English Some maritime vocabulary was borrowed from English at an early date for example bausouin boatswain but by the late 18th century some domestic vocabulary such as bliatchinner to polish shoes from blacking coutchi to cook grevin gravy ouachinner to rub in soapy water from washing scrobbine broche scrubbing brush sasse paine saucepan stchilet skillet ticl ye from tea kettle code a phoner phone code entered the language through the employment of Jerriais speaking servants in the houses of bourgeois English speaking immigrants Other words borrowed from English before 1900 include charer to share drases underpants from drawers ouothinner to worry ouadinne cotton wool from wadding nosse nurse souindgi to throw from swing stener to stand to endure However care needs to be taken in attempting to identify anglicisms because some words such as mogue mug and canne can which are often assumed to have been borrowed from English were in fact Norman words exported to England in the wake of the Norman Conquest and words such as fliotchet flock and ridgi rig are Norman cognates of English words More recently words such as boutchi to book partchi to park and tyeur tyre have been absorbed into the language although current initiatives in creating neologisms for technological and social innovations prefer to avoid wholesale borrowing where possible Among recent coinings are words such as textethie for texting maitre petre for webmaster literally master spider and megabouochi for megabyte PhonologyJerriais Consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Post alveolar Palatal Velar glottalNasal m n ɲPlosive affricate voiceless p t tʃ kvoiced b d dʒ ɡFricative voiceless f s ʃ hvoiced v d z ʒRhotic rApproximant plain l jlabial ɥ w r may also be heard as an approximant sound ɹ The phonological influence of Norse is debated although the aspirated h may be due to Norse influence citation needed Jerriais Oral Vowels Front Backunrounded roundedClose i iː y yː u uːClose mid e eː o oː o oːOpen mid ɛ ɛː œ œːOpen a aː Nasal Vowels Front Backunrounded roundedClose mid ẽ ẽː o o ː o oːOpen mid ɛ ɛ ːOpen ɑ ɑ ːPalatalisation The palatalisation of Latin k and ɡ before a that occurred in the development of French did not occur in northern dialects of Norman including Jerriais Jerriais English Frenchacater to buy achetercat cat chatcow vachecaud warm chaudgardin garden jardingambe leg jambeCompare palatalization in Jerriais pieche with French place in this bilingual placename sign However the palatalisation of k before front vowel produced different results in the Norman dialect that developed into Jerriais than in French Many developments are similar to those in Italian cf cento hundred and faccia face Jerriais English Frenchbachin basin bassineface facefaichon fashion faconchent hundred centLa Rue au Tchian road of the dog Latin canem dog developed into tchian an example of the palatalisation of k At a later date surviving k and ɡ underwent a secondary process of palatalisation Jerriais English Frenchmotchi to mock moquerpatchet packet paquetdgide guide guideidgiot idiot idiotNote palatalised partchiz park in this bilingual sign This palatalisation continues to operate except in initial position as can be seen by recent borrowings from English Jerriais Englishbeustchi to buskcoutchi to cookpliodgi to plugbraidgeux braggerDental fricative A feature of Jerriais that is immediately noticeable and distinguishes it from neighbouring languages is the voiced dental fricative d written th that typically occurs in intervocalic position Jerriais French Englishbathi barril barrelm suther mesurer to measurepaiethie paierie payment office paymentouothilyi oreiller pillowLa Nethe Rue road name meaning the black road shows the th digraph representing the voiced dental fricative Or in final position Jerriais French Englishmethe mere motherbraithe braire bray to cry The fricative devoices to assimilate with a neighbouring unvoiced consonant in words such as paqu thie packing or malauc theux disgusting The fricative developed from r front vowel but evidently after the 16th century as this feature is unknown in the language of Sark colonised by Jersey families Although the voiced dental fricative is standard in the literary language it is not found in the eastern dialects This gravestone of George Francis Le Feuvre George d la Forge at St Ouen Parish Church describes him as Auteur en langue Jerriaithe Jerriais author The particular St Ouennais form of Jerriaise with final dental fricative is represented Some older speakers in St Ouen use a dental fricative in positions where other dialects show a z This may be represented in the orthography of particular writers standard Jerriais St Ouennais Englishmaison maiethon houseouaiselin ouaiethelin birds collective tchaise tchaithe chairanglyiciser anglyicither anglicise The dental fricative in the dialect of such speakers may also be heard in liaison standard Jerriais St Ouennais Englishous etes ous th etes you areches otis ches th otis these toolsnou s a nou th a one hasLength Length is phonemic in Jerriais Long vowels are usually indicated in writing by a circumflex accent A noun ending in a vowel lengthens the final vowel to indicate the plural shown in writing by adding an s Gemination occurs regularly in verb tenses indicated by a consonant apostrophe consonant trigraph for example ou pal la she will speak je c mench chons we will begin i donn nait he would give Gerunds will also regularly contain geminate consonants for example fais sie doing making chant tie singing tith thie shooting bring gie sweeping gangn nie winning Orthography Consonants IPA English equivalent Examplesb b b be bouonc k k couochi catc before e i y s s cidre cŷngecch ʃ sh fache scienched d d dithe d vantedg dʒ j dgerre Dgernesyf f f fe f nentreg ɡ g Galles g nachon silent vigntg before e i ʒ zh French j s as in measure or vision geniche g norsh silent histouaithe ebahi h h happer havrei j y iers ieuxj ʒ zh French j s as in measure or vision janne Jerrik k k kilometrel l l labouother oullel before i or y except l ye silent pliat meubl ye ill j y travailli ex mille m m m methe ermertchin n n nouve nierngn ɲ ny onion think Spanish n gagnip p p pethe pommyi silent corps septqu k k qui quedainer r rr in Spanish ver hardi silent haler aimers s s saver se z z rose lousersc s s scint t t tither tetch tʃ ch motchi patchetti on s s suffocationth d hard or voiced th sound as in that pethe muthale 8 soft or voiceless th sound as in thin maqu thev v v vert vyiw w w loan wordsx s z s or z souaixantey j y yi preunmyiz z z gazette zoulouVowels citation needed IPA English equivalent Examplesi iiː iy uyː uu ouuː oue eeː eeo oeoː oeo ooː oeɛ eɛː eœ oeœː oea aaː aẽ inẽː ino uno ː uno onoː onɛ enɛ ː enɑ anɑ ː anGrammarVerbs Aspect Jerriais distinguishes between simple progressive and perfect aspect Past preterite j palinmes we spokeprogressive ou tait a paler she was speakingperfect ous avez pale you have spokenimperfect j palais I spoke Future simple j pal lai I will speakprogressive tu s sa a paler you will be speakingperfect oulle etha pale she will have spoken Present simple j pale I speakprogressive i sont a paler they are speakingIterative Verbs can be made iterative in aspect by prefixing er long form or r short form aver haveeraver have again et beeret be again netti cleanernettit clean again muchi hideermuchi hide again ergarder watcherergarder watch again telephoner phoneertelephoner phone againGerunds This sign for a cidermaking event demonstrates the gemination s s in the gerund fais sie Verbs can be transformed into gerunds which are commonly used chanter singchant tie singing faithe makefais sie making haler pullhal lie hauling haulage partchi parkparqu thie parking liethe readliethie reading faxer faxfaxethie faxingExamplesBilingual banner for Make Poverty History July 2005 reading Nannin a la pouorrete No to poverty Jerriais French EnglishJerri Jersey Jerseybeinv nu bienvenue welcomebel cour garden yard bieaute beaute beautybouonjour bonjour hellopantalon trousersbringe brosse brushchier cher dearcompather comparer comparel etrangi l etranger abroadjanmais jamais neverlian lien linksac bagtchaise chaise chairchien dogticl ye bouilloire kettleviages voyages journeysyi œil eyeSee alsoNorman language including Jerriais edition of Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Auregnais Culture of Jersey SercquiaisNotesThere is conversely no complete Bible in Jerriais despite the widespread use of the language French was the predominant language used by the Church in Jersey until the 20th century However versions of well known Bible texts in Jerriais do exist and most sermons would be preached or passages of the Bible explained in Jerriais in country areas ReferencesJerriais at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required Hammarstrom Harald Forkel Robert Haspelmath Martin Bank Sebastian 24 May 2022 Glottolog 4 8 Oil Glottolog Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Archived from the original on 11 November 2023 Retrieved 11 November 2023 Manuel pratique de philologie romane Pierre Bec 1970 1971 Jerriais Guernesiais IANA language subtag registry Retrieved 11 February 2019 Jersey IANA language subtag registry Retrieved 11 February 2019 World Atlas of Languages Jerriais en wal unesco org Retrieved 4 December 2023 Fallu Jean Marie La Gaspesie jersiaise PDF Magazine Gaspesie Ete 2012 no 174 Musee de la Gaspesie Archived from the original PDF on 29 July 2013 Retrieved 22 July 2012 Dictionnaithe Angliais Jerriais Jersey 2008 ISBN 1 904210 09 0 Jersey Annual Social Survey 2012 PDF 2012 Jerriais Jersey s Native Tongue Jones 2003 Development of a Cultural Strategy for The Island States of Jersey Archived from the original on 11 May 2011 Retrieved 31 May 2011 Jersey States of Jersey s bank notes www gov je Endangered Languages Project Jerriais Retrieved 10 September 2019 States agree to promote Jerriais statesassembly gov je Jerriais words of Norse origin members societe jersiaise org Liddicoat Anthony 1994 A Grammar of the Norman French of the Channel Islands The Dialects of Jersey and Sark De Gruyter Mouton pp 103 140 LiteratureLe Jerriais Pour Tous by Paul W Birt 1985 Dictionnaire Jersiais Francais 1966 A Grammar of the Norman French of the Channel Islands The Dialects of Jersey and Sark by Anthony J Liddicoat 1994 ISBN 978 3 11 087728 1 Jersey Norman French A Linguistic Study of An Obsolescent Dialect Mari C Jones 2001 Jerriais Jersey s Native Tongue by Mari C Jones 2003 ISBN 978 1 904210 03 0 Dictionnaithe Jerriais Angliais 2005 ISBN 0 901897 40 X Les Chroniques du Don Balleine Les Nouvelles Chroniques du Don Balleine magazine Jersey 1979 current External linksMedia related to Jerriais at Wikimedia Commons L Office du Jerriais La Societe Jersiaise La Section de la langue Jerriaise La Societe Jersiaise Les Pages Jerriaises BBC Radio Jersey Jerriais The Lord s prayer in Jerriais Jerriais and Sercquiais today by Mari C Jones from the BBC The secret British language that was used to outwit the Nazis BBC