Jèrriais

Jèrriais
(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 , spoken in neighbouring Guernsey, and the other .
Use of 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 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 brought by the Jersey colonists who settled Sark in the 16th century, with mutual intelligibility with the Norman language of mainland Normandy.
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 or in French. 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 as a first language, until the 19th century, 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 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 nascent Norman literary revival in the neighbouring Cotentin area of mainland Normandy where writers, inspired by the example of the Norman writers of Jersey and Guernsey, began their own production of literary works. However, differing (if mutually comprehensible) writing systems have been adopted in Jersey, Guernsey and mainland Normandy. The question is sometimes raised as to whether 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 , have evidently been borrowed from English orthography.
As English became dominant in Jersey in the 20th century, efforts were made to preserve the language. The Jersey Eisteddfod has included a section since 1912. Associations were founded; was founded in 1951, while 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. launched a quarterly magazine in 1952, which has been published since (with the occasional hiatus, and latterly under the editorship of ); a standard grammar (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 , and it is reported that there were still some -speakers in Gaspé villages in the 1960s. The Gaspesian expression (to go and work outside the region) comes from the word "run" applied to a fishing station.
The use of is also to be noted during the German Occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War; the local population used among themselves as a language 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, although monolingual speaking children were being received into schools in St. Ouen as late as the late 1970s.
Famous speakers include Lillie Langtry and Sir John Everett Millais, the Pre-Raphaelite painter.
Dictionaries
The history of dictionaries goes back to 19th century manuscript glossaries work of Philippe Langlois, A. A. Le Gros and Thomas Gaudin. These were later revised and expanded into the published in 1924 by . The 1960 Glossary of Jersey French (Nichol Spence) recorded in phonetic script. The 1924 inspired the research by Frank Le Maistre that culminated in the published in 1966 to mark the 900th anniversary of the Norman Conquest of England. The first practical English– 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 . A children's picture dictionary was published by in 2000. In 2005, a –English dictionary, was published by , in collaboration with . A revised, modernised and expanded English– dictionary , was published in 2008 by .
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 words and phrases, with more than 7% of those over 65 being fluent or able to speak a significant amount of . Two-thirds of adults said that they could not understand spoken , but more than a quarter were able to understand some, and 5% could usually or fully understand someone speaking . 4% of people said that they could write some , although under 1% could write fluently. Just under a third (32%) said that they could understand something written in .
These figures update those of the census (2001), which showed that approximately 3% of the island's population spoke 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 than to language use), doubtless encouraged by the introduction of a teaching programme into Jersey schools.
The parish with the highest proportion of speakers (8%) is Saint Ouen, and the parish with the lowest proportion (2.1%) is Saint Helier, although Saint Helier as the largest parish has the highest number of speakers. The number of census respondents who stated that they "usually" spoke was 113; 2,761 respondents stated that they "sometimes" spoke . A survey carried out among a sample of speakers in 1996 found that 18% spoke more often than English, 66% spoke as often as English, and 16% spoke 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 . In the 21st century strenuous efforts are being made to re-establish it. , funded by the States, is leading a programme in schools teaching . 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 to formalise the role of in protecting and promoting 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 . is currently classified as "threatened" by the Endangered Languages Project.
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 as an official language, and the language is set to be used on signage and official letter headings.
Literature
The tradition of literature in can be traced back to Wace, a 12th century Jersey-born poet, although there is little surviving literature in dating to before the introduction of the first printing press in Jersey in the 1780s. The first printed 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 (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 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 , and a poet who wrote topical poems for the newspaper. He was also active in promoting the development of drama in and organised performances, ultimately leading to the establishment of a section of the Jersey Eisteddfod in 1912.
During the Occupation, 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, Edward Le Brocq (1877–1964) revived a weekly column in 1946 with a letter from , supposedly a traditional old couple who would comment on the latest news or recall time past.
The most influential writer of 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 back to Jersey for publication in newspapers. Selections of his articles have been published in book form.
Frank Le Maistre (1910–2002), compiler of the dictionary , maintained a literary output starting in the 1930s with newspaper articles under the pseudonym , 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 text online in , including parts of the Bible.
Vocabulary
Although is occasionally misleadingly described as a mixture of 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 words such as these:
("sand dune")
("mug")
("yard")
("blackcurrant")
("seagull")
("to prepare")
("cart")
("bait")
("to doze")
Influence of Breton
has also adopted a small number of words from the Breton language (e.g. 'spider crab', from Breton 'small'; 'fast', from Breton '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 (in the form ) has displaced native (lesson)
French has displaced native (boy)
French has displaced native (song)
Efforts are being made to maintain some Jèrriais words which are competing in usage with French forms, for example:
native is being promoted over French (oil)
native (eighty) is being promoted over French (fourscore)
Influence of English
Some maritime vocabulary was borrowed from English at an early date, for example (boatswain), but by the late 18th century some domestic vocabulary, such as:
(to polish shoes, from blacking)
(to cook)
(gravy)
(to rub in soapy water, from washing)
(scrubbing brush)
(saucepan)
(skillet)
(from tea-kettle)
(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:
(to share)
(underpants, from drawers)
(to worry)
(cotton wool, from wadding)
(nurse)
(to throw, from swing)
(to stand, to endure)
However, care needs to be taken in attempting to identify anglicisms because some words, such as (mug) and (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 (flock) and (rig) are Norman cognates of English words.
More recently, words such as (to book), (to park) and (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 for texting, for webmaster (literally master-spider) and for megabyte.
Phonology
may also be heard as an approximant sound .
The phonological influence of Norse is debated, although the aspirated "h" may be due to Norse influence.
Palatalisation
The palatalisation of Latin and before that occurred in the development of French did not occur in northern dialects of Norman, including Jèrriais:
However the palatalisation of 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. -hundred and -face).
At a later date surviving and underwent a secondary process of palatalisation:
This palatalisation continues to operate (except in initial position) as can be seen by recent borrowings from English:
Dental fricative
A feature of Jèrriais that is immediately noticeable and distinguishes it from neighbouring languages is the voiced dental fricative , written th, that typically occurs in intervocalic position:
Or in final position:
The fricative devoices to assimilate with a neighbouring unvoiced consonant in words such as (packing) or ' (disgusting).
The fricative developed from + 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 . This may be represented in the orthography of particular writers.
The dental fricative in the dialect of such speakers may also be heard in liaison:
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: (she will speak); (we will begin); (he would give). Gerunds will also regularly contain geminate consonants, for example: (doing, making); (singing); (shooting); (sweeping); (winning).
Orthography
Grammar
Verbs
Aspect
Jèrriais distinguishes between simple, progressive and perfect aspect:
Past:
Future:
Present:
Iterative
Verbs can be made iterative in aspect by prefixing (long form) or (short form):
Gerunds
Verbs can be transformed into gerunds, which are commonly used:
Examples
See also
Auregnais
Culture of Jersey
Sercquiais
Notes
References
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.
Jersey Norman French: A Linguistic Study of An Obsolescent Dialect . Mari C. Jones, 2001
Jèrriais: Jersey's Native Tongue by Mari C. Jones, 2003.
Dictionnaithe Jèrriais-Angliais. 2005.
Les Chroniques du Don Balleine/Les Nouvelles Chroniques du Don Balleine (magazine). Jersey 1979 – current.
External links
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
Jersey culture
Languages of the Channel Islands
Norman language
Endangered Romance languages