Guernésiais (French pronunciation:[ɡɛʁnezjɛ]), 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 simply as "patois".[4] As one of the langues d'oïl, it has its roots in Latin, but has had strong influence from both Old Norse and English at different points in its history.[citation needed]
Guernésiais has been influenced less by Standard French than Jèrriais, but conversely more so by English. New words have been imported for modern phenomena: e.g. le bike and le gas-cooker.[citation needed]
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 environment of the island.[citation needed] The island's greatest poet was George 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, both in the island newspaper and privately.
The most recent dictionary of Guernésiais, Dictiounnaire Angllais-guernesiaisbyMarie de Garis, was published in 1967 and revised in 1982.[5]
Guernésiais tops this list of welcome messages at Guernsey's tourism office in Saint Peter Port
Guernsey was a part of Normandy until the latter was conquered by French kings; a form of the Norman language developed in the Channel Islands and survived for hundreds of years.[6] Guernésiais is considered to be one of the langues d'oïl, which includes French and its closest relatives.[7] Later, after the separation of Guernsey and Normandy, French Protestant refugees escaped to the island from fear of persecution in mainland France; they quickly gained influence and positions of power in education, religion, and government.[6] This accounts for the long tradition of a diglossic relationship between French and Guernesiais[8] whereby French had prestige while Guernesiais did not.[9]
The English language began to spread in Guernsey in the era of the Napoleonic Wars, during which there was a significant outposting of English soldiers on the island[10] as well as an increase of English tourism and immigration.[11] With the German occupation of Guernsey from 1940 to 1945, Guernesiais suffered more of a decline because children were evacuated off the island, which resulted in Guernesiais not being transmitted to much of their generation.[11] It is from this point onwards that Guernesiais continued to decline in use[11] and so, according to the 2001 census conducted in Guernsey, only 2.2% of the population at the time reported being fluent in Guernesiais.[12]
Guernsey poet George Métivier (1790–1881) – nicknamed the Guernsey 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.[citation needed]
Like Métivier, Tam Lenfestey (1818–1885) published poetry in Guernsey newspapers and in book form.
Denys Corbet (1826–1909) described himself as the Draïn Rimeux (last poet), but literary production continued. Corbet is best known for his poems, especially the epicL'Touar de Guernesy, a picaresque tour of the parishes of Guernsey. As editor of the French-language newspaper Le Bailliage, he also wrote feuilletons in Dgèrnésiais under the pen nameBadlagoule ("chatterbox"). In 2009 the island held a special exhibition in the Forest Parish on Corbet and his work acknowledging the centenary of his death and unveiling a contemporary portrait painting of the artist by Christian Corbet a cousin to Denys Corbet.
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.
Ken Hill translated many of Marjorie Ozanne's short stories and poems into English with the Guernsey accent of the early 20th century. The work was published by the Guernsey society.
Métivier's dictionary was superseded by Marie de Garis' (1910–2010) Dictiounnaire Angllais-Guernésiais; first edition published in 1967, supplements 1969 and 1973, third edition 1982.
When the Channel Islands were invaded by GermanyinWorld War II, Dgèrnésiais experienced a minor revival. Many Guernsey people did not always wish the occupying forces to understand what they were saying, especially as some of the soldiers had knowledge of English.
Victor Hugo includes the odd word of Dgèrnésiais in some of his Channel Island novels. Hugo's novel Toilers of the Sea (French: Les Travailleurs de la mer), is credited with introducing the Guernesiais word for octopus, pieuvre, into the French language (standard French for octopus is poulpe).
A collection of short stories P'tites Lures Guernésiaises (in Guernésiais with parallel English translation) by various writers was published in 2006.[14]
The 2001 census showed that 1327 (1262 Guernsey-born) or 2% of the population speak the language fluently while 3% fully understand the language.[citation needed] However most of these, 70% or 934 of the 1327 fluent speakers, are over 64 years old. 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.[citation needed]
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.
Forest School hosts an annual speaking contest of the island's primary school children (Year 6).
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.[15]
A Guernésiais language development officer was appointed (with effect from January 2008).[17]
There is little broadcasting in the language, with ITV Channel Television more or less ignoring the language, and only the occasional short feature on BBC Radio Guernsey, usually for learners. In 2021 BBC Radio Guernsey broadcast a 10 minute news bulletin once a week in Guernésiais.[18]
In 2022 a documentary on the future of Guernsey French was produced for BBC radio.[19]
The creation of a Guernsey Language Commission was announced on 7 February 2013[20] as an initiative by government to preserve the linguistic culture. The Commission has operated since Liberation Day, 9 May 2013.
While Guernesiais does not have status as an official language of the island, revitalization efforts are still being undertaken on a small scale.[21] One group, Le Coumité d'la Culture Guernesiaise, organizes activities and events that celebrate Guernesiais.[21] The Eisteddfod cultural festival is a public event where attendees can enjoy plays, poems, and music performed in Guernesiais.[22] There is also a local choir on Guernsey called La Guaine du Vouest who conduct musical performances in Guernesiais to further promote the language and the cultural and linguistic heritage of Guernsey.[23]
In 2007, efforts to revitalize Guernesiais were undertaken at an official level, when the government appointed a Language Support Officer (LSO), albeit with ambiguous direction.[24] The position was only held until 2011; after that, there was no replacement and instead a Language Commission was formed in order to support efforts to revitalize Guernesiais by smaller groups.[24]
^The Guernsey Norman French Translations of Thomas Martin: A Linguistic Study of an Unpublished Archive, Mari C. Jones, Leuven 2008, ISBN978-90-429-2113-9
^P'tites Lures Guernésiaises, edited Hazel Tomlinson, Jersey 2006, ISBN1-903341-47-7
^Jones, Mari C. (2008). The Guernsey Norman-French Translations of Thomas Martin: A Linguistic Study of an Unpublished Archive. Leuven: Peeters. ISBN978-90-429-2113-9.
^Simmonds, Helen Margaret (2012). Channeling Change: Evolution in Guernsey Norman French Phonology. University of Exeter.
^Jones, Mari (2015). Variation and Change in Mainland and Insular Norman: A Study of Superstrate Influence. Brill: Leiden. pp. 34–99.
