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There is a considerable corpus of written Jèrriais, including over 900 articles written for the ''Jersey Evening Post'' by George Le Feuvre (who wrote as ''George d'La Forge''), and proceedings of ''L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais'', a group founded in 1952 which gathered speakers of the language from across the island.<br> | There is a considerable corpus of written Jèrriais, including over 900 articles written for the ''Jersey Evening Post'' by George Le Feuvre (who wrote as ''George d'La Forge''), and proceedings of ''L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais'', a group founded in 1952 which gathered speakers of the language from across the island.<br> | ||
The rise of the school certificate and broadcast media changed this, and Jèrriais was largely squeezed out (although it had a brief renaissance during the Occupation, as the German forces could not understand what was being said!). Thanks to the efforts first of L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais and subsequently of | The rise of the school certificate and broadcast media changed this, and Jèrriais was largely squeezed out (although it had a brief renaissance during the Occupation, as the German forces could not understand what was being said!). Thanks to the efforts first of L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais and subsequently of L'Office du Jèrriais, the language has not yet become extinct, and it is thought that several thousand local inhabitants can speak at least a minumum amount of Jèrriais, with thousands more able to recognise it and gist its meaning. However, the number of people who are first-language speakers continues to decline, and is now believed to be barely above one hundred.<br> | ||
== The rise of English == | == The rise of English == | ||
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== Modern additions<br> == | == Modern additions<br> == | ||
French is no longer the island's second language. When Britain joined the EEC | French is no longer the island's second language. When Britain joined the EEC (as it then was) in 1973 the traditional benefits in employing French contract labour disappeared. The gap was filled largely by Portuguese nationals escaping the last years of the Salazar dictatorship. Most came from Madeira, at that time an impoverished province neglected by the authorities. It is now thought that about one tenth of the population of Jersey is of Portuguese origin.<br> | ||
More recently, in line with the rest of the UK there has been a significant influx of "new Europeans", most of them originating in Poland and Romania.<br> | More recently, in line with the rest of the UK there has been a significant influx of "new Europeans", most of them originating in Poland and Romania.<br> | ||
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