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== | == Jèrriais == | ||
Historically, the local spoken language in Jersey was | Historically, the local spoken language in Jersey was Jèrriais. This is best understood as the Jersey branch (or branches) of the wider Norman language; the branches spoken in Guernsey, Sark and Alderney are recognisably of similar origin but differ considerably in detail.<br> | ||
The Norman language is a curious fusion: the structure is that of a Romance language (derived from Latin), but to this was added considerable Nordic vocabulary - bear in mind that the Normans were so called because they were by origin ''Norse-men'' - Vikings who had come south.<br> | The Norman language is a curious fusion: the structure is that of a Romance language (derived from Latin), but to this was added considerable Nordic vocabulary - bear in mind that the Normans were so called because they were by origin ''Norse-men'' - Vikings who had come south.<br> | ||
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Jèrriais has two broad dialects, western and eastern. It may come as a surprise to find that an island just nine miles across would have two recognisably different dialects, but travel across the island was for centuries a difficult exercise - it was said that in 1800 the island had the worst roads in Europe. Consequently, not only were there the two major dialect grops, but also small isolated pockets (such as La Moye, at the southwest corner of the island) where distinctive forms of pronunciation and vocabulary developed.<br> | Jèrriais has two broad dialects, western and eastern. It may come as a surprise to find that an island just nine miles across would have two recognisably different dialects, but travel across the island was for centuries a difficult exercise - it was said that in 1800 the island had the worst roads in Europe. Consequently, not only were there the two major dialect grops, but also small isolated pockets (such as La Moye, at the southwest corner of the island) where distinctive forms of pronunciation and vocabulary developed.<br> | ||
There is a considerable corpus of written | 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> | ||
Jèrriais was never the language of the Royal Court; documentation from there (and subsequently from the States) was always written in what might be called "proper French". Equally the business of the church (and later the chapels) was done in French. But for most of the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century, most people in rural Jersey were trilingual - English was the language of commerce, French the language of church and law, and Jèrriais the language that did for everything else.<br> | |||
The rise of the school certificate and broadcast media changed this, and | 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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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> | ||
{{Place|Jersey}} | |||
[[Category:Jersey]] [[Category:Language_and_Languages]]<br> | [[Category:Jersey|Language and Languages]] [[Category:Language_and_Languages]]<br> | ||