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Franco-Provençal

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Not to be confused with Provençal which is a dialect of the Occitan language.

Franco-Provençal (Francoprovençal) or Arpitan or Romand (Vernacular: francoprovençâl, arpitan, patouès; Template:Lang-it; Template:Lang-fr) is a Romance language with several distinct dialects that form a linguistic sub-group separate from Langue d'Oïl and Langue d'Oc. The name Franco-Provençal was given to the language by G.I. Ascoli in the 19th century because it shared features with French and Provençal without belonging to either. Although the name is well established, there is some dissatisfaction with it. The neologism Arpitan is becoming a popular name for the language and the people who speak it.

Today, the largest number of Franco-Provençal speakers reside in the Aosta Valley Autonomous Region of Italy. The language also is spoken in alpine valleys in the Province of Turin, two isolated towns in the Province of Foggia, and rural areas of the Suisse-Romande region of Switzerland. It constitutes one of the three Gallo-Romance languages of France and is classified as a regional language of France. Although its use is low, organizations are attempting to preserve it through cultural events, education, scholarly research, and publishing.

The number of speakers has been declining significantly. According to UNESCO (1995), Franco-Provençal is a "potentially endangered language" in Italy and an "endangered language" in Switzerland and France.

  • Words of Franco-Provençal origin that are found in English include:
avalanche, chalet, glacier, moraine, and névê.

History

Franco-Provençal emerged from a Gallo-Roman variety of Latin. The linguistic region comprises east-central France, the Suisse-Romande, and the Aosta Valley with the adjacent alpine valleys of the Piedmont. This area covers territories once controlled by pre-Roman Celtic and Gaulish peoples, including the Allobroges, Sequani, Helvetii, and Salassi. By the 5th century, it was occupied by Burgundian tribes.

Early manuscripts reveal that Franco-Provençal has existed at least since the 12th century, possibly diverging from Langue d'Oïl as early as the 8th or 9th centuries (Bec, 1971). One writer has detected the influence of Basque by analyzing "fossil words" ("mots fossiles") from toponyms and the dialect in the Aosta Valley (Krutwig, 1973, in: Henriet, 1997, p. 30). However, Franco-Provençal adhered conservatively to Latin linguistic conventions as it developed, primarily remaining a spoken language. The modern patois of its speakers continues to reflect medieval terms for many nouns and verbs, including: pâta for "rag", bayâ for "to give", moussâ for "to lie down", etc. Désormaux, writing on this subject in the foreword of his excellent Savoyard dictionary states:

"The antiquated character of the Savoyard patois is striking. One can note it not only in phonetics and morphology, but also in the vocabulary, where one finds numerous words and directions that clearly disappeared from French." (Constantin & Désormaux, 1982).

Franco-Provençal never achieved the greatness of its three larger neighbors; French, Occitan, and Italian. Communities where speakers lived were generally mountainous and isolated from one another. The internal boundaries of the entire linguistic domain were shattered by wars and religious conflicts. France, Switzerland, the Franche-Comté (protected by Habsburg Spain), and the duchy — later kingdom — ruled by the House of Savoy politically divided the region. The strongest possibility for any dialect of Franco-Provençal to establish itself as a major language died when an edict, dated 6 January 1539, was confirmed in the parliament of the Duchy of Savoy on 4 March 1540. The edict explicitly replaced Latin (and by implication, any other language) with French as the language of civil law and the judiciary (Grillet, 1807, p. 65).

Franco-Provençal dialects were widely spoken in their domain until the 20th century. As French political power expanded, and communication and transportation improved, speakers abandoned their patois, which had numerous spoken variations and no standard orthography, in favor of "educated" French.

Several events have combined to stabilize the language in the Aosta Valley of Italy during the last half-century. The region's economy grew modestly from 1951 to 1991 enabling the population to increase. Several cultural groups, libraries, and theater companies actively using the Valdôtain dialect have fostered a sense of ethnic pride (EUROPA, 2005). The language also is explicitly protected by an Italian presidential decree (Decreto presidenziale della Repubblica del 20 novembre 1991, "Norme in materia di tutela delle minoranze linguistiche", Articolo 2) and a federal law (Legge 15 dicembre 1999, n. 482, "Norme in materia di tutela delle minoranze linguistiche storiche", pubblicata nella Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 297 del 20 dicembre 1999, Articolo 2) (External link). On the other hand, the alpine valleys of Italy's Piedmont region have been losing speakers due to lack of jobs and migration.

Switzerland does not recognize Franco-Provençal as one of its official languages. Residents who speak it as a second language live in the same regions where Swiss French predominates, except for the canton of Jura where it is not spoken. Currently, its use in agrarian daily life is rapidly disappearing.

Franco-Provençal has had a precipitous decline in France. The official language of the French Republic is French (article 2 of the Constitution of France). The French government officially acknowledges Franco-Provençal as one of the "Languages of France" (External link ) but it is constitutionally barred from ratifying the 1992 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) that would guarantee it certain rights. Thus, Franco-Provençal has almost no political support. It also carries a generally low social status. This is the same situation that affects most regional languages that comprise the linguistic wealth of France. Speakers of regional dialects are aging and mostly rural.

Classification

The philological classification for Franco-Provençal published by the Linguasphere Observatory (Dalby, 1999/2000, p. 402) follows:

Indo-European phylosector > Romanic phylozone > Italiano+Româneasca (Romance) set > Italiano+Româneasca chain > Romance-West net > Lyonnais+Valdôtain (Franco-Provençal) reference name.
Note: The Linguasphere language code for Franco-Provençal is: 51-AAA-j

A philological classification for Franco-Provençal published by Stanford University (Ruhlen ,1987, pp. 325-326) also follows:

Indo-Hittite > Indo-European > Italic > Latino-Faliscan > Romance > Continental > Western > Gallo-Iberian-Romance > Gallo-Romance > North > Franco-Provençal.

Origin of the Language Name

The language region was first identified during advances in linguistics research during the 19th century. Graziadio Isaia Ascoli (1829-1907), a pioneering linguist in dialect studies, analyzed the unique phonetic and structural characteristics of numerous spoken dialects. In an article written about 1873 and published later, he offered a solution to existing disagreements about dialect frontiers and proposed a new linguistic region. He placed it between the Langue d'Oïl group of languages, whence came the appellation Franco, and the Langue d'Oc group, whence came the appellation Provençal, and gave Franco-Provençal its name.

Ascoli (1878, p. 61) described the language in these terms in his defining essay on the subject:

« Chiamo franco-provenzale un tipo idiomatico, il quale insieme riunisce, con alcuni caratteri specifici, più altri caratteri, che parte son comuni al francese, parte lo sono al provenzale, e non proviene già da une confluenza di elementi diversi, ma bensì attesta sua propria indipendenza istorica, non guari dissimile da quella per cui fra di lora si distinguono gli altri principali tipi neo-latini. »
"I call Franco-Provençal a type of language which brings together, along with some characteristics which are its own, characteristics partly in common with French, and partly in common with Provençal, and which are not due to a late confluence of diverse elements, but on the contrary, attests to its own historical independence, little different from those by which the principal neo-Latin [Romance] languages distinguish themselves from one another."

Although the name Franco-Provençal appears misleading, it continues to be used in most scholarly journals for the sake of continuity. Suppression of the hyphen between the two parts of the language name in French ("francoprovençal") was generally adopted following a conference at the University of Neuchâtel in 1969 (Marzys, 1971) however, most English journals continue to use the traditional spelling.

The name Romand has been in use regionally in Switzerland at least since 1494, when notaries in Fribourg were directed to write their minutes in both German and "Rommant". It continues to appear in the names of many Swiss cultural organizations today. Romand is also used by some professional linguists who feel that the compound term Franco-Provençal is "inappropriate" (Dalby, 1999/2000, p. 402).

A proposal in the 1960s to call the language Burgundian (French: "burgondien") was suggested because it was thought that this name reflected the language's origins. However, use of this identification has almost completely disappeared because of confusion with the historical, political, and geographic regions of the same name (Meune, 2007).

Some contemporary speakers and writers prefer the name Arpitan because it underscores the independence of the language and does not imply a union to any other established linguistic group. Arpitan is derived from an indigenous word meaning "alpine" ("mountain highlands") (Bessat & Germi, 1991). It was popularized in the 1980s by Mouvement Harpitanya, a political organization in the Aosta Valley.

The language is called patouès (patois) or nosta moda ("our way of speaking") by native speakers. Some Savoyard speakers call their language sarde. This is a colloquial term, used because their ancestors were subjects of the Kingdom of Sardinia ruled by the House of Savoy. (Savoie and Haute-Savoie were annexed by France in 1860.) In the Forez region, it is known as gaga, a cognomen that appears in the titles of local dictionaries (e.g., Duplay, 1896) and other publications. Gaga comes from a local name for the residents of Saint-Étienne, popularized by Auguste Callet’s story "La légende des Gagats" published in 1866.

Number of Speakers

The Franco-Provençal dialect with the greatest population of active daily speakers is Valdôtain (Valdoten). Approximately 68,000 speak the language in the Aosta Valley region of Italy according to reports conducted after the 1981 census. The alpine valleys of the adjacent province of Turin have an estimated 22,000 speakers. The Faetar dialect is spoken by just 1,400 speakers who live in an isolated pocket of the province of Foggia in the southern Italian Apulia region (Figures for Italy: EUROPA, 2005.)

Contrary to this official information reported by the European Commission, a poll by the Fondation Emile Chanoux in 2001 [External link] revealed that only 5% of all Aosta Valley residents claimed Franco-Provençal as their mother tongue. This is a substantial reduction to the figures reported on the Italian census 20 years earlier that was used by the E.C. Only 7% of the inhabitants (approximately 8,200 people) claimed to be able to speak any dialect of Franco-Provençal. A report published by Laval University in Québec [External link], which analyzed this data, reports that it is "probable" that the language will be extinct in this region in ten years. Note: The most recent edition of Ethnologue (Gordon, 2005) reports that there are 70,000 Franco-Provençal speakers in Italy. However, these figures are derived from the 1971 census.

In rural areas of the cantons of Geneva, Valais, Vaud, Neuchâtel, and Fribourg in Switzerland, various dialects are spoken as a second language by about 7,000 residents. (Figures for Switzerland: Gordon, 2005.)

Until the mid-19th century, Franco-Provençal dialects were the most widely spoken language in their domain in France. Today, regional vernaculars are limited to a small number of speakers in secluded towns. A 2002 report by the INED (Institut national d’études démographiques) states that the language loss by generation, that is, “the proportion of fathers who did not usually speak to their 5-year-old children in the language that their own father usually spoke in to them at the same age” was 90%. This was a greater loss than any language in France; a loss called "critical." The report estimated that fewer than 15,000 speakers in France were handing down some knowledge of Franco-Provençal to their children. (Figures for France: Héran, Filhon, & Deprez, 2002; figure 1, 1-C, p. 2.)

Geographic distribution

Map showing the Franco-Provençal domain.[1]
Map showing the Franco-Provençal/Arpitan domain (in Arpitan language).[2] The inset shows the two isolated towns in the Apulia region of southern Italy where a dialect of Franco-Provencal is also spoken.

The historical linguistic domain of the Franco-Provençal language includes the following areas (also see: Jochnowitz, 1973):

France

Switzerland

  • most of Romandy (Suisse-Romande) area including the following cantons: Geneva (Genève/Genf), Vaud, the lower part of Valais (Wallis), Fribourg (Freiburg), and Neuchâtel. Note: Jura, and the northern valleys of the non-German-speaking parts of Berne linguistically belong to the Langues d'Oil.

Italy

  • the Aosta Valley (place name in Franco-Provençal: Val d'Outa; in Italian: Valle d'Aosta; in French: Val-d'Aoste), with the exception the Walser valley in Gressoney.
  • the alpine heights of the Province of Turin in the Piedmont basin which includes the following 43 communities: Ala di Stura, Alpette, Balme, Cantoira (Cantoire), Carema (Carême), Castagnole Piemonte, Ceres, Ceresole Reale (Cérisoles), Chialamberto (Chalambert), Chianocco (Chanoux), Coassolo, Coazze (Couasse), Condove (Condoue), Corio (Corio), Frassinetto, Germagnano (Saint-Germain), Giaglione (Jaillons), Giaveno, Gravere (Gravière), Groscavallo (Groscaval), Ingria, Lanzo Torinese (Lans), Lemie, Locana, Mattie, Meana di Susa (Méan), Mezzenile (Mesnil), Monastero di Lanzo (Moutier), Noasca, Novalesa (Novalaise), Pessinetto, Pont Canavese, Ribordone (Ribardon), Ronco Canavese (Ronc), Rubiana (Rubiane), Sparone (Esparon), Susa (Suse), Traves, Usseglio (Ussel), Valgioie (Valjoie), Valprato Soana (Valpré), Vénaus (Vénaux), Viù (Vieu).
Note: The southernmost valleys of Piedmont speak Occitan.

Linguistic Structure

Note: The overview in this section follows Stich (2003) and Martin (2005), with all Franco-Provençal examples written in accordance with Orthographe de référence B (see "Orthography" section, below).

Typology & Syntax

  • Franco-Provençal is a synthetic language, as are Occitan and Italian. (English and French are primarily analytic languages.) Most verbs have different endings for person, number, and tenses making the use of the pronoun unnecessary, thus, two grammatical functions are bound together. However, the second person singular verb form regularly requires an appropriate pronoun for distinction.
  • The standard word order for Franco-Provençal is Subject Verb Object (SVO) form in a declarative sentence, for example: Vos côsâds anglès. (You speak English.) except when the object is a pronoun, in which case the word order is Subject Object Verb (SOV). Verb Subject Object (VSO) form is standard word order for an interrogative sentence, for example: Côsâds-vos anglès ? (Do you speak English?)

Morphology

Franco-Provençal has grammar similar to that of other Romance languages.

  • Articles have three forms: definite, indefinite, and partitive. Plural definite articles agree in gender with the noun to which they refer, unlike French. Partitive articles are used with mass nouns.
Articles: Masculine Definite Feminine Definite Masculine Indefinite Feminine Indefinite
Singular lo la on na
Plural los les des / de des / de
  • Nouns are inflected by number and gender. Inflection by grammatical number (singular and plural) is clearly distinguished in feminine nouns, but not masculine nouns, where pronunciation is generally identical for those words ending with a vowel.
Note: To assist comprehension of written words, modern orthographers of the language have added an “s” to most plural nouns that is not reflected in speech. For example:
codo (masculine singular): [ˈkodo] [ˈkodu] [ˈkodə],
codos (masculine plural): [ˈkodo] [ˈkodu] [ˈkodə],
pôrta (feminine singular): [ˈpɔrtɑ] [ˈpurtɑ],
pôrtas (feminine plural): [ˈpɔrte] [ˈpurte] [ˈpɔrtɛ] [ˈpurtɛ] [ˈpɔrtɑ] [ˈpurtɑ].

In general, inflection by grammatical gender (masculine and feminine) is the same as for French nouns, however, there are many exceptions. A few examples follow:

Franco-Provençal French English
la sal (fem.) le sel (masc.) the salt
l'ôvra (fem.), la besogne (fem.) le travail (masc.) the work
l'ongla (fem.) l'ongle (masc.) the fingernail
l'ôlyo (masc.) l'huile (fem.) the oil
lo crotâl (masc.), lo vipèro (masc.) la vipère (fem.) the viper
  • Subject pronouns agree in person, number, gender, and case. Although the subject pronoun is usually retained in speech, Franco-Provençal - unlike French or English - is a partially pro-drop language (null subject language), especially in first-person singular. Masculine and feminine third-person singular pronouns are notable for the extremely wide variation in pronunciation from region to region. Impersonal verbs for weather and time take the neuter pronouns "o", or "el" (a regional variant used before a word beginning with a vowel), which is analogous to "it" in English.
  • Direct and indirect object pronouns also agree in person, number, gender, and case. However, unlike subject pronouns, third person singlar and plural have neuter forms, in addition to masculine and feminine forms.
  • Possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives agree in person, number, gender, and case. (Masculine singular and plural forms are noteworthy because of their extremely wide variation in pronunciation from area to area.)
  • Adjectives agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify.
  • Adverbs are invariable; that is, they are not inflected, unlike nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Verbs in Group 1a end in -ar (côsar, "to speak"; chantar, "to sing"); Group 1b end in -ier (mengier, "to eat"); Groups 2a & 2b end in -ir (finir, "to finish"; venir, "to come"), Group 3a end in -êr (dêvêr, "to owe"), and Group 3b end in -re (vendre, "to sell").
Auxiliary verbs are: avêr (to have) and étre (to be).

Phonetic Characteristics

  • The placement of stressed syllables in the spoken language is a primary characteristic of Franco-Provençal that distinguishes it from French and Occitan. Franco-Provençal words take stress on the last syllable, as in French, or on the penultimate syllable, unlike French.
  • Franco-Provençal also preserves final vowel sounds, in particular "a" in feminine forms and "o" in masculine forms (where it is pronounced "ou" in some regions.) The word portar is pronounced [pɔrˈtɑ] or [pɔrˈto], with accent on the final "a" or "o", but rousa is pronounced [ˈru:zɑ], with accent on the "ou".
  • Vowels followed by nasal consonants "m" and "n" are normally nasalized in a similar manner to those in French, for example, chantar and vin in Franco-Provençal, and "chanter" and "vin" in French. However, in the largest part of the Franco-Provençal domain, nasalized vowels retain a timbre that more closely approaches the un-nazalized vowel sound than in French, for example, pan [pɑ̃] and vent [vɛ̃] in Franco-Provençal, compared to "pain" [pɛ̃] and "vent" [vɑ̃] in French.

Orthography

Franco-Provençal does not have a standard orthography. Most proposals use the Latin alphabet and four diacritics: the acute accent, grave accent, circumflex, and diaeresis (trema). (The ligature "œ" and cedilla found in French are omitted.)

  • Aimé Chenal and Raymond Vautherin wrote the first complete grammar and dictionary for any variety of Franco-Provençal, greatly expanding the work of Jean-Baptiste Cerlogne on the Valdôtain (Valdoten) dialect begun in the 19th century. It was published in twelve volumes from 1967 to 1982.
  • The Regional Bureau of Ethnology and Linguistics (BREL) and the René Willien Center for Franco-Provençal Studies, both of Aosta, Italy, also have published an orthography also based on work by Cerlogne, with several modifications, that is actively promoted in the Aosta Valley.
  • An orthographic method called La Graphie de Conflans has achieved acceptance, particularly among speakers residing in Bresse and Savoy, and appears in many printed works. It was first published by the Groupe de Conflans of Albertville, France in 1983. This method perhaps most closely follows the International Phonetic Alphabet, omitting extraneous letters found in other historical and contemporary proposals. It features the use of a combining low line (underscore) as a diacritic to indicate a stressed vowel in the penult when it occurs, for example: toma, déssanta.
  • A recent standard entitled Orthographe de référence B (ORB) was proposed by linguist Dominique Stich with his dictionary by Editions Le Carré (2003). This is an emendation of his previous work published by Editions l'Harmattan (1998). His standard strays from close representation of Franco-Provençal phonology in favor of following French orthographic conventions, with silent letters and clear vestiges of Latin roots. However, it attempts to unify several written forms and is easiest for French speakers to read. — Note: Stich's dictionary for ORB is noteworthy because it includes neologisms by Xavier Gouvert for things found in modern life, such as: encafâblo for "cell phone" (from encafar, "to put into a pocket"), pignochière for "fast-food" (from pignochiér, "to nibble"), panètes for "corn flakes" (from panet, "maize, corn"), and mâchelyon for "chewing gum".

The table below compares a few words in each writing system, with French and English for reference. (Sources: Esprit Valdôtain (download 7 March 2007), C.C.S. Conflans (1995), and Stich (2003).

IPA Chenal BREL Conflans ORB French English
/kɑ̃/ quan can kan quand quand when
/ˈtʃikɑ/ tsëca tchica tchika chica un peu a little
/tsɑ̃/ tsan tsan tsan champ champ field
/djwa/ dzoà djouà djoua giuè jeu game
/ˈtʃøvrɑ/ tseuvra tcheuvra tseûvra chèvra chèvre goat
/ˈfɔʎə/ foille foille fòye fôlye feuille leaf
/ˈføʎə/ faille feuille feûye filye fille daughter
/fɔ̃ˈtɑ̃.ɑ/ fontana fontan-a fontana fontana source wellspring
/ˈlɑ̃.ɑ/ lana lan-a lana lana laine wool
/siˈlɑ̃sə/ silence silanse silanse silence silence silence
/rəpəˈbløk.ə/ repeublecca repebleucca repebleûke rèpublica république republic

Numerals

Franco-Provençal uses a decimal counting system.

0 ) zérô; 1 ) yona / yena / yon; 2 ) does / doves / dos ; 3 ) três; 4 ) quatro; 5 ) cinq; 6 ) siéx; 7 ) sèpt; 8 ) huét; 9 ) nô; 10 ) diéx; 11 ) onze'; 12 ) doze; 13 ) trèze; 14 ) quatôrze; 15 ) quinze; 16 ) sèze; 17 ) dix-sèpt; 18 ) dix-huét; 19 ) dix-nou; 20 ) vengt; 21 ) vengt-yona / vengt-et-yon; 22 ) vengt-does ... 30 ) trenta; 40 ) quaranta; 50 ) cinquanta; 60 ) souessanta; 70 ) sèptanta; 80 ) huétanta; 90 ) nonanta; 100 ) cent; 1000 ) mila; 1,000,000 ) on milyon / on milyona.

Many western dialects use a vigesimal (base-20) form for "80," that is, quatro-vingt ( /katroˈvɛ̃/ ), possibly due to the influence of French.

Word Comparisons

The chart below compares words in Franco-Provençal to those in selected Romance languages, with English for reference.

Between vowels, the Latinate "p" became "v", "c" and "g" became "y", and "t" and "d" disappeared. Franco-Provençal also softened the hard palatized "c" and "g" before "a". This led Franco-Provençal to evolve down a different path from Occitan and Gallo-Iberian languages, closer to the evolutionary direction taken by French.

Latin Franco-Provençal French Occitan Italian English
clavis clâ clef / clé clau chiave key
cantare chantar chanter cantar / chantar cantare to sing
capra cabra / chèvra chèvre cabra / chabra capra goat
caseus (formaticus) tôma / fromâjo fromage formatge formaggio cheese
dies Martis demârs / demonre mardi dimars martedì Tuesday
ecclesia églésé église glèisa chiesa church
fratrem germanum frâre frère fraire fratello brother
hospitalis hèpetâl hôpital espital / espitau ospedale hospital
lingua lenga langue lenga / lengua lingua language
manum sinistram man gôcho main gauche man esquèrra / man senèstra mano sinistra left hand
nihil ren rien ren / res niente / nulla nothing
nox, noctis nuet nuit nuèch / nuèit notte night
pacare payér payer pagar / paiar pagare to pay
sudor suar sueur susar / suar sudore sweat
vita via vie vida vita life

Franco-Provençal Dialect List

Classification of Franco-Provençal dialect divisions is challenging despite regional similarities. Each canton and valley uses its own vernacular without standardization. Difficult intelligibility among dialects was noted as early as 1807 by Grillet.

France Switzerland Italy Transitional Dialects (France)
  • Charolais (Franco-Provençal → Langue d'Oïl)
  • Mâconnais (Franco-Provençal → Langue d'Oïl)

Dialect Examples

Several modern orthographic variations exist for all dialects of Franco-Provençal. The spellings and IPA equivalents listed below appear in Martin (2005).

English Franco-Provençal Savoyard dialect Bressan dialect
Hello! Bonjor ! /bɔ̃ˈʒu/ /bɔ̃ˈʒø/
Good night! Bôna nuet ! /bunɑˈne/ /bunɑˈnɑ/
Goodbye! A revêr ! /arˈvi/ /a.rɛˈvɑ/
Yes Ouè /ˈwɛ/ /ˈwɛ/
No Nan /ˈnɑ/ /ˈnɔ̃/
Maybe T-èpêr / Pôt-étre /tɛˈpɛ/ /pɛˈtetrə/
Please S'el vos plét /sivoˈple/ /sevoˈplɛ/
Thank you! Grant marci ! /grɑ̃maˈsi/ /grɑ̃marˈsi/
A man On homo /on ˈomo/ /in ˈumu/
A woman Na fena /nɑ ˈfɛnɑ/ /nɑ ˈfɛnɑ/
The clock Lo relojo /lo rɛˈloʒo/ /lo rɛˈlodʒu/
The clocks Los relojos /lu rɛˈloʒo/ /lu rɛˈlodʒu/
The rose La rousa /lɑ ˈruzɑ/ /lɑ ˈruzɑ/
The roses Les rouses /lɛ ˈruzɛ/ /lɛ ˈruze/
He is eating. Il menge. /il ˈmɛ̃ʒɛ/ /il ˈmɛ̃ʒɛ/
She is singing. Le chante. /lə ˈʃɑ̃tɛ/ /ɛl ˈʃɑ̃tɛ/
It is raining. O pluvinye. /o ploˈvɛɲə/
It is raining. O brolyasse. /u brulˈjasə/
What time is it? Quint' hora est ? /kɛ̃t ˈørɑ ˈjɛ/
What time is it? Quâl' hora qu'el est ? /tjel ˈoʒɑ ˈjə/
It is 6:30. El est siéx hores et demi. /ˈjɛ siz ˈørɑ e dɛˈmi/
It is 6:30. El est siéx hores demi. /ˈɛjɛ siʒ ˈoʒə dɛˈmi/
What is your name? Tè que vos éds niom ? /ˈtɛk voz i ˈɲɔ̃/
What is your name? Coment que vos vos apelâds ? /kɛmˈe kɛ ˈvu vu apaˈlo/
I am happy to see you. Je su bonéso de vos vér. /ʒə sɛ buˈnezə də vo vi/
I am happy to see you. Je su content de vos vére. /ʒɛ si kɔ̃ˈtɛ də vu vɑ/
Do you speak Patois? Prègiéds-vos patouès ? /prɛˈʒi vo patuˈe/
Do you speak Patois? Côsâds-vos patouès ? /koˈʒo vu patuˈɑ/

External links:

Toponyms

Other than people's last names, the Franco-Provençal legacy primarily survives in place names. Many are immediately recognizable, ending in -az, -oz (-otz), -uz, -ax, -ex, -ux, -oux, and -ieux (-ieu). These suffixes indicate the stress syllables based on a historical orthographic system considered obsolete by modern scholars. The last letter is not pronounced. For multi-syllabic names, “z” indicates stress on the second-to-last syllable, and “x” indicates stress on the last syllable, for example, Chanaz: /ˈʃɑ.nɑ/ (shana); Chênex: /ʃɛˈne/ (shèné). Examples:

France

Road sign for Charvex (La Balme de Thuy), Haute-Savoie, France after a name change in the 1990s to an old Savoyard spelling. (Previous village name: Charvet.) Photo: April 2004.
  • Ain: Outriaz, Lompnaz, Seillonnaz, Ordonnaz, Contrevoz, Culoz, Marboz, Niévroz, Oyonnax, Sonthonnax-la-Montagne, Gex, Echenevex, Perrex, Chevroux, Lescheroux, Jujurieux, Civrieux, Misérieux, Toussieux, Ceyzérieu, Lagnieu, Lompnieu, Pugieu.
  • Doubs: Saraz, Éternoz, Bolandoz, La Cluse-et-Mijoux, Montmahoux.
  • Jura: Saffloz, Vertamboz, Morez, Lajoux, Le Vaudioux.
  • Savoie: Chanaz, Drumettaz, Sonnaz, Motz, Lovettaz, Séez, La Motte-Servolex, Ontex, Verthemex, Avrieux, Champagneux, Chindrieux, Ruffieux.
  • Haute-Savoie: La Clusaz, Viuz-en-Sallaz, Marcellaz, Aviernoz, Chevenoz, Les Carroz, Charvonnex, Chênex, Seythenex, Seytroux, Combloux.
  • Rhône: Sermenaz, Jarnioux, Ouroux, Rillieux-la-Pape, Grézieu-la-Varenne, Vénissieux, Meyzieu.
  • Loire: La Tour-en-Jarez, Razoux, Chénieux, Écullieux, Aveizieux.
  • Isère: Vernioz, Proveysieux, Ornacieux, Brussieu, Courzieu, Monsteroux-Milieu.

Switzerland

  • Geneva: Athenaz, Bernex, Choulex, Onex, Laconnex, Saconnex, Troinex, Certoux.
  • Fribourg: La Brillaz, La Sonnaz, Chesopelloz, Neyruz, Pont-en-Ogoz.
  • Neuchâtel: Val-de-Ruz, Brot-Plamboz, Le Prevoux, Mutrux.
  • Valais: Arbaz, Dorénaz, Nendaz, Vérossaz, Mazembroz, Vétroz, Nax, Bex, Mex, Vex, Massongex.
  • Vaud: Saubraz, Cerniaz, Penthaz, Tolochenaz, Cheserex, Trelex, Paudex.

Italy

  • Aosta Valley: Bionaz, Runaz, Lillaz, Cherolinaz, Dzovennoz, Echevennoz, Morgex, Planpincieux, Sauze d'Oulx.

Literature

A long tradition of Franco-Provençal literature exists although a prevailing form of written language did not materialize. An early 12th century fragment containing 105 verses from a poem about Alexander the Great may be the earliest known work. "Girart de Roussillon", an epic with 10,002 lines from the mid-12th century, has been asserted to be Franco-Provençal. It certainly contains prominent Franco-Provençal features, although the editor of an authoritative edition of this work claims that the language is a mixture of French and Occitan forms (Price, 1998). A significant document from the same period containing a list of vassals in the County of Forez also is not without literary value.

Among the first historical writings in the language are legal texts by civil law notaries that appeared in the 13th century as Latin was being abandoned for official administration. These include a translation of the Corpus Juris Civilis (known as the Justinian Code) in the vernacular spoken in Grenoble. Religious works also were translated and conceived in Franco-Provençal dialects at some monasteries in the region. "The Legend of Saint Bartholomew" is one such work that survives in Lyonnais patois from the 13th century. Marguerite d'Oingt (ca. 1240–1310), a Carthusian prioress, composed two long sacred texts in Lyonnais dialect that are especially noteworthy. An excerpt from "The Life of the Virgin Saint Beatrix of Ornacieux" in her own words follows:

§ 112 : « Quant vit co li diz vicayros que ay o coventavet fayre, ce alyet cela part et en ot mout de dongiers et de travayl, ancis que cil qui gardont lo lua d'Emuet li volissant layssyer co que il demandavet et que li evesques de Valenci o volit commandar. Totes veys yses com Deus o aveyt ordonat oy se fit. »
Music score of the Cé qu'è l'ainô showing verses 1, 2, 4, & 68 in Franco-Provençal.

Religious conflicts in Geneva between Calvinist Reformers and staunch Catholics, supported by the Duchy of Savoy, brought forth many texts in Franco-Provençal during the early 17th century. One of the best known is "Cé qu'è lainô" ("The One Above"), which was composed by an unknown writer in 1603. The long narrative poem describes l'Escalade, a raid by the Savoyard army that generated patriotic sentiments. It became the unofficial national anthem of the Republic of Geneva. The first three verses follow (in Genevois dialect) with a translation:

Cé qu'è lainô, le Maitre dé bataille,
Que se moqué et se ri dé canaille;
A bin fai vi, pè on desande nai,
Qu'il étivé patron dé Genevoi.

The One above, the Master of the battles,
Who is mocked and laughed at by the rabble,
Made them see well, on a Saturday night,
That He was protector of the Genevese people.

I son vegnu le doze de dessanbro
Pè onna nai asse naire que d'ancro;
Y étivé l'an mil si san et dou,
Qu'i veniron parla ou pou troi tou.

They came on the twelfth of December,
On a night as black as ink;
It was the year sixteen-hundred-and-two,
That they speak of, at the earliest (hour).

Pè onna nai qu'étive la pe naire
I veniron; y n'étai pas pè bairè;
Y étivé pè pilli nou maison,
Et no tüa sans aucuna raison.

On the blackest night
They came - it was not for drinking -
To plunder our houses,
And to kill us without any reason.

Several writers created satirical, moralistic, poetic,comic, and theatrical texts during the era that followed, which indicates the vitality of the language at that time. These include: Bernardin Uchard (1575–1624), author and playwright from Bresse; Henri Perrin, comic playwright from Lyon; Jean Millet (1600?–1675), author of pastorals, poems, and comedies from Grenoble; Jacques Brossard de Montaney (1638–1702), composer of carols and comedies from Bresse; Jean Chapelon (1647–1694), a writer who produced of over 1,500 carols, songs, epistles, and essays from Saint-Étienne; and François Blanc dit la Goutte (1690–1742), writer of prose poems, including "Grenoblo maléirou" about the great flood of 1733 in Grenoble. Nineteenth century writers include Guillaume Roquille (1804–1860), working-class poet from Rive-de-Gier near Saint-Chamond, and Joseph Béard (1805–1872) of Rumilly.

Jean-Baptiste Cerlogne (1826–1910), abbot, is credited with reestablishing the cultural identity of the Aosta Valley with early scholarly studies as well as his poetry, which includes "L'infan prodeggo" (1855), "Marenda a Tsesalet" (1856), and "La bataille di vatse a Vertosan" (1858). (The Concours Cerlogne - an annual event named in his honor - has focused thousands of Italian students on preserving the region's language, literature, and heritage since 1963.)

Amélie Gex (b. 1835, La Chapelle-Blanche, (Savoie)– d. 1883, Chambéry), the great Savoyard poet wrote in her native patois, as well as French. She was a passionate advocate for her language. Her literary efforts encompassed lyrical themes, work, love, tragic loss, nature, the passing of time, religion, and politics, and are considered by many to be the most significant contributions to the literature. Her works include: "Reclans de Savoie" ("Echos from Savoy", 1879), "Lo Cent Ditons de Pierre d’Emo" ("One Hundred Sayings by Pierre du Bon-Sens", 1879), "Fables" (1898), and "Contio de la Bova" ("Tales from the Cowshed", -date?-). Some of her writings, in French, are still in print.

At the end of the 19th century, regional dialects of Franco-Provençal were disappearing due to the expansion of the French language into all walks of life and the emigration of rural people to urban centers. Cultural and regional savant societies began to collect oral folk tales, proverbs, and legends from native speakers in an effort that continues to today. Numerous works have been published. An excerpt from "Le renâ à Dâvid Ronnet" ("David Ronnet's Fox") from “Le Patois Neuchâtelois” (Favre, 1894, p. 196) appears below (in Neuchâtelois dialect):

¶ « Aë-vo jamai ohyi contâ l'istoire du renâ que Dâvid Ronnet a tioua dé s'n otau, à Bouidry ? Vo peuté la craëre, è l'é la pura veurtâ.
Dâvid Ronnet êtaë én' écofi, on pou couédet, qu'anmâve grô lé dzeneuillè; el é d-avaë mé d'èna dozân-na, avoué on poui que tsantâve dé viadze à la miné, mâ adé à la lévaye du solet. Quaë subiet de la métsance! mé z-ami ! E réveillive to l'otau, to lo vesenau; nion ne povaë restâ u llie quan le poui à Dâvid se boétàve à rélâ. Ç'tu poui étaë s'n orgoû.
Le gran mataë, devan de s'assetâ su sa sulta por tapa son coëur & teri le l'nieu, l'écofi lévâve la tsatire du dzeneuilli por bouèta feur sé dzeneuillé & lé vaër cor dè le néveau. E tsampâve à sé bêté dé gran-nè, de la queurtse, du pan goma dè du lassé, dé cartofiè coûtè, & s'amouésâve à lé vaër medzi, se roba lé pieu bé bocon, s'énoussa por pieu vite s'épyi le dzaifre. (...) »
¶ "Have you ever heard (anyone) tell the story of the fox that David Ronnet killed at his house in Boudry? You can believe it; it’s the absolute truth.
David Ronnet was a cobbler, a bit hardworking, who liked chickens a lot; he had more than a dozen, with a rooster that crowed sometimes to midnight, but always at sunrise. What a racket, my friends! It woke the whole house, the whole neighborhood; no one could stay in bed when David’s rooster began screeching. This rooster was his pride.
Early in the morning, before sitting at his stool to beat his leather & draw the wooden soles, the cobbler raised the door flap of the henhouse to put his chickens outside & to see them run on the porch. He threw his fowl some seeds, bran, bread soaked in milk, cooked potatoes, & enjoyed watching them eat, taking the biggest mouthfuls, enthusiastically (and) quickly fill their stomachs. (...)"

Prosper Convert (1852–1934), the bard of Bresse; Louis Mercier (1870–1951), folksinger and author of more than twelve volumes of prose from Coutouvre near Roanne; Just Songeon (1880–1940), author, poet, and activist from La Combe, Sillingy near Annecy; Eugénie Martinet (1896–1983), poet from Aosta; and Joseph Yerly (1896–1961) of Gruyères whose complete works were published in "Kan la têra tsantè" ("When the earth sang"), are well-known for their use of patois in the 20th century.

Those with an interest in seeing a familiar work in this rare language, may want to seek out "Lo Petsou Prince", an authorized edition of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's classic work "Le Petit Prince" ("The Little Prince") by Raymond Vautherin (translator), (Gressan, Aosta: Wesak Editions, 2000), ISBN 88-87719-00-4. The opening lines of part 2 of the tale follow (in Valdôtain dialect):

¶ « L’y est chouë s-an, dz’ëro restà arrëto pe lo déser ci Sahara. Quaque tsousa se s’ëre rontu dedin lo moteur de mon avion. Et di moman que dz’ayò avouë mè mecanichen, ni passadzë, dze m’apprestavo de tenté, solet, euna reparachon defecila. L’ëre pe mè euna questson de via o de mor. Dz’ayò dzeusto praou d’éve aprë p’euna vouètèina de dzor.
La premiëre nët dze me si donque indrumi dessu la sabla a pi de meulle vouet cent et cinquante dou kilométre d’un bocon de terra abitàye. Dz’ëro bien pi isolà d’un nofragà dessu euna plata-fourma i menten de l’ocean. Donque imaginade mina surprèisa, a la pouinte di dzò, quan euna drola de petsouda voéce m’at revèillà. I dijet:
-- Pe plèisi ... féi-mè lo dessin d’un maouton tseque ! »
¶ "So I lived by myself, until I had a mechanical failure in the Sahara. Something had broken in the engine of my airplane. And since I had neither a mechanic nor passengers with me, I prepared to try the difficult repair job alone. It was, for me, a matter of life or death. I had only enough drinking water for eight days.
The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand a thousand miles from any inhabited land. I was more isolated than a person shipwrecked on a raft in the middle of the ocean. So you can imagine my surprise when, at dawn, a funny little voice awakened me. It said:
-- "Please ... draw me a sheep!"

The first comic book in Franco-Provençal (Savoyard dialect), "Le rebloshon que tyouè !" ("The cheese that killed!"), in the Fanfoué des Pnottas series, illustrated by Félix Meynet, with text by Pascal Roman, was published in 2000 by Editions des Pnottas, ISBN 2-940171-14-9. A popular work from The Adventures of Tintin originally written and illustrated by Hergé (Georges Remi), has been translated into the Bressan dialect of Franco-Provençal by Manuel and Josine Meune. Entitled "Lé Pèguelyon de la Castafiore" ("The Castafiore Emerald"), it was published in 2006 by Casterman Editions, ISBN 2-203009-30-6. Another work from the Tintin series, "L'Afére Pecârd" ("The Calculus Affair"), ISBN 2-203009-31-4 was released in translation in 2007.

Sources

  1. ^ Université de Neuchâtel, Centre de dialectologie et d'étude du français régional.
  2. ^ Aliance Culturèla Arpitana, Fribourg and Rochetaillée
  • Abry, Christian et al. "Groupe de Conflans" (1994). Découvrir les Parlers de Savoie. Conflans (Savoie): Centre de la Culture Savoyarde. This work presents of one of the commonly used orthographic standards.
  • Aebischer, Paul (1950). Chrestomathie franco-provençale. Berne: Éditions A. Francke S.A.
  • Agard, Frederick B. (1984). A Course in Romance Linguistics: A Diachronic View. (Vol. 2). Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 0-87-840089-3
  • Ascoli, Graziadio Isaia (1878). Schizzi franco-provenzali. Archivio glottologico italiano, III, pp. 61-120. Article written about 1873.
  • Bec, Pierre (1971). Manuel pratique de philologie romane. (Tome 2, pp. 357 et seq.). Paris: Éditions Picard. ISBN 2-70-840288-9 A philological analysis of Franco-Provençal; the Alpine dialects have been particularly studied.
  • Bessat, Hubert & Germi, Claudette (1991). Les mots de la montagne autour du Mont-Blanc. Grenoble: Ellug. ISBN 2-90-270968-4
  • Bjerrome, Gunnar (1959). Le patois de Bagnes (Valais). Stockholm: Almkvist and Wiksell.
  • Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Renate (1997). The Writings of Margaret of Oingt, Medieval Prioress and Mystic. (From series: Library of Medieval Women). Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. ISBN 0-85-991442-9
  • Centre de la Culture Savoyard, Conflans (1995). Écrire le patois: La Graphie de Conflans pour le Savoyard. Taninges: Éditions P.A.O. .pdf (in French)
  • Cerlogne, Jean-Baptiste (1971). Dictionnaire du patois valdôtain, précédé de la petite grammaire. Geneva: Slatkine Reprints. (Original work published, Aoste: Imprimérie Catholique, 1907)
  • Chenal, Aimé (1986). Le franco-provençal valdôtain: Morphologie et syntaxe. Aoste: Musumeci. ISBN 8-87-0322327
  • Chenal, Aimé & Vautherin, Raymond (1967-1982). Nouveau Dictionnaire de Patois valdôtain. (12 vol.). Aoste: Éditions Marguerettaz.
  • Chenal, Aimé & Vautherin, Raymond (1984). Nouveau Dictionnaire de Patois valdôtain; Dictionnaire français-patois. Aoste: Musumeci. ISBN 8-87-032534-2
  • Constantin, Aimé & Désormaux, Joseph (1982). Dictionnaire savoyard. Marseille: Éditions Jeanne Laffitte. (Originally published, Annecy: Société florimontane, 1902). ISBN 2-73-480137-X
  • Cuisenier, Jean (Dir.) (1979). Les sources régionales de la Savoie: une approche ethnologique. Alimentation, habitat, élevage, agriculture.... (re: Abry, Christian: Le paysage dialectal.) Paris: Éditions Fayard.
  • Dalby, David (1999/2000). The Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities. (Vol. 2). Hebron, Wales, UK: Linguasphere Press. ISBN 0-9532919-2-8 See p. 402 for 48 divisions of Franco-Provençal dialects with reference codes.
  • Dauzat, Albert & Rostaing, Charles (1984). Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de lieux en France. (2nd ed.). Paris: Librairie Guénégaud. ISBN 2-85-023076-6
  • Duch, Célestin & Bejean, Henri (1998). Le patois de Tignes. Grenoble: Ellug. ISBN 2-84-310011-9
  • Duplay, Pierre (1896). La Clà do Parlâ Gaga - La Clé du parler gaga (Grand dictionnaire gaga-français). Saint-Étienne: Imp. Urbain Balay
  • Duraffour, Antonin; Gardette, P.; Malapert, L. & Gonon, M. (1969). Glossaire des patois francoprovençaux. Paris: CNRS Éditions. ISBN 2-22212-260
  • Elsass, Annie (Ed.) (1985). Jean Chapelon 1647-1694, Œuvres complètes. Saint-Étienne: Université de Saint-Étienne.
  • Escoffier, Simone (1958). La rencontre de la langue d'Oïl, de la lange d'Oc, et de francoprovençal entre Loire et Allier. Publications de l'Institut linguistique romane de Lyon, XI, 1958.
  • Escoffier, Simone & Vurpas, Anne-Marie (1981). Textes littéraires en dialecte lyonnaise. Paris: CNRS Éditions. ISBN 2-22-202857-4
  • EUROPA (European Commission) (2005). Francoprovençal in Italy, The Euromosaic Study. Last update: 4 February 2005.
  • Favre, Christophe & Balet, Zacharie (1960). Lexique du Parler de Savièse. Romanica Helvetica, Vol. 71, 1960. Berne: Éditions A. Francke S.A.
  • Favre, Louis (Fwd.) (1894). Le Patois Neuchâtelois. (Buchenel, P., Pref.) Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Imp. H. Wolfrath & Co, Comité du patois de la Société cantonale d'histoire et d'archéologie. (Univ. of Neuchâtel, excerpt from: Le renâ à Dâvid Ronnet).
  • Gardette, l'Abbé Pierre, (1941). Études de géographie morphologique sur les patois du Forez. Mâcon: Imprimerie Protat frères.
  • Gex, Amélie (1986). Contes et chansons populaires de Savoie. (Terreaux, Louis, Intro.). Aubenas: Curandera. ISBN 2-86-677036-6
  • Gex, Amélie (1999). Vieilles gens et vieilles choses, histoires : ma rue et mon village. Marseille: Éditions Jeanne Laffitte. (Original work published, Chambéry: 1924). ISBN 2-73-480399-2
  • Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.) (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Fifteenth edition. Dallas: SIL International/Summer Institute of Linguistics. ISBN 1-55-671159-X Online version: Ethnologue
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  • Martin, Jean-Baptiste & Tuaillon, Gaston (1999). Atlas linguistique et ethnographique du Jura et des Alpes du nord (Francoprovençal Central) : La maison, l'homme, la morphologie. (Vol. 3). Paris: CNRS Éditions. ISBN 2-22-202192-8 (cf. Savoyard).
  • Martin, Jean-Baptiste (2005). Le Francoprovençal de poche. Chennevières-sur-Marne: Assimil. ISBN 2-70-050351-1
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  • Marzys, Zygmunt (Ed.) (1971). Colloque de dialectologie francoprovençale. Actes. Neuchâtel & Genève: Faculté des Lettres, Droz.
  • Meune, Manuel (2007). Le franco(-)provençal entre morcellement et quête d’unité : histoire et état des lieux. Québec: Laval University. Article in French from TLFQ
  • Minichelli, Vincenzo (1994). Dizionario francoprovenzale di Celle di San Vito e Faeto. (2nd ed.). (Telmon, Tullio, Intro.). Alessandria: Edizioni dell'Orso. ISBN 8-87-694166-5
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  • Stich, Dominique (2003). Dictionnaire francoprovençal / français, français / francoprovençal : Dictionnaire des mots de base du francoprovençal : Orthographe ORB supradialectale standardisée. (Walter, Henriette, Preface). Thonon-les-Bains: Éditions Le Carré. ISBN 2-90-815015-8 This work includes the current orthographic standard for the language.
  • Stich, Dominique (1998). Parlons francoprovençal: Une langue méconnu. Paris: Éditions l'Harmattan. ISBN 2-73-847203-6 This work includes the former orthographic standard, Orthographe de référence A (ORA).
  • Tuaillon, Gaston (1988). Le franco-provençal, Langue oubliée. in: Vermes, Geneviève (Dir.). Vingt-cinq communautés linguistiques de la France. (Vol. 1: Langues régionales et langues non territorialisées). Paris: Éditions l’Harmattan. pp. 188-207.
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  • Vurpas, Anne-Marie (1993). Le Parler lyonnais. (Martin, Jean-Baptiste, Intro.) Paris: Éditions Payot & Rivages. ISBN 2-86930-701-2
  • Wartburg, Walter von (1928-2003). Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. ("FEW"). (25 vol.). Bonn, Basel & Nancy: Klopp, Helbing & Lichtenhahn, INaLF/ATILF. Etymological dictionary of Gallo-Roman languages and dialects.

See also

Franco-Provençal / Arpitan language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Language: (EN) English, (FP) Franco-Provençal, (FR) French, (IT) Italian.

Dictionaries

Language, literature, & analysis

Institutional sites

Ethnic & cultural sites

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