jrriais

Jrriais is a form of Norman language spoken in Jersey in the Channel Islands. However, it has been in decline over the past century, as English has increasingly become the language of education, commerce and administration. A similar language, Dgrnsiais is spoken in neighbouring Guernsey; the language of Sark is a descendent of the Jrriais brought by the Jersey colonists who settled Sark in the 16th century; and there is inter-comprehension with the Norman language of mainland Normandy.

Jrriais
Spoken in:	Jersey
Total speakers:	2 600 (but as many as 10 000 have some knowledge)
Ranking:	not in the top 100
Genetic classification:	Indo-European Italic Romance Italo-Western Western Gallo-Iberian Gallo-Romance Gallo-Rhaetian Ol Jrriais
Official status
Unofficial language of:	Jersey
Regulated by:
Language codes
ISO 639-1:
ISO 639-2:
SIL:

Jrriais is often called “Jersey French” or “Jersey Norman French” by English-speakers (who lack an adjective for Jersey in the English language) and “jersiais” or “normand de Jersey” by French-speakers. Care should be taken to distinguish between Jrriais and the Jersey Legal French used for legal contracts, laws and official documents by the government and administration of Jersey.

Status

The latest census figures (2001) show that approximately 3% of the Island’s population speak Jrriais 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 Jrriais teaching programme into Jersey schools. The States of Jersey fund the teaching programme in schools and provide some support in terms of signage, e.g. welcome signs at harbours and airport. Ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is under discussion. There is newspaper and radio output in the language.

Literature

Main article Jrriais literature The literary tradition is traced back to Wace, the 12th century Jersey-born poet, although there is little surviving literature in Jrriais dating to before the introduction of the first printing press in Jersey in the 1780s. The first printed Jrriais appears in the first newspapers at the end of the 18th century, and the earliest identified dated example of printed poetry is a fragment by Matchi L’G (Matthew Le Geyt 1777 - 1849) dated 1795. An astonishing 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 Jrriais 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), "St.-Luorenchais" (Philippe Langlois 18?? - 1884). Elie (Edwin J.Luce 1881-1918) was editor of the French-language newspaper La Nouvelle Chronique de Jersey and a poet who wrote topical poems for the newspaper. He was also active in promoting the development of drama in Jrriais and organised performances, ultimately leading to the establishment of a Jrriais section of the Jersey Eisteddfod in 1912. During the Occupation, little original writing was permitted to be published by the German censorship. However very many older pieces of literature were re-published in the newspapers as an act of cultural self-assertion and morale-boosting. After the Occupation and with the re-establishment of a free press, Edward Le Brocq (1877-1964) revived a weekly column in 1946 with a letter from Ph'lip et Merrienne, supposedly an traditional old couple who would comment on the latest news or recall time past. The most influential writer of Jrriais 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 Jrriais 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 Marie la Pie, poems, magazine articles, research into toponymy and etymology.

History

Although Jrriais is now the language of a minority, until the 19th century it was the everyday language of the majority of the population, and even until the Second World War up to half the population could communicate in the language. However, there is no complete Bible in Jrriais (although there are versions of favourite Bible texts in Jrriais) as French was, until the 20th century, the predominant language of the Church in Jersey (although sermons would be preached, or explained, in Jrriais in country areas). 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 Jrriais writers among his circle of acquaintances and supporters. Sir Robert Pipon Marett’s prestige and influence helped to reinforce the movement towards 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 Jrriais should move to a writing system based on English orthography, however this would have implications for the continuity of the literary tradition over two centuries or more (note though, that the digraph “th” for the typical dental fricative of Jrriais has evidently been borrowed from English orthography). As English became dominant in Jersey in the 20th century, efforts were made to preserve the language. Associations undertook measures; 19th century manuscript glossaries, the work of Philippe Langlois, A. A. Le Gros and Thomas Gaudin, were revised and expanded into the Glossaire du Patois Jersiais (published in 1924 by the Socit Jersiaise); a quarterly magazine has been published (with the occasional hiatus) since 1952; a comprehensive Jrriais-French dictionary was published (1966); an English-Jrriais vocabulary published (1972); a standard grammar appeared in 1985; cassettes, booklets and other materials have also been produced. George d’la Forge's maintenance of the language in 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 (hence New Jersey), although much of the concentration focused on the cod fisheries of the Gasp 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 Jrriais, and it is reported that there were still some Jrriais-speakers in Gasp villages in the 1960s. The use of Jrriais is also to be noted during the German Occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War; the local population used Jrriais 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 speakers probably died in the 1950s. Famous Jrriais speakers include Lillie Langtry and Sir John Everett Millais, the Pre-Raphaelite painter.

Vocabulary

Although Jrriais is occasionally misleadingly described as a mixture of Norse and French, it would be more linguistically accurate to state that when the Normans conquered the territory that is now called Normandy they started speaking the langue d’ol of their new subjects. The Norman language is therefore basically a Romance language with a certain amount of vocabulary of Norse origin, plus later loanwords from other languages.

Influence of Norse

Norse origins can be seen in Jrriais words such as these:

mielle (sand dune)
mogue (mug)
bel (yard)
gradile (blackcurrant)
mauve (seagull)
graie (to prepare)
hrnais (cart)
bte (bait)
hater (to doze)

Influence of Breton

Jrriais has also adopted a small number of words from the Breton language (e.g. pihangne - spider crab, from Breton bihan - small; qudaine - fast, from Breton gaden - 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 Jrriais words that can still be found in older texts from the 18th and 19th centuries, for example:

French leon (in the form lon) has displaced native lichon (lesson)
French garon has displaced native hard (boy)
French chanson has displaced native canchon (song)

Efforts are being made to maintain some Jrriais words which are competing in usage with French forms, for example:

native hielle is being promoted over French huile (oil)
native huiptante is being promoted over French quatre-vingts (eighty)

Influence of English

Some maritime vocabulary was borrowed from English at an early date, for example basoun (boatswain), but by the late 18th century some domestic vocabulary, such as:

bliatchinner (to polish shoes, from blacking)
coutchi (to cook)
grvn (gravy)
ouchinner (to rub in soapy water, from washing)
scrobbine-broche (scrubbing brush)
ssse-paine (saucepan)
stchilet (skillet)
ticl'ye (from tea-kettle)

was entering the language through the employment of Jrriais-speaking servants in the houses of bourgeois English-speaking immigrants. Other words borrowed from English before 1900 include:

chrer (to share)
drses (underpants, from drawers)
ouothinner (to worry)
ouadinne (cotton wool, from wadding)
nosse (nurse)
soundgi (to throw, from swing)
stner (to stand, to endure)

Care however needs to be taken in identifying anglicisms as some words such as mogue (mug) or canne (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 fliotchet (flock) and ridgi (rig) are Norman cognates of English words. More recently, words such as boutchi (to book), partchi (to park) and tyeur (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 textthie for texting, matre-ptre for webmaster (literally master-spider) and mgabouochie for megabyte.

Phonology

The phonological influence of Norse is debated, although the aspirated “h” may be due to Norse influence.

Palatalization

The palatalization of Latin /k/ and /g/ before /a/ that occurred in the development of French did not occur in northern dialects of Norman, including Jrriais:

Jrriais	English	French

acater	to buy	acheter
cat	cat	chat
vaque	cow	vache
caud	warm	chaud
gardn	garden	jardin
gambe	leg	jambe

However the palatalization of /k/ before front vowel produced different results in the Norman dialect that developed into Jrriais than in French:

Jrriais	English	French

bachn	basin	bassine
fache	face	face
faichon	fashion	faon
chent	hundred	cent

At a later date surviving /k/ and /g/ underwent a secondary process of palatalization:

Jrriais	English	French

motchi	to mock	moquer
patchet	packet	paquet
dgide	guide	guide
idgiot	idiot	idiot

This palatalization continues to operate (except in initial position) as can be seen by recent borrowings from English:

Jrriais	English

beustchi	to busk
coutchi	to cook
pliodgi	to plug
braidgeux	bragger

Dental fricative

One of the features of Jrriais that is immediately noticeable and distinguishes it from neighbouring languages is the voiced dental fricative - written th - that typically occurs in intervocalic position:

Jrriais	English

bathi	barrel
m'suther	to measure
paiethie	payment
ouothilyi	pillow

Or in final position:

Jrriais	English

mthe	mother
braithe	to cry

The fricative devoices to assimilate with a neighbouring unvoiced consonant in words such as paqu'thie (packing) or malac'theux (disgusting). The fricative developed from /r/ + 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.

Grammar

Verbs

Aspect

Jrriais distinguishes between simple, progressive and perfect aspect: Past:

preterite	j'plnmes	we spoke
progressive	ou 'tait pler	she was speaking
perfect	ous avez pl	you have spoken
imperfect	j'plais	I spoke

Future:

simple	j'pl'lai	I will speak
progressive	tu s'sa pler	you will be speaking
perfect	oulle tha pl	she will have spoken

Present:

simple	j'ple	I speak
progressive	i' sont pler	they are speaking

Iterative

Verbs can be made iterative in aspect by prefixing r- (long form) or r' (short form):

aver	have
raver	have again

t'	be
rt'	be again

netti	clean
rnettit	clean again

muchi	hide
rmuchi	hide again

rgarder	watch
rrgarder	watch again

tlphoner	phone
rtlphoner	phone again

Gerunds

Verbs can be transformed into gerunds, which are commonly used:

chanter	sing
chant'tie	singing

faithe	make
fas'sie	making

haler	pull
hal'lie	hauling, haulage

partchi	park
parqu'thie	parking

lithe	read
lithie	reading

faxer	fax
faxthie	faxing

Examples

JERRIAIS	FRENCH	ENGLISH
Jrri	Jersey	Jersey
beinv'nu	bienvenue	welcome
bel	cour	yard
bieaut	beaut	beauty
bounjour	bonjour	hello
braies	pantalon	trousers
brnge	brosse	brush
chir	cher	dear
compather	comparer	compare
l'trangi	l'tranger	abroad
janmais	jamais	never
lian	lien	link
pouque	sac	bag
tchase	chaise	chair
tchian	chien	dog
ticl’ye	bouilloire	kettle
viages	voyages	journeys
yi	oeil	eye