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49-625: Compared to other parts of Belgium, the Condroz is a sparsely populated, agricultural area. It consists of low hills of an average altitude of about 200 to 300 meters (670–970 feet). It is mainly situated in the provinces of Liège and Namur and also in smaller parts of the Belgian provinces of Hainaut and Luxembourg . It is bordered in the north by the Meuse river, in the east by the Ardennes, in

98-419: A dialect of French, which in turn is a langue d'oïl . Like French, it descended from Vulgar Latin . Arguing that a French-speaking person could not understand Walloon easily, especially in its eastern forms, Jules Feller (1859–1940) insisted that Walloon had an original "superior unity", which made it a language . The phonological divisions of regional languages of southern Belgium were studied by

147-513: A dozen Walloon magazines publish regularly. The Société de Langue et de Littérature Wallonne , founded in 1856, promotes Walloon literature and the study ( dialectology , etymology , etc.) of the regional Roman languages of Wallonia. There is a difference between the Walloon culture, according to the Manifesto for Walloon culture , and the Walloon language (even if the latter is a part of

196-402: A good number of the developments that we now consider typical of Walloon appeared between the 8th and 12th centuries. Walloon "had a clearly defined identity from the beginning of the 13th century". In any case, linguistic texts from the time do not mention the language, although they mention others in the langue d'oïl family, such as Picard and Lorrain . During the 15th century, scribes in

245-479: A large collection of literary works in Walloon, quite possibly the largest outside Belgium, and its holdings are representative of the output. Out of nearly a thousand works, twenty-six were published before 1880. Thereafter the numbers rise gradually year by year, reaching a peak of sixty-nine in 1903. After that, publications in Walloon fell markedly, to eleven in 1913. Yves Quairiaux counted 4,800 plays for 1860–1914, published or not. In this period, plays were almost

294-612: A population of 1.12 million as of January 2024. The modern borders of the province of Liège date from 1795, which saw the unification of the Principality of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège with the revolutionary French Department of the Ourthe (sometimes spelled Ourte). (Parts of the old Principality of Liège also went into new French départements Meuse-Inférieure , and Sambre-et-Meuse .) The province of Ourthe, as it

343-730: A result of the Treaty of Versailles , were absorbed into the province of Liège. In World War II , Liège was the site of major fighting during the Battle of the Bulge . There, the Germans orchestrated their final offensive move against the combined Allied armies. Malmedy and Saint-Vith in particular saw intense battles against the Nazis . Malmedy was the site of a Waffen-SS massacre of U.S. Army prisoners of war. Liège's heavy industry thrived in

392-662: A total of 84 municipalities. The Province of Liège is divided into four administrative arrondissements: Municipalities that have city status have a (city) behind their name. Nine municipalities of Liège form the German-speaking Community of Belgium . From north to south they are: Kelmis (43), Lontzen (48), Raeren (60), Eupen (27), Bütgenbach (17), Büllingen (14), Amel (2), Sankt Vith (64), and Burg-Reuland (16) municipalities. Malmedy (49) and Waimes (80) are municipalities with language facilities for German speakers. The other municipalities of Liège are part of

441-511: Is distinguished from other languages in the langue d'oïl family both by archaism coming from Latin and by its significant borrowing from Germanic languages, as expressed in its phonetics, its lexicon , and its grammar . At the same time, Walloon phonetics are singularly conservative: the language has stayed fairly close to the form it took during the High Middle Ages . From a linguistic point of view, Louis Remacle has shown that

490-728: Is the easternmost province of the Wallonia region of Belgium . Liège Province is the only Belgian province that has borders with three countries. It borders (clockwise from the north) the Dutch province of Limburg , the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate , the Luxembourgish canton of Clervaux , the Belgian Walloon (French-speaking) provinces of Luxembourg , Namur and Walloon Brabant and

539-633: The Walloon Misplaced Pages officially in 2003. In 2004, a Walloon translation of a Tintin comic was released under the name L'èmerôde d'al Castafiore ; in 2007 an album consisting of Gaston Lagaffe comic strips was published in Walloon. Walloon is more distinct as a language than Belgian French , which differs from the French spoken in France only in some minor points of vocabulary and pronunciation . Linguists had long classified Walloon as

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588-677: The langues d'oïl dialect continuum , the most prominent member of which is French . The historical background of its formation was the territorial extension since 980 of the Principality of Liège to the south and west. Walloon is classified as "definitely endangered" by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger . Despite its rich literature, beginning anonymously in the 16th century and with well-known authors since 1756,

637-582: The Borinage dialect under the pen-name Bosquètia . In the 20th century, Joseph Houziaux (1946) published a selection of 50 fables in the Condroz dialect. The motive among Walloon speakers in both France and Belgium was to assert regional identity against the growing centralism and encroachment of the language of the capital, on what had until then been predominantly monoglot areas. There are links between French literature and Walloon literature. For instance,

686-650: The Carolingian Emperor Louis the Pious granted the "county" of Condroz and the county of the Ardennes to his son Louis the German , effectively making the Meuse the boundary between the eastern and western Frankish kingdoms. (This is the only time the Condroz was described as a county like this.) To the east, the medieval Condroz stretched over the Ourthe . In 870 this area was specifically described in

735-520: The French Community of Belgium . Walloon language Walloon ( / w ɒ ˈ l uː n / ; natively walon ; French : wallon ) is a Romance language that is spoken in much of Wallonia and, to a very small extent, in Brussels , Belgium; some villages near Givet , northern France; and a clutch of communities in northeastern Wisconsin , United States. It belongs to

784-589: The German advance through Belgium , giving time to construct trenches in Flanders which subsequently saw some of the worst fighting of that war. It also saw some of the war's worst civilian casualties as the Imperial German Army performed collective punishments against local villagers for acts of resistance. In 1925 the East Cantons and Neutral Moresnet , that had become part of Belgium as

833-810: The Kingdom of Prussia . Liège University scholars helped to write the new Dutch constitution after the Napoleonic Wars . Despite these contributions there was a widespread perception among the people of Liège that they were discriminated against by the Dutch government due to religious and language differences. In September 1830, rumors spread of a revolt in Brussels to expel the Dutch. Liège intellectuals responded to these events by contacting Walloon scholars living in Paris to discuss Belgian independence. A militia

882-592: The Low Countries . One might say that the period which saw the establishment of the unifying supremacy of the Burgundians in the Walloon country was a turning-point in their linguistic history. The crystallization of a Walloon identity, as opposed to that of the thiois (i.e. Dutch-speaking) regions of the Low Countries, established "Walloon" as a word for designating its people. Somewhat later,

931-606: The Meuse river, into what is now the Belgian region Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse (fr) , because this was part of the medieval Lommegau (de) or Pagus Lomacensis . To the south, the Famenne region, which is today considered distinct from the Condroz, was originally a part of the Condroz. South of the Famenne region is and was rougher and more wooded terrain of the Ardennes , which today stretches into France and Luxembourg. In 839,

980-658: The Pagus Condrustis or Condrustensis started to appear again from 747, in an area consistent with the old country of the Condrusi mentioned by Caesar. For the Christian church, Condroz was part of the Bishopric of Liège , which managed a region corresponding to the old Roman Civitas Tungrorum , though the capital had now moved from Tongeren to Liège . Unlike today, the medieval Condroz did not extend west over

1029-570: The Rifondou walon . This orthography is diasystemic , reflecting different pronunciations for different readers, a concept inspired by the spelling of Breton . The written forms attempt to reconcile current phonetic uses with ancient traditions (notably the reintroduction of xh and oi that were used for writing Walloon until the late 19th century) and the language's own phonological logic. Other regional languages spoken in Wallonia, outside

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1078-547: The Treaty of Meerssen , when the Condroz was allocated for some decades to the kingdom of the western Franks (from which France evolved). As a church jurisdiction under Liège, already in about 800 the Pagus Condrustinsus was mentioned as one of only four divisions of the bishopric, along with Lomme, the Ardennes, and the Hesbaye . By 1497 the medieval jurisdictions, which were reformed in 1559, an archdeaconry of

1127-786: The Treviri , who lived to their south in the area of what is now Arlon , Luxembourg and the Moselle region in modern Germany and France . From the fragmentary evidence it is known that citizens of the pagus or country of the Condrusi lived within the larger civitas of the Tungri , the Civitas Tungrorum , which had its capital in Tongeren . They fought in the Roman military and could earn Roman citizenship. In medieval records,

1176-399: The 1950s and 1960s but has been in decline since that time. Nevertheless, Liège remains the last city of Wallonia to maintain a functioning steel industry. Liège continues to be the economic and cultural capital of Wallonia, with its university, medieval heritage and heavy industry . [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the province

1225-561: The Belgian Flemish (Dutch-speaking) provinces of Flemish Brabant and Limburg . Part of the eastern-most area of the province, bordering Germany , is the German-speaking region of Eupen-Malmedy , which became part of Belgium in the aftermath of World War I . The capital and the largest city of the province is the city of the same name, Liège . The province has an area of 3,857 km (1,489 sq mi), and

1274-725: The Famenne had been created from the southern part (together with the Chimay deanery from the Lomme pagus west of the Meuse). In at least two significant ways, the late medieval archdeaconry did not correspond to the Condroz in any geographical sense. 50°18′N 5°00′E  /  50.3°N 5.0°E  / 50.3; 5.0 Li%C3%A8ge (province) Liège ( French: [ljɛʒ] ; Walloon : Lîdje [liːtʃ] ; Dutch : Luik [lœyk] ; German : Lüttich [ˈlʏtɪç] )

1323-587: The Walloon domain, are: The Picard, Lorrain and Champenois dialects spoken in Wallonia are sometimes also referred to as "Walloon", which may lead to confusion. The Walloon alphabet generally consists of the basic ISO Latin Alphabet , and six types of diacritic . It also makes frequent use of digraphs. Various orthographies have been used, most notably the Feller system ( sistinme Feller ) and Unified Walloon ( rifondou walon or rfondou walon ). Walloon

1372-457: The Walloon population speak their ancestral language. Breaking the statistics down by age, 70–80% of the population aged over 60 speak Walloon, while only about 10% of those under 30 do so. Passing knowledge of Walloon is much more widespread: claimed by some 36–58% of the younger age bracket. Laurent Hendschel estimates there are 1,300,000 bilingual people in Wallonia (Walloon-French, Picard-French...). Many French words that pertain to mining and to

1421-505: The academic language, French became the object of a political effort at normalization; La Pléiade posited the view that when two languages of the same language family coexist, each can be defined only in opposition to the other. Around the year 1600, the French writing system became dominant in the Wallonia. From this time, too, dates a tradition of texts written in a language marked by traces of spoken Walloon. The written language of

1470-401: The contemporary linguist E.B. Atwood. He defined the precise geographical repartition of the four chief dialects of Walloon. In addition, he defined them against the dialects of Picard , Lorrain and Champenois . Since then, most linguists (among them Louis Remacle ), and gradually also Walloon politicians, regard Walloon as a regional language, the first in importance in Wallonia . It is

1519-471: The culture). Walloon-language literature has been printed since the 16th century, or at least since the beginning of the 17th century. It had its "golden age" during the peak of the Flemish immigration to Wallonia in the 19th century: "That period saw an efflorescence of Walloon literature, plays and poems primarily, and the founding of many theaters and periodicals." The New York Public Library holds

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1568-440: The language alive. Formally recognized as a langue régionale endogène (regional indigenous language) of Belgium since 1990, Walloon has also benefited from a continued corpus planning process. The "Feller system" (1900) regularized transcription of the different accents. Since the 1990s, a common orthography was established (the Rifondou walon  [ wa ; fr ] ), which allowed large-scale publications, such as

1617-416: The language. Those born since the 1970s usually know little more than a few idiomatic expressions , often profanities . The Walloon language is still part of the Walloon heritage; it is one component of Walloon identity. Four dialects of Walloon developed in four distinct zones of Wallonia: Despite local phonetic differences, there is a regional movement towards the adoption of a common spelling, called

1666-443: The middle of the 20th century, generational transmission of the language has decreased, resulting in Walloon almost becoming a dead language . Today it is scarcely spoken among younger people, with the vast majority of its native speakers being the elderly (aged 65 and over). In 2007, the number of people with knowledge of the language was estimated at 600,000. Numerous associations, especially theatre companies, are working to keep

1715-463: The old Gallic language which we call Vualon or Rommand (...). And we use the said old Vualon or Rommand language in our Belgian Gaul: That is to say in Hainaut, Cambrai, Artois, Namur, Liège, Lorraine, Ardennes and Rommand Brabant, and it is very different from French, which is more fashionable and courtly. The word "Walloon" thus came closer to its current meaning: the vernacular of the Roman part of

1764-595: The only one to have originated from that part of Belgium. The eleventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica identified Walloon as the "northernmost Romance language". Walloon is spoken in the Wallonia Region in Belgium. In addition, it is spoken in: Although Walloon was widely spoken until the mid-20th century, today only a small proportion of the inhabitants of the region are fluent in

1813-509: The only popular entertainment in Wallonia. The Walloon-language theatre remains popular in the region; theatre is flourishing with more than 200 non-professional companies playing in the cities and villages of Wallonia for an audience of over 200,000 each year. During the 19th-century renaissance of Walloon-language literature, several authors adapted versions of Aesop's Fables to the racy speech (and subject matter) of Liège. They included Charles Duvivier (in 1842); Joseph Lamaye (1845); and

1862-405: The preceding centuries, scripta , was a composite language with some Walloon characteristics but it did not attempt to be a systematic reproduction of the spoken language. Walloon was the predominant language of the Walloon people until the beginning of the 20th century, although they had a passing knowledge of French. Since that time, the use of French has spread to the extent that now only 15% of

1911-758: The region called the language "Roman" when they needed to distinguish it. It is not until the beginning of the 16th century that first occurrence of the word "Walloon" appeared in the current linguistic sense. In 1510 or 1511, Jean Lemaire de Belges made the connection between Rommand to Vualon : Et ceux cy [les habitants de Nivelles] parlent le vieil langage Gallique que nous appellons Vualon ou Rommand (...). Et de ladite ancienne langue Vualonne, ou Rommande, nous usons en nostre Gaule Belgique: Cestadire en Haynau, Cambresis, Artois, Namur, Liège, Lorraine, Ardenne et le Rommanbrabant, et est beaucoup differente du François, lequel est plus moderne, et plus gaillart. And those people [the inhabitants of Nivelles] speak

1960-474: The source. Jacques Ancion also wanted to develop a regular adult audience. "From the 19th century he included the Walloon play Tati l'Pèriquî by E. Remouchamps and the avant-garde Ubu roi by A. Jarry ." The scholar Jean-Marie Klinkenberg writes, "[T]he dialectal culture is no more a sign of attachment to the past but a way to participate to a new synthesis". Walloon is also being used in popular song. The best-known singer in Walloon in present-day Wallonia

2009-689: The south by the Famenne region. Historically, the Condroz did not stretch west of the Meuse, but today there is a western section, south of Namur and the Sambre river stretching to the Thiérache and southern Hainaut. Very little is known of the Roman era Condrusi, after whom the region was originally named. Julius Caesar described them and the Segni as living between the Eburones , to their north, and

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2058-405: The team of Jean-Joseph Dehin (1847, 1851–1852) and François Bailleux (1851–1866), who covered books I-VI. Adaptations into other dialects were made by Charles Letellier (Mons, 1842) and Charles Wérotte (Namur, 1844). Decades later, Léon Bernus published some hundred imitations of La Fontaine in the dialect of Charleroi (1872); he was followed during the 1880s by Joseph Dufrane , writing in

2107-579: The textile trade derive from the Walloon-Picard complex. Legally, Walloon has been recognized since 1990 by the French Community of Belgium , the cultural authority of Wallonia, as an "indigenous regional language" which must be studied in schools and encouraged. The Walloon cultural movement includes the Union Culturelle Wallonne , an organization of over 200 amateur theatre circles, writers' groups, and school councils. About

2156-430: The use of Walloon has decreased markedly since France's annexation of Wallonia in 1794 . This period definitively established French as the language of social promotion, far more than it was before. After World War I , public schools provided French-speaking education to all children, inducing a denigration of Walloon, especially when accompanied by official orders in 1952 to punish its use in schools. Subsequently, since

2205-462: The vernacular of these people became more clearly distinct from central French and other neighbouring langues d'oïl , prompting the abandonment of the vague term "Roman" as a linguistic, ethnic, and political designator for "Walloon". Also at this time, following the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539, the French language replaced Latin for all administrative purposes in France. Established as

2254-407: The writer Raymond Queneau set the publication of a Walloon Poets' anthology for Editions Gallimard . Ubu roi was translated into Walloon by André Blavier , an important 'pataphysician of Verviers , and friend of Queneau, for the new and important Puppet theater of Liège of Jacques Ancion. The Al Botroûle theater operated "as the umbilical cord" in Walloon, indicating a desire to return to

2303-462: Was 31.6 billion € in 2018, accounting for 6.9% of Belgium's economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 25,200 € or 84% of the EU27 average in the same year. GDP per person employed was 108% of the EU27 average. The province has an area of 3,857 square kilometres (1,489 sq mi), which is divided into four administrative districts ( arrondissements in French ) containing

2352-621: Was formed to press these demands led by Charlier "Wooden Leg" leading (eventually) to the formation of an independent Kingdom of Belgium . In the 19th century, the province was an early center of the Industrial Revolution . Its rich coal deposits and steel factories helped Belgium to form the basis of the region's increasing economic power. During the 20th century, due to Liège's borders with Germany, it saw fierce fighting in both World Wars. In World War I , Liège's strong line of reinforced concrete military forts temporarily halted

2401-539: Was known then, was under French control during the reign of Napoleon , who visited the city during one of his campaigns. Napoleon ordered the destruction of its vineyards in order to prevent the Liège wine industry from competing with those elsewhere in France . Following Napoleon's fall from power in 1815, Liège became part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands , while eastern half of modern Verviers became part of

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