Guernésiais ( French pronunciation: [ɡɛʁnezjɛ] ), also known as Guerneseyese , Dgèrnésiais , Guernsey French , and Guernsey Norman French , is the variety of the Norman language spoken in Guernsey . It is sometimes known on the island simply as " patois ". As one of the langues d'oïl , it has its roots in Latin , but has had strong influence from both Old Norse and English at different points in its history.
45-668: There is mutual intelligibility (with some difficulty) with Jèrriais speakers from Jersey and Continental Norman speakers from Normandy . Guernésiais most closely resembles the Norman dialect of Cotentinais spoken in La Hague in the Cotentin Peninsula of France . Guernésiais has been influenced less by Standard French than Jèrriais, but conversely more so by English . New words have been imported for modern phenomena: e.g. le bike and le gas-cooker . There
90-453: A /dʒənmə/ > Urdu جنم and Hindi जनम ja n a m /dʒənəm/ "Birth" More examples In case of a narrow range of Hungarian nouns, metathesis of a h sound and a liquid consonant occurs in nominative case , but the original form is preserved in accusative and other suffixed forms: The other instances are boholy [intestinal] villus/fluff/fuzz/nap vs. bolyhok , moholy vs. molyhos down/pubescence [on plants], and
135-562: A Form X verbal noun). Perhaps the clearest example of metathesis in Egyptian Arabic is the modern name of the city of Alexandria : ( Al- ) Iskandariya ( الإسكندرية ). In addition to the metathesis of x /ks/ to /sk/, the initial Al of Alexandria has been reanalyzed as the Arabic definite article. Metathesis is responsible for some common speech errors , such as children acquiring spaghetti as pasketti . The word ask has
180-532: A decline because children were evacuated off the island, which resulted in Guernesiais not being transmitted to much of their generation. It is from this point onwards that Guernesiais continued to decline in use and so, according to the 2001 census conducted in Guernsey, only 2.2% of the population at the time reported being fluent in Guernesiais. The 2001 census showed that 1327 (1262 Guernsey-born) or 2% of
225-586: A different order"; Latin : transpositio ) is the transposition of sounds or syllables in a word or of words in a sentence. Most commonly, it refers to the interchange of two or more contiguous segments or syllables, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis : Metathesis may also involve interchanging non-contiguous sounds, known as nonadjacent metathesis , long-distance metathesis , or hyperthesis , as shown in these examples of metathesis sound change from Latin to Spanish: Many languages have words that show this phenomenon, and some even use it as
270-406: A pre-specified initial and final location in reference to the body of the person signing (such as the signs RESTAURANT, PARENT, or TWINS) can have the order of these two locations reversed in contexts which seem to be purely phonological. While not possible with all signs, this does happen with quite a few. For example, the sign DEAF, prototypically made with the "1" handshape making contact first with
315-494: A regular part of their grammar, such as Hebrew and Fur . The process of metathesis has altered the shape of many familiar words in English as well. The original form before metathesis may be deduced from older forms of words in the language's lexicon or, if no forms are preserved, from phonological reconstruction . In some cases it is not possible to settle with certainty on the original version. Dionysius of Halicarnassus
360-607: A single prestige variety in Modern Standard Arabic . In contrast, there is often significant intelligibility between different North Germanic languages . However, because there are various standard forms of the North Germanic languages, they are classified as separate languages. A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but
405-537: Is [säɲo] , which is the base for "Tuesday" [maksäɲo] , which is often metathesized as [maskäɲo] . All of these examples show a pair of consonants reversed so that the stop begins the next syllable. Metathesis among neighbouring consonants happens very commonly in Azerbaijani: Some common nonstandard pronunciations of Danish words employ metathesis: But metathesis has also historically changed some words: A common example of metathesis in Egyptian Arabic
450-588: Is a metathesis of mendikai borrowed from Tamil : கொம்மட்டிக்காய் , romanized: kommaṭṭikkāy . In Navajo , verbs have (often multiple) morphemes prefixed onto the verb stem. These prefixes are added to the verb stem in a set order in a prefix positional template. Although prefixes are generally found in a specific position, some prefixes change order by the process of metathesis. For example, prefix a- (3i object pronoun) usually occurs before di- , as in However, when a- occurs with
495-496: Is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intelligibility is sometimes used to distinguish languages from dialects , although sociolinguistic factors are often also used. Intelligibility between varieties can be asymmetric; that is, speakers of one variety may be able to better understand another than vice versa. An example of this
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#1732773295007540-591: Is a rich tradition of poetry in the Guernsey language. Guernsey songs were inspired by the sea, by colourful figures of speech, by traditional folk-lore, as well as by the natural environment of the island. The island's greatest poet was George Métivier (1790–1881), a contemporary of Victor Hugo , who influenced and inspired local poets to print and publish their traditional poetry. Métivier blended local place-names, bird and animal names, traditional sayings and orally transmitted fragments of medieval poetry to create his Rimes Guernesiaises (1831). Denys Corbet (1826–1910)
585-433: Is also a local choir on Guernsey called La Guaine du Vouest who conduct musical performances in Guernesiais to further promote the language and the cultural and linguistic heritage of Guernsey. In 2007, efforts to revitalize Guernesiais were undertaken at an official level, when the government appointed a Language Support Officer (LSO), albeit with ambiguous direction. The position was only held until 2011; after that, there
630-442: Is the case between Afrikaans and Dutch . It is generally easier for Dutch speakers to understand Afrikaans than for Afrikaans speakers to understand Dutch. (See Afrikaans § Mutual intelligibility with Dutch ). In a dialect continuum , neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but differences mount with distance, so that more widely separated varieties may not be mutually intelligible. Intelligibility can be partial, as
675-436: Is the case with Azerbaijani and Turkish , or significant, as is the case with Bulgarian and Macedonian . However, sign languages , such as American and British Sign Language , usually do not exhibit mutual intelligibility with each other. Asymmetric intelligibility refers to two languages that are considered partially mutually intelligible, but for various reasons, one group of speakers has more difficulty understanding
720-430: Is when the order of the word's root consonants has changed. The following examples of metathesis have been identified in Egyptian Arabic texts, but are not necessarily more common than their etymological spellings: The following loanwords are also sometimes found with metathesis: The likely cause for metathesis in the word "hospital" is that the result resembles a common word pattern familiar to Arabic speakers (namely
765-491: The Channel Islands and survived for hundreds of years. Guernésiais is considered to be one of the langues d'oïl , which includes French and its closest relatives. Later, after the separation of Guernsey and Normandy, French Protestant refugees escaped to the island from fear of persecution in mainland France; they quickly gained influence and positions of power in education, religion, and government. This accounts for
810-630: The varieties of Chinese , and parts of the Romance , Germanic and Slavic families in Europe. Terms used in older literature include dialect area ( Leonard Bloomfield ) and L-complex ( Charles F. Hockett ). Northern Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia form a dialect continuum where the two furthermost dialects have almost no mutual intelligibility. As such, spoken Danish and Swedish normally have low mutual intelligibility, but Swedes in
855-576: The Öresund region (including Malmö and Helsingborg ), across the strait from the Danish capital Copenhagen , understand Danish somewhat better, largely due to the proximity of the region to Danish-speaking areas. While Norway was under Danish rule , the Bokmål written standard of Norwegian developed from Dano-Norwegian , a koiné language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during
900-453: The cheek and then moving to contact the jaw (as in the sentence FATHER DEAF), can have these locations reversed if the preceding sign, when part of the same constituent , has a final location more proximal to the jaw (as in the sentence MOTHER DEAF). Both forms of the sign DEAF are acceptable to native signers. A proposed prerequisite for metathesis to apply in ASL is that both signs must be within
945-422: The context of the communication. Classifications may also shift for reasons external to the languages themselves. As an example, in the case of a linear dialect continuum , the central varieties may become extinct , leaving only the varieties at both ends. Consequently, these end varieties may be reclassified as two languages, even though no significant linguistic change has occurred within the two extremes during
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#1732773295007990-426: The dialects themselves, with the standard Shtokavian dialect , and with other languages. For example, Torlakian, which is considered a subdialect of Serbian Old Shtokavian , has significant mutual intelligibility with Macedonian and Bulgarian . Metathesis (linguistics) Metathesis ( / m ə ˈ t æ θ ə s ɪ s / mə- TATH -ə-siss ; from Greek μετάθεσις , from μετατίθημι "to put in
1035-518: The differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varieties may not be. This is a typical occurrence with widely spread languages and language families around the world, when these languages did not spread recently. Some prominent examples include the Indo-Aryan languages across large parts of India , varieties of Arabic across north Africa and southwest Asia, the Turkic languages ,
1080-519: The early Middle English Period: "nosþyrlu" ( c. 1050); "nos-thirlys" ( c. 1500). In 1565 "nosthrille" appears; "thirl"/"thurl" survived even longer, until 1878). Metathesis is also a common feature of the West Country dialects . In the Kurdish language, there are many examples of metathesis, as both forms are used until now, the pre-inverted form and the post-inverted form (depending on
1125-401: The extinction of the central varieties. Furthermore, political and social conventions often override considerations of mutual intelligibility. For example, the varieties of Chinese are often considered a single language, even though there is usually no mutual intelligibility between geographically separated varieties. This is similarly the case among the varieties of Arabic , which also share
1170-557: The first consonant of the root is an alveolar or postalveolar fricative. Namely, the pattern hiṯ1a22ē3 (where the numbers signify the root consonants) becomes hi1ta22ē3 . Examples: Hebrew also features isolated historical examples of metathesis. For example, the words כֶּֽבֶשׂ keves and כֶּֽשֶׂב kesev (meaning "lamb") both appear in the Torah. Like many other natural languages Urdu and Hindi also have metathesis like in this diachronic example: Sanskrit जन्म ( جنمہ ) ja nm
1215-459: The language, and only the occasional short feature on BBC Radio Guernsey , usually for learners. In 2021 BBC Radio Guernsey broadcast a 10 minute news bulletin once a week in Guernésiais. In 2022 a documentary on the future of Guernsey French was produced for BBC radio. The creation of a Guernsey Language Commission was announced on 7 February 2013 as an initiative by government to preserve
1260-801: The later years of the union. Additionally, Norwegian assimilated a considerable amount of Danish vocabulary as well as traditional Danish expressions. As a consequence, spoken mutual intelligibility is not reciprocal. Because of the difficulty of imposing boundaries on a continuum, various counts of the Romance languages are given. For example, in The Linguasphere register of the world's languages and speech communities , David Dalby lists 23 languages based on mutual intelligibility: The non-standard vernacular dialects of Serbo-Croatian ( Kajkavian , Chakavian and Torlakian ) diverge more significantly from all four normative varieties of Serbo-Croatian. Their mutual intelligibility varies greatly between
1305-479: The linguistic culture. The Commission has operated since Liberation Day, 9 May 2013. While Guernesiais does not have status as an official language of the island, revitalization efforts are still being undertaken on a small scale. One group, Le Coumité d'la Culture Guernesiaise , organizes activities and events that celebrate Guernesiais. The Eisteddfod cultural festival is a public event where attendees can enjoy plays, poems, and music performed in Guernesiais. There
1350-567: The long tradition of a diglossic relationship between French and Guernesiais whereby French had prestige while Guernesiais did not. The English language began to spread in Guernsey in the era of the Napoleonic Wars , during which there was a significant outposting of English soldiers on the island as well as an increase of English tourism and immigration. With the German occupation of Guernsey from 1940 to 1945, Guernesiais suffered more of
1395-579: The metathetized form: Sporadic examples include the word vih r eä "green", which derives from older vihe r ä , and the vernacular change of the word j uo heva "jovial" to j ou heva (also a separate word meaning "bristly"). Etymological metathesis occurs in the following French words: Deliberate metathesis also occurs extensively in the informal French pattern of speech called verlan (itself an example: verlan < l'envers , meaning "the reverse" or "the inverse"). In verlan new words are created from existing words by reversing
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1440-607: The non-hard-of-hearing people of the United Kingdom and the United States share the same spoken language. The grammar of sign languages does not usually resemble that of the spoken languages used in the same geographical area. To illustrate, in terms of syntax , ASL shares more in common with spoken Japanese than with English . Almost all linguists use mutual intelligibility as the primary linguistic criterion for determining whether two speech varieties represent
1485-1108: The nonstandard variant ax pronounced /æks/ ; the spelling ask is found in Shakespeare and in the King James Bible and ax in Chaucer, Caxton, and the Coverdale Bible . The word "ask" derives from Proto-Germanic *aiskōną . Some other frequent English pronunciations that display metathesis are: The process has shaped many English words historically. Bird and horse came from Old English bridd and hros ; wasp and hasp were also written wæps and hæps . The Old English beorht "bright" underwent metathesis to bryht , which became Modern English bright . The Old English þrēo "three" formed þridda "thrid" and þrēotene "thriteen". These underwent metathesis to forms which became Modern English third and thirteen . The Old English verb wyrċan "to work" had
1530-460: The obsolete vehem animal's fetus (cf. vemhes "pregnant [animal]"). The first of them is often used in the regular form ( bolyh ). The following are examples of argot used in the entertainment industry. Metathesis from earlier protoform, though not so prevalent in Malay, can still be seen, as in the following: Loanwords can also be products of metathesis. The word tembikai "watermelon"
1575-529: The order of syllables. Verlanization is applied mostly to two-syllable words and the new words that are created are typically considerably less formal than the originals, and/or take on a slightly different meaning. The process often involves considerably more changes than simple metathesis of two phonemes but this forms the basis for verlan as a linguistic phenomenon. Some of these words have become part of standard French. A few well known examples are: Some Verlan words are metathesized more than once: In Greek ,
1620-749: The other language than the other way around. For example, if one language is related to another but has simplified its grammar , the speakers of the original language may understand the simplified language, but not vice versa. To illustrate, Dutch speakers tend to find it easier to understand Afrikaans as a result of Afrikaans's simplified grammar. Sign languages are not universal and usually not mutually intelligible, although there are also similarities among different sign languages. Sign languages are independent of spoken languages and follow their own linguistic development. For example, British Sign Language and American Sign Language (ASL) are quite different linguistically and mutually unintelligible, even though
1665-400: The passive participle ġeworht "worked". This underwent metathesis to wroht , which became Modern English wrought . The Old English þyrl "hole" underwent metathesis to þryl . This gave rise to a verb þrylian "pierce", which became Modern English thrill , and formed the compound nosþryl "nose-hole" which became Modern English nostril (May have occurred in
1710-409: The population speak the language fluently while 3% fully understand the language. However most of these, 70% or 934 of the 1327 fluent speakers, are over 64 years old. Among the young only 0.1% or one in a thousand are fluent speakers. However, 14% of the population claim some understanding of the language. There is little broadcasting in the language, with ITV Channel Television more or less ignoring
1755-541: The present stem often consists of the root with a suffix of y ( ι ˰ in Greek). If the root ends in the vowel a or o , and the consonant n or r , the y exchanges position with the consonant and is written i : For metathesis of vowel length, which occurs frequently in Attic and Ionic Greek , see quantitative metathesis . In Hebrew the verb conjugation ( binyan ) hitpaēl ( התפעל ) undergoes metathesis if
1800-511: The regions). Example:(Befr-Berf)this word means snow . The formula ( Berf ) was used in Afrin and many Kurdish regions in Syria , and the formula ( Befr ) was used in many Kurdish regions of Turkey . In western dialects of Finnish , historical stem-final /h/ has been subject to metathesis (it is lost in standard Finnish). That leads to variant word forms: Some words have been standardized in
1845-476: The same or different languages. A primary challenge to this position is that speakers of closely related languages can often communicate with each other effectively if they choose to do so. In the case of transparently cognate languages recognized as distinct such as Spanish and Italian, mutual intelligibility is in principle and in practice not binary (simply yes or no), but occurs in varying degrees, subject to numerous variables specific to individual speakers in
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1890-409: The same region on the body. Constraints on the applications of metathesis in ASL has led to discussions that the phonology breaks down the body into regions distinct from settings. Amharic has a few minor patterns of metathesis, as shown by Wolf Leslau . For example, "matches" [kəbrit] is sometimes pronounced as [kərbit] , [mogzit] "nanny" is sometimes pronounced as [mozgit] . The word "Monday"
1935-430: Was a historian and scholar in rhetoric living in 1st century BC Greece. He analysed classical texts and applied several revisions to make them sound more eloquent . One of the methods he used was re-writing documents on a mainly grammatical level: changing word and sentence orders would make texts more fluent and "natural", he suggested. He called this way of re-writing metathesis . In ASL , several signs which have
1980-478: Was considered the "Last Poet" of Guernsey French and published many poems in his day in his native tongue, both in the island newspaper and privately. The most recent dictionary of Guernésiais, Dictiounnaire Angllais-guernesiais by Marie de Garis , was published in 1967 and revised in 1982. Guernsey was a part of Normandy until the latter was conquered by French kings; a form of the Norman language developed in
2025-489: Was no replacement and instead a Language Commission was formed in order to support efforts to revitalize Guernesiais by smaller groups. Metathesis of /r/ is common in Guernésiais, by comparison with Sercquiais and Jèrriais. Other examples are pourmenade (promenade), persentaïr (present), terpid (tripod). aver , have (auxiliary verb) oimaïr , to love (regular conjugation) Mutual intelligibility In linguistics , mutual intelligibility
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