( Classical orthography), ( Mistralian orthography, ), ( , ), or () is the

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...

that was historically spoken in the city of

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

, in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and in all the area of the historical

County of Nice The County of Nice (french: Comté de Nice / Pays Niçois, it, Contea di Nizza/Paese Nizzardo, Niçard oc, Contèa de Niça/País Niçard) is a historical region of France located around the southeastern city of Nice and roughly equivalent t ...

. The affiliation of Niçard is debated: it is generally considered a

subdialect Subdialect (from Latin , "under", and Ancient Greek , "discourse") is a linguistic term designating a dialectological category between the levels of dialect and idiolect. Subdialects are basic subdivisions of a dialect. Subdialects can be divid ...

of Provençal, itself a dialect of Occitan, while some scholars argue that the historical dialect spoken in Nice was more strictly Ligurian. Most residents of Nice and its region no longer speak Niçard, and the very few who do are fully

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all ...

in French as Nissard has lost its function of a vehicular language since decades. Nonetheless, today there is a developing revival of the use of the language. Some local television news is presented in Niçard (with French subtitles) and street signs in the old town of Nice are written in the dialect as well as in French. The Niçard song is often regarded as the "anthem" of Nice.

Writing system

Niçard is written using two forms: * ''Classical orthography''. Preferring the native traditions of the language, this form was developed by Robert Lafont (, 1951; , 1972) and Jean-Pierre Baquié (, 1984). It is regulated by the . * ''Mistralian orthography''. Closer to written

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, it was invented by the (although there also exists an ). An Italian orthography was abandoned when Nice joined the French Empire in 1861. It was briefly reinstated in 1942 and 1943 when

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

occupied and administered the city. Example of Nissart and similarity with Italian, according to Barberis: * (Italian: ) *. (Italian: )

Occitan and Ligurian influences

Regional differences are recognized in Standard Occitan. Some have claimed that Niçard has kept some of the oldest forms of Occitan, other dialects (such as Provençal) having been more "Frenchified" by their history (namely, regarding proparoxytone words).

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, pa ...

, born in Nice in 1807 from Italian immigrants who had settled there, claimed that "Nizzardo" was an Italian dialect with some influences from Occitan and French, and for this reason promoted the union of Nice to the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

. Before the annexation of the county of Nice to France in 1860, all the historical texts and archives of the city were written either in the Ligurian language, or in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

. The entire population of Nice before the

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong and Buzz ...

had Italian surnames. The Niçard Vespers were three days of popular uprising of the inhabitants of Nice in 1871, promoted by Giuseppe Garibaldi in favor of the union of the county of Nice with the

. However, most experts in Romance linguistics see Niçard as a variety of Occitan. Statements saying that Niçard is a Ligurian or

dialect are not supported by these experts (see especially Dalbera 1984).DALBERA Jean-Philippe (1984) ''Les parlers des Alpes Maritimes: étude comparative, essai de reconstruction'' hD thesis Toulouse: Université de Toulouse 2 d. 1994, London: Association Internationale d’Études Occitanes/ref>

References

Sources

* Andrews James Bruyn (1875) ''Essai de grammaire du dialecte mentonnais avec quelques contes, chansons et musique du pays,'' Nice: no name e-ed. 1978, 1981, Menton: Société d’Art et d’Histoire du Mentonnais* Andrews James Bruyn (1877) ''Vocabulaire français-mentonnais,'' Nice: no name e-ed. 1977, Marseilles: Lafitte Reprints* Baquié Joan-Pèire (1987) (collab. Andrieu SAISSI) ''Empari lo niçard / Apreni lo provençau,'' Nice: CRDP Nice / CDDP Alpes Maritimes * Barberis Francesco. ''Nizza italiana: raccolta di varie poesie italiane e nizzarde, corredate di note''. Editore Tip. Sborgi e Guarnieri (Nizza, 1871). University of California, 2007 * Bec Pierre (1970–71) (collab. Octave NANDRIS, Žarko MULJAČIĆ), ''Manuel pratique de philologie romane,'' Paris: Picard, 2 vol. * Blaquièra J. (1985) ''Dictionnaire français-nissart, langue d'oc, dialecte niçois,'' self-edited * Calvino Jean-Baptiste (1905) ''Nouveau dictionnaire niçois-français,'' Nice: Imprimerie des Alpes Maritimes e-ed. 1993 with the following title: ''Dictionnaire niçois-français, français-niçois,'' Nîmes: Lacour* Carles (Père) Pietro (1866) ''Piccolo vocabolario nizzardo-italiano,'' Nice * Carles (Père) Pietro (1868) ''Piccolo vocabolario italiano-nizzardo,'' Nice * Castellana Georges (1947) ''Dictionnaire niçois-français'' e-ed. 2001, Nice: Serre* CastellanaGeorges (1952) ''Dictionnaire français-niçois'' e-ed. 2001, Nice: Serre* Cerquiglini Bernard (2003) (dir.) Les langues de France, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France / Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication-DGLFLF: 125-136] * Cerquiglini Bernard (2000) ''Histoire de la langue française 1945-2000''. Co-edited with Gérald Antoine. Paris: CNRS Editions, 2000. * Clapié Jaume, & BAQUIÉ Joan Pèire (2003) ''Pichin lèxico ilustrat, petit lexique illustré, niçard-françés, français-niçois, '' Nice: Serre * Compan André (1965) ''Grammaire niçoise'' e-ed. 1981, Nice: Serre* Compan André (1971) ''Anthologie de la littérature niçoise,'' coll. Biblioutèco d’istòri literàri e de critico, Toulon: L’Astrado * Dalbera Jean-Philippe (1984) ''Les parlers des Alpes Maritimes: étude comparative, essai de reconstruction'' hD thesis Toulouse: Université de Toulouse 2 d. 1994, London: Association Internationale d’Études Occitanes* Dalbera Jean-Philippe (2003) “Les îlots liguriens de France” ERQUIGLINI Bernard (2003) (dir.) Les langues de France, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France / Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication-DGLFLF: 125-136* Escola de Bellanda (2002) ''Diciounari nissart-francés,'' Nice: Fédération des Associations du Comté de Nice / Serre * Eynaudi Jules, & Cappati Louis (1931–1938) ''Dictionnaire de la langue niçoise,'' Niça: sn. * Forner Werner ''A propos du ligur intemelien - La cote, l'arrier-pays'' Traveaux du cercle linguistique de Nice 1996 * Forner Werner ''La dialettologia ligure. Problemi e prospettive'' in ''La dialettologia italiana oggi'' in G. Holtus, Tübingen 1985-1990 * Gasiglia Rémy (1984) ''Grammaire du nissart,'' sl.: Institut d’Études Niçoises * Gauberti Pierre (1994) ''Dictionnaire encyclopédique de la langue de Peille'' ays Niçois Nice: Serre * Gioffredo Pietro ''Storia dele Alpi marittime'' libri XXIV, in HPM 1839, Torino (originally published in 1662) * Giordan Joseph (1968) ''Dictionnaire français-niçois: lexique complémentaire du parler de la ville de Nice et des pays environnants,'' sl.: sn. * Gourdon Marie-Louise (1997) ''Contribution à l’histoire de la langue occitane. Étude des systèmes graphiques pour écrire l’occitan (niçois, provençal, languedocien) de 1881 à 1919: itinéraires et travaux de A.L. Sardou, J.B. Calvino, L. Funel, A. Perbosc, P. Estieu'' dD thesis Nice * Liautaud René (1985) ''Essai de lexique français-entraunois avec correspondences en niçois,'' Nice: CRDP * Miceu Giausep (1840) Grammatica nissarda: per emparà en pòou de temp lo patouas dòou paìs, Nice: Imprimarìa de la Sossietà tipografica e-ed. Marie-Louise GOURDON (1975) ''La Grammatica nissarda de Joseph Micèu: biographie, étude sur les dialectes, commentaires philologiques,'' Nice: imprimerie Pierotti* Pellegrini (Abbé) (1894) ''Lexique niçois-français,'' Nice: no name * Petracco Siccardi, Giulia ''L'amfizona Liguria Provenza'' Alessandria 1989 * Petracco Siccardi, Giulia e Caprini, Rita ''Toponomastica storica della Liguria'', Genova, SAGEP, 1981 * Petracco Siccardi, Giulia ''Ligurien'' Lexicon der Romanistischen Linguistik II, 2, Tübingen, 1995 * Sardou Antoine Léandre, & Calvino Jean-Baptiste (1881) ''Grammaire de l’idiome niçois,'' Nice: Visconti e-ed. 1978, Marseilles: Laffitte Reprints* Scaliero Giuseppe (1830) ''Vocabolario nizzardo,'' Nice: no name * Toscano Reinat (1998) ''Gramàtica niçarda,'' no place: Princi Néguer * Vignoli Giulio (2000) ''Gli Italiani Dimenticati. Minoranze Italiane In Europa''. Milano: Editore Giuffrè {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicard Occitan language Languages of France Ligurian language (Romance)

Writing system

Occitan and Ligurian influences

See also

References

Sources