Berrichon ( or ) is an Oïl language very closely related to

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

or a

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

of it traditionally spoken in the historical area of the French province of

Berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...

. The word is also used as a

demonym A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...

and as an adjective meaning "pertaining to Berry".

History

The dialect evolved out of the

langues d'oïl The ''langues d'oïl'' are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest relatives historically spoken in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands. They belong to the larger category of Gallo- ...

which evolved during the Middle Ages out of the

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...

spoken in northern

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

. Its general use in the Berry region began to decline in the sixteenth century as the local aristocracy and bourgeoisie began to adopt

standard French Standard French (in French: , , or ) is an unofficial term for a standard variety of the French language. It is a set of spoken and written formal varieties used by the educated francophones of several nations around the world. As French is ...

, leaving Berrichon as a "

patois ''Patois'' (, same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or sl ...

" used by the peasantry in the countryside. Subsequent developments, such as the French Revolution, which created a sense of

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

, and the establishment of free, mandatory, primary education under the Minister of Public Instruction,

Jules Ferry Jules François Camille Ferry (; 5 April 183217 March 1893) was a French statesman and republican philosopher. He was one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans, Moderate Republicans and served as Prime Minister of France from 1880 to 18 ...

, which greatly expanded the teaching of French, further undermined the position of Berrichon.

Current status

The decline of Berrichon has virtually led to it being regarded as a sub-standard dialect of French rather than a separate language. Additionally, as most speakers in its region now speak standard French, it is no longer possible to say that a Berrichon "patois" exists, but rather that a regional version of French does. Nevertheless, traces of Berrichon and its regional varieties remain today. This is exemplified in the continued use of Berrichon terms in spoken French among speakers in the region.

Phonology and lexicon

Although Berrichon does not have an official grammar or pronunciation, there are general rules as to how it differs from French. Berrichon differentiates between closed and open ''a''. ''R''s are rolled and emphatic. Words which have the '' o'' sound in standard French are pronounced with a

close back rounded vowel The close back rounded vowel, or high back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u. I ...

, resulting in, for example, ''un houmme'' (man), ''une poumme'' (apple). The ''oi'' asound becomes ''oé'' e The

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

-''eur'' becomes -''eux'' in Berrichon, and -''eau'' becomes -''iau''; therefore, ''leurs'' (theirs) is ''ieux'' and ''un seau d'eau'' (a bucket of water) is ''un siau d'iau''. Conjugation is also different. The present indicative of the first-

person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...

singular, the third-person singular and the third-person plural are all conjugated in the same manner, which results in phrases of the type, "''j'menons les oies''" ("I lead the

geese A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyp ...

"). There is also frequent truncation: "''i m'nons les oies''" ("they lead the geese"). Tense endings are also different from standard French, as in the third person plural

imperfect The imperfect ( abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was doing (something)" o ...

ending ''-aient'' is replaced by ''-aint'', e.g., "''i's étaint''" instead of "''ils étaient''" ("They used to be"). In Berry, it is customary to precede given names with

article Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article(s) may also refer to: ...

s: ''la'' for women's names and ''eul'' for men's names. When referring to weather terms, the pronoun ''ça'' is used in place of the French ''il''. For example, "Il pleut" (''It is raining.'') would be "Ça pleut" in Berrichon. Examples of Berrichon vocabulary being used instead of their French counterparts include:

Sample text

Article 1 of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...

References

{{Authority control Languages of France French dialects Oïl languages Demonyms

History

Current status

Phonology and lexicon

Sample text

See also

References