Cotentinais () is the

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 the

Norman language Norman or Norman French (, , Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a ''Langues d'oïl, langue d'oïl'' spoken in the historical region, historical and Cultural area, cultural region of Normandy. The name "Norman French" is sometimes also used to des ...

spoken in the

Cotentin Peninsula The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its west lie the Gu ...

of France. It is one of the strongest dialects of the language on the French mainland.

Dialects

Due to the relative lack of standardisation of Norman, there are five main subdialects of Cotentinais: # ''Haguais'' -

La Hague La Hague () is a commune in the department of Manche, northwestern France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Gui ...

, in the north west of the

# Val de Saire, in the north east # ''Coutançais du nord'', to the north of the Coutances-

Saint-Lô Saint-Lô (, ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy.Joret line # ''Baupteis'', from Bauptois, between Carentan and La Haye-du-Puits

History

At the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century, a new movement arose in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

, led by writers such as George Métivier (

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

, 1790–1881—dubbed the ''Guernsey Burns'') and writers from

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

. The independent governments, lack of censorship and diverse social and political milieu of the Islands enabled a growth in the publication of

vernacular literature Vernacular literature is literature written in the vernacular—the speech of the "common people". In the European tradition, this effectively means literature not written in Latin or Koine Greek. In this context, vernacular literature appeared ...

—often satirical and political. Most literature was published in the large number of competing newspapers, which also circulated in the neighbouring Cotentin, sparking a literary renaissance on the Norman mainland. The Norman poet Côtis-Capel (1915–1986) was a native of the Cotentin and used the landscape as inspiration for his poetry. The Norman language writer Alfred Rossel, native of

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

, composed many songs which form part of the heritage of the region. Rossel's song ''Sus la mé'' ("on the sea") is often sung as a regional patriotic song.

Subdialect characteristics

Each sub-group has some characteristics which made it possible to define them: The dialect of La Hague is very guttural, in particular by the hard pronunciation of Norman aspirated H ("Hague" is typically pronounced in the region). It pronounces the verbs of the first group with final in - has (to sing) is read hanhanta /ʃaɔ̃tɑ/. It is the same for the conjugation with the last participle. Exception, in the two communes of Cap de La Hague (Auderville and Saint-Germain-des-Vaux) where one pronounces hanhanto/ʃaɔ̃to/. The dialect of the Val de Saire, pronounces in the same way finals of the verbs of the first group in o acataer (to buy) is read cato With the past participle, even pronunciation, except with the female one: cata:with one a:length. Example: ''Ole a 'taé acataée sauns câotioun'' will say �lata: acata: sahan kâossiahon= (it was bought without guarantee) The dialects of north and south Coutançais pronounce the verbs of the first group and their participle past in âéor âè (to catch) is thus said rapâé Caught will result in ''happaée'' rappaée The difference between these two group resides more on the pronunciation of ŭ-Norman. Here, for ''qŭyin'' (dog), one will say i'i chi or [] (with one [-hin] final hardly audible). for comparison, let us recall that in Cauchois dialect, Cauchois, one says [ki'in]. The Baupteis, the dialect of Bauptois, are close to the languages of Coutançais for the verbs to first group and it ŭ- On the other hand, it has the characteristic to pronounce it �ocotentinais in � which does not facilitate comprehension of it. This provision did not appear besides in the dialectal literature and thus almost disappeared. Where everywhere in Normandy one says câosaer (to discuss), marked âoza, kâozo, kâozaé, kâozaè, or kâozéaccording to preceding sub-groups' and as a Norman Southerner âozé the language of Bauptois will say èzaéor èzâèor rarely èza Thus the ''câode iâo'' (hot water) will say it èdiè Bâopteis decides there besides èté:

Literature cotentinaise

Each sub-group thus also has its Norman language authors who, even if they have used or contributed to the development of a coherent and unified orthography, have written texts specific to each sub-group, but readable by all. Thus, the rich vocabulary of Cotentinais was turned to literary purpose by several poets and writers at the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular: # La Hague dialect: Alphonse Allain, Côtis-Capel # Val de Saire dialect: Alfred Noël # northern Coutançais dialect : Louis Beuve, François Énault, Marcel Dalarun # southern Coutançais dialect : Louis Beuve # Bauptois dialect: Pierre Guéroult Alfred Rossel, precursor of the writing into Norman of Cotentin writes Norman "area of Cherbourg", i.e. between this city and Valognes, which can be connected to the sub-groups of La Hague, the Valley of Saire and Bauptois.

Future

Cotentinais is still spoken today, but sparsely, and cultural activity is maintained by some folk associations (songs, dances, magazines) and especially by the Magène association which aims to safeguard and to promote Norman by publishing of discs and books.

References

External links

Songs in Cotentin Norman
(mostly in French, with two Norman examples) {{Gallo-Romance languages and dialects Norman language Manche