Lorrain, also known as Lorrain roman, is a '' langue d'oïl'' spoken by a minority of people in the region of

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

in northeastern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, as well as in some parts of

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

and Gaume in Belgium. It is often referred to 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 ...

. It is a regional language of France. In

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

, it is known as Gaumais and enjoys official recognition as a regional language. It has been influenced by

Lorraine Franconian Lorraine Franconian ( native name: or ; or '; ) is an ambiguous designation for dialects of West Central German (), a group of High German dialects spoken in the Moselle department of the former northeastern French region of Lorraine (See ...

and

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. The language is standardized and officiall ...

West Central German West Central German () belongs to the Central German, Central, High German languages, High German dialect family of German language, German. It includes the following sub-families: * Central Franconian () ** Ripuarian language, Ripuarian (), spok ...

languages spoken in nearby or overlapping areas.

Features

Linguist Stephanie Russo noted the difference of a 'second'

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 ...

and pluperfect tense between Lorrain and Standard French. It is derived from Latin grammar that is no longer used in modern French.

Variations

The

Linguasphere Observatory The Linguasphere Observatory (or the Observatoire, based on its original French and legal title: ''Observatoire Linguistique'') is a non-profit transnational research network, devoted (alongside related programs) to the gathering, study, classifica ...

distinguishes seven variants : * Argonnais ( Argonne, Woëvre, eastern French

Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

Meurthe-et-Moselle Meurthe-et-Moselle () is a '' département'' in the Grand Est region of France, named after the rivers Meurthe and Moselle. Its prefecture and largest city is Nancy and it borders the departments of Meuse to the west, Vosges to the south, ...

) * Longovician ( Longwy, Longuyon, northern Meurthe-et-Moselle) * Gaumais ( arrondissement of Virton, cantons of Montmédy and Stenay in Meuse and the canton of Carignan in Ardennes) * Messin (

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

, Metzgau and all of French-speaking

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

) * Nancéien ( Nancy, southern Meurthe-et-Moselle) * Spinalian ( Épinal, central Vosges) * Deodatian ( Saint-Dié, Hautes-Vosges) After 1870, members of the Stanislas Academy in Nancy noted 132 variants of Lorrain from Thionville in the north to Rupt-sur-Moselle in the south, which means that main variants have sub-variants.

External links

* http://www.travelphrases.info/languages/lorrain.htm *
Essai sur le patois lorrain des environs du comté du Ban de la Roche
Jeremias Jacob Oberlin, 1775

References

Oïl languages Languages of France Languages of Belgium Culture of Wallonia Luxembourg (Belgium) {{Romance-lang-stub

Features

Variations

See also

External links

References