Cotentinais is the dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

 of the Norman language

Norman language

Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...

 spoken in the Cotentin Peninsula

Cotentin Peninsula

The Cotentin Peninsula, also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy, forming part of the north-western coast of France. It juts out north-westwards into the English Channel, towards Great Britain...

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

Dialects

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

1. Haguais - La Hague
   La Hague
   La Hague is a region on the tip of the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy, France.La Hague is a picturesque place of Precambrian granite cliffs, coves and small fields surrounded by hedges. It faces the Channel Islands and there any many cousins on both side of the Alderney race.The dialect of the...
   
   , in the north west of the Cotentin Peninsula
   Cotentin Peninsula
   The Cotentin Peninsula, also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy, forming part of the north-western coast of France. It juts out north-westwards into the English Channel, towards Great Britain...
   
   
2. Val de Saire, in the north east
3. Coutançais du nord, to the north of the Coutances
   Coutances
   Coutances is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.-History:Capital of the Unelli, a Gaulish tribe, the town took the name of Constantia in 298 during the reign of Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus...
   
   -Saint-Lô
   Saint-Lô
   Saint-Lô is a commune in north-western France, the capital of the Manche department in Normandy.-History:Originally called Briovère , the town is built on and around ramparts. Originally it was a Gaul fortified settlement...
   
    line
4. Coutançais du sud, to the north of the Joret line
   Joret line
   The Joret line is an isogloss used in the linguistics of the langues d'oïl. Dialects north of the line have preserved Vulgar Latin and before ; dialects south of the line have palatalized and before . This palatalization gave Old French and , then modern French and...
   
   
5. Baupteis, from Bauptois, between Carentan
   Carentan
   Carentan is a small rural town near the north-eastern base of the French Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy in north-western France near the port city of Cherbourg-Octeville. Carentan has a population somewhat over 6,000 and is now administratively organized as a commune in the Manche department...
   
    and La Haye-du-Puits
   La Haye-du-Puits
   La Haye-du-Puits is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.-Heraldry:-See also:*Communes of the Manche department...
   
   

History

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

Channel Islands

The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...

, led by writers such as George Métivier

George Métivier

George Métivier was a Guernsey poet dubbed the "Guernsey Burns", and sometimes considered the island's national poet. He wrote in Guernésiais, which is the indigenous language of the island. Among his poetical works are Rimes Guernesiaises published in 1831...

 (Guernsey

Guernsey

Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...

, 1790–1881 — dubbed the Guernsey Burns

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

) and writers from Jersey

Jersey

Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...

. 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

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...

 — 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

Côtis-Capel

Côtis-Capel was the pen name of Albert Lohier, a Norman language poet. He was from La Hague and wrote in the Haguais dialect of Cotentinais.-Bibliography:* Poetry collections** Rocâles ,...

 was a native of the Cotentin and used the landscape as inspiration for his poetry.

The Norman language writer Alfred Rossel, native of Cherbourg, 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:

1. the dialect of La Hague is very guttural, in particular by the hard pronunciation of Norman aspirated H ("Hague" is typically pronounced [hrague] in the region). It pronounces the verbs of the first group with final in [ - has ]: chauntaer (to sing) is read [ chanhanta ] /?a??t?/. 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 [ chanhanto ] /?a??to/.

2. 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 [ acato ]. With the past participle, even pronunciation, except with the female one: [ acata: ] with one [ - a: ] length. Example: Ole ' taé acataée sauns câotioun will say [ ôlata: acata: sahan kâossiahon ] = (it was bought without guarantee)

3. the dialects of north and south Coutançais pronounce the verbs of the first group and their participle past in [ - âé ] or [ - âè ]: happaer (to catch) is thus said [ hrapâé ]. Caught will result in happaée [ hrappaée ]. The difference between these two group resides more on the pronunciation of [ Q? - ] Norman. Here, for q?yin (dog), one will say [ ki' I ], [ tchi ], or [ tchihin ] (with one [ - hin ] final hardly audible). for comparison, let us recall that in Cauchois

Cauchois

Cauchois is one of the eastern dialects of the Norman language, spoken in, and taking its name from, the Pays de Caux region of the Seine-Maritime départment.-Status:...

, one says [ ki' in ].

4. the Baupteis, the dialect of Bauptois, are close to the languages of Coutançais for the verbs to first group and it [ Q? - ]. On the other hand, it has the characteristic to pronounce it [ âo ] cotentinais in [ 2nd ], 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 [ kâoza, kâozo, kâozaé, kâozaè, or kâozé ] according to preceding sub-groups' and as a Norman Southerner [ kâozé ], the language of Bauptois will say [ kèzaé ] or [ kèzâè ] or seldom [ kèza ]. Thus the câode iâo (hot water) will say it [ kèdiè ]. Bâopteis decides there besides [ bèté: ].

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:

1. La Hague dialect: Alphonse Allain, Côtis-Capel
2. Val de Saire dialect: Alfred Noël
3. northern Coutançais dialect : Louis Beuve, François Énault, Marcel Dalarun
4. southern Coutançais dialect : Louis Beuve
5. 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

This variety of Norman that is Cotentinais, is still spoken today, but in small number, 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.

External links

• Songs in Cotentin Norman (mostly in French, with a two Norman examples)