Walloon language
Encyclopedia
Walloon is a Romance language which was spoken as a primary language in large portions (70%) of the Walloon Region of Belgium
and some villages of Northern France
(near Givet
) until the middle of the 20th century. It belongs to the langue d'oïl language family
, whose most prominent member is the French language
. The historical background of its formation was the territorial extension since 980 of the Principality of Liège to the south and west.
Despite its rich literature
, beginning anonymously in the 16th century and with well-known authors since 1756 (see the paragraph Literature), the use of Walloon has decreased markedly since France's annexation of Wallonia in 1795. This period definitively established French as the language of social promotion, far more than it was before. Although Belgium gained its independence in 1830 (from the Netherlands), French had been established as the primary language of instruction in much of the country. After World War I
, public schools provided French-speaking education to all children, inducing a denigration of Walloon, especially when accompanied by official orders in 1952 to punish its use in schools. Subsequently, since the middle of the 20th century, generational transmission of the language has decreased, resulting in Walloon's almost becoming a dead language
. Today it is scarcely spoken among younger people.
Numerous associations
, especially theatre companies, are working to keep the language alive. On a government
level, Walloon is officially recognized as a langue régionale endogène (regional indigenous language) (Décret Valmy Féaux, 14 of December 1990). Walloon has also benefited from a continued corpus planning process. The "Feller system" (1900) regularized transcription of the different accents. Since the 1990s, a common orthography
was established, which allowed large-scale publications, such as the Walloon Wikipedia.
Walloon is more distinct as a language than Belgian French
, which differs from the French spoken in France
only in some minor points of vocabulary
and pronunciation
.
of French (See langues d'oïl
). Like French, it descended from Vulgar Latin
. Arguing that a French-speaking person could only understand Walloon with difficulty, especially in its eastern forms, Jules Feller
(1859–1940) insisted that Walloon had an original "superior unity" which made it a language
.
The phonological divisions of regional languages of southern Belgium were studied by the contemporary linguist E.B. Atwood. He has defined the precise geographical repartition of the four chief dialects of Walloon. In addition, he has defined them against the dialects of Picard
, Lorrain
and Champenois
.
Since then, most linguists (among them Louis Remacle
), and gradually also Walloon politicians, regard Walloon as a regional language, the first in importance in Wallonia. It is the only one to have originated from that part of Belgium
. The eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica identified Walloon as the "northern-most Romance language".
Although Walloon was widely spoken until the mid-20th century, today only a small proportion of the inhabitants of the region are fluent in the language. Most younger people (those born since the 1970s) know little more than a few idiomatic expressions, often profanities
. The Walloon language is still part of the Walloon heritage; it is one of the foundations of Walloon identity.
Four dialects of Walloon developed in four distinct zones of Wallonia:
Despite local phonetic differences, there is a regional movement towards the adoption of a common spelling, called the rfondou walon. This orthography
is diasystem
ic, reflecting different pronunciations for different readers, a concept inspired by the spelling of Breton
. The written forms attempt to reconcile current phonetic uses with ancient traditions (notably the reintroduction of xh and oi that were used for writing Walloon until the late 19th century) and the language's own phonological
logic.
The Picard, Lorrain and Champenois dialects spoken in Wallonia are sometimes also referred to as "Walloon", which may lead to confusion.
, and its grammar
. At the same time, Walloon phonetics are singularly conservative: the language has stayed fairly close to the form it took during the High Middle Ages
.
From a linguistic point of view, Louis Remacle
has shown that a good number of the developments that we now consider typical of Walloon appeared between the 8th and 12th centuries. Walloon "had a clearly defined identity from the beginning of the 13th century". In any case, linguistic texts from the time do not mention the language, although they mention others in the langue d'oïl family, such as Picard
and Lorrain
. During the 15th century, scribes in the region called the language "Roman" when they needed to distinguish it. It is not until the beginning of the 16th century that first occurrence of the word "Walloon" appeared in the current linguistic sense. In 1510 or 1511, Jean Lemaire de Belges
made the connection between Rommand to Vualon:
The word "Walloon" thus came closer to its current meaning: the vernacular
of the Roman part of the Low Countries
. One might say that the period which saw the establishment of the unifying supremacy of the Burgundians
in the Walloon country was a turning-point in their linguistic history. The crystallization of a Walloon identity, as opposed to that of the thiois (i.e. Dutch-speaking) regions of the Low Countries, established "Walloon" as a word for designating its people. Somewhat later, the vernacular of these people became more clearly distinct from central French and other neighbouring langues d'oïl, prompting the abandonment of the vague term "Roman" as a linguistic, ethnic, and political designator for "Walloon".
Also at this time, following the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts
in 1539, the French language replaced Latin for all administrative purposes in France. Established as the academic language, French became the object of a political effort at normalization; La Pléiade
posited the view that when two languages of the same language family
coexist, each can be defined only in opposition to the other. Around the year 1600, the French writing system became dominant in the Wallonia. From this time, too, dates a tradition of texts written in a language marked by traces of spoken Walloon. The written language of the preceding centuries, scripta, was a composite language with some Walloon characteristics but it did not attempt to be a systematic reproduction of the spoken language.
Walloon was the predominant language of the Walloon people until the beginning of the 20th century, although they had a passive knowledge of French. Since that time, the use of French has spread to the extent that now only 15% of the Walloon population speak their ancestral language. Breaking the statistics down by age, 70–80% of the population aged over 60 speak Walloon, while only about 10% of those under 30 do so. Passive knowledge of Walloon is much more widespread: claimed by some 36–58% of the younger age bracket. Laurent Hendschel estimates there are 1,300,000 bilingual people in Wallonia (Walloon-French, Picard-French...). Many French words that pertain to mining and to the textile trade derive from the Walloon-Picard complex.
Legally, Walloon has been recognized since 1990 by the French Community of Belgium
, the cultural authority of Wallonia, as an "indigenous regional language" which must be studied in schools and encouraged. The Walloon cultural movement includes the Union Culturelle Wallonne, an organization of over 200 amateur theatre circles, writers' groups, and school councils. About a dozen Walloon magazines publish regularly. The Société de Langue et de Littérature Wallonne, founded in 1856, promotes Walloon literature and the study (dialectology
, etymology
, etc.) of the regional Roman languages of Wallonia. There is a difference between the Walloon culture, according to the Manifesto for Walloon culture
, and the Wallon language (even if the latter is a part of the culture).
in the 19th century: "That period saw an efflorescence of Walloon literature, plays and poems primarily,and the founding of many theaters and periodicals."
The New York Public Library
holds a large collection of literary works in Walloon, quite possibly the largest outside Belgium, and its holdings are representative of the output. Out of nearly a thousand works, twenty-six were published before 1880. Thereafter the numbers rise gradually year by year, reaching a peak of sixty-nine in 1903. After that, publications in Walloon fell markedly, to eleven in 1913. Yves Quairiaux counted 4800 plays for 1860–1914, published or not. In this period, plays were almost the only popular entertainment in Wallonia. The Walloon-language theatre remains popular in the region; theatre is flourishing with more than 200 non-professional companies playing in the cities and villages of Wallonia for an audience of over 200,000 each year.
During the 19th-century renaissance of Walloon-language literature, several authors adapted versions of Aesop's Fables
to the racy speech (and subject matter) of Liège. They included Charles Duvivier (in 1842); Joseph Lamaye (1845); and the team of Jean-Joseph Dehin (1847, 1851-2) and François Bailleux (1851–67), who covered books I-VI. Adaptations into other dialects were made by Charles Letellier (Mons, 1842) and Charles Wérotte (Namur, 1844). Decades later, Léon Bernus published some hundred imitations of La Fontaine in the dialect of Charleroi (1872); he was followed during the 1880s by Joseph Dufrane, writing in the Borinage dialect under the pen-name Bosquètia. In the 20th century, Joseph Houziaux (1946) published a selection of 50 fables in the Condroz dialect. The motive among Walloon speakers in both France and Belgium was to assert regional identity against the growing centralism and encroachment of the language of the capital, on what had until then been predominantly monoglot areas.
There are links between French literature and Walloon literature. For instance, the writer Raymond Queneau
set the publication of a Walloon Poets' anthology for Editions Gallimard
. Ubu roi
was translated into Walloon by André Blavier, an important pataphysician of Verviers
, and friend of Queneau, for the new and important Puppet theater of Liège of Jacques Ancion. The Al Botroûle theater operated "as the umbilical cord" in Walloon, indicating a desire to return to the source. Jacques Ancion also wanted to develop a regular adult audience. "From the 19th century he included the Walloon play Tati l'Pèriquî by E. Remouchamps and the avant-garde 'Ubu roi
' by A.Jarry
." The scholar Jean-Marie Klinkenberg writes, "[T]he dialectal culture is no more a sign of attachment to the past but a way to participate to a new synthesis".
Walloon is also being used in popular song. The most well-known singer in Walloon in present-day Wallonia is William Dunker (b. 15 March 1959).
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and some villages of Northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(near Givet
Givet
Givet is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France very close to the Belgian border. It lies on the river Meuse where Emperor Charles V built the fortress of Charlemont....
) until the middle of the 20th century. It belongs to the langue d'oïl language family
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
, whose most prominent member is the French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. The historical background of its formation was the territorial extension since 980 of the Principality of Liège to the south and west.
Despite its rich literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, beginning anonymously in the 16th century and with well-known authors since 1756 (see the paragraph Literature), the use of Walloon has decreased markedly since France's annexation of Wallonia in 1795. This period definitively established French as the language of social promotion, far more than it was before. Although Belgium gained its independence in 1830 (from the Netherlands), French had been established as the primary language of instruction in much of the country. After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, public schools provided French-speaking education to all children, inducing a denigration of Walloon, especially when accompanied by official orders in 1952 to punish its use in schools. Subsequently, since the middle of the 20th century, generational transmission of the language has decreased, resulting in Walloon's almost becoming a dead language
Language death
In linguistics, language death is a process that affects speech communities where the level of linguistic competence that speakers possess of a given language variety is decreased, eventually resulting in no native and/or fluent speakers of the variety...
. Today it is scarcely spoken among younger people.
Numerous associations
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
, especially theatre companies, are working to keep the language alive. On a government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
level, Walloon is officially recognized as a langue régionale endogène (regional indigenous language) (Décret Valmy Féaux, 14 of December 1990). Walloon has also benefited from a continued corpus planning process. The "Feller system" (1900) regularized transcription of the different accents. Since the 1990s, a common orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
was established, which allowed large-scale publications, such as the Walloon Wikipedia.
Walloon is more distinct as a language than Belgian French
Belgian French
Belgian French is the variety of French spoken mainly in the French Community of Belgium, alongside related minority regional languages such as Walloon, Picard, Champenois and Gaumais. The French spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, which were formerly Belgian...
, which differs from the French spoken in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
only in some minor points of vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
and pronunciation
Pronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
.
Disputed nature of Walloon
Linguists have long classified Walloon as a dialectDialect
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 French (See langues d'oïl
Langues d'oïl
The langues d'oïl or langues d'oui , in English the Oïl or Oui languages, are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest autochthonous relatives spoken today in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands...
). Like French, it descended from Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin is any of the nonstandard forms of Latin from which the Romance languages developed. Because of its nonstandard nature, it had no official orthography. All written works used Classical Latin, with very few exceptions...
. Arguing that a French-speaking person could only understand Walloon with difficulty, especially in its eastern forms, Jules Feller
Jules Feller
Jules Feller was a Belgian academician and Walloon militant.-Biography:Jules Feller created the 'Feller system' of spelling for the Walloon language...
(1859–1940) insisted that Walloon had an original "superior unity" which made it a language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
.
The phonological divisions of regional languages of southern Belgium were studied by the contemporary linguist E.B. Atwood. He has defined the precise geographical repartition of the four chief dialects of Walloon. In addition, he has defined them against the dialects of Picard
Picard language
Picard is a language closely related to French, and as such is one of the larger group of Romance languages. It is spoken in two regions in the far north of France – Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy – and in parts of the Belgian region of Wallonia, the district of Tournai and a part of...
, Lorrain
Lorrain language
Lorrain is a language spoken by a minority of people in Lorraine in France and in Gaume in Belgium. It is one of the Langues d'oïl. It is classified as a regional language of France, and has the recognised status of a regional language of Wallonia...
and Champenois
Champenois
Champenois is a language spoken by a minority of people in Champagne in France and in Wallonia in Belgium. It is one of the langues d'oïl. It is classified as a regional language of France, and has the recognized status of a regional language of Wallonia....
.
Since then, most linguists (among them Louis Remacle
Louis Remacle
Louis Remacle was a linguistics professor at the University of Liège. He made substantial contributions in the study of the Walloon language, showing that numerous developments considered typical of Walloon appeared between the 8th and 12th centuries...
), and gradually also Walloon politicians, regard Walloon as a regional language, the first in importance in Wallonia. It is the only one to have originated from that part of Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. The eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica identified Walloon as the "northern-most Romance language".
Walloon
Walloon is spoken in the Wallonia Region in Belgium. It is also spoken in:- a small part of FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
: the botte de Givet in northern ArdennesArdennes (département)Ardennes is a department in the northeast part of France named after the Ardennes area.- History :The department is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was named after the Ardennes hills, which are located in northeast France, southern...
, and several villages in the Nord département, making it one of the regional languages of France; - a small district of Door County, Wisconsin, USA, owing to fairly large-scale immigration there in the 19th century; and
- BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, by some Walloon residents.
Although Walloon was widely spoken until the mid-20th century, today only a small proportion of the inhabitants of the region are fluent in the language. Most younger people (those born since the 1970s) know little more than a few idiomatic expressions, often profanities
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
. The Walloon language is still part of the Walloon heritage; it is one of the foundations of Walloon identity.
Dialects
- Central, spoken in NamurNamur (city)Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....
(Nameur), the Wallon capital, and the cities of WavreWavreWavre is a town and municipality located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant, of which it is the capital.Wavre is located in the Dyle valley. Most of its inhabitants speak French as mother tongue and are called "Wavriens" and "Wavriennes"...
(Åve) and DinantDinantDinant is a Walloon city and municipality located on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur, Belgium. The Dinant municipality includes the old communes of Anseremme, Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, Dréhance, Falmagne, Falmignoul, Foy-Notre-Dame, Furfooz, Lisogne, Sorinnes, and Thynes.-Origins to...
; - Eastern – in many respects the most conservative and idiosyncratic of the dialects, spoken in Liège (Lidje), VerviersVerviersVerviers is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. The Verviers municipality includes the old communes of Ensival, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Heusy...
(Vervî), MalmedyMalmedyMalmedy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region, Province of Liège. It belongs to the French Community of Belgium, within which it is French-speaking with facilities for German-speakers. On January 1, 2006 Malmedy had a total population of 11,829...
(Måmdi), HuyHuyHuy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liege. Huy lies along the river Meuse, at the mouth of the small river Hoyoux. It is in the sillon industriel, the former industrial backbone of Wallonia, home to about two-thirds of the Walloon population...
(Hu), and WaremmeWaremmeWaremme is a Walloon municipality located in the province of Liège, in Belgium. The city is located on the River Geer , in the loessic Hesbaye region...
(Wareme); - Western – the dialect closest to French proper and with a strong PicardPicard languagePicard is a language closely related to French, and as such is one of the larger group of Romance languages. It is spoken in two regions in the far north of France – Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy – and in parts of the Belgian region of Wallonia, the district of Tournai and a part of...
influence, spoken in CharleroiCharleroiCharleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...
(Tchårlerwè), NivellesNivellesNivelles is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The Nivelles municipality includes the old communes of Baulers, Bornival, Thines, and Monstreux....
(Nivele), and PhilippevillePhilippevillePhilippeville is a Walloon municipality located in Belgium in the province of Namur. The Philippeville municipality includes the old communes of Fagnolle, Franchimont, Jamagne, Jamiolle, Merlemont, Neuville, Omezée, Roly, Romedenne, Samart, Sart-en-Fagne, Sautour, Surice , Villers-en-Fagne,...
(Flipvile); and - Southern – close to the LorrainLorrain languageLorrain is a language spoken by a minority of people in Lorraine in France and in Gaume in Belgium. It is one of the Langues d'oïl. It is classified as a regional language of France, and has the recognised status of a regional language of Wallonia...
and to a lesser extent ChampenoisChampenoisChampenois is a language spoken by a minority of people in Champagne in France and in Wallonia in Belgium. It is one of the langues d'oïl. It is classified as a regional language of France, and has the recognized status of a regional language of Wallonia....
languages, spoken in BastogneBastogneBastogne Luxembourgish: Baaschtnech) is a Walloon municipality of Belgium located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes. The municipality of Bastogne includes the old communes of Longvilly, Noville, Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, and Wardin...
, Marche-en-FamenneMarche-en-FamenneMarche-en-Famenne is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Luxembourg. It is the unofficial capital of the Famenne region, sandwiched between the Condroz, former land of the Condrusi, to the north and the Ardennes to the south....
(Måtche-el-Fåmene), and Neufchâteau (Li Tchestea), all in the ArdennesArdennesThe Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...
region.
Despite local phonetic differences, there is a regional movement towards the adoption of a common spelling, called the rfondou walon. This orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
is diasystem
Diasystem
In the field of structural dialectology, a diasystem or polylectal grammar is an analysis set up to encode or represent a range of related varieties...
ic, reflecting different pronunciations for different readers, a concept inspired by the spelling of Breton
Breton language
Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
. The written forms attempt to reconcile current phonetic uses with ancient traditions (notably the reintroduction of xh and oi that were used for writing Walloon until the late 19th century) and the language's own phonological
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
logic.
Other regional languages
Other regional languages spoken in Wallonia, outside the Walloon domain, are:- PicardPicard languagePicard is a language closely related to French, and as such is one of the larger group of Romance languages. It is spoken in two regions in the far north of France – Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy – and in parts of the Belgian region of Wallonia, the district of Tournai and a part of...
, in MonsMonsMons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flénu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour , Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havré, Maisières, Mesvin, Nouvelles,...
, AthAthAth is a Belgian municipality located in the Walloon province of Hainaut. The Ath municipality includes the old communes of Lanquesaint, Irchonwelz, Ormeignies, Bouvignies, Ostiches, Rebaix, Maffle, Arbre, Houtaing, Ligne, Mainvault, Moulbaix, Villers-Notre-Dame, Villers-Saint-Amand, Ghislenghien...
, and TournaiTournaiTournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....
; - LorrainLorrain languageLorrain is a language spoken by a minority of people in Lorraine in France and in Gaume in Belgium. It is one of the Langues d'oïl. It is classified as a regional language of France, and has the recognised status of a regional language of Wallonia...
(also called Gaumais locally), in VirtonVirtonVirton is the most southerly town in Belgium and the administrative centre of a Walloon municipality and district of the same name, located in the Belgian province of Luxembourg...
; - ChampenoisChampenoisChampenois is a language spoken by a minority of people in Champagne in France and in Wallonia in Belgium. It is one of the langues d'oïl. It is classified as a regional language of France, and has the recognized status of a regional language of Wallonia....
, in Bohan; and - LuxembourgishLuxembourgish languageLuxembourgish is a High German language spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 320,000 people worldwide speak Luxembourgish.-Language family:...
, in Arlon and MartelangeMartelangeMartelange is a Walloon municipality of Belgium located in the province of Luxembourg....
.
The Picard, Lorrain and Champenois dialects spoken in Wallonia are sometimes also referred to as "Walloon", which may lead to confusion.
Language family
Walloon is distinguished from other languages in the langue d'oïl family both by archaism coming from Latin and by its significant borrowing from Germanic languages, as expressed in its phonetics, its lexiconLexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
, and its grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
. At the same time, Walloon phonetics are singularly conservative: the language has stayed fairly close to the form it took during the High Middle Ages
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....
.
Phonetics and phonology
- Latin [ka] and [g + e, i, a] gave Walloon affricate phonemes spelled "tch" (as in cherry) and "dj" (as in joke): vatche (vs. French vache = cow), djambe (Fr. jambe = leg).
- Latin [s] persisted in clusters: spene (Fr. épine = thorn), fistu (wisp of straw), mwaîsse (Fr. maître = master), fiesse (Fr. fête = party), tchestea (Fr. château = castle),…
- Voiced consonants at the end of words are always unvoiced: rodje (red) is pronounced exactly as rotche (rock).
- Nasal vowelNasal vowelA nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the velum so that air escapes both through nose as well as the mouth. By contrast, oral vowels are ordinary vowels without this nasalisation...
s may be followed by nasal consonants, as in djonne (young), crinme (cream), mannet (dirty), etc. - Vowel lengthVowel lengthIn linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
has a phonological value. It allows to distinguish e.g. cu (ass) and cû (cooked), i l' hosse (he cradles her) and i l' hôsse (he increases it), messe (mass) and mêsse (master), etc.
Morphology
- The plural feminine adjectives before the noun take an unstressed ending "-ès" (except in the Ardenne dialect): compare li djaene foye (the yellow leaf) and les djaenès foyes (the yellow leaves).
- There is no gender difference in definite articles and possessives (except in the Ardenne dialect): compare Walloon li vweteure (the car, feminine) and li cir (the sky, masculine), with French la voiture but le ciel; Walloon has si coir (his/her body, masculine) and si finiesse (his/her window, feminine) while French has son corps but sa fenêtre.
Lexicon
- Walloon has a few Latin remnants which have disappeared from neighboring Romance languages, e.g. compare Walloon dispierter (to awake) to SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
despertar (same meaning) or RomanianRomanian languageRomanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
deștepta (same meaning). - The most distinctive feature is its number of borrowings from Germanic languages (Dutch and German dialects): compare Walloon flåwe to today's Dutch flauw (weak). Other common borrowings, among hundreds of others, are dringuele (tip; Dutch drinkgeld), crole (curl; Dutch krul), spiter (to spatter; same root as the English to spit, or German spützen; Dutch spuwen), li sprewe (the starlingStarlingStarlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name "Sturnidae" comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent...
; Dutch spreeuw, or German Sperling).
Syntax
- The adjective is often placed before the noun: compare Walloon on foirt ome (a strong man) with French un homme fort; ene blanke måjhon (a white house) and French une maison blanche.
- A borrowing from Germanic languages: the construction Cwè çki c'est di ça po ene fleur? (what kind of flower is this?) can be compared word to word to German Was ist das für eine Blume? and Dutch Wat is dat voor een bloem?, as opposed to standard French Quelle sorte de fleur est-ce? or (colloquially) Quelle sorte de fleur est-ce que c'est?.
History
Louis Remacle
Louis Remacle was a linguistics professor at the University of Liège. He made substantial contributions in the study of the Walloon language, showing that numerous developments considered typical of Walloon appeared between the 8th and 12th centuries...
has shown that a good number of the developments that we now consider typical of Walloon appeared between the 8th and 12th centuries. Walloon "had a clearly defined identity from the beginning of the 13th century". In any case, linguistic texts from the time do not mention the language, although they mention others in the langue d'oïl family, such as Picard
Picard language
Picard is a language closely related to French, and as such is one of the larger group of Romance languages. It is spoken in two regions in the far north of France – Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy – and in parts of the Belgian region of Wallonia, the district of Tournai and a part of...
and Lorrain
Lorrain language
Lorrain is a language spoken by a minority of people in Lorraine in France and in Gaume in Belgium. It is one of the Langues d'oïl. It is classified as a regional language of France, and has the recognised status of a regional language of Wallonia...
. During the 15th century, scribes in the region called the language "Roman" when they needed to distinguish it. It is not until the beginning of the 16th century that first occurrence of the word "Walloon" appeared in the current linguistic sense. In 1510 or 1511, Jean Lemaire de Belges
Jean Lemaire de Belges
Jean Lemaire de Belges was a Walloon poet and historian who lived primarily in France.He was born in Hainaut , the godson and possibly a nephew of Jean Molinet, and spent some time with him at Valenciennes, where the elder writer held a kind of academy of poetry. Lemaire in his first poems calls...
made the connection between Rommand to Vualon:
The word "Walloon" thus came closer to its current meaning: the vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
of the Roman part of the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
. One might say that the period which saw the establishment of the unifying supremacy of the Burgundians
Burgundians
The Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe...
in the Walloon country was a turning-point in their linguistic history. The crystallization of a Walloon identity, as opposed to that of the thiois (i.e. Dutch-speaking) regions of the Low Countries, established "Walloon" as a word for designating its people. Somewhat later, the vernacular of these people became more clearly distinct from central French and other neighbouring langues d'oïl, prompting the abandonment of the vague term "Roman" as a linguistic, ethnic, and political designator for "Walloon".
Also at this time, following the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts
Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts
The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts is an extensive piece of reform legislation signed into law by Francis I of France on August 10, 1539 in the city of Villers-Cotterêts....
in 1539, the French language replaced Latin for all administrative purposes in France. Established as the academic language, French became the object of a political effort at normalization; La Pléiade
La Pléiade
The Pléiade is the name given to a group of 16th-century French Renaissance poets whose principal members were Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay and Jean-Antoine de Baïf. The name was a reference to another literary group, the original Alexandrian Pleiad of seven Alexandrian poets and...
posited the view that when two languages of the same language family
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
coexist, each can be defined only in opposition to the other. Around the year 1600, the French writing system became dominant in the Wallonia. From this time, too, dates a tradition of texts written in a language marked by traces of spoken Walloon. The written language of the preceding centuries, scripta, was a composite language with some Walloon characteristics but it did not attempt to be a systematic reproduction of the spoken language.
Walloon society and culture
Legally, Walloon has been recognized since 1990 by the French Community of Belgium
French Community of Belgium
The French Community of Belgium is one of the three official communities in Belgium along with the Flemish Community and the German speaking Community. Although its name could suggest that it is a community of French citizens in Belgium, it is not...
, the cultural authority of Wallonia, as an "indigenous regional language" which must be studied in schools and encouraged. The Walloon cultural movement includes the Union Culturelle Wallonne, an organization of over 200 amateur theatre circles, writers' groups, and school councils. About a dozen Walloon magazines publish regularly. The Société de Langue et de Littérature Wallonne, founded in 1856, promotes Walloon literature and the study (dialectology
Dialectology
Dialectology is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their associated features...
, etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
, etc.) of the regional Roman languages of Wallonia. There is a difference between the Walloon culture, according to the Manifesto for Walloon culture
Manifesto for Walloon culture
The Manifesto for Walloon Culture , was published in Liège on 15 September 1983 and signed ‘by seventy-five key figures in artistic, journalistic and university circles’ of Wallonia....
, and the Wallon language (even if the latter is a part of the culture).
Literature
Walloon literature (i.e. in Walloon, the regional language, not French) has been printed since the 16th century, or at least since the beginning of the 17th century. It had its "golden age" during the peak of the Flemish immigration to WalloniaFlemish immigration to Wallonia
Flemish immigration to Wallonia was an important phenomenon in the History of Belgium. Kas Deprez wrote : Flanders was poor and backward in the 19th century. It hardly took part in the first industrial revolution...
in the 19th century: "That period saw an efflorescence of Walloon literature, plays and poems primarily,and the founding of many theaters and periodicals."
The New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
holds a large collection of literary works in Walloon, quite possibly the largest outside Belgium, and its holdings are representative of the output. Out of nearly a thousand works, twenty-six were published before 1880. Thereafter the numbers rise gradually year by year, reaching a peak of sixty-nine in 1903. After that, publications in Walloon fell markedly, to eleven in 1913. Yves Quairiaux counted 4800 plays for 1860–1914, published or not. In this period, plays were almost the only popular entertainment in Wallonia. The Walloon-language theatre remains popular in the region; theatre is flourishing with more than 200 non-professional companies playing in the cities and villages of Wallonia for an audience of over 200,000 each year.
During the 19th-century renaissance of Walloon-language literature, several authors adapted versions of Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today...
to the racy speech (and subject matter) of Liège. They included Charles Duvivier (in 1842); Joseph Lamaye (1845); and the team of Jean-Joseph Dehin (1847, 1851-2) and François Bailleux (1851–67), who covered books I-VI. Adaptations into other dialects were made by Charles Letellier (Mons, 1842) and Charles Wérotte (Namur, 1844). Decades later, Léon Bernus published some hundred imitations of La Fontaine in the dialect of Charleroi (1872); he was followed during the 1880s by Joseph Dufrane, writing in the Borinage dialect under the pen-name Bosquètia. In the 20th century, Joseph Houziaux (1946) published a selection of 50 fables in the Condroz dialect. The motive among Walloon speakers in both France and Belgium was to assert regional identity against the growing centralism and encroachment of the language of the capital, on what had until then been predominantly monoglot areas.
There are links between French literature and Walloon literature. For instance, the writer Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau was a French poet and novelist and the co-founder of Ouvroir de littérature potentielle .-Biography:Born in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Queneau was the only child of Auguste Queneau and Joséphine Mignot...
set the publication of a Walloon Poets' anthology for Editions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard is one of the leading French publishers of books. The Guardian has described it as having "the best backlist in the world". In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1418 titles....
. Ubu roi
Ubu Roi
Ubu Roi is a play by Alfred Jarry, premiered in 1896. It is a precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd and Surrealism. It is the first of three stylised burlesques in which Jarry satirises power, greed, and their evil practices — in particular the propensity of the complacent bourgeois to abuse the...
was translated into Walloon by André Blavier, an important pataphysician of Verviers
Verviers
Verviers is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. The Verviers municipality includes the old communes of Ensival, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Heusy...
, and friend of Queneau, for the new and important Puppet theater of Liège of Jacques Ancion. The Al Botroûle theater operated "as the umbilical cord" in Walloon, indicating a desire to return to the source. Jacques Ancion also wanted to develop a regular adult audience. "From the 19th century he included the Walloon play Tati l'Pèriquî by E. Remouchamps and the avant-garde 'Ubu roi
Ubu Roi
Ubu Roi is a play by Alfred Jarry, premiered in 1896. It is a precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd and Surrealism. It is the first of three stylised burlesques in which Jarry satirises power, greed, and their evil practices — in particular the propensity of the complacent bourgeois to abuse the...
' by A.Jarry
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....
." The scholar Jean-Marie Klinkenberg writes, "[T]he dialectal culture is no more a sign of attachment to the past but a way to participate to a new synthesis".
Walloon is also being used in popular song. The most well-known singer in Walloon in present-day Wallonia is William Dunker (b. 15 March 1959).
Example phrases
| Walloon | French | Dutch | English | Phonetic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walon | Wallon | Waals | Walloon | [walɔ̃] |
| Diè wåde | Adieu | Vaarwel | God keep you / Goodbye / Farewell | [djɛ woːt] / [djɛ wɔːt] |
| Bondjoû | Bonjour | Goedendag | Good day / Hello | [bɔ̃dʒuː] |
| A | Salut | Hoi | Hi (often followed by another expression) | [a] |
| A rvey | Au revoir | Tot ziens | Goodbye | [arvɛj] |
| Cmint dit-st on | Comment dit-on | Hoe zegt men | How does one say / How do you say | [kmɛ̃ dɪstɔ̃] |
| Cmint daloz? | Comment allez-vous? | Hoe gaat het? | How are you? | [kmɛ̃ dalɔ] |
| Dji n' sais nén | Je ne sais pas | Ik weet het niet | I don't know | [dʒɪn sɛː nɛ̃ ] / [dʒɪn se nẽ] |
See also
- WalloonsWalloonsWalloons are a French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Walloons are a distinctive community within Belgium, important historical and anthropological criteria bind Walloons to the French people. More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon...
– the people - Wallonia – the region
- Belgian FrenchBelgian FrenchBelgian French is the variety of French spoken mainly in the French Community of Belgium, alongside related minority regional languages such as Walloon, Picard, Champenois and Gaumais. The French spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, which were formerly Belgian...
– French as spoken in Belgium - DoncolsDoncolsDoncols is a village in the commune of Winseler, in north-western Luxembourg.-Historical and linguistic backgrounds:Doncols is known as an historically Walloon-speaking village, similarly to Sonlez. A. Atten's 'Li leu d' Doncô' is considered the sole instance of a Walloon language text to have...
; SonlezSonlez-Location and population:It is situated in the commune of Winseler, in north-western Luxembourg. , the village has a population of 40.-Linguistic features:...
: formerly Walloon-speaking villages in the Grand Duchy of LuxembourgLuxembourgLuxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
. - Manifesto for Walloon cultureManifesto for Walloon cultureThe Manifesto for Walloon Culture , was published in Liège on 15 September 1983 and signed ‘by seventy-five key figures in artistic, journalistic and university circles’ of Wallonia....
External links
- Web page of Common Written Walloon
- Comprehensive grammar of Walloon (in French and under GFDL)
- Walloon Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh list appendix)
- phonetic system of Walloon
- Wallon-English Gastronomy Dictionary
- Union Culturelle Wallonne
- Ethnologue report for Walloon
- L'Arsouye, cyber-gazette wallonne
- online dictionary