Aostan French

Aostan French (French: français valdôtain) is the variety of French spoken in the Aosta Valley, Italy.

History

The Aosta Valley was the first government authority to adopt Modern French as working language in 1536, three years before France itself.[1] French has been the official language of the Aosta Valley since 1561, when it replaced Latin.[2] In the 1861 census, the first held after the unification of Italy, 93% declared being Francophone; in 1921, the last census with a question about language found that 88% of the population was French-speaking.[3] The suppression of all French-language schools and institutions and violence against French speakers during the forceful Italianisation campaign of the Fascist government irretrievably damaged the status of French in the region. Italian and French are nowadays the region's official languages[4] and are used for the regional government's acts and laws, though Italian is much more widely spoken in everyday life, and French is mostly used by intellectuals and within cultural events. Though French was re-introduced as an official language after World War II, by 2003 just 0.99% reported speaking standard French natively. French remains widely known as a second language, but it is no longer spoken as part of daily life.[5] In 2001, 75.41% of the population of Aosta Valley was French-speaking, 96.01% declared to know Italian, 55.77% Franco-Provençal, and 50.53% all of them.[6] School education is delivered equally in both Italian and French so that everyone who went to school in Aosta Valley can speak French to at least at a medium-high level.

Influences

Aostan French is characterized by terms adopted from the patois francoprovençal valdôtain and sometimes from Italian. In this sense, it is quite similar to Savoyard dialect and to valaisan dialect as spoken in Valais.[7]

Lexicon

Aostan French Standard French
AdretRight (sunny) slope of Doire baltée
ApeTricycle à moteur
Après-dinéeAprès-midi
ArpianGardien de vaches à l'alpage
ArtsonCoffre
AssesseurAdjoint du maire
BagueChose
BalosseLourdaud
BauzeTonneau de vin
BorneTrou
BottesChaussures
BriqueLieu escarpé
BriquerCasser
CayonPorc
ChiquetPetit verre d'alcool
ChoppeGrève
CrotteCave
ChoseFiancé(e)
CouisseTourmente de neige
DérochéTombé en ruines
Contre-nuitCrépuscule
EnversLeft slope of Doire baltée
FlouOdeur
FruitierFromager
Gant de ParisPréservatif
Garde-villeAgent de police
GelinePoule
HivernieuxLogement de montagne
JaserParler
Jouer (se)S'amuser
Aostan French Standard French
JubeVeste
JunteAdministrative council
LèzeCheminée
Maison communaleMairie
MayenSeconde maison en haute montagne
MécouleyGâteau
ModonBâton
PaquetBallot de foin
PatatePomme de terre
PianinCelui qui habite la plaine
PoëlleCuisine
PointronRocher pointu
QuitterLaisser
RabadanPersonne de peu de valeur
RabeilleurRebouteux, guérisseur traditionnel
RégentEnseignant
SavaterDonner des coups
SolanPlancher
SongeonSommet
SouperRepas du soir
SyndicMaire
TabaquerieBureau de tabacs
TabeillonNotaire
TopiéTreille
TrolietteTourteau, pain de noix
TsapoterTailler le bois
TsavonTête de bétail
VagnerSemer
VerneAulne
Bilingual Aostan ID.

Numerals

Unlike standard French of France, Aostan French uses:

Meals

Bibliography

See also

Notes

  1. Septante
  2. Huitante
  3. Nonante

References

  1. Pays d'Aoste - Histoire
  2. Langue et littérature en Vallée d’Aoste au XVIe siècle, Système Valdôtain des Bibliothèques.
  3. Une Vallée d’Aoste bilingue dans une Europe plurilingue, Fondation Émile Chanoux.
  4. Statut spécial de la Vallée d'Aoste, Article 38, Title VI, Weblink Archived January 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine., access date: 5-11-2012.
  5. OIF 2014, p. 12.
  6. Assessorat de l'éducation et la culture de la région autonome Vallée d'Aoste - Département de la surintendance des écoles, Profil de la politique linguistique éducative, Le Château éd., 2009, p. 20.
  7. Patoisvda.org : géographie du francoprovençal.
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