Jersey Norman French: A Linguistic Study of an Obsolescent Dialect

Drawing on an extensive corpus of original data, this comprehensivelinguistic study of Jersey Norman French offers historical anddialectological sketches, an assessment of language planning onJersey, and an account of language change in progress. Mari CatrinJones evaluates four different types of linguistic influence foundon contemporary Jersey, including the substrate influence of JerseyNorman French on Jersey English. Jones further establishes therelevance of Jersey Norman French to the field of languageobsolescence.

This book will be of interest to postgraduates and researchersstudying varieties of French, and language obsolescence andchange.

Acknowledgements.

List of Figures.

List of Maps.

List of Tables.

1. Introduction 1

2. The Sociohistorical Setting 7

3. The Jerriais Dialect 18

4. A Sociolinguistic Profile of the Jerriais Speech Community45

5. Language Planning on Jersey 70

6. Linguistic Developments in Modern Jerriais 97

7. Lexical Erosion in Modern Jerriais 140

8. Cross–linguistic Influence on Jersey 156

9. Conclusion 181

Appendix 1. List of Informants According to Parish of Origin191

Appendix 2. Figures Illustrating Results Discussed in Chapter 7192

Notes 212

References 222

General Index 231

Index of Authors 235

Index of Languages and Dialects 238

Dr Mari Catrin Jones is lecturer in French Linguistics at the University of Cambridge and Fellow in Modern and Medieval Languages. Books published by Dr. Jones include Language Obsolescence and Revitalization: Linguistic Change in Two Sociolinguistically Contrasting Welsh Communities (1998)