
Monégasque (, ; , ; ) is the
variety of
Ligurian spoken in
Monaco
Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
. It is closely related to the
Ligurian dialects spoken in Ventimiglia and is considered a national language of Monaco, though it is not the official language of the country, which is
French. Monégasque has been officially taught in the schools of Monaco since 1972 and was made a compulsory subject in 1976, but is the
native language
A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...
of only a handful of people.
History
In 1191, the
Republic of Genoa
The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Maritime republics, maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italy, Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in ...
took possession of Monaco and began settling in 1215. These Genoese settlers brought their
vernacular language
Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken form of language, particularly when perceived as having lower social status or less prestige than standard language, which is more codified, institutionally promoted, literary, or formal. More n ...
with them which would develop into Monégasque. Prior to the Genoese settlers, the main language of the region was
Provençal, as spoken in the nearby localities of
Menton
Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...
and
Roquebrune. By 1355, Menton, Roquebrune, and Monaco were under the political union of the
Grimaldis, but despite this, there was a linguistic divide as the primary language of Monaco was Ligurian. Over time Monégasque began to split from the Genoese vernacular as Monaco came under the political influence of foreign powers, namely taking influences from French and Italian, but also briefly from Spanish and Catalan as Monaco had been under Spanish occupation for over a hundred years, ending in 1641.
Afterwards, Monaco would be under French protection and prior to the
French Revolution, Italian and Monégasque were the primary languages of the political elite, administration, clergy and natives. French would however begin to become a major influence as France instituted bilingual government. At this time the population of Monaco was mainly made up of immigrants and descendants from Genoa and other parts of
Liguria
Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...
, and though Monégasque was not written, it was openly spoken and passed down through families by oral tradition. People coming in from the Italian city-states were considered closer neighbours than those coming in from Grimaldi-led cities of Menton and Roquebrune, who were considered foreigners despite their union with Monaco.
In 1793, Monaco was annexed by France and by 1805, decrees from
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
, Emperor of the French, imposed French language instruction and limited the use of other languages. The Grimaldis reestablished a sovereign principality in 1814, but maintained French as the only official language though Italian and Monégasque remained national languages. In 1815,
Prince Honoré IV decreed French and Italian equal status in education, though Italian gradually declined as the nearby regions became more French, noticeably in 1860 with the
French annexation of Nice. Monégasque was then demoted to 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 ...
," and barred from being taught or spoken in public and religious schools until 1976, in a similar manner to that of
Occitan Occitan may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain.
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France.
* Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...
in France.
The first written traces of Monégasque appear between 1721 and 1729 in the correspondence of
Antonio I with his daughter
Louise Hippolyte, as well as in a few notarial deeds, but the language remained above all, oral. From 1860, the population of
Monaco City
Monaco City ( ; ) is the southcentral ward in the Principality of Monaco. Located on a headland that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, it is nicknamed The Rock (; ). The name "Monaco City" is misleading: it is not itself a city, but a histori ...
rose from 1,200 inhabitants in 1860 to 22,000 in 1880; Monégasque found itself threatened by the massive influx of foreign workers and by the development of a pidgin mixing
Provençal,
Piedmontese
Piedmontese ( ; autonym: or ; ) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, a region of Northwest Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regarded as an Italian ...
,
Corsican,
French, and
Ligurian. At that time, Monégasque was banned from school and parents encouraged their children to speak
French. In 1927,
Louis Notari undertook the written codification of the language, drawing inspiration from the writing of
French and
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
. The first Monegasque grammar and
dictionary
A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...
appeared in 1960 and 1963.
By 1924, Monégasque was close to extinction if not for the efforts of the National Committee of Monégasque Traditions (''Cumitáu Naçiunale d'ë Tradiçiúe Munegasche''). In 1927,
Louis Notari published the ''A Legenda de Santa Devota,'' the first literary work in Monégasque. This was soon followed by all kinds of literature, such as poetry, stories, and plays being written in Monégasque attracting more attention to the language. In 1972, the first class in Monégasque was taught by clergymen, Georges Franzi, with support from the
Félibrige, an Occitan language association, and by 1976, Monégasque was made a compulsory subject in public and private primary education thanks to an initiative by the government. This was later expanded in 1979 and 1989 to make it a compulsory subject in secondary education and as an optional subject for the baccalaureate. In 1982,
Prince Rainier III created a sovereign ordinance that established the Commission for the Monégasque Language, which is responsible for the education and study of the language.
Classification
Monégasque shares many features with the
Genoese dialect and is closely related to the
dialect of Ventimiglia. Despite earlier attempts to link it to Occitan, Monégasque is a Ligurian dialect with Occitan contributions while the nearby
Menton dialect is an Occitan dialect with Ligurian features.
Monégasque, like all other Ligurian language variants, is derived directly from the
Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...
of what is now northwestern Italy and southeastern France and has some influence in vocabulary, morphology and syntax from French and related
Gallo-Romance languages
The Gallo-Romance branch of the Romance languages includes in the narrowest sense the ''langues d'oïl'' and Franco-Provençal. However, other definitions are far broader and variously encompass the Occitan or Occitano-Romance, Gallo-Italic o ...
.
Speakers
The sole official language of Monaco is French as stated in its
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
with Monégasque being used informally. As Monégasques are only a minority in Monaco, the language was threatened with extinction in the 1970s. In a nation with 130 different nationalities, Monégasque struggles in a time of globalisation. Despite being compulsory in education, it is not common for students in Monaco to use it outside the classroom or to take their
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in the Monégasque option. Adult education and lessons to foreign residents are carried out and there is an annual language competition for schoolchildren over which the Prince presides.
Literature
Beginning with
Louis Notari’s ''A Legenda de Santa Devota'', any semblance of written Monégasque was usually referred to as
Ligurian,
Genoese,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, and sometimes even
French.
Other authors in Monégasque include:
*
Louis Barral, curator of the
Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology,
lexicographer
Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines:
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries.
* The ...
of the Monégasque dictionary, and author of science fiction.
* , co-author of the dictionary with Barral.
* Robert Boisson, founder of the Academy of Dialectal Languages () and
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
of works such as ''Vibrations intérieures – Harmonies Humaines.''
*
Louis Frolla,
clergyman
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
and grammarian of Monégasque.
* teacher of Monégasque and activist for education in Monégasque.
* , actor, artist, and author of numerous plays in Monégasque.
*
Jules Soccal, sailor and author of ''Le Vocabulaire monégasque de la marine et de la mer'', a description of Monégasque sea
jargon
Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside ...
.
Orthography
The Monégasque
alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...
comprises 23 letters: seventeen consonants and nine vowels, plus the letter "k" at the initial of some loanwords (such as kaki̍). "J" and "H" are never found at the beginning of a word. In Monégasque, each vowel is pronounced separately. Monégasque orthography generally follows
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
principles, with a few unique graphemes and features borrowed from French:
Notes:
# Similar to Italian
hard and soft C
In the Latin-based orthographies of many European languages, including English, a distinction between hard and soft occurs in which represents two distinct phonemes. The sound of a hard often precedes the non-front vowels , and , and is th ...
. /k/ before ''a, o, u, ü,'' and ''ch''.
# Similar to Italian
hard and soft G
In the Latin-based orthographies of many European languages, the letter is used in different contexts to represent two distinct phonemes that in English are called hard and soft . The sound of a hard (which often precedes the non-front vow ...
. before ''e'' and ''i''.
# ''H'' is used like it is in Italian, after ''C'' and ''G'' for ''Ch'' /k/ and ''Gh'' /g/.
# Pronounced as in French, although it may be intervocalic.
# /ʃ/ before ''t, s'', and ''p''. /z/ in between vowels.
# /ʃ/ before ''e'' or ''i''.
Diphthongs
Grammar
Samples
Below is an excerpt from the
Monégasque national anthem, written by
Louis Notari. In addition, there is an older French version of the anthem; its lyrics have a different meaning. The choice between the two forms is generally subject to the occasion and the circumstance.
The following is a Monégasque rendering of the
Hail Mary
The Hail Mary or Ave Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as the Angelic or Angelical Salutation, is a traditional Catholic prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the ...
:
See also
*
Languages of Monaco
The official language of Monaco is French language, French. Monégasque dialect, Monégasque, a variety of Ligurian language, Ligurian, is the national language of the Monégasque people. However, it is the primary language of very few people. Th ...
*
Languages of Europe
There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a demographics of Europe, total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European lang ...
*
Languages of Italy
The languages of Italy include Italian language, Italian, which serves as the country's national language, in its standard and Regional Italian, regional forms, as well as numerous local and regional languages, most of which, like Italian, ...
References
External links
Poems read in MonegasqueGrammaire MonégasqueNational Committee of Monégasque TraditionsDictionnaire Français - Monégasque
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monegasque
Ligurian language (Romance)
Languages of Monaco
Culture of Monaco
Endangered Romance languages
City colloquials