Valdôtain (;
local dialect
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administra ...
: ''Valdotèn'', ''Valdŏtèn'', ''Valdouhtan'') is a
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
of
Arpitan (
Franco-Provençal
Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a language within Gallo-Romance originally spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland and northwestern Italy.
Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is separ ...
) spoken in the
Aosta Valley
, Valdostan or Valdotainian it, Valdostano (man) it, Valdostana (woman)french: Valdôtain (man)french: Valdôtaine (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title = Official languages
, population_blank1 = Italian French
...
in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. It is commonly known as ''
patois
''Patois'' (, pl. 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 ...
'' or ''patoué''.
Diffusion
The Aosta Valley represents nowadays the only region of the
Franco-Provençal
Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a language within Gallo-Romance originally spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland and northwestern Italy.
Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is separ ...
area where this language is still widely spoken as native by all age ranges of the population.
Vocabulary examples
Several subdialects of Valdôtain exist that exhibit unique features in terms of phonetics and vocabulary.
Linguistic studies
Valdôtain has been the subject of detailed study at the
Bureau régional pour l'ethnologie et la linguistique (BREL) in
Aosta
Aosta (, , ; french: Aoste , formerly ; frp, Aoûta , ''Veulla'' or ''Ouhta'' ; lat, Augusta Praetoria Salassorum; wae, Augschtal; pms, Osta) is the principal city of Aosta Valley, a bilingual region in the Italian Alps, north-northwest of ...
as well as in the
Centre d'études francoprovençales in
Saint-Nicolas.
Music
The main modern singers and songwriters in Valdôtain are:
*
Louis de Jyaryot, from
Ayas;
*
Maura Susanna, from
Saint-Vincent;
*
Magui Bétemps, from
Valtournenche
Valtournenche (local Valdôtain: ) is a town and '' comune'' in the Aosta Valley region of north-western Italy, above the sea level. It is named after and covers most of the ''Valtournenche'', a valley on the left side of the Dora Baltea, from ...
.
The traditional Aostan songs in Valdôtain and in French form the core of the activity of the band
Trouveur valdotèn.
Poetry
Here is a selection of some of the most important poets in Valdôtain:
References
Bibliography
* Jules Brocherel, ''Le Patois et la langue française en Vallée d'Aoste'' éd. V. Attinger, Neuchâtel
* Aimé Chenal, ''Le franco-provençal valdotain. Morphologie et Syntaxe'', Aoste, Musumeci éditeur, 1986,
* Alexis Bétemps, ''La langue française en Vallée d'Aoste de 1945 à nos jours'', Milan, T.D.L.,
* Hans-Erich Keller, Études linguistiques sur les parlers valdôtains, éd. A. Francke S.A., Berne, 1958.
* Ernest Schüle, Histoire linguistique de la Vallée d’Aoste, dans "Bulletin du Centre d’études francoprovençales" n° 22, Imprimerie Valdôtaine, Aoste, 1990.
* Xavier Favre, ''Histoire linguistique de la Vallée d’Aoste'', dans "Espace, temps et culture en Vallée d’Aoste", Imprimerie Valdôtaine, Aoste, 1996.
* François-Gabriel Frutaz, ''Les origines de la langue française en Vallée d’Aoste'', Imprimerie Marguerettaz, Aoste, 1913.
* Édouard Bérard, ''La langue française dans la Vallée d’Aoste'', Aoste, 1861.
* Alexis Bétemps, ''Les Valdôtains et leur langue'', préface de Henri Armand, Imprimerie Duc, Aoste, 1979.
* Alexis Bétemps, ''Le bilinguisme en Vallée d’Aoste : problèmes et perspectives'', dans "Les minorités ethniques en Europe", par les soins de A.-L. Sanguin, l’Harmattan, Paris, 1993, pages 131-135.
* Bétemps, Alexis, ''Le francoprovençal en Vallée d’Aoste. Problèmes et prospectives'', dans ''Lingua e comunicazione simbolica nella cultura walser'', VI. Walsertreffen (6ème rencontre des Walsers), Fondazione Monti, Ausola d’Assola, 1989, p. 355-372
See also
*
Aostan French
*
Languages of Italy
The languages of Italy include Italian, which serves as the country's national language, in its standard and regional forms, as well as numerous local and regional languages, most of which, like Italian, belong to the broader Romance group ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valdotain dialect
Franco-Provençal language
Languages of Aosta Valley
Languages of Italy
Arpitania