Savoyard is an
Arpitan language 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 ...
family. It is spoken in some territories of the historical
Duchy of Savoy, nowadays a geographic area spanning
Savoie
Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population ...
and
Haute-Savoie
Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is Ann ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and the
Canton of Geneva
The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva (french: link=no, République et canton de Genève; frp, Rèpublica et canton de Geneva; german: Republik und Kanton Genf; it, Repubblica e Cantone di Ginevra; rm, Republica e ...
,
Switzerland. It has around 35,000 speakers today.
Some words
Several subdialects of Savoyard exist that exhibit unique features in terms of phonetics and vocabulary. This includes many words that have to do with the weather: ''bacan'' (French: ''temps mauvais''); ''coussie'' (French: ''tempête''); ''royé'' (French: ''averse''); ''ni
le'' (French: ''nuage''); ...and, the environment: ''clapia, perrier'' (French: ''éboulis''); ''égra'' (French: ''sorte d'escalier de pierre''); ''balme'' (French: ''grotte''); ''tova'' (French: ''tourbière''); and ''lanche'' (French: ''champ en pente'').
Linguistic studies
Savoyard has been the subject of detailed study at the ''Centre de dialectologie'' of the
Stendhal University,
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
, currently under the direction of
Michel Contini
Michel Contini (Cagliari, 1937) is a Sardinian, naturalized French linguist, researcher and academic.
Biography
Born in Cagliari, he completed elementary school in Oristano, middle school in Cagliari, and obtained a scientific high school dipl ...
.
See also
*
Languages of France
References
Notes
Franco-Provençal language
Languages of France
Arpitania
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