Béarnese (
endonym
An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
or ; ) is the variety of
Gascon spoken in
Béarn
Béarn (; ; or ''Biarn''; or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in Southwestern France. Along with the three Northern Basque Country, ...
.
The usage of a specific name for Béarnese lies in the history of
Béarn
Béarn (; ; or ''Biarn''; or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in Southwestern France. Along with the three Northern Basque Country, ...
,
a viscounty that became a
sovereign
''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...
principality
A principality (or sometimes princedom) is a type of monarchy, monarchical state or feudalism, feudal territory ruled by a prince or princess. It can be either a sovereign state or a constituent part of a larger political entity. The term "prin ...
under
Gaston Fébus. From the middle of the 13th century until the
French Revolution, Béarnese was the institutional language of this territory. The standardised
orthography
An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis.
Most national ...
defined by the administrative and judicial acts was adopted outside the limits of Béarn, not only in a part of
Gascony
Gascony (; ) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part of the combined Province of Guyenne and Gascon ...
, but also in some
Basque territories.
The
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...
exerted an increasing influence on Béarn from the middle of the
16th century
The 16th century began with the Julian calendar, Julian year 1501 (represented by the Roman numerals MDI) and ended with either the Julian or the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian year 1600 (MDC), depending on the reckoning used (the Gregorian calend ...
, due to its annexation as a French province in 1620. The use of Béarnese as an institutional language ended with the Revolution, its use being limited to popular culture.
Cyprien Despourrins,
Xavier Navarrot and
Alexis Peyret, for example, used Béarnese in their works. From the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, the Béarnese language was standardized, particularly by
Vastin Lespy,
Simin Palay and
Jean Bouzet.
Béarnese remained the majority language among the Bearnais people in the 18th century. It was not until the second half of the 19th century that its use declined in favor of French. The French school entered into direct conflict with the use of regional languages in the last third of the nineteenth century and until the first half of the twentieth century, causing a clear decline in the transmission of Béarnais within the families from the 1950s. As a reaction, the first school was created in
Pau in 1980, allowing for the revival of its teaching. The number of speakers of Béarnais is difficult to estimate; a 2008 survey suggests that 8 to 15% of the population speaks Béarnese, depending on the definition chosen.
Definition
Name
The word Béarnese comes from the
endonym
An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
or . The term derives directly from the people of , or , who gave their name to
Béarn
Béarn (; ; or ''Biarn''; or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in Southwestern France. Along with the three Northern Basque Country, ...
. The city of the ''Venarni'',
Beneharnum, was included in
Novempopulania at the beginning of the 5th century. The origin of the name of the Béarnese has several hypotheses, one of which evokes a relationship with the
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
word which means "below". Although used from the middle of the 13th century in the administration of the principality, the use of Béarnese did not benefit from a "mystique" of the language, as in the kingdom of France. The linguistic conscience is not affirmed, the language never being named in the writings. The term "Béarnese" appears for the first time in the French language, but it is not used in the French language. The term Béarnese appears for the first time in the writings in a document of
March 1
Events Pre-1600
* 509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
* 293 – Emperor Diocleti ...
,
1533
Year 1533 ( MDXXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–March
* January 25 – King Henry VIII of England formally but secretly marries Anne Boleyn, who becomes his second queen cons ...
, the States of Béarn refuse to examine texts written in French, and require their translation into Béarnes. In
1556,
Jeanne d'Albret
Jeanne d'Albret (, Basque language, Basque: ''Joana Albretekoa''; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Joana de Labrit''; 16 November 1528 – 9 June 1572), also known as Jeanne III, was Queen of Navarre from 1555 to 1572.
Jeanne was the daughter of He ...
also gave reason to the States which claimed the exclusive use of bearnes for any pleading and writing of justice.
Arnaud de Salette is considered to be the first writer to claim a writing in in his translation of the
Genevan Psalter, composed between 1568 and 1571 and published in 1583 in
Orthez
Orthez (; ; , ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, and region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France.
It lies 40 km NW of Pau on the Southern railway to Bayonne. The town also encompasses the small village of Sai ...
.
The use of the name "Béarnese" continued in the following centuries, as with
Jean-Henri Fondeville in his eglogues of the end of the seventeenth century, who expresses: "." In the late nineteenth century, the use of the word "Béarnese" to designate the language of
Béarn
Béarn (; ; or ''Biarn''; or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in Southwestern France. Along with the three Northern Basque Country, ...
was gradually replaced by the word , with its pejorative aspect. This movement is common to the whole of
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. The use of the term patois declined from the 1980s onwards, with the revival of
regional languages
*
A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area.
Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Lang ...
. At the same time, the use of the name "
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 ...
" increased with the rise of
Occitanism. During the sociolinguistic survey commissioned by the in 2018, the people of Béarn were asked about the name they gave to their regional language. The term "Béarnese" obtained between 62 per cent and 70 per cent of the votes depending on the intercommunity concerned, compared to 19% to 31% for the term "
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 ...
", 8 to 14 per cent for "
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 ...
" and a maximum of 3 per cent for "
Gascon".
The expression "''Béarnese language''" was used as early as
Arnaud de Salette in the 16th century, "", and this use is not based on a scientific observation, but on an identity approach, in a context of rising Béarn nationalism. The expression continues to be regularly used thereafter, a use that is now historical, but still not scientific.
Bearnese whistled language
In the village of
Aas, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, shepherds maintained a
whistled language
Whistled speech is a form of speech surrogacy in which whistling is used to mimic speech. Speakers of more than 80 languages have been found to practice various degrees of whistled speech, most of them in rugged topography or dense forests, whe ...
until the 20th century. According to
Graham Robb, very few outsiders knew of the language until a 1959 TV program mentioned it. Whistles were up to 100
decibel
The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whos ...
s, and were used for communication by shepherds in the mountains and by women working in the fields. During the Nazi occupation of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the language was used to ferry refugees across the
France–Spain border.
Today the language can be learnt at the
University of Pau and the Adour region.
Geography
Linguistic area
The origin of the notion of the Béarnese language is based solely on political considerations. In the middle of the 16th century,
Béarn
Béarn (; ; or ''Biarn''; or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in Southwestern France. Along with the three Northern Basque Country, ...
vigorously defended its
sovereignty
Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...
, in an undeniable
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
. The language became an additional element of this Béarnese particularism. Thus, the linguistic area of Béarnese and the political borders of Béarn are combined. The "historical Bearn" is progressively formed in the
11th century
The 11th century is the period from 1001 (represented by the Roman numerals MI) through 1100 (MC) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the 1st century of the 2nd millennium.
In the history of Europe, this period is considered the early ...
and
12th century
The 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar.
In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and overlaps with what is often called the Golden Age' of the ...
with the addition of various territories to the "primitive Bearn". Béarn kept its borders intact until the
French Revolution. The communes of
and
Lichos form two particular cases, Esquiule being a commune of
Basque culture located in Béarn and Lichos a commune of
Béarn culture in
Soule
Soule (; Basque language, Basque: Zuberoa; Zuberoan/ Soule Basque: Xiberoa or Xiberua; ) is a former viscounty and France, French Provinces of France, province and part of the present-day Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''département in France, départ ...
. The Souletine communes of
Montory and
Osserain-Rivareyte are also considered to be Béarnese-speaking. At the time of the Revolution, about twenty
Gascon communes were integrated into the newly created department of the
Basses-Pyrénées. All of these communes are now linked to Béarn cantons and inter-municipalities, and are therefore integrated into the borders of "''modern Béarn''", so the use of the term Béarnais can be applied to these new areas. The practice of Béarnese in an institutional framework allows the formation of a Béarnese
orthography
An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis.
Most national ...
, which is used outside of Béarn from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, in
Gascon territories (
Bigorre and sometimes
Comminges
The Comminges (; Occitan language, Occitan/Gascon language, Gascon: ''Comenge'') is an ancient region of southern France in the foothills of the Pyrenees, corresponding approximately to the arrondissement of Saint-Gaudens in the departments of Fran ...
) and
Basque territories (
Soule
Soule (; Basque language, Basque: Zuberoa; Zuberoan/ Soule Basque: Xiberoa or Xiberua; ) is a former viscounty and France, French Provinces of France, province and part of the present-day Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''département in France, départ ...
,
Lower-Navarre and
Gipuzcoa).
Sociolinguistics
Béarnese is currently the most prominent variety of
Gascon. It is widely used in the normativization attempts to reach a standard Gascon and is the most likely dialect to succeed, due to the stronger cultural identity and output of this area. A 1982 survey of the inhabitants of Béarn indicated that 51% of the population can speak Béarnese, 70% understood it, and 85% were in favor of preserving the language.
[The Ethnologue on Gascon (15th edition)](_blank)
/ref> However, use of the language has declined over recent years as Béarnese is rarely transmitted to younger generations within the family. There is a revival of focus on the language which has improved the situation, though, leading children to be taught the language in school (comparable to the way Irish students are taught a standardized form of Irish).
Currently, the majority of the cultural associations consider Gascon (including Béarnese) an 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 ...
dialect. However, other authorities consider them to be distinct languages, including Jean Lafitte, publisher of Ligam-DiGam, a linguistic and lexicography review of Gascon.
A detailed sociolinguistic study presenting the current status of the language (practice and different locutors' perceptions) has been made in 2004 by B. Moreux (see Sources): the majority of native speakers have learned it orally, and tend to be older. On the other hand, the proponents for its maintenance and revival are classified into three groups: Béarnists, Gasconists and Occitanists, terms which summarize the regional focus they give respectively to their language(s) of interest: Béarn
Béarn (; ; or ''Biarn''; or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in Southwestern France. Along with the three Northern Basque Country, ...
, Gascony
Gascony (; ) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part of the combined Province of Guyenne and Gascon ...
or Occitania
Occitania is the historical region in Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasses much of the southern third of France (except ...
.
Status and recognition
Used from the middle of the 13th century
The 13th century was the century which lasted from January 1, 1201 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCI) through December 31, 1300 (MCCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar.
The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan, which stretched ...
to replace Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
in this former Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
-speaking region, Béarnese remained the institutional language of the sovereign principality of Bearn from 1347 to 1620
Events
January–March
* January 7 – Ben Jonson's play ''News from the New World Discovered in the Moon'' is given its first performance, a presentation to King James I of England. In addition to dialogue about actual observ ...
. The language was used in the administrative and judicial acts of the country. In the middle of the 16th century
The 16th century began with the Julian calendar, Julian year 1501 (represented by the Roman numerals MDI) and ended with either the Julian or the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian year 1600 (MDC), depending on the reckoning used (the Gregorian calend ...
, French also began to be used in certain acts of the Béarnaise administration. With the annexation
Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held t ...
of Béarn by the Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...
in 1620
Events
January–March
* January 7 – Ben Jonson's play ''News from the New World Discovered in the Moon'' is given its first performance, a presentation to King James I of England. In addition to dialogue about actual observ ...
, Béarnese continued to be used in the administration of the new French province, concurrently with French. Since the French Revolution, Béarnese has no official recognition. As stated in Article 2 of the 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 ...
of the Fifth French Republic
The Fifth Republic () is France's current republican system of government. It was established on 4 October 1958 by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic..
The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the Fourth Re ...
: "The language of the Republic is French", with no other place for regional or minority languages. Since the modification of the Constitution in 2008, Béarnese, as well as other regional languages, is recognized as belonging to the heritage of France. Article 75-1 states that "''regional languages belong to the heritage of France''". At the international level, Bearnais does not have an ISO 639 code, it is included in the "oc" code. The Linguistic Observatory assigns the code 51-AAA-fb to Bearnais in its Linguasphere register.
The departmental council of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon language, Gascon Occitan language, Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; ) is a Departments of France, department located in the Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the southwest corner of metropolitan ...
has set up actions to support what it calls "Béarnese/ Gascon/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 ...
", through teaching and the creation of educational and cultural content. ''Iniciativa'' is the name of the departmental plan that sets the guidelines of the language policy
Language policy is both an interdisciplinary academic field and implementation of ideas about language use.
Some scholars such as Joshua Fishman and Ofelia García consider it as part of sociolinguistics. On the other hand, other scholars such as ...
in favor of "Bearnese/ Gascon/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 ...
". The department's website is partly accessible in langue d'oc
Occitan (; ), also known by its native speakers as (; ), sometimes also referred to as Provençal, is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, as well as Spain's Val d'Aran in Catalonia; collectively, thes ...
, as well as in English, Spanish and Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
. Several Béarn communes have installed bilingual signs at the entrance to their commune, such as Bordes, Etsaut, Artix, Lacq
Lacq (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in southwestern France. On 1 January 2024, the former commune of Urdès was merged into Lacq.
It lies just northwest of the prefecture (department capital) Pau.
Economy
In mo ...
or Billère.
Literature
Concerning literature and poems, the first important book was a Béarnese translation of the Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of B ...
of David
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
by Arnaud de Salette, at the end of the 16th century, contemporary with the Gascon (Armagnac
Armagnac (, ) is a distinctive kind of brandy produced in the Armagnac (region), Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. It is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of grapes including Baco 22A, Colombard, Folle blanche and Ugni ...
dialect) translation of these Psalms by Pey de Garros Pey or PEY may refer to:
People
* José Miguel Pey de Andrade (1763–1838), Colombian statesman
* Pey de Garros (1530–1585), Occitan poet
* Víctor Pey (1915–2018), Spanish engineer, professor, and businessman
Places
* Pey, Landes, Nouvelle- ...
. Both translations were ordered by Jeanne d'Albret
Jeanne d'Albret (, Basque language, Basque: ''Joana Albretekoa''; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Joana de Labrit''; 16 November 1528 – 9 June 1572), also known as Jeanne III, was Queen of Navarre from 1555 to 1572.
Jeanne was the daughter of He ...
, queen of Navarre
Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...
and mother of Henry IV of France
Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...
, to be used at Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
churches. Henri IV was first Enric III de Navarra, the king of this independent Calvinist and Occitan-speaking state. The Béarnese dialect was his native language that he also used in letters to his subjects.
During the 17th century, the Béarnese writer Jean-Henri Fondeville (among others) composed plays such as and also his anti-Calvinist . Cyprien Despourrins is certainly one of the main 18th-century Béarnese poets; many of his poems are still Béarn's folk songs. From the 19th century we can mention poet Xavier Navarrot and also Alexis Peyret, who emigrated to Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
for political reasons where he edited his Béarnese poetry.Argentine edition of Peyret's poetry
/ref>
After the creation of the Felibrige, the Escole Gastoû Fèbus (which would become ) was created as the Béarnese part of Frédéric Mistral
Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral (; , 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was an Occitan writer and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. He received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of the fresh origina ...
's and Joseph Roumanille's academy. Simin Palay, one of its most prominent members, published a dictionary.
Noticeable representatives of modern béarnese literature include poets Roger Lapassade, and novelists Eric Gonzalès, Serge Javaloyès, and Albert Peyroutet.
See also
* Souletin dialect, a neighboring Basque dialect influenced by Béarnese phonology and vocabulary
References
Sources
* Anatole, Cristian - Lafont, Robert. ''Nouvelle histoire de la littérature occitane''. París : P.U.F., 1970.
*
*
* Moreux, B. (2004). Bearnais and Gascon today: language behavior and perception. ''The International Journal of the Sociology of Language'',169:25-62.
External links
The Ostau Bearnés
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bearnese Language
Gascon dialect
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Béarn