Re: Norman French?

At 3:16 am -0400 19/10/98, Nik Taylor wrote:
>Raymond A. Brown wrote:
>> No - it's the variety of old French spoken by the Normans in the area now
>> called Normandy. It was brought to England by William the Bastard, Duke of
>> Normandy, and his followers in 1066. After defeating the English & having
>> himself crowned king of England, the language became the official language
>> of England for the next three centuries.
>
>Altho it's sometimes referred to as Anglo-Norman after 1066, since the
>Norman French of England was influenced by Anglo-Saxon.
Yes, indeed.  The English form began to differentiate from that on the
otherside of the Channel, so strictly Norman French was the dialect of
Normandy but in England one should talk of Anglo-Norman.  It was practice
of schools to teach French as spoken in England hence in Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales we have the nun who speaks French perfectly according to
the school of St.Mary-atte-Bowe (may have misremembered the name!), but
couldn't understand the French of Paris  :)
--------------------------------------------------

And at 12:11 pm +0200 19/10/98, Christophe Grandsire wrote:
>At 00:48 19/10/98 -0400, you wrote:
>>Quoth Arek Bellagio:
>>> HI all. I heard the term Norman French the other day.. and I was wondering
>>> if this was a type of 'old English' applied to French. Does anyone know? If
>>> not.. what does it mean?
>>
>>Norman French was (and is) the version of French spoken in Normandy;
>
>        So I'm speaking Norman French? (yes, I'm from Normandy).
Don't know.  I guess it depends how correct my informant was about the
survival of patois in Normandy & where you were brought up.  I guess, like
most places, the urban areas speak standrard French and any surviving
patois is to be found only in country areas.

But Grandsire is a good English word  :)

(Just kidding - I know we got it from Anglo-Norman a few centuries ago)
--------------------------------------------------------

And at 11:11 am -0400 19/10/98, John Cowan wrote:
>Raymond A. Brown wrote:
........
>>  Certainly the French patois spoken on the
>> Channel Islands were descended from Norman French.  I don't think these
>> patois are spoken any longer, tho I may be mistaken.
>
>From the Government of Jersey web site
>(http://www.jersey.gov.uk/intro5-10.html#language):
>
># French remains the official language of the Courts of the Island, but
># the use of English is permissible.  English is used exclusively in
># debates in the States chambers and legislation is drafted in English.
># Out and about one occasionally hears people speaking the local patois
># - a Norman-French dialect - but this has become increasingly rare.
>
>Still, rare is not quite dead.  Furthermore, I am willing to bet that
>French is still spoken on Herm, Sark, or Alderney.
Excellent news - thanks, John.


Ray.