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Niçard dialect

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Niçard
Nissart/Niçart
Niçois/Nizzardo
Pronunciation[niˈsaʀt]
Native to France
 Monaco
RegionCounty of Nice, Monaco
Latin
Official status
Regulated byConselh de la Lenga Occitana (norme classique) / Félibrige (norme mistralienne)
Language codes
ISO 639-1oc
ISO 639-2oci
ISO 639-3oci

Niçard (Classical orthography), Nissart/Niçart (Mistralian orthography), Niçois (French), or Nizzardo (Italian) is a distinct subdialect of the Occitan language (Provençal dialect). It is considered by some scholars to have been a Ligurian language spoken prior to the 19th C[1] mainly in the city of Nice (Niçard: Niça/Nissa) and in the historical County of Nice (the main part of the current French département of Alpes-Maritimes). Niçard is also traditionally spoken in Monaco, in addition to Monégasque.

Even if most residents of Nice and its region do not speak Niçard, and those who do are bilingual in French, there it is actually a revival of the use of the old "Nissart". The local television news is presented in Niçard (with French subtitles) and street signs in the old town of Nice are written in the dialect. Lately there has been a Niçard revival, and it is popularly studied at the University of Nice. The Niçard song Nissa La Bella is often regarded as the "national anthem" of Nice.

Writing System

Niçard is written using two different forms:

  • Classical orthography. Preferring the native traditions of the language, this form was developed by Robert Lafont (Phonétique et graphie du provençal, 1951; L'ortografia occitana, lo provençau, 1972) and Jean-Pierre Baquié (Empari lo niçard, 1984). It is regulated by the Conselh de la Lenga Occitana.
  • Mistralian orthography. Closer to written French, this form owes its existence to the historic joining of the County of Nice to France in 1860. It is codified by Félibrige (although there also exists an Acadèmia Nissarda).
  • An Italian orthography also existed but was abandoned when Nice joined the French empire in 1861 (but was reinstated briefly in 1942/3 when Italy occupied and administered the city).
Orthography Comparison (from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
English Classical Mistralian
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Toti li personas naisson liuri e egali en dignitat e en drech. Son dotadi de rason e de consciéncia e li cau agir entre eli emb un esperit de frairesa. Touti li persouna naisson libri e egali en dignità e en drech. Soun doutadi de rasoun e de counsciència e li cau agì entre eli em' un esperit de frairessa.

Occitan and Ligurian influences

Standard Occitan recognises regional differences. It has been written that Niçard has kept some of the oldest forms of Occitan, other dialects (such as Provençal) having been more "frenchified" by their history.

The original dialect of "Nissa la Bella" (as was called Nice) has strong ties with Monegasque (Ligurian), due to the geographical proximity of the two languages and showed strong influences of the Ligurian language until the first half of the XIX century. Giuseppe Garibaldi, born in Nice, defined his "Nizzardo" as an Italian dialect with very strong influences from the Occitan and French, and - even for this reason - promoted the union of Nice to the Kingdom of Italy. Even today some scholars (like the German Werner Forner, the French Jean-Philippe Dalbera and the Italian Giulia Petracco Sicardi) agree that the Niçard has some characteristics (phonetical, lessical and morfological) that are tipical of the western Ligurian language.

The French scholar Bernard Cerquiglini wrote in his book about the languages of France about the actual existence of a ligurian minority in Tende, Roquebrune and Menton, a remnant of a bigger medioeval "ligurian" area that included Nice and most of the coastal County of Nice.Cerquiglini pinpoints in his Les langues de France the actual existence of a ligurian minority in the Roya Valley (near Tende), in the westernmost part of the County of Nice.

References

  1. ^ Beyond Boundaries: Language and Identity in Contemporary Europe, Chapter Seven

Bibliography

  • ANDREWS James Bruyn (1875) Essai de grammaire du dialecte mentonnais avec quelques contes, chansons et musique du pays, Nice: no name [re-ed. 1978, 1981, Menton: Société d’Art et d’Histoire du Mentonnais]
  • ANDREWS James Bruyn (1877) Vocabulaire français-mentonnais, Nice: no name [re-ed. 1977, Marseilles: Lafitte Reprints]
  • BAQUIÉ Joan-Pèire (1987) (collab. Andrieu SAISSI) Empari lo niçard / Apreni lo provençau, Nice: CRDP Nice / CDDP Alpes Maritimes
  • BEC Pierre (1970-71) (collab. Octave NANDRIS, Žarko MULJAČIĆ), Manuel pratique de philologie romane, Paris: Picard, 2 vol.
  • BLAQUIÈRA J. (no date, 1990's) Dictionnaire français-nissart, langue d'oc, dialecte niçois, self-edited
  • CALVINO Jean-Baptiste (1905) Nouveau dictionnaire niçois-français, Nice: Imprimerie des Alpes Maritimes [re-ed. 1993 with the following title: Dictionnaire niçois-français, français-niçois, Nimes: Lacour]
  • CARLES (Père) Pietro (1866) Piccolo vocabolario nizzardo-italiano, Nice
  • CARLES (Père) Pietro (1868) Piccolo vocabolario italiano-nizzardo, Nice
  • CASTELLANA Georges (1947) Dictionnaire niçois-français [re-ed. 2001, Nice: Serre]
  • CASTELLANA Georges (1952) Dictionnaire français-niçois [re-ed. 2001, Nice: Serre]
  • CLAPIÉ Jaume, & BAQUIÉ Joan Pèire (2003) Pichin lèxico ilustrat, petit lexique illustré, niçard-françés, français-niçois, Nice: Serre
  • COMPAN André (1965) Grammaire niçoise [re-ed. 1981, Nice: Serre]
  • COMPAN André (1971) Anthologie de la littérature niçoise, coll. Biblioutèco d’istòri literàri e de critico, Toulon: L’Astrado
  • DALBERA Jean-Philippe (1984) Les parlers des Alpes Maritimes: étude comparative, essai de reconstruction [PhD thesis], Toulouse: Université de Toulouse 2 [ed. 1994, London: Association Internationale d’Études Occitanes]
  • ESCOLA DE BELLANDA (2002) Diciounari nissart-francés, Nice: Fédération des Associations du Comté de Nice / Serre
  • EYNAUDI Jules, & CAPPATI Louis (1931-1938) Dictionnaire de la langue niçoise, Niça: sn.
  • GASIGLIA Rémy (1984) Grammaire du nissart, sl.: Institut d’Études Niçoises
  • GAUBERTI Pierre (1994) Dictionnaire encyclopédique de la langue de Peille [Pays Niçois], Nice: Serre
  • GIORDAN Joseph (1968) Dictionnaire français-niçois: lexique complémentaire du parler de la ville de Nice et des pays environnants, sl.: sn.
  • GOURDON Marie-Louise (1997) Contribution à l’histoire de la langue occitane. Étude des systèmes graphiques pour écrire l’occitan (niçois, provençal, languedocien) de 1881 à 1919: itinéraires et travaux de A.L. Sardou, J.B. Calvino, L. Funel, A. Perbosc, P. Estieu [PdD thesis], Nice
  • LIAUTAUD René (1985) Essai de lexique français-entraunois avec correspondances en niçois, Nice: CRDP
  • MICEU Giausep (1840) Grammatica nissarda: per emparà en pòou de temp lo patouas dòou paìs, Nice: Imprimarìa de la Sossietà tipografica [re-ed. Marie-Louise GOURDON (1975) La Grammatica nissarda de Joseph Micèu: biographie, étude sur les dialectes, commentaires philologiques, Nice: imprimerie Pierotti]
  • PELLEGRINI (Abbé) (1894) Lexique niçois-français, Nice: no name
  • SARDOU Antoine Léandre, & CALVINO Jean-Baptiste (1881) Grammaire de l’idiome niçois, Nice: Visconti [re-ed. 1978, Marseilles: Laffitte Reprints]
  • SCALIERO Giuseppe (1830) Vocabolario nizzardo, Nice: no name
  • TOSCANO Reinat (1998) Gramàtica niçarda, no place: Princi Néguer

See also

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