Often considered to be a simple deformation of the French, the picard is a real language, considered long time as superior of the literary point of view the “francis” of the king.
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Those who are subscribed to this letter, you know I have a weakness for languages escagassées, those for whom the History has not been gentle and that, the ignorance helping, have fallen into a form of neglect and disinterest. Also, it is a piece of choice that I present to you this week as the picard, it is often ignored, is not only a language of France, recognized as such by the State, but was also an administrative language, and above all a great literary language.
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It is very simple : at the end of the Middle Ages, many consider it to be superior to other dialects of oil, and in particular to that of the king. “Dialect as used in literature, law, economics, and diplomacy, picard is not a mere geographic variation and regional, but one of the forms of the French fundamental in the acts of public writing”, write and Joëlle Ducos and Olivier Sutet in their “What do I know?”, devoted to the old French. It is picard that Adam de la Halle, Jean Froissart, Jehan Bodel composed of large texts, yet read today. Only here it is : in the textbooks, you don’t learn these things. Or so it is reported that their works are written in “old French”, without ever specifying their regional origin.
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As with any language, the picard is distinguished by certain characteristics. Thus, while the Latin words starting with the sound [k] followed by [a] vote now ch in French, the picard, himself, did not follow this path. Cantare, for example, has given sing in French, but canter in picard. Zero “distortion of French”, here, but a different evolution from latin, like Italian, Portuguese, catalan or Romanian.
Another difference : while a [k] + [i] latin produced in French the sound [s], he came to ch in picard : the former “cestui” of the French language, become that, corresponds to “chti” in picard. It is also the origin of the famous “chti”, knowing that, contrary to what is sometimes thought, the ch’ti is not a different language, but the commonly used name of picard in the north of the region. “”The territory of this language corresponds to the region Hauts-de-France, with the exception of the south of the Oise and of the Aisne and the arrondissement of Dunkirk, as well as the greater part of the province of Hainaut in Belgium,” says the linguist Alain Dawson, a specialist of the subject.
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geographical Proximity requires, the picard has provided a certain number of words to the French language as a cabaret, or wharf, or even survivor, which has replaced the former escaped, after a stroke of firedamp in a mine in the Pas-de-Calais, who had caused the death of 1100 people in 1906. In their articles, the special envoys of the parisian press have used the form in picardy, who has eventually won through.
picard, unfortunately, is now ill, and even been called a “seriously endangered” by Unesco. How much does it have speakers ? No one knows anything. The State, which prefers not to quantify the effects of its policy in this area, has not conducted investigation on the subject since… 1999. At the time, the people who are able to speak or understand the language were several hundreds of thousands, but more often in the elderly. However, when talking about picard’s “no use” to succeed in his studies or find a job, transmission in families is fading. And, as we have said, the national Education refuses to teach it.
More than 100 000 copies for Asterix in picard
what is pessimistic ? Yes, of course. Except that a certain renewal is day. The first album of the adventures of Asterix in picard has exceeded 100 000 copies”, just like the different editions of the method Assimil. “The theatre shows, storytelling and songs in picard are numerous and are packed room, full Olivier Engelaere, director of the regional agency of language in picardy, which actively supports all of these artists. And it is not just a question of reversals of pieces of the past : a new wave of contemporary writers provides each year, new texts, which found their audience, including in literature.”
A scientific work is also undertaken. A commission of neology and terminology has been created ; a grammar is in preparation ; the culture picardy is taught at the university, in Amiens, as at Lille and, as a symbol, a premierDictionnaire of the picard fundamental will come out on 25 may (under the direction of Alain Dawson and Lyudmila Smirnova). All this constitutes the basis for proceeding to the next step : create and multiply a language course, whether for children or adults. Provided, of course, to have a minimum of means. For the moment, the regional agency for the language, picard only works with three full-time equivalents, funded 90% by the local authorities, first and foremost, the Region Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand. The State, offers royally 20 000 euros.
With that, no doubt, the picard is saved.
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