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Concept
Bourbonnais dialects
Summary
The Bourbonnais dialects are spoken in the historic region of Bourbonnais, located in central France and including the department of Allier the area surrounding Saint-Amand-Montrond, in southeastern Cher. This linguistic zone is located between those home to the languages of Oïl, Occitan, and Franco-Provençal.
Auvergnat
There are two indigenous languages in Bourbonnais:
An Oïl language is spoken in two thirds of Allier, north of the line Montluçon (Occitan) – Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule (Oïl) – Lapalisse (Oïl), and in the Bourbonnais part of Cher. The dialect has its origins in the Moulins, Allier area, Bourbon-l'Archambault, and Souvigny.
Occitan languages are spoken south of Montluçon and near Gannat and Vichy. These are dialects of the Occitan language of the Croissant (linguistic) in southern Bourbonnais and northern Limousin. They are on their way to be integrated into the French language. The scientific term for these idioms is Arverno-Bourbonnais, as they belong to the Auvergnat dialect linguistic zone, with a transition to the Oïl language.
In the South-East, in the area of the Montagne Bourbonnaise, the local Occitan dialect is influenced by Franco-Provençal.
Thus "Bourbonnais" is an ambiguous term: it can refer to idioms of Occitan (Bourbonnais of Oc), or to French dialects of the Bourbonnais (Bourbonnais of Oïl).
Bourbonnais dialects were submitted to a Parisian top-down approach, like all other regional languages in France. Besides, the presence of Oïl idioms in the North, which are close to Standard French or Francien (île-de-France dialect), makes it easier to have linguistic assimilation towards the South.
As the majority of dialects, Bourbonnais idioms are mostly spoken, and literary works are rare. However, there are some: one example is that of writer Louis Péroux Beaulaton (1872–1946), who was passionate about his Occitan Auvergnat dialect from the Montluçon suburbs. Nowadays only enthusiasts, as well as the older generation, can speak fluent Oïl and Occitan Bourbonnais dialects.
Official source
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