Guernésiais

Guernésiais (ɡɛʁnezjɛ) , also known as Dgèrnésiais, Guernsey French, and Guernsey Norman French, is the variety of the Norman language spoken in Guernsey. It is sometimes known on the island simply as "patois". As one of the langues d'oïl, it has its roots in Latin, but has had strong influence from both Old Norse and English at different points in its history. There is mutual intelligibility (with some difficulty) with Jèrriais speakers from Jersey and Continental Norman speakers from Normandy. Guernésiais most closely resembles the Norman dialect of Cotentinais spoken in La Hague in the Cotentin Peninsula of France. Guernésiais has been influenced less by Standard French than Jèrriais, but conversely more so by English. New words have been imported for modern phenomena: e.g. le bike and le gas-cooker. There is a rich tradition of poetry in the Guernsey language. Guernsey songs were inspired by the sea, by colourful figures of speech, by traditional folk-lore, as well as by the natural environment of the island. The island's greatest poet was George Métivier (1790–1881), a contemporary of Victor Hugo, who influenced and inspired local poets to print and publish their traditional poetry. Métivier blended local place-names, bird and animal names, traditional sayings and orally transmitted fragments of medieval poetry to create his Rimes Guernesiaises (1831). Denys Corbet (1826–1910) was considered the "Last Poet" of Guernsey French and published many poems in his day in his native tongue, both in the island newspaper and privately. The most recent dictionary of Guernésiais, Dictiounnaire Angllais-guernesiais by Marie de Garis, was published in 1967 and revised in 1982. Guernsey was a part of Normandy until the latter was conquered by French kings; a form of the Norman language developed in the Channel Islands and survived for hundreds of years. Guernésiais is considered to be one of the langues d'oïl, which includes French and its closest relatives.

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Anglo-Norman language

Anglo-Norman (Anglo-Normaund; anglo-normand), also known as Anglo-Norman French, was a dialect of Old Norman French that was used in England and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in Great Britain and Ireland during the Anglo-Norman period. When William the Conqueror led the Norman conquest of England in 1066, he, his nobles, and many of his followers from Normandy, but also those from northern and western France, spoke a range of langues d'oïl (northern varieties of Old French).

Sercquiais

Sercquiais (sɛʁkjɛ) , also known as lé Sèrtchais, Sarkese or Sark-French, is the Norman dialect of the Channel Island of Sark (Bailiwick of Guernsey). Sercquiais is a descendant of the 16th century Jèrriais used by the original colonists, 40 families mostly from Saint Ouen, Jersey who settled the then uninhabited island, although influenced in the interim by Guernésiais (the dialect of Guernsey). It is also closely related to the now-extinct Auregnais (Alderney) dialect, as well as to Continental Norman.

Auregnais

Auregnais (ɔʁɲɛ), Aoeur'gnaeux, or Aurignais was the Norman dialect of the Channel Island of Alderney (Aurigny, Auregnais: aoeur'gny or auregny). It was closely related to the Guernésiais (Guernsey), Jèrriais (Jersey), and Sercquiais (Sark) dialects of the neighbouring islands, as well as continental Norman on the European mainland. The dialect became extinct in the 20th century. Only a few examples of Auregnais survive, mostly in place names in Alderney, and one audio recording is known to exist.