BBC Voices Recordings: St Helier, Jersey

BBC VOICES RECORDINGS http://sounds.bl.uk

Shelfmark: C1190/39/01

Recording date: 08.11.2004

Speakers: Gilbert, Brian, b. 1929 Jersey; male; retired farmer Gilbert, Joyce, b. 1922 St John, Jersey; female; retired farmer Laisney, Clifford, b. 1927 St Ouen, Jersey; male; retired farmer Le Masurier, Percy, b. 1924 Jersey; male; retired farmer Taylor, Ursula, b. 1937 Jersey; male; retired farmer

The interviewees have all Jèrriais speakers who have known each other since childhood and are members of the Assemblie Jèrriaisse, which was established to protect the Jersey French language.

PLEASE NOTE: this recording is still awaiting full linguistic description (i.e. phonological, grammatical and spontaneous lexical items).

A summary of the specific lexis elicited by the interviewer is given below.

ELICITED LEXIS

♪ see Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) ∆ see New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) ⌂ no previous source (with this sense) identified pleased (not discussed) tired (not discussed) unwell (not discussed) hot (not discussed) also supplied caud♪ (Jèrriais) cold (not discussed) annoyed (not discussed) throw (not discussed)

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 1 of 3 BBC Voices Recordings also supplied pitchi♪ (“j’ai pitchi eune pièrre à travèrs d’la f’nêtre”1 used in Jèrriais of e.g. throwing stone); pelleter♪ (Jèrriais, grandfather frequently claimed boys from Trinity used to “pelleter des bliêtes/navets/mottes”2 in past to deter suitors from St Martins) play truant (not discussed) sleep (not discussed) play a game (not discussed) hit hard (not discussed) also supplied taper dû♪3 (Jèrriais); lapider♪ (encountered recently in Jèrriais dictionary) clothes (not discussed) trousers (not discussed) child’s shoe plimsoll (“tche’est qu’ tu as faithe d’ mes plims” used when speaking Jèrriais to mother as child); trainers (“ou est qu’sont mes trainers?” also used when speaking Jèrriais); plimsolls (“English”) also supplied sandales♪; soulié de laîsi♪4; saûlé de sport♪5; soulié d’exèrcice♪6; chavette♪7 (of ‘worn-out shoes’) mother (not discussed) gmother (not discussed) m partner husband also supplied mon homme♪ (used to introduce partner); parchonnyi♪ friend (not discussed) gfather (not discussed) forgot name (not discussed) kit of tools (not discussed) trendy tart; tarty; so-and-so8 (“cor, that one’s turned into a right so-and-so”) also supplied drinnette♪9 (of “good-for-nothing/seductive/tarty” female); hardelle♪10 (“hardelle frivolase” used of “tarty cheap” female, “eune belle hardelle”11 also used of “fiancée/lovely girl”) f partner wife also supplied hardelle♪ (of ‘fiancé’); parchonniéthe♪; ma femme♪ (used to introduce partner) baby (not discussed) also supplied mousse♪ (“p’tit mousse”12 of older baby); p’tit êfant♪; pétchiot♪ (of “frail” child, also used frequently by own parents/grandparents esp. of youngest child in family, “p’tit pétchiot” used to baby); mon p’tit♪, bambin13, bambion⌂ (to male baby) rain heavily (not discussed) toilet (not discussed)

1 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘pièrre’ in sense of ‘stone’ ‘à travèrs’ in sense of ‘across’ and ‘f’nêtre’ in sense of ‘window’. 2 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘bliête’ and ‘motte’ in sense of ‘clod/sod of turf’ and ‘navet’ in sense of ‘turnip’. 3 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘taper’ in sense of ‘to hit’ and ‘dû’ in sense of ‘hard’. 4 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘soulié’ in sense of ‘shoe’ and ‘laîsi’ in sense of ‘leisure’. 5 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘saûlé’ in sense of ‘shoe’ and ‘sport’ in sense of ‘sport’. 6 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘soulié’ in sense of ‘shoe’ and ‘exèrcice’ in sense of ‘exercise’. 7 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘chavette’ in sense of ‘worn-out shoe’. 8 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘so-and-so’ in sense of ‘term of abuse’. 9 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘drinette’ in sense of ‘girl’. 10 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘hardelle’ in sense of ‘girl’. 11 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘belle’ in sense of ‘lovely/pretty’. 12 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘p’tit’ in sense of ‘little’. 13 Collins French-English Dictionary (online at https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-french) includes ‘bambin’ in this sense.

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 2 of 3 BBC Voices Recordings walkway (not discussed) long seat (not discussed) run water (not discussed) main room (not discussed) rain lightly (not discussed) rich (not discussed) left-handed (not discussed) unattractive (not discussed) also supplied malattrait♪14, malattractif15 (Jèrriais for ‘not attractive’); laie♪ (Jèrriais for ‘ugly’); pas engageant16 lack money (not discussed) drunk as drunk as a skunk∆ (suggested by interviewer); pissed as a coot17 also supplied soûl♪ (to relative stranger); pliein♪ (“slang/vulgar” Jèrriais for ‘full’ used to friends); enivré♪ (“a bit French”); ivre♪; pliein comme un ours♪18 (Jèrriais for “drunk as a bear” considered analogous with English idiom “as drunk as a lord”); bouôrré♪19 (Jérriais for “stuffed up with drink”); en eune tchuite♪ (of extreme drunkenness, “i’tait sous eune fôssé mais en eune belle tchuite” Jèrriais for “he was under the hedge but he was so drunk”20) pregnant expecting (“she’s expecting in June” used in English); pregnant; bun in the oven (cannot be translated into Jèrriais) also supplied en fanmil’ye♪ (extremely common in Jèrriais, of self); s’attend♪ (“j’m’attend” of self, Jèrriais for ‘expecting’, universally understood in Jersey); encheinte♪; enceinte21 (French/used in East Jersey); preint♪ (Jèrriais for “she has taken” used of animal) attractive (not discussed) also supplied attractif22; engageant23 insane (not discussed) moody (not discussed)

14 Wiktionnaire (online at https://fr.wiktionary.org) records <-mal> as a‘[p]réfixe signifiant que le mot signifie le contraire de son signifié normal’, i.e. ‘a prefix that gives the word a meaning opposite to its normal meaning’; Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records and ‘attrait’ in sense of ‘attractive’. 15 Wiktionnaire (online at https://fr.wiktionary.org) records <-mal> as a‘[p]réfixe signifiant que le mot signifie le contraire de son signifié normal’, i.e. ‘a prefix that gives the word a meaning opposite to its normal meaning’; Collins French-English Dictionary (online at https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-french) records ‘attractif’ in sense of ‘attractive’. 16 Collins French-English Dictionary (online at https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-french) records ‘pas’ in sense of ‘not’ in this sense and ‘engageant’ in sense of ‘engaging’. 17 A Dictionary of Slang (Ted Duckworth, 1996-2016 at http://www.dictionaryofslang.co.uk) includes ‘pissed as a coot’ in this sense. 18 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘pliein’ in sense of ‘drunk’, ‘comme’ in sense of ‘like/as’ and ‘ours’ in sense of ‘bear’. 19 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘bouôrreler’ in sense of ‘to stuff’. 20 Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) records ‘fôssé’ in sense of ‘hedge (bank)’. 21 Collins French-English Dictionary (online at https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-french) includes ‘enceinte’ in this sense. 22 Collins French-English Dictionary (online at https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-french) includes ‘attractif’ in this sense. 23 Collins French-English Dictionary (online at https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-french) includes ‘engageant’ in this sense.

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