Variation and Change in Mainland and Insular Norman Empirical Approaches to Linguistic Theory Series Editor Brian D. Joseph (The Ohio State University, USA) Editorial Board Artemis Alexiadou (University of Stuttgart, Germany) Harald Baayen (University of Alberta, Canada) Pier Marco Bertinetto (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy) Kirk Hazen (West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA) Maria Polinsky (Harvard University, Cambridge, USA) Volume 7 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ealt Variation and Change in Mainland and Insular Norman A Study of Superstrate Influence By Mari C. Jones LEIDEN | BOSTON Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jones, Mari C. Variation and Change in Mainland and Insular Norman : a study of superstrate influence / By Mari C. Jones. p. cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-25712-2 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-25713-9 (e-book) 1. French language— Variation. 2. French language—Dialects—Channel Islands. 3. Norman dialect—Variation. 4. French language—Dialects—France—Normandy. 5. Norman dialect—Channel Islands. 6. Channel Islands— Languages. 7. Normandy—Languages. I. Title. PC2074.7.J66 2014 447’.01—dc23 2014032281 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 2210-6243 ISBN 978-90-04-25712-2 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-25713-9 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Contents Editor’s Preface vii Acknowledgements viii 1 Introduction 1 2 The Historical Context 16 3 The Linguistic Context 34 4 The Sociolinguistic Context 65 5 Phonetics and Phonology 83 6 Liaison 100 7 Morphosyntax 117 8 Lexis 143 9 The Influence of Norman on Its Superstrate Languages 166 10 Concluding Remarks 194 Bibliography 199 Index 226 Editor’s Preface My original conception of the Empirical Approaches to Linguistic Theory (EALT) series was that it would be eclectic, since there are many paths to being empirical and certainly many ways in which theory can be served. And, I am proud, at least moderately so, that the volumes to date have indeed been var- ied, with each one offering its own “take” on empiricism and on theory. The present volume, Variation and Change in Mainland and Insular Norman: A study of superstrate influence, by Mari C. Jones, tackles empiricism from a different perspective, namely via fieldwork involving interviews, a standard element of sociolinguistic work, and via the use of questionnaires, another sociolinguistic staple. In this way, it could not be more empirical, as author Jones has gotten her hands dirty, so to speak, with real data provided by real speakers. Moreover, the target of her investigation, Norman, the language historically and still to this day of Normandy and the Channel Islands, is an endangered language, so that with this volume, EALT makes a contribution to the all-too-pressing need to study threatened languages while there are still speakers and while the languages still have some viability. In these ways, therefore, Jones’s monograph constitutes a first for the series, both methodologically speaking and in terms of content. Similarly, thinking about content from a different angle, it can be noted that this work aims to present an account of aspects of the phonology, morphosyntax, and lexicon of Norman, thus covering a fuller range of domains of grammar than any previ- ous volume in the series. As for theory, Jones addresses head-on the matter of variation and change in a language contact situation, embedding her work in theories of superstrate- substrate interaction. This contribution continues what I trust readers are finding to be an infor- mative and enriching series. I, for one, am excited about the directions the series is going in and will continue to do my best to deliver high-quality inter- esting works. Brian D. Joseph EALT Series Managing Editor Columbus, Ohio USA 5 October 2014 Acknowledgements Writing this monograph has brought me into contact with many generous people. I am particularly grateful to speakers in the five Norman speech com- munities who gave so readily of their time and whose warm welcome made the fieldwork a very memorable experience. Special thanks go to Rémi and Véronique Pézeril, Anthony Scott Warren, Geraint Jennings, Colin Ireson, Yan Marquis, Anna and Geoff Allez, Séverine Courard and Richard Axton for introducing me to speakers in these communities and for their kindness and hospitality. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the British Academy, whose research grant (SG110225) funded a large part of the fieldwork in mainland Normandy. My warm thanks go to Nicholas Zair and Magnus Ryan for reading through drafts of individual chapters and, on a personal note, to Stephen Hampton, Susanna Avery-Quash, James Carleton Paget, Andrew Lever, Robert Ross-Russell and Silke Mentchen. The book is dedicated to my parents, Eirwen and Philip Jones, whose support and encouragement are con- stant and unconditional. Diolch o galon i chi i gyd. Chapter 1 Introduction It is often forgotten, on both sides of the English Channel, that the Norman linguistic territory is a fragmented one. The defeat of King John of England’s army at Rouen in 1204 at the hands of the French king, Philippe Auguste, led to the separation of the Duchy of Normandy into two domains, with the Norman mainland formally becoming part of the kingdom of France and the Channel Islands henceforth maintained in allegiance to the English Crown. This territo- rial split has now lasted for more than 800 years. The fracture had no immediate linguistic repercussions. Contact was main- tained between mainland and insular Normandy via fishing and other trade activities. However, despite these links, the fact remained that, after 1204, apart from occasional periods when English force of arms detached areas from French control (see Chapter 2), the two Norman territories found themselves governed by opposing powers, who frequently played out their differences on the battlefield. As the centuries progressed, mainland and insular Normandy found themselves on different sides of an ever-widening linguistic gulf, with Norman co-existing alongside two of Europe’s most influential standard lan- guages, namely French and English. Contact with their powerful linguistic neighbours has produced similar out- comes on the mainland and in the islands. Norman has undergone significant territorial contraction and speaker reduction and has witnessed the breaking down of its diglossic relationship with the local standard language as similar social factors, including demographic movement, intermarriage and stigma- tization, have contributed to the loss of Norman from its former strongholds, such as the family domain. This, in turn, has prompted concerns for its future. 1.1 The Norman Territory The present-day region of Normandy, named after the Vikings of Scandinavia, or ‘northmen’, covers some 11,900 square miles (30,821km2).1 Most of the 1 In Old Norse, the term víkingar was reserved for seafarers who participated in warrior voyages across the oceans, the expression fara í víkingu meaning ‘to go an an expedition’. Although the victims of the Vikings do not seem to have distinguished between Danes, Norwegians and Swedes in the terms they use to refer to them, the Scandinavians themselves were conscious © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���5 | doi ��.��63/9789004�57�39_00� 2 Chapter 1 territory (11,825 square miles or 30,627km2) lies in north-west France, and makes up roughly 5% of that country. It is divided into five départements or administrative regions, namely Seine Maritime2 (surface area: 6,278km2, population: 1,250, 411) and Eure (surface area: 6,040km2, population: 586,543) which constitute Haute Normandie ‘Upper Normandy’; and Manche (surface area: 6,938km2, population: 498,747), Orne (surface area: 6,103km2, population: 291,642) and Calvados (surface area: 5,548km2, population: 683,105) which con- stitute Basse Normandie ‘Lower Normandy’.3 As may be seen, population den- sity in Seine Maritime is far greater than elsewhere in Normandy. Mainland Normandy also divides into smaller geographical areas, whose names are often based on local topography (see Map 1.1). Some 75 square miles of the Norman territory (roughly 194 km2) form a small archipelago lying in the English Channel, off the west of the Cotentin peninsula. Though situated geographically closer to France than to the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands are dependencies of the British Crown, yet they have never formed part of the Kingdom of England (see §2.3). The Channel Islands do not form a political unit—which may go some way towards accounting for the fact that islanders tend to define their identity with respect to their individual island, rather than with reference to the archipelago as a whole (Jones 2008b: 253n; Rosen 2014: 195). They are divided administratively into two Bailiwicks, each with a non-political chief citizen known as a Bailiff, who serves as senior judge in the Royal Courts of Jersey and Guernsey, and moderator of each of those two islands’ parliamentary assemblies. The Bailiwick of Jersey com- prises the island itself, which has a surface area of 45 square miles (116.5km2) and a population of 97,857 (2011)4 and two rocky reefs, the Minquiers and the Ecrehous.