Saving a language

Guernsey has introduced urgent measures to protect its native Guernésiais language before it dies out altogether. The Channel island acted after research revealed that fewer than 1,300 islanders - or 2 per cent - can still speak it fluently, and most of those are aged more than 65. The States of Guernsey government also sees it as imperative that written Guernésiais is archived before it becomes extinct, and has appointed a development officer to ensure the language's survival.

Guernésiais is often referred to, rather disparagingly, as a 'patois', or as Guernsey French. But, say local experts, it is not a cannibalised version of French but a Norman language in its own right. A hundred years ago, most islanders would have spoken Guernésiais as their first language, alongside passable French and English.

Not much of a story perhaps, but The Channel Isles once had four distinct Norman dialects of: Guernesias; Jerrais (Jersey); Sercquais (Sark) and Auregnais (Alderney). Auregnais died out by WWII and there are now fewer than 20 speakers of Sercqauis. Jerrais has about 3,000 speakers.

There are about 6,000 languages spoken across the world, between 50 and 90% of them could become extinct but the end of the 21^st Century. Here’s hoping that Guernesais does not go the way of Norn, (the Norse language of the Orkneys and Shetlands) and or Yola (A middle English dialect of south eastern Ireland) both of which died out by the 19^th century.