Breton language

This page is about the Breton language. For the author, see André Breton.
Breton (Brezhoneg)
Spoken in: France
Region: Brittany
Total speakers: 500,000
Ranking: Not in top 100
Genetic classification: Indo-European

 Celtic
  Insular
   Brythonic
    Breton

Official status
Official language of: -
Regulated by: -
Language codes
ISO 639-1br
ISO 639-2bre
SILBRT
See also: LanguageList of languages

Breton (Brezhoneg) is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany in France.

Contents

History

Breton is not thought to be a modern-day descendant of any continental Celtic language such as Gaulish, though evidently it has borrowed some features from it, but it is rather descended from insular Brythonic. The other regional language (Gallo) derives from Latin.

Breton is traditionally spoken in Lower Brittany, roughly to the west of a line linking Plouha and Vannes. It comes from a language community between Britain and Armorica, present day Brittany. It was the language of the elite until the 12th Century. However, afterward it was only the language of the people of West Brittany (Breizh Izel), and the nobility, then successively the bourgeoisie adopted French. As a written language, the Duchy of Brittany used Latin, switching to French in the 15th Century. There exists a limited tradition of Breton literature. It should be noted that Old Breton has left some vocabulary which has served in the present day to produce philosophical and scientific terms in Modern Breton.

The French Monarchy never really concerned itself with the minority languages of France. The revolutionary period really started policies favoring French over the "regional" languages, more pejoratively called patois. It was assumed that reactionary and monarchist forces favored regional languages in an attempt to keep the peasant masses underinformed. According to the defenders of the Breton language, humiliating practices geared toward stamping out Breton lingered in schools and churches until the 1960s.

Today, despite the political centralization of France and the important influence of the media, Breton is still spoken and understood by about 500,000 people. This is, however, down from 1.3 million in 1930. At the beginning of the 20th Century, half the population of Lower Brittany knew only Breton, the other half being bilingual. By 1950, there were only 100,000 monolingual Bretons.

In 1925, thanks to professor Roparz Hemon, the first issue appeared of the review Gwalarn. During its 19-year run, Gwalarn tried to raise the language to the level of other great "international" languages by creating original works covering all genres and by proposing Breton translations of internationally recognized foreign works.

In 1946, Al Liamm replaced Gwalarn. Other periodicals appeared and began to give Breton a fairly large body of literature for a minority language.

Missing image
Breton_school_sign_in_Rennes.jpg
Sign in Rennes outside a school with bilingual classes

In 1977, Diwan schools were founded to teach Breton by immersion. They taught thousands of young people from elementary school to high school. Another proposed teaching method was a bilingual approach, Div Yezh (two languages).

In 2004, the Asterix comic series were translated into Breton, and into Gallo. This is notable because, according to the comic, the village where Asterix lives is in Brittany.

Some poets, linguists, and writers who wrote in Breton, for example Yann-Ber Kalloc'h, Roparz Hemon, Anjela Duval and Per-Jakez Hélias, are now known internationally.

Today, Breton is the only Celtic language which is not recognized as an official language. The French state has refused to change the second article of the Constitution added in 1994 which states that "the language of the Republic is French". The number of protesters demanding the repeal of this article is growing year by year.

The first Breton dictionary, the Catholicon, was also the first French dictionary. Edited by Jehan Lagedec in 1464, it was a trilingual work containing Breton, French and Latin. Today the existence of bilingual dictionaries directly from Breton into languages such as English, German and Spanish demonstrates the determination of a new generation to gain international recognition for Breton. There also exists a monolingual dictionary, defining Breton words in Breton.

Classification

Breton, along with Cornish and Welsh, is a member of the Brythonic languages, a subgroup of the Insular subgroup of the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family.

Geographic distribution

Breton is spoken mainly in Western Brittany, but also in a more dispersed way in Eastern Brittany, and in areas around the world which have received Breton emigrants.

Official status

Missing image
Breizh-sign.jpg
Bilingual place names in road signage in Brittany

Breton is not an official language of France, despite calls from autonomists and others for official recognition, and for the language to be guaranteed a place in schools, the media, and other aspects of public life.

An attempt by the French government to incorporate the independent Breton-language immersion schools (called Diwan) into the state education system was blocked by the French Constitutional Council on the grounds that, as the Constitution of the 5th Republic states that French is the language of the Republic, no other language may be used as a language of instruction in state schools. The Toubon Law states that French is the language of public education.

Nevertheless, the regional and departmental authorities do use Breton to a very limited extent insofar as they feel able: for example, in signage (especially for tourism-related reasons). Some bilingual signage may also be seen, such as street name signs in Breton towns, and one station of the Rennes metro system has signs in both French and Breton. On the other hand, few shops or other private entities in Rennes have any Breton-language signs.

Dialects

The dialects of Breton as identified by ethnologists are Leonard, Tregorrois, Vannetais and Cornouaillais. There are no clear borders between those dialect areas; the language changes slightly from one village to the next.

Sounds

Grammar

Verbal Aspect

As in English and Gaelic, there are grammatical aspects for verbs in a particular tense, detailing whether or not an action is habitual. As in English, there is a distinction between the habitual form and progressive aspect:

  • Me zo o komz gant ma amezeg ("I am talking with my neighbor") ;
  • Me a gomz gant ma amezeg [bep mintin] ("I talk with my neighbor [every morning]") ;

"Conjugated" Prepositions

As in other modern Celtic languages, Breton pronouns are fused into preceding prepositions to produce a sort of "conjugated" preposition. Below are some examples in both Breton (Léon dialect) and Irish.

Breton Irish English Literal Translation
ur levr zo ganin tá leabhar agam I have a book A book is at-me
ur banne zo ganit tá deoch agat you have a drink a drink is at-you
un urzhiataer zo ganti tá ríomhaire aige he has a computer a computer is at-him
ur bugel zo gantañ tá páiste aici she has a child a child is at-her
ur c'harr zo ganeomp tá carr againn we have a car a car is at-us
ur stilo zo ganeoc'h tá teach agaibh you [pl] have a house a house is at-you [pl]
arc'hant zo ganto tá airgead acu they have money money is at-them

Initial consonant mutations

Breton has four initial consonant mutations: though modern Breton lost the nasal mutation of Welsh, it also has a 'hard' mutation, in which voiced stops become voiceless, and a 'mixed' mutation, which is a mixture of hard and soft mutations.

Consonant Mutation in Breton
Unmutated Consonant Soft Mutation Spirant Mutation Hard Mutation Mixed Mutation
pbf
tdz
kgc'h
bvpv
dztt
gc'hkc'h
gwwkww
mvv

Vocabulary


The English words dolmen and menhir have been borrowed from French, which supposedly took them from Breton. However, this is uncertain: for instance, menhir is peulvan in Breton, and dolmen is a misconstructed word (it should be daol ven). Some studies state that these words were borrowed from Cornish.

Writing system

Breton is written using the Latin alphabet. The Breton alphabet doesn't contain the c letter alone, and contains a special one: c’h, which is pronounced between the Spanish jota and a loud h. Diacritics used are â, ê, ñ, ô, ù, ü.

Examples

Visitors to Brittany may encounter words and phrases (especially on signs and posters) such as the following:

BRETON ENGLISH
deut mad oc'h welcome
Breizh Brittany
brezhoneg Breton (language)
ti, ty house
ti-kêr town hall
kreizkêr town centre
da bep tu all directions
skol school
skol-veur university
bagad pipe band (nearly)
fest-noz ceilidh, traditional concert/dance
kenavo goodbye
krampouezh pancakes
chistr cider

About the word "Welcome", in many places one can see signs with "Degemer mat", but actually it's a completely wrong phrase in this context, for it means "good reception". When a Breton speaker needs to say "Welcome!" to someone, he says "deut mad oc'h", "come well you(-are)".

war vor atao = always at sea

External links

Template:InterWiki

br:Brezhoneg cs:Bretonština cy:Llydaweg da:Bretonsk de:Bretonische Sprache eo:Bretona lingvo es:Idioma bretón fr:Breton ga:Briotáinis id:Bahasa Breton it:Lingua bretone ja:ブルトン語 kw:Yeth Vretonek li:Bretoens nl:Bretons pl:Język bretoński ro:Limba bretonă sv:Bretonska zh:布列塔尼语

Navigation

  • Art and Cultures
    • Art (https://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Art)
    • Architecture (https://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Architecture)
    • Cultures (https://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Cultures)
    • Music (https://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Music)
    • Musical Instruments (http://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/List_of_musical_instruments)
  • Biographies (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Biographies)
  • Clipart (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Clipart)
  • Geography (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Geography)
    • Countries of the World (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Countries)
    • Maps (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Maps)
    • Flags (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Flags)
    • Continents (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Continents)
  • History (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/History)
    • Ancient Civilizations (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Ancient_Civilizations)
    • Industrial Revolution (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Industrial_Revolution)
    • Middle Ages (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Middle_Ages)
    • Prehistory (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Prehistory)
    • Renaissance (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Renaissance)
    • Timelines (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Timelines)
    • United States (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/United_States)
    • Wars (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Wars)
    • World History (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/History_of_the_world)
  • Human Body (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Human_Body)
  • Mathematics (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Mathematics)
  • Reference (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Reference)
  • Science (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Science)
    • Animals (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Animals)
    • Aviation (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Aviation)
    • Dinosaurs (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Dinosaurs)
    • Earth (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Earth)
    • Inventions (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Inventions)
    • Physical Science (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Physical_Science)
    • Plants (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Plants)
    • Scientists (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Scientists)
  • Social Studies (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Social_Studies)
    • Anthropology (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Anthropology)
    • Economics (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Economics)
    • Government (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Government)
    • Religion (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Religion)
    • Holidays (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Holidays)
  • Space and Astronomy
    • Solar System (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Solar_System)
    • Planets (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Planets)
  • Sports (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Sports)
  • Timelines (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Timelines)
  • Weather (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Weather)
  • US States (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/US_States)

Information

  • Home Page (http://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php)
  • Contact Us (http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Contactus)

  • Clip Art (http://classroomclipart.com)
Toolbox
Personal tools