GUERNSEY DIALECT AND PLANT NAMES. 33 



A considerable amount of published material exists in the 

 Guernsey dialect, consisting of poems, tales, folk-songs, 

 proverbs, folk-lore, and so on, all of which are extremely 

 interesting compositions, as illustrating the habits, customs, 

 pastimes, beliefs, and modes of thought of the people, besides 

 affording examples of the curious grammatical construction 

 and idioms of the language. The writings of Metivier, 

 Lenfestey, Corbet, Kobert and others, all of them composed 

 within the last half century or so, are most entertaining and 

 instructive; and, to a person who is thoroughly familiar with 

 the language, nothing can be more delightful than to listen to 

 these old Guernsey " chansons " read out aloud ore rotundo by 

 a native. But the spelling is purely arbitrary, and the same 

 word is often written in a variety of ways. All writers agree, 

 however, in falling into one common error, — albeit an unavoid- 

 able one, perhaps, — and that is, in writing many common 

 patois words — such for instance as quand (when), vin (wine), 

 vient (comes), sang (blood), — exactly in the same way as they 

 are spelt in modern French, although the sound is altogether 

 different. The consequence is that in reading these compo- 

 sitions a stranger forms an erroneous idea of the true 

 pronunciation, and would perhaps hardly recognise it when he 

 hears the same words from the lips of a native. 



Is there, then, any possible means of registering the 

 sound, tone and inflection in such a manner that a hundred 

 years hence there may be no doubt whatever as to how 

 the vernacnlar of these islands was spoken ? I suggested the 

 answer to this question eleven years ago, when I had the 

 honour of occupying the Presidential chair of this Society. 

 In the course of my valedictory address, alluding to the 

 difficulty of phonetically recording the sound of many 

 Guernsey words, I pointed out that " the phonograph would 

 do in a moment what the English and French alphabets 

 are incapable of doing, even when combined." 



In the Isle of Man the case is similar to ours. It is said 

 that with the passing away of the present generation no one 

 will be found who can speak the native language. But in the 

 month of April last, the London newspapers announced that 

 " the Manx Language Society hope to avert this danger with 

 the aid of Edison's phonograph. The instrument is being 

 sent to different parts of the island, and old men, whose 

 accent is pure, will speak into the receiver passages of 

 Scripture, folklore stories, idiomatic sentences and proverbs. 

 When the records are complete they will be kept at the 

 Society's room in Douglas." Some of the members who are 



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