OUR INSULAR DIALECT. 189 



From what I have already said, it is evident that our 

 patois is not a corrupt form of French, but a relic of a period 

 when it was the recognised literary Norman language. 



Norman may not be an easy language to learn, from the 

 peculiar changes in the pronunciation of its vowel sounds with 

 and without accents, the apparent elisions and contrac- 

 tions, most of which are peculiar only to Norman, yet I 

 question if it would be more difficult to acquire than any other 

 language. If we had primers and grammars and all the para- 

 phernalia devoted to it which are prepared for other languages, 

 we should be enabled to pull through its verbs and idioms or 

 other difficulties quite as easily. 



You will pardon me if I remark here that language is not 

 hereditary, but that any language can be acquired by any 

 person under favourable circumstances. 



Dialects have no standard rules for spelling, and con- 

 sequently writers have adopted their own method in all ages, 

 and this varies considerably according to the euphony or 

 orthoepy of the district in which they resided. Take, for 

 instance, our own insular authors, Metivier, Lenfestey, 

 Corbet or Guilbert. Each of these has a different style, 

 for small as the island is scarcely is the pronunciation the 

 same in two parishes, while in some cases entirely different 

 words are in use for the same article : e.g., Licho, Gvetre, 

 yen, meaning halter. This I attribute to different tribes 

 coming over at different periods. 



I know of no rule to guide the learner in the pronuncia- 

 tion of words of a language, except that adopted by the 

 elite of the district in which it is spoken. 



I will make a few remarks about the orthography of 

 Norman French. It is practically the same as Parisian 

 French, but like it, is deficient in signs to represent all the 

 sounds used. 



A sometimes partakes a little of the o, as arme ; it is sometimes long, 

 as ansa, and sometimes short, as atouar, and with a partakes of 

 the aw in awful, as dme. 



E is similar, but when open in French is short in Norman and vice- 

 versd, but open e seldom occurs in Norman. 



I has two sounds, as isle, qui. 

 also has two sounds, as potin, p6t. 

 U is long at times and short at others, as tu, urne. 

 Ai diphthong has the sound of the English i in line, as a'iguer, d&halair, 

 the r being mute. 



Ai, another diphthong, and sounding like au in bauble, as bdie. 



