Niçard dialect

Niçard (Classical orthography), Nissart/Niçart (Mistralian orthography, IPA: [niˈsaʀt]), Niçois (/niːswɑː/, French: [niswa]), or Nizzardo (Italian pronunciation: [nitˈtsardo]) is considered by French a distinct subdialect of the Occitan language (Provençal dialect) spoken in the city of Nice (Niçard: niça/nissa) and in the historical County of Nice (since 1860 the main part of the current French département of Alpes-Maritimes), although it is much more similar to Italian Ligurian dialect. In addition to Monégasque, Niçard is also spoken by some in Monaco.

Niçard
nissart/niçart
niçois/nizzardo
Pronunciation[niˈsaʀt]
Native toFrance, Monaco
RegionCounty of Nice, Monaco
Latin
Official status
Regulated byConselh de la Lenga Occitana (norme classique) / Félibrige (norme mistralienne)
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
Glottolognica1249[1]
Linguasphere51-AAA-gd

Most residents of Nice and its region no longer speak Niçard, and those who do are bilingual in French. Nonetheless, today there is a developing revival of the use of the language. Some local television news is presented in Niçard (with French subtitles) and street signs in the old town of Nice are written in the dialect as well as in French. The Niçard song Nissa La Bella is often regarded as the "anthem" of Nice.

Writing system

Niçard is written using two forms:

  • Classical orthography. Preferring the native traditions of the language, this form was developed by Robert Lafont (Phonétique et graphie du provençal, 1951; L'ortografia occitana, lo provençau, 1972) and Jean-Pierre Baquié (Empari lo niçard, 1984). It is regulated by the Conselh de la Lenga Occitana.
  • Mistralian orthography. Closer to written French, it was invented by the Félibrige (although there also exists an Acadèmia Nissarda).

An Italian orthography also existed but was abandoned when Nice joined the French empire in 1861 (but was reinstated briefly in 1942/3 when Italy occupied and administered the city).

Orthography Comparison (from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
English Classical Mistralian
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Toti li personas naisson liuri e egali en dignitat e en drech. Son dotadi de rason e de consciéncia e li cau agir entre eli emb un esperit de frairesa. Touti li persouna naisson lib(e)ri e egali en dignità e en drech. Soun doutadi de rasoun e de counsciència e li cau agì entre eli em' un esperit de fratelança.

Example of Nissart and similarity with Italian, according to Barberis:

  • dintre lou mieu sprit, es mai que Agamennon, (Italian: dentro lo mio spirito, è maggiore che Agamennone)
  • Coura dì sì, es si; coura di non, es non. (Italian: quando dir sì, è sì; quando dir no, è no)

Occitan and Ligurian influences

Standard Occitan recognises regional differences. It has been written that Niçard has kept some of the oldest forms of Occitan, other dialects (such as Provençal) having been more "frenchified" by their history.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, born in Nice in 1807, defined his "Nizzardo" as an Italian dialect with some influences from Occitan and French, and for this reason promoted the union of Nice to the Kingdom of Italy. Nice, in fact, had been part of the County of Savoy (then Duchy of Savoy and finally Kingdom of Sardinia) since 1388, and was given to France in exchange for the help lent in the second independence war against Austria in 1860. Italian Giulio Vignoli wrote in his book about the "Nizzardo Italian" population that, after Garibaldi's failed attempt in 1871 (Vespri Nizzardi), 11,000 of his supporters (nearly 1/3 of the population of Nice in the 1870s) were forced to move to Italy from Nice and were substituted by the French government with people from nearby Occitan areas. The revolts began after the elections in 1871, in which the pro-Italian party received 26,534 votes out of 29,428. The French government decided to send 10'000 men to end the rebellion, to close the Italian journals and to imprison many of the pro-Italian demonstrators; this changed the characteristic of Nissart, which started to have many loanwords from Occitan (a language that is now predominant in the Nissart dialect).[2]

Even today some scholars (like the German Werner Forner, the French Jean-Philippe Dalbera and the Italian Giulia Petracco Sicardi) agree that Niçard has some characteristics (phonetical, lexical and morphological) that are typical of the western Ligurian language.[3]

The French scholar Jean-Philippe Dalbera (in Bernard Cerquiglini's report) pinpoints in his Les langues de France[4] the actual existence of a Ligurian dialect, called Royasc, in the Roya Valley (near Tende), in the westernmost part of the County of Nice. Royasc, which is a Ligurian variety, should not be confused with Niçard.

However most experts in Romance linguistics see Niçard as a variety of Occitan. Statements saying that Niçard is a Ligurian or Italian dialect[5] are not supported by these experts (see especially Dalbera 1984).[6] Indeed, French scholar Bernard Cerquiglini wrote in his book on the languages of France about the actual existence of a Ligurian minority in Tende, Roquebrune and Menton, a remnant of a bigger medieval "Ligurian" area that included Nice and most of the coastal County of Nice.

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See also

References
  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Niçard". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. Vignoli, Giulio Gli Italiani Dimenticati. Minoranze Italiane In Europa. p. 85-98
  3. Petracco Sicardi, Giulia. L'amfizona Liguria-Provenza. p 107
  4. DALBERA Jean-Philippe (2003) “Les îlots liguriens de France” [in: CERQUIGLINI Bernard (2003) (dir.) Les langues de France, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France / Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication-DGLFLF, p. 125-136]
  5. Gubbins, Paul; Holt, Mike (January 2002). Beyond Boundaries: Language and Identity in Contemporary Europe, Chapter Seven. ISBN 9781853595554. Retrieved 2013-10-01.
  6. DALBERA Jean-Philippe (1984) Les parlers des Alpes Maritimes: étude comparative, essai de reconstruction [PhD thesis], Toulouse: Université de Toulouse 2 [ed. 1994, London: Association Internationale d’Études Occitanes]

Bibliography
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  • ANDREWS James Bruyn (1877) Vocabulaire français-mentonnais, Nice: no name [re-ed. 1977, Marseilles: Lafitte Reprints]
  • BAQUIÉ Joan-Pèire (1987) (collab. Andrieu SAISSI) Empari lo niçard / Apreni lo provençau, Nice: CRDP Nice / CDDP Alpes Maritimes
  • BARBERIS Francesco. Nizza italiana: raccolta di varie poesie italiane e nizzarde, corredate di note. Editore Tip. Sborgi e Guarnieri (Nizza, 1871). University of California, 2007
  • BEC Pierre (1970–71) (collab. Octave NANDRIS, Žarko MULJAČIĆ), Manuel pratique de philologie romane, Paris: Picard, 2 vol.
  • BLAQUIÈRA J. (1985) Dictionnaire français-nissart, langue d'oc, dialecte niçois, self-edited
  • CALVINO Jean-Baptiste (1905) Nouveau dictionnaire niçois-français, Nice: Imprimerie des Alpes Maritimes [re-ed. 1993 with the following title: Dictionnaire niçois-français, français-niçois, Nîmes: Lacour]
  • CARLES (Père) Pietro (1866) Piccolo vocabolario nizzardo-italiano, Nice
  • CARLES (Père) Pietro (1868) Piccolo vocabolario italiano-nizzardo, Nice
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  • CASTELLANA Georges (1952) Dictionnaire français-niçois [re-ed. 2001, Nice: Serre]
  • CERQUIGLINI Bernard (2003) (dir.) Les langues de France, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France / Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication-DGLFLF: 125-136]
  • CERQUIGLINI Bernard (2000) Histoire de la langue française 1945-2000. Co-edited with Gérald Antoine. Paris: CNRS Editions, 2000.
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  • COMPAN André (1971) Anthologie de la littérature niçoise, coll. Biblioutèco d’istòri literàri e de critico, Toulon: L’Astrado
  • DALBERA Jean-Philippe (1984) Les parlers des Alpes Maritimes: étude comparative, essai de reconstruction [PhD thesis], Toulouse: Université de Toulouse 2 [ed. 1994, London: Association Internationale d’Études Occitanes]
  • DALBERA Jean-Philippe (2003) “Les îlots liguriens de France” [CERQUIGLINI Bernard (2003) (dir.) Les langues de France, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France / Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication-DGLFLF: 125-136]
  • ESCOLA DE BELLANDA (2002) Diciounari nissart-francés, Nice: Fédération des Associations du Comté de Nice / Serre
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