Few customs connected with Christmas and native to the Island exist here to-day, as shown by Mr. Philip Ahier, B. Sc., in this article, the probability being that they were swept away at the Reformation. As far as can be ascertained from the few scanty sources at our disposal, the children in any parish on Christmas Eve would call on their wealthy neighbours and "chant" the following words in Jersey-French: "Noué, Noué; man Noué si vouos pliait!" Here we have the genesis of the modern Christmas boxes and Christmas carols, although these too go back to the early days of Christianity itself. I gather that this custom of "Man Noué" still exists in the parishes of St. Clement and St. John.
JEP 22/12/2004
There's another chance to sing along in Jèrriais at La Chant'tie d'Cantiques next week.
Enjoy favourites like Jé vai les vailes dé trais batchieaux (1 saw three ships come sailing in) and Qué Dgieu vos garde heutheurs bouannes gens (God rest you merry gentlemen) at the carol-singing event, which takes place outside Marks & Spencer in King Street on Thursday evening from 6.30 to 7 pm.
JEP 11/12/2004
Après la ville dArgentan qui fut le siège d'une assemblée consacrée au droit normand, c'est Bayeux qui a reçu début juillet nos cousins jersiais, à l'occasion du 8e centenaire du rattachement des îles normandes de la Manche à la couronne dAngleterre, dans le cadre de fêtes médiévales de la capitale du Bessin. Les invités se sont livrés à des échanges culturels, divers jeux, à des démonstrations de musique et de danses, et se sont exprimés dans la langue commune a l'ancien duché: le normand.
Depuis la nuit des temps, la Fête des Rouaisouns est célébrée en Normandie. A l'origine et en français, c'est tout simplement la fête chrétienne des Rogations, qui, pendant les trois jours qui precèdent l'Ascension, de prières publiques en processions dans les champs, visait après les semailles à attirer la protection divine sur les cultures à venir de la paroisse.
Sans doute trouverait-on aisément des racines païennes à ces invocations du dieu de la terre, destinées à favoriser les récoltes. Quoi qu'il en soit, elle est desormais à peu près dénuée de toute connotation religieuse et se déroule aussi bien en ville qu'à la campagne.
Dans sa version moderne, la Fête des Rouaisouns est née à Montebourg en 1998 par la volonté d'associations culturelles et folkloriques. Pérennisée, elle a dès lors lieu en alternance, soit dans les îles, soit sur le continent et, pour des raisons pratiques et touristiques, plutôt entre fin mai et juillet que du 37e au 39e jour après Pâques...
La notion de jeûne liée aux pratiques chrétiennes a elle aussi disparu : ce serait même au contraire prétexte à moult bombance et libation! Enfin, des îles au Pays de Caux ( puisque j'soumes touos d'ichin!), c'est pour les associations de langue normande le plaisir de se retrouver et de s'amuser ensemble, en chantant, en narrant des contes et en disant des poèmes, le tout bien sûr dauns not' loçais.Car la première ambition de ces associations, désormais fédérées dans l'Assembllaée és Normaunds que préside Hubert Godefroy, est de défendre et promouvoir la langue normande.
Ainsi en fut-il dans la chapelle du Musée de la Tapisserie les 3 et 4 juillet derniers. A relever la présence dans la délégation de nombreux mousses (écoliers) normannophones. A Jersey en effet, un programme d'enseignement de la langue jerriaise (« cette précieuse langue locale », disait d'elle Victor Hugo) a été mis en place sous l'influence du Congrès des Parlers Normands et Jerriais, et grâce à une importante subvention (750000 Euros ) du gouvernement. Le jerriais est aussi présent à la radio et dans les journaux.
La grande fête de la langue et de la culture normandes a eu lieu à Jersey en 1999 et 2002, à Guernesey en 2000 et 2003 à Coutances en 2001. Retour prévu à Jersey en 2005 du 28 au 30 mai.
Comme le fait remarquer Magène - sur son site web (http://www.magene.com/) : « les responsables politiques de Jersey abordent la question de la langue avec volontarisme ». Puissent ceux de la Graind' Terre (la Normandie continentale) en faire autant, pour la préservation de notre patrimoine linguistique !
Patrimoine Normand
novembre 2004
Les îles de la Manche sont des morceaux de France tombés dans la mer et ramassés par l'Angleterre», écrivait dans son roman, Les travailleurs de la mer, Victor Hugo qui vécut quinze ans en exil à Jersey puis à Guernesey avant d'ajouter : «De là une nationalité complexe. Les Jersiais et les Guernesiais ne sont certainement pas anglais sans le vouloir. Mais ils sont français sans le savoir. S'ils le savent, ils tiennent à l'oublier».
On pourrait souligner, pour être parfaitement exact en ce huit centième anniversaire, que les îliens ne sont point anglais ni même membres du Royaume-Uni, mais qu'ils sont normands au sens ducal et que c'est pour rester fidèles à leur duc, alors roi d'Angleterre, qu'ils choisirent Jean sans Terre et non Philippe Auguste, roi de France qui rattacha le duché de Normandie à la Couronne de France, suite à la capitulation de Rouen, le 24 juin 1204.
Voilà pour l'Histoire, sachant que l'on pourrait rajouter, pour l'anecdote, que c'est le 17 novembre 1953, suite à une décision ambiguë de la Cour internationale de Justice de La Haye, que les «cailloux» franco-normands, si chers aux marins pêcheurs du Cotentin, tombèrent sous la juridiction du Bailli de Jersey.
De là, bien des controverses entre les cousins normands des îles et du continent, qui pourtant, chaque année, se retrouvent pour la grande fête de la langue normande. Ce dialecte dans lequel s'exprimait Guillaume e Conquérant en l'an 1000, et que continuent de parler comme langue maternelle environ cinq mille personnes (sur cent cinquante mille) sur les îles de Jersey, Guernesey et Sercq.
Certes, l'immense majorité des locuteurs a plus de 50 ans, à l'image de Bill Gallienne, membre de la Société guernesiaise, ou Hazel et Harry Tomlinson, qui réalisent chaque semaine un bulletin en franco-normand sur la BBC. A Jersey, le dynamisme de la société jerriaise fait plaisir à voir : «Des cours sont organisés dans les écoles, il faut profiter de la dernière génération de "native speakers" pour transmettre une langue qui prend racine dans notre vieille coutume normande, celle qui régit encore aujourd'hui nos lois et nous permet de crier "Haro" pour demander justice», explique Tony Scott Warren, professeur de jerriais dans différentes écoles de l'île.
L'heure est venue de découvrir les mystères de l'endroit en V.F., dans un vieux camion (un lorry) des années 40-50. Sympathique! «Bouônjour !, pâl-ous l'jérriais ?» demande une jeune fille qui tente d'apprendre la langue de son grand-père en cours du soir. «I understand but it isnt so easy to speak.» Du coup, la conversation se poursuivra en anglais. Dommage.
Famille Chrétienne
août 2004
A new series of workbooks has been launched to help Island school children improve their grammar and vocabulary when learning Jersey Norman French.
The colourful 48-page book entitled La P'tite Sente will be used in all States primary and secondary schools and in some private schools. The book targets a wide range of ages from beginners to 16-year-olds who may be revisiting the language.
It was created by Tony Scott Warren, Geraint Jennings and Colin Ireson who said La P'tite Sente had been designed to introduce pupils to Jèrriais in a fun and accessible way.
Mr Ireson said that the book was a great move for the Island. As we hope to move towards a GCSE qualification, a new book was required to satisfy the demands of the course,' he said. 'It guides students from simple words to conversations about the home and supermarket shopping.'
The group hope that the book will inspire a new generation of young Jèrriais speakers and encourage them to practise the language at home, at school and at work.
JEP 18/9/2004
Think of America and you think of a nation which numbers its houses in hundreds and thousands; think of England and you are in the world of Rose Cottage, Acacia Avenue.
In other countries, residents have nothing to show for themselves but a PO Box number, and in yet others you have no address at all - the reasoning is that those who know you know where to find you.
The British hankering after a corner plot which is forever England is what has provided the UK's top five house names: The Cottage, Rose Cottage, The Bungalow, The Coach House and Orchard House, all of which smack of some rural idyll. In Jersey, English house names came with the first English residents and carried a certain cachet, as did 'proper' French, but the Island has its own language of Jersey Norman-French (Jèrriais).
Jersey ancestral links with Normandy will be reaffirmed this weekend when the Island is guest of honour at Bayeux's medieval fete.
The home of the Bayeux tapestry will be host to the annual Fête Médiévale which last year attracted 40,000 people.
The fete, Normandy's equivalent of Brittany's famous Fête des Remparts, will also host the seventh staging of Les Fêtes des Rouaisons, a celebration of Normandy and the Channel Islands' shared linguistic heritage. Next year's Fêtes des Rouaisons will be held in Jersey
JEP 3/7/2004
Ce matin, il est allé converser dans une classe d'école primaire de l'île. Geraint Jennings, rond, barbu, souriant est l'infatigable croisé du jerriais, cette langue locale, ce patois de pleine mer dont usent encore 3 % des 87 500 habitants de l'île mais que 15 % comprennent encore.
Qu'est ce que le jerriais ? « Ce n'est pas une langue créole propre aux îles mais une cousine germaine du cauchois, du haguais ou du gallo. Jersey parlait majoritairement français jusque dans les années 1930. La Chronique de Jersey, un hebdomadaire en français, a fermé ses portes en 1959. Dans nos campagnes, le jerriais a perduré plus longtemps. Ici, aujourd'hui encore, la justice s'exprime en français. Quand Jersey fête ses 800 ans d'indépendance, elle doit savoir qu'elle n'a pas toujours parlé anglais. »
Geraint, Jerriais jusqu'à la moelle, n'a pas baigné dans ce parler régional: « A l'école, j'avais un copain qui parlait en jerriais chez lui. C'était étrange et beau. Il jurait en patois et racontait de jolies histoires. Ce n'est pas cette langue qui est venue à moi mais moi qui suis allé vers elle. »
Depuis, il la parle avec délectation, avec une pointe d'accent de Saint-Ouen, sa commune de l'ouest de l'île. Et il la diffuse depuis que la Société jersiaise, cet office de la vieille culture anglo-normande, intervient dans les écoles « 200 élèves suivent des cour de conversation, assurés par trois intervenants et des retraités. Nous avons toutes les couleurs de peau dans nos cours. Et les parents nous ont demandé de poursuivre dans les collèges, au-delà de l'école primaire. Un jour, peut-être, nous ouvrirons une école en jerriais. La demande existe. »
Car Geraint Jennings, né d'un papa gallois, ne se résout pas à l'extinction à feu doux de l'antique parler de l'archipel, comme celui de l'ile de Man, en Grande-Bretagne « où le dernier locuteur est mort en 1974 ».
Est-ce une lutte perdue d'avance sur une île où il y a davantage de banques que de « patoisants » ? Où tout, l'économie, le mode de vie et les chaînes de télévision poussent à la prédominance de la langue de Londres ? « On peut le voir comme cela mais ce serait un appauvrissement. Jersey doit peut-être son art de vivre et son efficacité au fait que l'île a été trilingue très longtemps. On commerçait en anglais, on gouvernait en français et on travaillait quotidiennement dans les champs en jerriais. Aujourd'hui encore, nous chantons le God Saves the Queen, l'hymne anglais et J'irai revoir ma Normandie, l'hymne de l'île. C'est cela qui fonde notre originalité et notre culture, notre triple identité d'une île de la Manche. »
Et il joint le geste à la parole en ouvrant l'un des manuels du « neu c'min » que potassent ses jeunes apprentis en jerriais des écoles de l'île. On y apprend tout sur la grammaire, l'orthographe et l'étonnante inventivité d'une langue du Moyen Âge qui n'a pas dit son dernier mot : « Regardez. On peut s'envoyer des textos en jerriais sur son téléphone portable. Et même commander un hamburger au McDo du coin. ».
Comment se dit hamburger en jerriais ?
« Une bourgaille. »
Que l'on peut arroser d'une pétillante « tinnée d'cola ».
La vieille langue de la Manche en a encore sous le coude.
La Société jersiaise a sa librairie et sa boutique dans les locaux du Jersey Museum (the Weighbridge), à Saint-Hélier, juste à côté de la station de bus. Pour joindre l'Office du Jerriais : Collège Highlands PO Box 1 000, Jersey JE4 9QA. Un excellent site internet en Français fait le tour de la question : http://www.societe-jersiaise.org.
Ouest France 27/6/2004
The contents of the Golden Jubilee time capsule ...A copy of a Jèrriais booklet... JEP 30/6/2004
...the Jersey and French politicians arrived for the ceremony straight from the States Chamber, where they had taken part in a special sitting in French as part of the annual meeting of the Commission Amicale between Jersey and the Conseil de la Manche. They took the front row of seats before a stage in Gorey Harbour to see the Master of the Revels, Thomas Cocklin, take centre stage, with Geraint Jennings to translate the proceedings into Jèrriais.... JEP 26/6/2004
Geraint Jennings of the Société Jersiaise and expert in the Island's own language of Jèrriais has been in touch to say that the Sèrvice Annuel d'L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais will be held this weekend.
This ecumenical service is open to anyone who wishes to take part in the worship in Jèrriais, or who would just like to listen to the language.
The prayers, bible readings and hymns are in Jèrriais and there's a printed service available to follow. Hymns include Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer, sung in Jèrriais.
For those who would like to take part in the worship or would prefer to just listen to this wonderful language, the service takes place at St Lawrence Parish Church on Sunday 25 April at 3 pm.
JEP 24/4/2004
THE first Jèrriais to English dictionary has been compiled, and should be published next year. Copies of the dictionary which is based on the 1972 English-Jersey Language Vocabulary compiled by Dr Albert Carré, are available at the library of the Société Jersiaise and the Jersey Library. It has been compiled by the Section de la langue Jèrriaise of the Société.
JEP 24/4/2004
The small 'lane with no name' which leads from Gorey Pier up to Mont Orgueil is to be called La P'tite Ruelle Muchie - or 'the little hidden lane'.
A competition run by the Gorey Improvement Group to create an identity for the tiny lane attracted no fewer than 180 entries. The winning suggestion was from Jèrriais teacher Colin Ireson, and it received official approval at a St Martin parish assembly on Thursday night.
The lane, which runs behind the Dolphin Hotel and the adjacent properties, is well hidden, and the competition judges felt that the name was the perfect one for what they called 'this small but important link' between the pier and the Castle Green.
Other suggestions which made the shortlist included Lé Drédillet ('the steep and tortuous path') as well as Le C'mîn d'La Boul'lie (which refers to the bowling green once sited on the lower part of the Castle Green).
In addition to winning lunch for two at the Moorings Hotel, Mr Ireson will be invited to be the guest of honour at a forthcoming naming ceremony for La P'tite Ruelle Muchie.
The Gorey Improvement Group's chairman, Corrie Stein, said: 'We received entries in English, French and Jèrriais, and I would like to thank everyone who contributed so many excellent ideas. Mr Ireson's winning entry is, we believe, just right for the lane, and 1 am delighted that the parishioners of St Martin agree.'
JEP 6/4/2004
A perky little copy of Les Nouvelles Chroniques du Don Balleine has landed on my desk.
Bursting with bonhomie it begins with a couple of words - oh, all right, deux'trais -commenting on the early arrival of spring this year with its nest-building and planting of 'patates'.
Later in the year we may be celebrating Jersey's 800 years of loyalty to the English crown but for now, the magazine is celebrating the end of winter
I am delighted to see that the JEP has been awarded the coveted crapaud d'or, in recognition of the regular publication on neighbouring pages of articles in Jèrriais.
Other recipients include BBC Radio Jersey, Benest and Syvret, Channel Television, Jersey Heritage, Jersey Hospice, the Parish of St Ouen, Bunny de la Mare, Mencap, the National Trust for Jersey, Radio 103FM and Jersey Tourism, all of them recognised as doing their bit to ensure that Jersey's language does not die.
Les Nouvelles Chroniques du Don Balleine are available now, price £2.99, at the Société Jersiaise, in Pier Road; from the Société's online bookshop and subscriptions are available from the Office du Jèrriais.
JEP 6/4/2004
Although French is still used for certain proceedings in the Royal Court and appears on signposts throughout the Island, English is the dominant language in Jersey.
A century ago that was not the case. English and French were spoken, but Jèrriais, Jersey-Norman French, was the language of everyday conversation not only in the depths of the countryside but also in the streets of St Helier.
It was, in all probability, the advent of compulsory education in 1912 which signalled the decline of Jèrriais.
English became the only recognised language of instruction, relegating the Island's native tongue to secondary - and in the eyes of the educated - subservient status.
All at Jèrriais was the 'low' vernacular.
In spite of the enormous pressures exerted by schooling, immigration from the UK, English newspapers and the BBC, Jèrriais survived by retreating to the countryside.
It remains alive, to the extent that the 2001 Census revealed that it still has well over 2,500 speakers.
Moreover, there is an active campaign to keep the language alive through classes in primary schools and courses in adult education.
But is Jèrriais so very much more than a curious linguistic living fossil, the relic of past ages when the Island was more thoroughly insulated from outside cultural influences?
There powerful arguments to suggest that it is.
To begin, even for those who do not understand it or, at best, can pick out the odd phrase, it is a treat for the ear.
Despite its clear relationship with French, its tone has an earthiness absent from that language full of rolled r-sounds and soft, feminine vowels.
Jèrriais is round, full and rich, with more than a hint of the oh-ar sounds of West-country English.
Then there is the richness of expression. As befits a form of speech which has been around for at least 1,000 years and influenced by Norse, Celtic and Frankish, Jèrriais is full of colourful sayings, idioms and turns of phrase.
A Jèrriais-speaker might, for example, say that a sharp-tongued person has 'eune goule comme eune trappe à souothis' - a mouth like a mousetrap - or, of someone nervous and on edge, 'il a d vif-argent dans les membres' - he has quicksilver in his limbs.
Those expressions are, of course, only the tiny tip of a massive mountain of vivid language, some of which has no place in a family newspaper.
There is, meanwhile, the link between traditional Jersey culture and the language.
It is possible to relabel activities such as la vraic'sie - vraicing - with modern equivalents, but seaweed-gathering doesn't quite have the right ring to it.
The roles of bodies such as L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais, founded in 1951, and the venerable Société Jersiaise, founded in 1873, in preserving Jèrriais have been important, but the present resurgence in interest has depended on enthusiasts who see not a dying language but one which is vibrant and capable of moving with the times.
Tony Scott Warren and Geraint Jennings - to name but two - are, through methods ranging from a website to teaching programmes, introducing the Island's native tongue to a new generation of speakers who enjoy learning a language which few others are able to understand.
Significantly, more than half a century ago during the Occupation the secret language appeal which accounts for some of the popularity of J&riais among young students helped Islanders in a time of stress and gave traditional communication a new lease of life.
Just as the Americans were able to use Navaho radio operators to foil the Japanese in the Pacific, Jerseymen were able to converse in Jèrriais and leave even French-speaking German soldiers what on earth was being said.
JEP 23/2/2004
....Alongside the four professional adult actors cast in the main roles, two teams of eight Island schoolchildren, dubbed Flotsams and Jetsams, will be playing The Sea, an ensemble choral role central to the whole play. And this will require the nine-to-11-year-olds to perform in both English and Jèrriais.
......
'The children might not understand the Jèrriais but I think they'll like the play because it's funny and mysterious,' says Melissa Capraro of Grouville School.
......
Australian Kate Shearer has had to learn a whole new language for her performance. She plays the Old Woman, whose first scene is in Jèrriais.
'It's been the most challenging aspect of this role for me,' says Kate. 'She's 800 years old and she carries the history of Jersey. There's a number of local people I've spent time with in order to prepare for the role - Tony Scott Warren, Sadie Renard.'
...........
JEP 20/2/2004
...'There's lots of opportunities for the sea to translate things into Jersey French and back again into English,' he said. 'This play is about land, it's about inheritance, it's about tomorrow. It's about getting the balance right: what's important in a community? How do you retain some kind of autonomy? When do you sell your land?'
'It's supposed to enable young people to have a greater sense of their identity.'...
JEP 14/2/2004
The Beinv'nue programme - which teaches essential skills to staff in the hospitality sector - has been launched for the second year running.
After the success of last year's inaugural scheme, which trained over 350 employees from 55 businesses, the Jersey Hospitality Association, who manage the programme, are repeating the exercise this year.
Beinv'nue is a residential five-day course and aims to give Jersey's international workforce the confidence to integrate as quickly, effectively and professionally as possible into the business environment. Staff are trained in such skills as basic food hygiene, safety at work and the English language and they complete the nationally-recognised Welcome Host qualification.
JEP 13/2/2004
What would you call 'the lane with no name'?
............The public are now being invited to solve this identity crisis by coming up with a name, subject to final approval by the parish of St Martin, ideas are welcome, and the group chairman, former Senator Corrie Stein, said she was hoping that there would be entries in French and Jèrriais as well as English....
JEP 12/2/2004
From Mr Geraint Jennings
Sir, The chairman of the Queen's English Society laments the use of “to text” as a verb of communication (letter, January 21).
At least one other indigenous language of the British Isles has embraced modernity. One of our school textbooks for Jèrriais, the traditional language of Jersey, includes a section on “la textéthie” - texting in Jèrriais. The verb, naturally enough, is texter.
Sincéthement,
GERAINT JENNINGS
(Assistant Jèrriais Language Teaching Co-ordinator),
College Highlands, PO Box 1000, Jersey JE4 9QA.
January 21.
The Times 28/1/2004
Use of Jèrriais had begun to diminish as French and then English took over as official languages in the Island, but in recent years Jersey's dialect has seen such a resurgence that a GCSE is now a possibility for the future.
As Jersey nestles snugly alongside the coast of France it is hardly surprising that Islanders spoke their own version of French * for hundreds of years.
But not any more.
The only obvious reminders of the language today are the road signs and the odd groups of Jerseymen sat talking in the Norman dialect, pint in hand, down at the Farmers Inn in St Ouen.
Ancient Norman French, the language spoken by William the Conqueror when he landed at Hastings in 1066, continued in use in Jersey until the end of the 1800s *. Although the official written language of Jersey was standard French everyone spoke Jèrriais.
Peculiarly, though, everyone now speaks English. The Island's official written language remained as French until the 1960s. It was used in public notices, at church, in the States and in court and is still maintained in the court and legal professions today
So, although French is still a part of Island life, Jèrriais was more easily lost. The lessening in use of the language has occurred over hundreds of years but the Island's separation from France as a result of 1204 had no impact on the language whatsoever. *
Jèrriais has been influenced by Celtic, Norse and Frankish languages and took hundreds of years to form. Sadly, the fact that Jèrriais was never an officially transcribed dialect and French was always used to write things down, Jèrriais became a transient language.
It started to appear in written form towards the end of the 18th century * mainly as poetry or historical work but for a long time there was no standard spelling so each writer used his or her own system to write.
The orthography used today is based on standard French. However, Jèrriais distinguishes itself from modern French in a number of ways and includes sounds, such as 'tch' and 'dg,' that do not exist in French.
There are also significant orthographic differences between the two languages. Jèrriais is full of letter combinations like: 'ouo' and 'aithe'; and while in French the adjective tends to go after the noun, in Jèrriais the opposite can be true.
Jèrriais has been described as French with Celtic, Germanic and English influences thrown in. It can clearly be seen to borrow from French and Latin, but many Jèrriais words can also be seen to reflect the English such as 'pot', which in Jèrriais is 'pot,' and game, which in Jèrriais is 'gamme'.
In 1873 La Société Jersiaise was formed to look into the history of Jèrriais and that of the whole Island. In 1908 the language was introduced into the Eisteddfod to encourage its use and in 1924 the Société published the Glossaire du Patois Jersiais - but by that stage its use was floundering.
Jèrriais was used less and less and in 1900 it was made optional in the States *. English had become the dominant language in St Helier.
One of the language's most serious set-backs came when compulsory education was introduced to the Island in 1912 . It was then that lessons started to be taught in English instead of Jèrriais *. Although children would have continued to converse in Jèrriais with their parents, the language was forbidden at school.
After this the churches began to drop their French services one by one and the tourist industry, the expansion of the Jersey economy and the influence of the English residents all contributed to the Island becoming Anglicised.
As use of the English language increased rapidly throughout the 19th century, the biggest boost for Jèrriais came about during the German occupation. it was the perfect time to employ what was a secret language - totally incomprehensible to the occupying forces.
It may have been this small resurgence that led to the formation of L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais in 1951. It was formed to hold meetings and publish items in Jèrriais and at its conception the Assembliée had just 27 members. It now has more than 500 members and has been behind the publication of many books on and in the language.
In 1989 the estimate of Jèrriais speakers was around 5,000 - today it is just 2,600. The language that was part of Island life for over 1,000 years now only survives in small pockets.
But the huge loss of Island heritage that would go hand-in-hand with the demise of Jèrriais has been recognised.
Today the Section de la langue Jèrriaise works to promote study of the language and its literature and periodicals, poems, rhymes and other literature continue to be produced in Jèrriais, supported by Le Don Balleine Trust.
Jèrriais classes are now commonplace in primary schools and the Internet has helped knowledge of Jèrriais grow around the world. There is now a significant amount of on-line material on the language, its history and culture, and it is possible to buy books and tapes on-line.
If the expansion of the language back into Island life continues a Jèrriais GCSE could be established in the near future and children could grow up once again fluent in part of their Island's heritage.
JEP 21/1/2004
In spite of this, Policy and Resources believe that Islanders could identify even more closely with the community in which they live and its many favourable attributes. In their discussion document produced in the wake of last year's Imagine Jersey exercise, the committee stress the value of promoting pride in Jersey and self-belief.
Although these goals are linked in P & R's proposals, it can be argued that whereas pride in the community remains in a reasonably healthy state, it is self-belief which is lacking in the current climate of doubt and uneasiness about the future. That said, few would disagree with the idea that anything that can be done to make people more proud of Jersey should be done.
To that end, P & R recommend measures that include encouraging Islanders to join associations such as the National Trust for Jersey and the Société Jersiaise, to support cultural events, and to support the teaching of Jersey-Norman French in Island schools.
JEP 15/1/2004
(JEP = Jersey Evening Post)
Viyiz étout: