Not to be confused withMentonasc dialect, which is closely related to Monégasque and spoken in the same region.
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Monégasque (munegascu,pronounced[muneˈɡasku];French:monégasque,pronounced[mɔneɡask]ⓘ;Italian:monegasco) is thevariety ofLigurian spoken inMonaco. It is closely related to theLigurian dialects spoken in Ventimiglia and is considered a national language of Monaco, though it is not the official language of the country, which isFrench. Monégasque has been officially taught[4] in the schools of Monaco since 1972 and was made a compulsory subject in 1976,[5] but is thenative language of only a handful of people.
In 1191, theRepublic of Genoa took possession of Monaco and began settling in 1215. These Genoese settlers brought theirvernacular language with them which would develop into Monégasque. Prior to the Genoese settlers, the main language of the region wasProvençal, as spoken in the nearby localities ofMenton andRoquebrune. By 1355, Menton, Roquebrune, and Monaco were under the political union of theGrimaldis, but despite this, there was a linguistic divide as the primary language of Monaco was Ligurian. Over time Monégasque began to split from the Genoese vernacular as Monaco came under the political influence of foreign powers, namely taking influences from French and Italian, but also briefly from Spanish and Catalan as Monaco had been under Spanish occupation for over a hundred years, ending in 1641.
Afterwards, Monaco would be under French protection and prior to theFrench Revolution, Italian and Monégasque were the primary languages of the political elite, administration, clergy and natives. French would however begin to become a major influence as France instituted bilingual government. At this time the population of Monaco was mainly made up of immigrants and descendants from Genoa and other parts ofLiguria, and though Monégasque was not written, it was openly spoken and passed down through families by oral tradition. People coming in from the Italian city-states were considered closer neighbours than those coming in from Grimaldi-led cities of Menton and Roquebrune, who were considered foreigners despite their union with Monaco.[6]
In 1793, Monaco was annexed by France and by 1805, decrees fromNapoleon, Emperor of the French, imposed French language instruction and limited the use of other languages. The Grimaldis reestablished a sovereign principality in 1814, but maintained French as the only official language though Italian and Monégasque remained national languages. In 1815,Prince Honoré IV decreed French and Italian equal status in education, though Italian gradually declined as the nearby regions became more French, noticeably in 1860 with theFrench annexation of Nice. Monégasque was then demoted to a "patois," and barred from being taught or spoken in public and religious schools until 1976, in a similar manner to that ofOccitan in France.[7][8][9]
The first written traces of Monégasque appear between 1721 and 1729 in the correspondence ofAntonio I with his daughterLouise Hippolyte, as well as in a few notarial deeds, but the language remained above all, oral. From 1860, the population ofMonaco City rose from 1,200 inhabitants in 1860 to 22,000 in 1880; Monégasque found itself threatened by the massive influx of foreign workers and by the development of a pidgin mixingProvençal,Piedmontese,Corsican,French, andLigurian. At that time, Monégasque was banned from school and parents encouraged their children to speakFrench. In 1927,Louis Notari undertook the written codification of the language, drawing inspiration from the writing ofFrench andItalian. The first Monegasque grammar anddictionary appeared in 1960 and 1963.
By 1924, Monégasque was close to extinction if not for the efforts of the National Committee of Monégasque Traditions (Cumitáu Naçiunale d'ë Tradiçiúe Munegasche). In 1927,Louis Notari published theA Legenda de Santa Devota, the first literary work in Monégasque. This was soon followed by all kinds of literature, such as poetry, stories, and plays being written in Monégasque attracting more attention to the language. In 1972, the first class in Monégasque was taught by clergymen, Georges Franzi, with support from theFélibrige, an Occitan language association, and by 1976, Monégasque was made a compulsory subject in public and private primary education thanks to an initiative by the government. This was later expanded in 1979 and 1989 to make it a compulsory subject in secondary education and as an optional subject for the baccalaureate.[10] In 1982,Prince Rainier III created a sovereign ordinance that established the Commission for the Monégasque Language, which is responsible for the education and study of the language.[11][12]
Monaco andMenton constituted the extreme western area of theRepublic of Genoa (demarcated in green) in 1664.
Monégasque shares many features with theGenoese dialect and is closely related to thedialect of Ventimiglia. Despite earlier attempts to link it to Occitan, Monégasque is a Ligurian dialect with Occitan contributions while the nearbyMenton dialect is an Occitan dialect with Ligurian features.
Monégasque, like all other Ligurian language variants, is derived directly from theVulgar Latin of what is now northwestern Italy and southeastern France and has some influence in vocabulary, morphology and syntax from French and relatedGallo-Romance languages.[13]
The sole official language of Monaco is French as stated in itsconstitution with Monégasque being used informally. As Monégasques are only a minority in Monaco, the language was threatened with extinction in the 1970s. In a nation with 130 different nationalities, Monégasque struggles in a time of globalisation. Despite being compulsory in education, it is not common for students in Monaco to use it outside the classroom or to take theirbachelor's degree in the Monégasque option. Adult education and lessons to foreign residents are carried out and there is an annual language competition for schoolchildren over which the Prince presides.
Beginning withLouis Notari’sA Legenda de Santa Devota, any semblance of written Monégasque was usually referred to asLigurian,Genoese,Italian, and sometimes evenFrench.
Robert Boisson, founder of the Academy of Dialectal Languages (French:Academie des languages dialectales) andpoet of works such asVibrations intérieures – Harmonies Humaines.
The Monégasquealphabet comprises 23 letters: seventeen consonants and nine vowels[clarification needed], plus the letter "k" at the initial of some loanwords (such as kaki̍). "J" and "H" are never found at the beginning of a word. In Monégasque, each vowel is pronounced separately. Monégasque orthography generally followsItalian principles, with a few unique graphemes and features borrowed from French:[14]
Below is an excerpt from theMonégasque national anthem, written byLouis Notari. In addition, there is an older French version of the anthem; its lyrics have a different meaning. The choice between the two forms is generally subject to the occasion and the circumstance.
Despœi tugiù sciü d'u nostru paise Se ride au ventu, u meme pavayùn Despœi tugiù a curù russa e gianca E stà l'emblema, d'a nostra libertà Grandi e i piciui, l'an sempre respetà
The following is a Monégasque rendering of theHail Mary:[15]
Ave Maria, Tüta de graçia u Signù è cun tü si benedëta tra tüt'ë done e Gesü u to Fiyu è benejiu.
Santa Maria, maire de Diu, prega per nùi, pecatùi aùra e à l'ura d'a nostra morte AMEN. (Che sice cusci.)
