Native speakers 35,000 (date missing) | ||
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Language family Indo-EuropeanItalicRomanceWesternGallo-RomanceArpitanSavoyard | ||
Savoyard dialect
Savoyard is a dialect of Arpitan (Franco-Provençal). It is spoken in some territories of the historical Duchy of Savoy, nowadays a geographic area spanning France (in Savoie and Haute-Savoie) and Switzerland (in the canton of Geneva). The varieties are commonly known as patois. It has around 35,000 speakers today.
Contents
Some words
Several subdialects of Savoyard exist that exhibit unique features in terms of phonetics and vocabulary. Among them, many words have to do with the weather: bacan (French: temps mauvais); coussie (French: tempête); royé (French: averse); ni[v]ole (French: nuage); ...and, the environment: clapia, perrier (French: éboulis); égra (French: sorte d'escalier de pierre); balme (French: grotte); tova (French: tourbière); and lanche (French: champ en pente).
Linguistic studies
Savoyard has been the subject of detailed study at the Centre de dialectologie of the Stendhal University, Grenoble, currently under the direction of Michel Contini.