Poetevin-Séntunjhaes

Poetevin-Séntunjhaes or Parlanjhe (native names), also known as Poitevin-Saintongeais or Parlange (Standard French names), is a Romance linguistic variety spoken in midwest France, in a territory called Aguiéne. It is a variety of the Langue d'Oïl: it is variously viewed as a French dialect or as an independent language close to French. It has important features inherited from Occitan.

Poetevin means “from Poitou”, Séntunjhaes means “from Saintonge”, parlanjhe means “language” or “way of talking” (implicitly, “our language”).

Territory

The Poetevin-Séntunjhaes territory (which can be viewed on this map) is located in midwest France. It is sometimes named Aguiéne (native name) or Aguiaine (Standard French name): this is an old medieval name, derived from Latin Aquitania. It can be also called Poitou-Saintonge-Vendée in reference to its administrative composition.

Aguiéne comprises the following zones:

• From a historical point of view, the traditional provinces of Poitou, Saintonge, Aunis and Angoumois.
• From an administrative point of view: the official region of Poitou-Charentes and the department of Vendée (adding some strips of the nearby departments of Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Indre, Dordogne and Gironde and without a western strip of Poitou-Charente, where Occitan is spoken).

The main cities of Aguiéne are Poitiers, Niort, La Rochelle, Angoulême, Saintes and La Roche-sur-Yon.

Aguiéne includes some little islands of the Atlantic Ocean, near the mainland, which are Noirmoutier, Yeu, Ré, l'Ile d'Aix and Oléron.

Classification

All specialists agree on the fact that, within the Romance family, Poetevin-Séntunjhaes is a variety of the Langue d'Oïl with an important substratum from Occitan .

But specialists of the Romance languages disagree on wether Poetevin-Séntunjhaes is a dialect of the French language or an independent language.

• According to the traditional classification of Romance linguistics, “French” and “Langue d'Oïl” are synonyms, both names designate one language, which includes several dialects. In this view, Poetevin-Séntunjhaes is a dialect of French or Langue d'Oïl.
• According to a view supported by some linguists since the 1970's, there is not one Langue d'Oïl but several “Langues d'Oïl” (in plural). So Poetevin-Séntunjhaes and “French” (centered on Paris and Ile-de-France) should be considered as two distinct languages, though pertaining to the same Oïl subgroup, within the Romance family. The supporters of Poetevin-Séntunjhaes usually subscribe to this second conception.

Current use and status

Poetevin-Séntunjhaes was used by the majority of the population until the beginning of the 20th century. Its use has dwindled dramatically in front of Standard French since the 20th century.

However, a cultural movement has developped since the 19th century in order to promote the use of Poetevin-Séntunjhaes. Nowadays, Poetevin-Séntunjhaes is supported by networks of speakers, cultural activists, writers and singers and courses for adults and youngsters. The regional authorities of Poitou-Charentes give some funding to the cultural associations which promote Parlanjhe.

Poetevin-Séntunjhaes is not protected by any law nor official status. Nevertheless, it is recognized in a list of “regional languages” established by the French Ministry of Culture.

Genesis

The early stages of Poetevin-Séntunjhaes are not very well known. They are related with a withdrawal of the Occitan language in the current Poetevin-Séntunjhaes territory during the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.

Occitan was spoken at least until the end of the 12th century in the southern half of the current Poetevin-Séntunjhaes territory: the former language boundary went near the cities of Rochefort, Niort and Poitiers and Poitiers was probably Occitan-speaking (some scholars even suppose that, initially, Occitan could have covered all the current Poetevin-Séntunjhaes domain). At the end of the 12th century, Occitan began to withdraw progressively in front of the Langue d'Oïl; the current Oïl-Occitan boundary was probably stabilized in the 15th century.

In this large zone of language replacement, Poetevin-Séntunjhaes emerged progressively in written documents as a variety of the Langue d'Oïl, although bearing a lot of remnants of Occitan. Poetevin-Séntunjhaes may even have existed before the great language change and would have been located initially north of the earlier Rochefort-Niort-Poitiers limit, but this is not sufficiently attested.

Writing system

A spelling has been codified since the 1970's and the 1980's, thanks to one of the main Parlanjhe associations, the UPCP (Union for the Popular Culture of Poitou-Charentes-Vendée).