Monégasque language
Encyclopedia
Monégasque is a dialect of the modern Ligurian language
Ligurian language (Romance)
Ligurian is a Gallo-Romance language spoken in Liguria in Northern Italy, parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of France, Monaco and in the villages of Carloforte and Calasetta in Sardinia. Genoese , spoken in Genoa, the capital of Liguria, is its most important dialect...

, spoken in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

.

Language family

Forming a part of the Western Romance dialect continuum, Monégasque shares many features with the variety of Ligurian
Ligurian language (Romance)
Ligurian is a Gallo-Romance language spoken in Liguria in Northern Italy, parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of France, Monaco and in the villages of Carloforte and Calasetta in Sardinia. Genoese , spoken in Genoa, the capital of Liguria, is its most important dialect...

 spoken in Genoa
Genoese dialect
Genoese is a dialect of the Ligurian language, the one spoken in Genoa .Ligurian is listed by Ethnologue as a language in its own right, of the Romance branch, and not to be confused with the ancient Ligurian language...

, but differs from its neighboring dialects Intemelio
Intemelio
Intemelio is a Ligurian dialect spoken historically from the Principality of Monaco to the Italian province of Imperia.-History:Since before the Renaissance the Ligurian language was spoken in all the territories of the Republic of Genoa : in the western area of this republic one of its groups was...

 and Mentonasc. It has been partially influenced by Niçard
Niçard
Niçard , Nissart/Niçart , Niçois , or Nizzardo is considered a distinct subdialect of the Occitan language spoken in the city of Nice and in the historical County of Nice Niçard (Classical orthography), Nissart/Niçart (Mistralian orthography), Niçois (French, IPA: ), or Nizzardo (Italian, IPA: )...

 Occitan. Contemporary Niçard
Niçard
Niçard , Nissart/Niçart , Niçois , or Nizzardo is considered a distinct subdialect of the Occitan language spoken in the city of Nice and in the historical County of Nice Niçard (Classical orthography), Nissart/Niçart (Mistralian orthography), Niçois (French, IPA: ), or Nizzardo (Italian, IPA: )...

 Occitan is also traditionally spoken in some parts of Monaco, besides Monégasque.

Monegasque, along with all Ligurian languages, is derived directly from the Italian of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

along with some influences in vocabulary, grammar and syntax from French and related Gallo-Romance languages.

Before the annexation of the County of Nice
County of Nice
The County of Nice or Niçard Country is a historical region of France, located in the south-eastern part, around the city of Nice.-History:Its territory lies between the Mediterranean Sea , Var River and the southernmost crest of the...

 to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in 1860, the Nizzardo Italians
Nizzardo Italians
Italian irredentism in Nice was the political movement supporting the annexation of Nice to the Kingdom of Italy. The term was coined by Italian Irredentists who sought the unification of all Italian peoples within the Kingdom of Italy. Italian and Ligurian speaking populations of the County of...

 spoke a dialect very similar to the Monégasque.

Speakers

It is spoken in addition to French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 by the Monégasques. Because the Monégasques are only a minority in Monaco, Monégasque was threatened with extinction in the 1970s.

However, the language is now being taught in schools, and its continuance is regarded as secured. In the old part of Monaco, the street signs are marked with Monégasque in addition to French.

Relation to Italian

Standard Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 - related to Monégasque - is also a major language in Monaco. Italian nationals make up some 20% of the 35,000 permanent residents of Monaco.

Italian was the official language of Monaco when it was a Protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...

 from 1814 to 1861, leaving a legacy in some Monégasque words.

Indeed, for a long time after the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

, Monaco was the most westerly part on the Mediterranean coast of the Republic of Genoa
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....

.

During the fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

 occupation in 1942-1943, the Principality of Monaco was incorporated into Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and Monégasque was said to be an Italian dialect.

After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 there were nearly 10,000 Italians in Monte Carlo, and some of them (descendants of the Nizzardo Italians - followers of Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...

 - who were forced to move from Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

 to the Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...

 after 1861) even spoke Monégasque fluently.

Orthography

Monégasque orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...

 generally follows Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 principles, with the following exceptions:
  • the ü is pronounced as in German
    German language
    German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

    , or as the French u.
  • the œ is pronounced as the French é, and not like the French œu as in bœuf, which is how œ is pronounced in Ligurian
    Ligurian language (Romance)
    Ligurian is a Gallo-Romance language spoken in Liguria in Northern Italy, parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of France, Monaco and in the villages of Carloforte and Calasetta in Sardinia. Genoese , spoken in Genoa, the capital of Liguria, is its most important dialect...

    , which also uses the character ö to represent this sound.
  • the ç is pronounced as in the French ç [s]: tradiçiùn comes from the Latin traditionem , and not from the Italian tradizione.

Samples

Below is an excerpt from the Monégasque national anthem
Hymne Monégasque
"Hymne Monégasque" is Monaco's national anthem.Théophile Bellando de Castro wrote the lyrics and composed the music of the 1st edition of Hymne Monégasque in 1841, later Castil-Blaze modified the melody and made several other minor changes...

, written by Louis Notari
Louis Notari
Louis Notari was the pioneer of Monégasque literature. He wrote in the French and Monégasque languages.-Principal writings:...

. In addition, there exists an older French version of the anthem whose lyrics bear different meaning. The choice between the two forms is generally subject to occasion and circumstance.

Despoei tugiù sciü d'u nostru paise
Se ride au ventu, u meme pavayùn

Despoei tugiù a curù russa e gianca

E stà l'emblema, d'a nostra libertà

Grandi e i piciui, l'an sempre respetà


Following is a Monégasque rendering of the Hail Mary
Hail Mary
The Angelic Salutation, Hail Mary, or Ave Maria is a traditional biblical Catholic prayer asking for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Hail Mary is used within the Catholic Church, and it forms the basis of the Rosary...

 prayer:

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.)

See also

  • European languages
  • Italian dialects
    Italian dialects
    Dialects of Italian are regional varieties of the Italian language, more commonly and more accurately referred to as Regional Italian. The dialects have features, most notably phonological and lexical, percolating from the underlying substrate languages...

  • Languages of Italy
  • Languages of Monaco
    Languages of Monaco
    The official language of Monaco is French, but there are several languages spoken, including Monégasque, the national language of the Monegasque people.-French:...

  • Nizzardo Italians
    Nizzardo Italians
    Italian irredentism in Nice was the political movement supporting the annexation of Nice to the Kingdom of Italy. The term was coined by Italian Irredentists who sought the unification of all Italian peoples within the Kingdom of Italy. Italian and Ligurian speaking populations of the County of...

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