In September, members of the Conseil Scientifique et Culturel des Parlers Normands (Norman Language Scientific Council) lead by Geraint Jennings, visited the Lord Coutanche Library. They have been meeting in Jersey to discuss language projects and discover La Langue Jèrriaise. Representatives of Région de Normandie, Université de Caen, Université Le Havre, La Fabrique des Patrimoines en Normandie, Académie des Sciences, Belles Lettres et Arts de Rouen, Archives départementales de l’Eure, FALE (Fédération des Associations pour la Langue normande), etc. were welcomed in French by the Librarian who explained the importance of the Lord Coutanche Library in supporting the work of the Société Jersiaise. They discovered some of the resources in Jèrriais kept in the Lord Coutanche Library as well as some documents on Norman languages and Norman history. They also visited the Library’s archives room where they discovered, among other things, a publication dated 1574, Commentaires du droit civil, tant public que privé, observé au pays & duché de Normandie, by Maistre Guillaume Terrien.
The Librarian also distributed leaflets in French describing the resources available in the Library.
It was an opportunity for Jean Treleven to present to them the Jèrriais Hub project, Lé Nouai, a state-of-the-art language learning platform for Jèrriais, designed to cater for users of all levels and to bring together a significant body of existing digital Jèrriais language resources.
The preservation of Jèrriais was a key reason the Société Jersiaise was established in 1873.
The Government has now produced a Language Strategy recognising the importance of Jèrriais to our cultural heritage and the celebrations organised in 2027 by the Normandy Region to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror are likely to create international interest in Norman languages.
Jean and I will represent the Société Jersiaise during the first gathering in October, “The Norman people of Europe”, a two-day European Forum in Caen to discuss projects for the Millennium of William the Conqueror.
Valérie Noël
Librarian
Lord Coutanche Library
