What language (s) were talking about your ancestors?
Do you remember talking about your ancestors? From these words with accents as rich as their countries? These cultural treasures make the whole history of the regions of France.
Words, accents, expressions ... A sound and cultural richness that is lost over the generations.
An interactive map to hear the language of your ancestors
This card is the work of three researchers from the computer laboratory for mechanics and engineering sciences (LIMSI), who have traveled France to listen to the various and varied sounds of the French in our regions.
These scientists asked 126 inhabitants, of 126 different municipalities, to read the fable of Esop, the Bise and the Sun, in their regional language, of course. And The result is surprising!
To hear the text, read in French, click on Paris. Then, click on the different municipalities to hear this same text in the local language.
These scientists have gone more far from, since they also make at our disposal a map of overseas, non-territorial languages (sign language) and Europe to discover the dialects of Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, the Iberian or even Germany peninsula.
💡 Did you know?
These are the Strasbourg oaths in 842 (The sharing of the Charlemagne Empire) which will highlight, for the first time, two new languages of the Carolingian Empire: French and German.
Before, The Franks in Roman Gaul did not speak French but the Francic. A Germanic language that has helped shape, like many other languages (Latin, Gallic, Arab), our current French.
To find out more, take a look at this List of examples of words of foreign origin established by the French Academy.
The importance of sound and audiovisual archives
There are many departmental archive centers to highlight their sound and/or audiovisual archives.
These archive sources are a real cultural wealth for a region and allow us to hear regional languages (and those of immigration), traditional music and popular songs or life paths directly told by our ancestors.
As examples, the Sarthe archives have put online The sound dictionaries of speaking of the hommedaire in 1920 - The Haute-Loire archives allow you to listen The radio show Le Patois speaks to you (1984-1990) - The Mayenne archives have a fund dedicated to Traditional songs and music -The Archives of Saône-et-Loire have a wide fund of videos, some of which are on patois and heritage… In short, consult the departmental archive sites to discover their sound and video archive funds!
💡 Good to know:
To understand the archives written in the old French language or its dialect, Consult our list of more than 110 dictionaries and lexicons old French and regional patois accessible in one click.
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