Culture of Guernsey - Language

Language

English is the only language spoken by a majority of the population, while Guernésiais, the Norman language of the island, is currently spoken fluently by 2% of the population (according to 2001 census). However, 14% of the population claim some understanding of the language and it is taught in a few Island schools. Until the early twentieth century French was the only official language. Family and place names reflect this linguistic heritage. The island's loss of the language reflects a significant anglicisation of its culture and mindset, partly brought on by a large number of tax exiles from England. Portuguese is taught in a few schools and is spoken by around 2% of the population.

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Famous quotes containing the word language:

    In a language known to us, we have substituted the opacity of the sounds with the transparence of the ideas. But a language we do not know is a closed place in which the one we love can deceive us, making us, locked outside and convulsed in our impotence, incapable of seeing or preventing anything.
    Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

    “What may this mean? Language of Man pronounced
    By tongue of brute, and human sense expressed!
    The first at least of these I thought denied
    To beasts, whom God on their creation-day
    Created mute to all articulate sound;
    The latter I demur, for in their looks
    Much reason, and in their actions, oft appears.
    John Milton (1608–1674)

    When you’re lying awake with a dismal headache, and repose is
    taboo’d by anxiety,
    I conceive you may use any language you choose to indulge in without impropriety;
    Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)