Culture and Languages
The two dominant cultures are English on the north shore of the Channel, French on the south. However, there are also a number of minority languages that are or were found on the shores and islands of the English Channel, which are listed here, with the Channel's name following them.
- Celtic Languages
- Breton - "Mor Breizh" (Sea of Brittany)
- Cornish - "Mor Bretannek"
- Germanic languages
- English
- Dutch - "het Kanaal" (the Channel)
- German - "der Ärmelkanal" (the Sleeve Channel)
Dutch previously had a larger range, and extended into parts of modern-day France. For more information, please see French Flemish.
- Romance languages
- French - "La Manche"
- Gallo - "Manche", "Grand-Mè", "Mè Bertone"
- Norman, including the Channel Island vernaculars:
- Anglo-Norman (extinct, but fossilised in certain English law phrases)
- Auregnais (extinct)
- Cotentinais - "Maunche"
- Guernesiais - "Ch'nal"
- Jèrriais - "Ch'na"
- Sercquais
- Picard
Most other languages tend towards variants of the French and English forms, but notably Welsh has "Môr Udd".
Read more about this topic: English Channel
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