Languages of The Channel Islands and Isle of Man
The Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey are not part of the UK, but are closely associated with it, being British Crown Dependencies.
For the insular forms of English, see Manx English (Anglo-Manx), Guernsey English and Jersey English. Forms of French are, or have been, used as an official language in the Channel Islands, e.g. Jersey Legal French.
The indigenous languages of the Crown dependencies are recognised as regional languages by the British and Irish governments within the framework of the British-Irish Council.
- Guernésiais (Guernsey - Norman, Oïl)
- Jèrriais (Jersey - Norman, Oïl)
- Manx (Isle of Man - Goidelic, Celtic)
- The UK government has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages on behalf of the Manx government.
The Sercquiais (Sark) dialect is descended from Jèrriais, but is not recognised under this framework. Auregnais, the Norman dialect of Alderney, is now extinct.
Read more about this topic: Languages Of Northern Ireland
Famous quotes containing the words languages, channel, islands, isle and/or man:
“I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“The Xanthus or Scamander is not a mere dry channel and bed of a mountain torrent, but fed by the ever-flowing springs of fame ... and I trust that I may be allowed to associate our muddy but much abused Concord River with the most famous in history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line—the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea. It was a phase of this problem that caused the Civil War.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“She carries in the dishes,
And lays them in a row.
To an isle in the water
With her would I go.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“There are big men, men of intellect, intellectual men, men of talent and men of action; but the great man is difficult to find, and it needs—apart from discernment—a certain greatness to find him.”
—Margot Asquith (1864–1945)