Lesser languages of Europe
Opportunities to use Monégasque, the local dialect of the Principality of Monaco, do not come along often. It is an official language in the tax haven, taught in Monégasque schools but perhaps most often heard during the singing of the national anthem, “Hymne Monégasque”, written by Louis Notari (1879-1961). The opening lines are:
Despoei tugiù sciü d’u nostru paise
Se ride au ventu, u meme pavayùn
Despoei tugiù a curù russa e gianca
E stà r’emblèma d’a nostra libertà
Se ride au ventu, u meme pavayùn
Despoei tugiù a curù russa e gianca
E stà r’emblèma d’a nostra libertà
Which our O-level Monégasque (now rusty) translates as: “Forever, in our land, / One flag has flown in the wind / Forever, the colours red and white / Have symbolized our liberty”.
In Lingo: A language spotters’ [sic] guide to Europe (Profile, £12.99), Gaston Dorren asks us to feel sorry for Monégasque schoolchildren. The everyday tongues of business and friendship are French, English and Italian, he says. Who needs “a language that has to make do without its own version of Wikipedia”? Mr Dorren places Monégasque low down in the tribe of languages, “a minor subdialect of Ligurian, which is itself just a dialect of Italian”. This obdurate anti-Monégasquicité has the effect of making us feel attached to Monégasque. The poet Notari, Mr Dorren claims, was “the principality’s only notable writer”, which is to overlook Anthony Burgess, resident from 1976 until his death in 1993. A wider view of the local literature would embrace Loser Takes All by Graham Greene, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Monaco by Eric Robert Morse.
Not many of Notari’s poems are in circulation now, besides the anthem. In pre-war years, he was a sympathizer of Mussolini and wrote several poems in celebration of the dictator. Now we do feel sorry for Monégasque: not only is it reserved for reluctant schoolchildren and deprived of a version of Wikipedia, but its meagre literature is destined for self-suppression. Some of the anthem’s lines – “We all strive to remember our traditions / It is important that everyone is well aware of that”.
Other minor European languages featured in Lingo include Luxembourgish, Manx, Romani and Gagauz. Mr Dorren likes to grab readers by the lapels: “Just admit it: to English ears, ‘Gagauz’ is a word that’s hard to take seriously”. “English is much like Chinese. I’m not kidding you.” The reasoning behind the latter is that, to outside eyes, English makes no orthographical sense. Every foreign speaker has stumbled in bafflement around the maze of though, through, thorough, rough, cough, bough, tripping over womb, bomb and comb as they go. You probably think you’ve mastered all that, but try pronouncing ghoti. It’s the same as “fish”. We’re not kidding you. Pronounce the “gh” as in laugh (laff); the “o” as in women (wimmin) and the “ti” as in motion (moshun): fish.
TLS 11 March 2015
Παρατηρήσεις δύο, όλες από την τελευταία παράγραφο: Πρώτον, η λέξη Γκαγκαούζος μπορεί να ακούγεται κάπως παράξενα, ίσως και γελοία, αλλά στην Ελλάδα είμαστε πολύ πιο εξοικειωμένοι με αυτήν, μια που υπάρχουν (υπήρχαν;) στην ελληνική επικράτεια Γκαγκαούζοι. (Αλλά γι' αυτό ίσως χρειαστεί άλλο νήμα). Δεύτερον, στο υπόλοιπο μισό της παραγράφου ασφαλώς αναγνωρίσατε το ευφυέστατο λεξιπαίγνιο του Μπέρναρντ Σω. Πώς και δεν το μνημονεύει ο συντάκτης απορώ.
