Breton (Brezhoneg) is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany in France. ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ... SIL International is a non-profit, faith-based, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... This list of languages is alphabetical by English name. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages. ... Traditional coat of arms This article is about the historical duchy and French province, as well as the cultural area of Brittany. ...

History

Breton is not thought to be a modern-day descendant of any continental Celtic language such as Gaulish, though evidently it has borrowed some features from it, but it is rather descended from insular Brythonic. The other regional language (Gallo) derives from Latin. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages. ... Gaulish is name given to the now-extinct Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Romans, the Franks and the British Celts invaded. ... Brythonic is one of two major divisions of Insular Celtic languages (the other being Goidelic). ... A regional language is a language spoken in a part of a country - it may be a small area, a federal state or province, or a wider area. ... Gallo is a regional language of France, traditionally spoken in Eastern Brittany. ... Latin is the language that was originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

Breton is traditionally spoken in Lower Brittany, roughly to the west of a line linking Plouha and Vannes. It comes from a language community between Britain and Armorica, present day Brittany. It was the language of the elite until the 12th Century. However, afterward it was only the language of the people of West Brittany (Breizh Izel), and the nobility, then successively the bourgeoisie adopted French. As a written language, the Duchy of Brittany used Latin, switching to French in the 15th Century. It should be noted that Old Breton has left some vocabulary which has served in the present day to produce philosophical and scientific terms in Modern Breton. Traditional coat of arms This article is about the historical duchy and French province, as well as the cultural area of Brittany. ... Armorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers inland to an indeterminate point. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... The Duchy of Brittany was an independent state from 841 to 1532. ... Latin is the language that was originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... Philosophy (from a combination of the Greek words philos meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom), as a practice, aims at some kind of understanding, knowledge, or wisdom about fundamental matters such as reality, knowledge, meaning, value, being, and truth. ...

The French Monarchy never really concerned itself with the minority languages of France. The revolutionary period really started policies favoring French over the "regional" languages, more pejoratively called patois. It was assumed that reactionary and monarchist forces favored regional languages in an attempt to keep the peasant masses underinformed. According to the defenders of the Breton language, humiliating practices geared toward stamping out Breton lingered in schools and churches until the 1960s. There are a number of languages of France, although the French language is by far the most widely spoken and the only official language of the country. ... The period of the French Revolution in the history of France covers the years between 1789 and 1799, in which democrats and republicans overthrew the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo radical restructuring. ... Patois, although without a formal definition in linguistics, can be used to describe a language considered as nonstandard. ... A reactionary (sometimes: reactionist) is someone who seeks to restore conditions to those of a previous era. ... For related meanings see also Monarch (disambiguation) A monarchy, (from the Greek monos, one, and archein, to rule) is a form of government that has a monarch as Head of State. ... Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ...

Today, despite the political centralization of France and the important influence of the media, Breton is still spoken and understood by about 500,000 people. This is, however, down from 1.3 million in 1930. At the beginning of the 20th Century, half the population of Lower Brittany knew only Breton, the other half being bilingual. By 1950, there were only 100,000 monolingual Bretons. 1930 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

In 1925, thanks to professor Roparz Hemon, the first issue appeared of the review Gwalam. During its 19-year run, Gwalam tried to raise the language to the level of other great "international" languages by creating original works covering all genres and by proposing Breton translations of internationally recognized foreign works. 1925 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In 1946, Al Liamm replaced Gwalam. Other periodicals appeared and began to give Breton a fairly large body of literature for a minority language. 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

In 1977, Diwan schools were founded to teach Breton by immersion. They taught thousands of young people from elementary school to high school. Another proposed teaching method was a bilingual approach, Div Yezh (two languages). 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ...

In 2004, the Asterix comic series were translated into Breton, and into Gallo. This is notable because, according to the comic, the village where Asterix lives is in Brittany. 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A shrewd, cunning little warrior; all perilous missions are immediately entrusted to him. ... Gallo is a regional language of France, traditionally spoken in Eastern Brittany. ...

Some poets, linguists, and writers who wrote in Breton, for example Yann-Ber Kalloc'h, Roparz Hemon, Anjela Duval and Per-Jakez Hélias, are now known internationally.

Today, Breton is the only Celtic language which is not recognized as an official language. The French state has refused to change the second article of the Constitution added in 1994 which states that "the language of the Republic is French". The number of protesters demanding the repeal of this article is growing year by year. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ...

The first Breton dictionary, the Catholicon, was also the first French dictionary. Edited by Jehan Lagedec in 1464, it was a trilingual work containing Breton, French and Latin. Today the existence of bilingual dictionaries directly from Breton into languages such as English, German and Spanish demonstrates the determination of a new generation to gain international recognition for Breton. There also exists a monolingual dictionary, defining Breton words in Breton. Events February - Norway who was also serving as King of Sweden is declared deposed from the later throne. ...

Classification

Breton, along with Cornish and Welsh, is a member of the Brythonic languages, a subgroup of the Insular subgroup of the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family. The Cornish language (in Cornish: Kernowek, Kernewek, Curnoack) is one of the Brythonic group of Celtic languages that includes Welsh, Breton, the extinct Cumbric and perhaps the hypothetical Ivernic. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family. ... The Insular Celtic language family form a hypothetical grouping of Goidelic and Brythonic. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ...

Geographic distribution

Breton is spoken mainly in Western Brittany, but also in a more dispersed way in Eastern Brittany, and in areas around the world which have received Breton emigrants.

Official status

Bilingual place names in road signage in Brittany

Breton is not an official language of France, despite calls from autonomists and others for official recognition, and for the language to be guaranteed a place in schools, the media, and other aspects of public life.

An attempt by the French government to incorporate the independent Breton-language immersion schools (called Diwan) into the state education system was blocked by the French Constitutional Council on the grounds that, as the Constitution of the 5th Republic states that French is the language of the Republic, no other language may be used as a language of instruction in state schools. The Toubon Law states that French is the language of public education. The Constitutional Council was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958. ... The Toubon Law (full name: law 94-665 of 4 August 1994 relating to usage of the French language), is a law of the French government mandating the use of the French language in official government publications, advertisements, and some other contexts. ...

Nevertheless, the regional and departmental authorities do use Breton to a very limited extent insofar as they feel able: for example, in signage (especially for tourism-related reasons). Some bilingual signage may also be seen, such as street name signs in Breton towns, and one station of the Rennes metro system has signs in both French and Breton. On the other hand, few shops or other private entities in Rennes have any Breton-language signs. Location within France The Parlement de Bretagne (Parliament of Brittany), the most famous building in Rennes, was rebuilt after a terrible fire in 1994. ... This article is about VAL, the metro system. ...

Dialects

The dialects of Breton as identified by ethnologists are Leonard, Tregorrois, Vannetais and Cornouaillais. There are no clear borders between those dialect areas; the language changes slightly from one village to the next. Ethnologyis a genre of cultural anthropology and| anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the beliefs and practices of different societies. ...

Sounds

Grammar

Verbal Aspect

As in English and Gaelic, there are grammatical aspects for verbs in a particular tense, detailing whether or not an action is habitual. As in English, there is a distinction between the habitual form and progressive aspect: The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Goidelic is one of two major divisions of modern-day Celtic languages (the other being Brythonic). ... In linguistics, grammatical aspect is a property of a verb that defines the nature of temporal flow (or lack thereof) in the described event or state. ... The progressive or continuous tenses of a verb are those denoting an incomplete action in progress at a specific time. ...

• Me zo o komz gant ma amezeg ("I am talking with my neighbor") ;
• Me a gomz gant ma amezeg [bep mintin] ("I talk with my neighbor [every morning]") ;

"Conjugated" Prepositions

As in other modern Celtic languages, Breton pronouns are fused into preceding prepositions to produce a sort of "conjugated" preposition. Below are some examples in both Breton (Léon dialect) and Irish. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages. ...

Initial consonant mutations

Breton has four initial consonant mutations: though modern breton lost the nasal mutation of Welsh, it also has a 'hard' mutation, in which voiced stops become voiceless, and a 'mixed' mutation, which is a mixture of hard and soft mutations. Consonant mutation is the phenomenon in which a consonant in a word is changed according to its morphological and/or syntactic environment. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ...

Vocabulary

The English words dolmen and menhir have been borrowed from French, which supposedly took them from Breton. However, this is uncertain: for instance, menhir is peulvan in Breton, and dolmen is a misconstructed word (it should be daol ven). Some studies state that these words were borrowed from Cornish. T shaped Hunebed D27 in Borger-Odoorn, Netherlands, recent. ... A menhir at Carnac, Brittany A menhir is a large, single upright standing stone (monolith or megalith), of prehistoric European origin. ... Joe Cornish, British TV presenter. ...

Writing system

Breton is written using the Latin alphabet. Breton alphabet doesn't contain the "c" letter alone, and contains a special one : "c'h", which is pronounced between the Spanish jota and a loud "H". The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world, the standard script of the English language and most of the languages of western and central Europe, and of those areas settled by Europeans. ...

Examples

Visitors to Brittany may encounter words and phrases (especially on signs and posters) such as the following:

About the word "Welcome", in many places one can see signs with "Degemer mat", but actually it's a completely wrong phrase in this context, for it means "good reception". When a Breton speaker needs to say "Welcome!" to someone, he says "deut mad oc'h", "come well you(-are)". Kevrenn an Arvorig here with dancer Bro ar Ster Goz A bagad is a Breton band, composed of biniou (Breton bagpipes), bombardes and snare drums. ... Céilí (Irish reformed spelling), or Ceilidh (Scottish and older Gaelic spelling), pronounced Kay-Lee in either case, is the traditional Gaelic social dance in Ireland and Scotland. ...

war vor atao = always at sea

External links

• Ethnologue report for Breton (http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=bre)
• Breton site including online lessons (http://www.kervarker.org/)
• Breton - English Dictionary (http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Breton-english/): from Webster's Online Dictionary (http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org) - the Rosetta Edition.