- Augeron
Augeron is the Norman dialect of the
Pays d'Auge . It is highly endangered. This dialect includes both coastal and inland areas.Phonology
Augeron can be characterised by means of its position within the
isogloss es that traverse the Norman-speaking territory. Situated near the division between Lower and Upper Normandy, it can be described as transitional, displaying as it does features typical of western and eastern dialects.Augeron lies north of the
Joret line and therefore shares unpalatalised /ka/ (example: "cat" = cat) and palatalised /kj/ (example: "chinq" = five) with the northern dialects from the insular varieties and Cotentinais in the west to Cauchois in the east.It lies west of the isogloss /ji/ - /je/ (example: "muchi" = conceal). It is at the easternmost boundary of the Norman dialects displaying this feature.
By contrast, it lies east of the isogloss /l/ - /j/ (example: "plache" = place). It is near the westernmost boundary of the Norman dialects displaying this feature.
Along with other northern dialects it displays a strongly aspirated (sometimes guttural) realisation of /h/.
Literature
Compared to the insular varieties, Cotentinais and Cauchois, there has not been a long and well-documented literary tradition in Augeron.
Gaston Lerévérend (
1885 –1962 ), born in Saint-Paul-de-Courtonne, wrote in Augeron. Collections of his poetry include "L'hus entrebâyei" (1919), "Mei-j'vo-l'dis", and "L'hus bâyi" (1955).Roger Dubos (1906-1994) although born in
Pont-Audemer and therefore a representative of the dialect at its eastern boundaries, published a "Dictionnaire du patois normand" (called "Le petit Roger") and a collection of stories in French and Norman (Augeron): "Nous autres Parisiens... Vôs z-ât' Paysans" (1978).Newspapers and magazines have published literature in Augeron. "Le Pays d'Auge" published in 1958 a story in the
Honfleur dialect: "Maître Ursin rev'nant!". Christian Lambert (pen name: Maît'Jules) published over 600 columns in a gallicised Augeron in "L'Éveil de Lisieux". Some of these columns were collected in a book "Radotages de Maît'Jules" in 1984.References
*"Auteurs Normands: vous avez dit patois?", Les Pieux, ISBN 2951142919
*"La Littérature patoisante", Brionne 1984, ISBN 2852261871
*"La Normandie dialectale", René Lepelley, Caen 1999, ISBN 2841330761
*"Radotages de Maît'Jules", Christian Lambert, 1984, ISBN 9500438
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