Picard ( , also ; ) also known as 'Roman Flemish' or 'Romane flamande' is a langue d'oïl of the Romance language family spoken in the northernmost region of France and parts of Hainaut province in Belgium. Administratively, this area is divided between the French Hauts-de-France region and the Belgian Wallonia along the border between both countries due to its traditional core being the districts of Tournai and Mons (Walloon Picardy).
The language or dialect is referred to by different names, as residents of Picardy call it simply , but in the more populated region of it is typically called or (sometimes written as Chti or Chtimi). This is the area that makes up Romance Flanders, around the metropolis of Lille and Douai, and northeast Artois around Béthune and Lens. Picard is also named around Valenciennes, around Roubaix.
In 1998, Picard native speakers amounted to 700,000 individuals, the vast majority of whom were elderly people (aged 65 and over). in * - in France: c. 500 000 speakers [fr] - in Belgium: a rough approximation is about 12% to 15% of people in province of Hainaut, i.e. c. 150 000 to 200 000 speakers. Since its daily use had drastically declined, Picard was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) a "severely endangered language". However, as of 2023, the Picard language was listed as "vulnerable" by UNESCO.
Origin of the word ch'ti The word ch'ti, chtimi or ch'timi to designate the Picard language was invented during the First World War by Poilus from non-Picard speaking areas to refer to their brothers in arms from Picardy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais. It is an onomatopoeia created based on the frequent use of the /ʃ/ (ch-) phoneme and of the /ʃti/ (chti) sound in Picard: "ch'ti" means the one, as in the sentence "ch'est chti qui a fait cha" (he is the one who has done that), for instance.
Recognition Belgium's French Community gave full official recognition to Picard as a regional language along with Walloon, (Lorraine), (Champagne) and Lorraine German in its 1990 decree. The French government has not followed suit and has not recognized Picard as an official regional language (in line with its policy of linguistic unity, which allows for only one official language in France, as per the French Constitution), but some reports have recognized Picard as a language distinct from French.
A 1999 report by Bernard Cerquiglini, the director of the (National Institute of the French Language) stated:
The gap has continued to widen between French and the varieties of , which today we would call "French dialects"; , Walloon, Picard, Norman, Gallo, , , , Lorrain must be accepted among the regional languages of France; by placing them on the list [of French regional languages], they will be known from then on as .Bernard Cerquiglini, The Languages of France , Report to the Minister of National Education, Research and Technology, and the Minister of Culture and Communication, April 1999
Even if it has no official status as a language in France, Picard, along with all the other languages spoken in France, benefits from actions led by the Culture Minister's General Delegation for the French language and the languages of France ().
Origins Picard, like French, is one of the langues d'oïl and belongs to the Gallo-Roman family of languages. It consists of all the varieties used for writing () in the north of France from before 1000 (in the south of France at that time the Occitan language was used). Often, the langues d'oïl are referred to simply as Old French. Picard is phonetically quite different from the North-central langues d'oïl, which evolved into modern French. Among the most notable traits, the evolution in Picard towards palatalization is less marked than in the central langues d'oïl in which it is particularly striking; or before , tonic and , as well as in front of tonic and (from earlier *au; the open of the French ) in central Old French but not in Picard: Picard keval ~ Old French (horse; pronounced in Old French rather than the modern ), from *kabal (vulgar Latin ): retaining the original in Picard before tonic and . Picard gambe ~ Old French (leg; pronounced in Old French rather than the modern – is the ge sound in beige), from *gambe (vulgar Latin ): absence of palatalization of in Picard before tonic and . Picard kief ~ Old French (leader), from *kaf (Latin ): less palatalization of in Picard Picard cherf ~ Old French (stag; pronounced and respectively), from *kerf (Latin ): simple palatalization in Picard, palatalization then fronting in Old French The effects of palatalization can be summarised as this: and (tonic) , or : Picard (written ch) ~ Old French (written c) and + tonic or : Picard and ~ Old French and . There are striking differences, such as Picard cachier ('to hunt') ~ Old French , which later took the modern French form of . Because of the proximity of Paris to the northernmost regions of France, French (that is, the languages that were spoken in and around Paris) greatly influenced Picard and vice versa. The closeness between Picard and French causes the former to not always be recognised as a language in its own right, but rather a "distortion of French" as it is often viewed.
Dialects Despite being geographically and syntactically affiliated according to some linguists due to their inter-comprehensible morphosyntactic features, Picard in Picardy, Ch'timi and Rouchi still intrinsically maintain conspicuous discrepancies. Picard includes a variety of very closely related dialects. It is difficult to list them all accurately in the absence of specific studies on the dialectal variations, but these varieties can probably provisionally be distinguished: Amiénois, Vimeu-Ponthieu, Vermandois, Thiérache, Beauvaisis, "chtimi" (Bassin Minier, Lille), dialects in other regions near Lille (Roubaix, Tourcoing, Mouscron, Comines), "rouchi" (Valenciennois) and Tournaisis, Borain, Artésien rural, Boulonnais. The varieties are defined by specific phonetic, morphological and lexical traits and sometimes by a distinctive literary tradition.
The Ch'ti language was re-popularised by the 2008 French comedy film Welcome to the Sticks (French: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis; French pronunciation: [bjɛ̃vny ʃe le ʃti]) which broke nearly every box office record in France and earned over $245,000,000 worldwide on an 11 million euro budget.
Use
Picard is not taught in French schools (apart from a few one-off and isolated courses) and is generally only spoken among friends or family members. It has nevertheless been the object of scholarly research at universities in Lille and Amiens, as well as at Indiana University.Julie Auger, Department of French and Italian, Indiana University Since people are now able to move around France more easily than in past centuries, the different varieties of Picard are converging and becoming more similar. In its daily use, Picard is tending to lose its distinctive features and may be confused with regional French. At the same time, even though most Northerners can understand Picard today, fewer and fewer are able to speak it, and people who speak Picard as their first language are increasingly rare, particularly under 50.William Orem, "The Princess & Picard" , Research & Creative Activity, April 2000 Volume XXIII Number 1, Indiana University
The 2008 film Welcome to the Sticks, starring comedian Dany Boon, deals with Ch'ti language and culture and the perceptions of the region by outsiders, and it was the highest-grossing French film of all time at the box office in France.
Writing system Today Picard is primarily a spoken language, but in the medieval period, there is a wealth of literary texts in Picard. However, Picard was not able to compete with French and was slowly reduced to the status of a regional language.
A more recent body of Picard literature, written during the last two centuries, also exists. Modern written Picard is generally a transcription of the spoken language. For that reason, words are often spelled in a variety of different ways (in the same way that English and French were before they were standardized).
One system of spelling for Picard words is similar to that of French. It is undoubtedly the easiest for French speakers to understand but can also contribute the stereotype that Picard is only a corruption of French rather than a language in its own right.
Various spelling methods have been proposed since the 1960s to offset the disadvantage and to give Picard a visual identity that is distinct from French. There is now a consensus, at least between universities, in favor of the written form known as Feller-Carton (based on the Walloon spelling system, which was developed by Jules Feller, and adapted for Picard by Professor Fernand Carton).
Morphology
Verbs and tenses The first person plural often appears in spoken Picard in the form of the neutral third person in; however, the written form prioritizes os (as in French, where on is used for nous). On the other hand, the spelling of conjugated verbs will depend on the pronunciation, which varies within the Picard domain. For instance southern Picard would read il étoait / étoét while northern Picard would read il étot. This is noted as variants in the following:
TO BE : ète (être)IndicativeSubjunctiveImperative PresentImperfectFutureConditionalPresent NorthSouth NorthSouth Variables VariablesIej suj'éto(s)j'étoé / étoaisej sraiej séro(s)ej sroéqu'ej soéchequ'ej fuche / seuche YOUt'est'étost'étoés / étoaistu srosté sérostu sroéseq tu soécheseq tu fuches / seuchessoéche fus / fucheHEil esti'étotil étoét / étoaiti sroi séroti sroétqu'i soéchequ'i fuche / seuche SHEal estal étotal étoét / étoaitale sroale sérotale sroétqu'ale soéchequ'ale fuche / seuche ONEin estin étotin étoét / étoaitin sroin sérotin sroétqu'in soéchequ'in fuche / seuche WEos sonmesos étonmesos étoinmesos sronsos séronmesos sroinmesqu'os soéïonchesqu'os fuchonches / seuchonches / sonchessoéïonsfuchonsYOUos ètesos étotesos étoétesos srezos sérotesos sroétesqu'os soéïèchesqu'os fuchèches / seuchèchessoéïezfuchezTHEYis sontis étotteis étoétte / étoaitteis srontis sérotteis sroéttequ'is soéchttequ'is fuchtte / seuchtte
TO HAVE : avoèr (avoir)IndicativeSubjunctiveImperative PresentImperfectFutureConditionalPresent NorthSouth NorthSouth Variables VariablesIj'aij'aij'avo(s)j'avoés / avoaisj'araij'éraij'arosj'éroéeq j'eucheYOUt'ast'ost'avost'avoést'arast'érost'arost'éroéseq t'euchesaïeHEi'ail oi'avotil avoéti'arail éroi'arotil éroétqu'il eucheSHEal aal oal avotal avoétal araal éroal arotal éroétqu'al eucheONEin ain oin avotin avoétin arain éroin arotin éroétqu'in eucheWEos avonsos avonsos avonmesos avoinmesos aronsos éronsos aronmesos éroinmesqu'os euchonches / aïonchesaïonsYOUos avezos avezos avotesos avoétesos arezos érezos arotesos éroétesqu'os euchèches / aïèchesaïezTHEYis ontil ontis avotteis avoétteis arontis érontis arotteis éroéttequ'is euhtte