The Daily Telegraph reports on a successful initiative by a Czech academic to record, and thereby preserve, the distinctive Norman French dialect of the island of Sark. This originated with the speech of those who were brought in to the island by the first Seigneur in 1565 and up to at least the eighteenth century English was not spoken. Today however there are only three surviving speakers of the dialect, all of whom are elderly. The hope is that by recording it the tradition can be not only recorded but handed on and maintained by succeeding generations.
I have read that in Jersey the local language has been in decline since the nineteenth century, and survives in formal rather than ordinary use.
The article can be read on the Telegraph website at Linguist preserves ancient British dialect with help of last three native speakers
I will add in passing that terming it ‘British’ seems rather odd - it is a French based language, the Channel Isles are not part of the British Isles, are not constitutionally part of Great Britain, and nor is ‘British’ a recognised contemporary language, unlike English. However sub-editors are increasingly a law unto themselves these days.
I could not help but think that the Telegraph reports this but that the paper never, to my knowledge, reported on the wicked campaign to undermine the traditional constitution of Sark by the Barclay brothers when they also owned the Daily Telegraph. Funny that. Unless of course, if you will pardon the pun, you think I am being sarky….
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