Trégorrois Breton dialect

Dialect of Breton From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trégorrois Breton is the dialect of Breton spoken in Trégor (Bro-Dreger in Breton).

A map of the dialects of Brittany

Distinguishing characteristics

Trégorrois differs from other varieties of the language in a number of ways:

  • It always uses the possessive hon (often pronounced hom) whereas the other dialects use hol before l, hon before n, d, t, h and vowels, and hor before all others (these other forms are nonetheless understood because of exposure to hymns and songs, for instance)
  • After the possessive hon, Trégorrois makes a sibilant variation (e.g., where Vannetais uses /hon tu/, or Cornouaillais and Léonard hon ti, Trégorrois says hon zi)
  • The h is very aspirated (e.g., in he)
  • Different from Léonard, z is generally not pronounced (nor is it in Cornouaillais and Vannetais)
  • The tonic accent is very strong (for example, bihan is pronounced /b:in/)
  • Certain constructions are preferred. For instance, me a wel ac'hanout or plijet on ouzh da welout instead of plijet on o welout ac'hanout
  • Frequently the 'd' will not mutate into a z where it would in the other dialects (for example, ar paotr a dañs)
  • The glyph w is generally pronounced ou (e.g., war is pronounced /uar/), unlike Léonard dialect where it is pronounced /v/

There are several other pronunciation details. For example, an heol is pronounced /ãn heul/ (compare to the /ar mur/ of Kemper). This is possible in Trégorrois because the very strong aspiration of /h/ avoids any confusion with the word 'oil' (eoul).

Finally, future endings are different. The future of Middle Breton was -homp, -het, -hont. Trégorrois moved from h to f (forms in -fomp, -fet, -font, etc.). (Compare with the forms -ahomp, -ahet, -ahont of Vannetais, due to the appearance of an -a- elision (pronounced /e/).

Sources

This article is based on the French-language Wikipedia's article: Breton trégorrois.

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