Savoyard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The term Savoyard may also mean someone from Savoy, or someone who performs in the Savoy Operas, or someone who really enjoys works of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Savoyard is a dialect of the Franco-Provençal (Arpitan) language. It is spoken in Savoie, Haute-Savoie, the Swiss canton of Valais, and in the Italian region of Aosta.
Several subdialects of Savoyard exist that exhibit unique features in terms of phonetics and vocabulary. Among them, many words have to do with the weather: bacan (French: temps mauvais); coussie (French: tempête); royé (French: averse); ni[v]ole (French: nuage); ...and, the environment: clapia, perrier (French: éboulis); égra (French: sorte d'escalier de pierre); balme (French: grotte); tova (French: tourbière); and lanche (French: champ en pente).
Savoyard has been the subject of detailed study at the Centre de dialectologie of the University of Grenoble, currently under the direction of Michel Contini.
