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81-530: The main traditional language of Brittany is Breton ( Brezhoneg ), spoken in Lower Brittany (i.e., the western part of the peninsula). Breton is spoken by around 206,000 people as of 2013. The other principal minority language of Brittany is Gallo ; Gallo is spoken only in Upper Brittany, where Breton used to be spoken as well but it has seen a decline and has been less dominant in Upper Brittany since around

162-496: A Breton presence in northern England. The Earldom of Richmond later became an appanage of the Dukes of Brittany. Many people throughout France claim Breton ethnicity, including a few French celebrities such as Marion Cotillard , Suliane Brahim , Malik Zidi , Patrick Poivre d'Arvor , Yoann Gourcuff , Nolwenn Leroy and Yann Tiersen . After 15 years of disputes in the French courts,

243-548: A Brittonic language community that once extended from Great Britain to Armorica (present-day Brittany) and had even established a toehold in Galicia (in present-day Spain). Old Breton is attested from the 9th century. It was the language of the upper classes until the 12th century, after which it became the language of commoners in Lower Brittany. The nobility, followed by the bourgeoisie , adopted French . The written language of

324-536: A fairly large body of literature for a minority language. In 1977, Diwan schools were founded to teach Breton by immersion . Since their establishment, Diwan schools have provided fully immersive primary school and partially immersive secondary school instruction in Breton for thousands of students across Brittany. This has directly contributed to the growing numbers of school-age speakers of Breton. The Asterix comic series has been translated into Breton. According to

405-607: A location previously belonging to the Veneti. From the 5th to the 7th century, the remaining Gauls were displaced or assimilated by waves of immigrant Britons fleeing the Saxon invasions of Britain . Under the Breton name Gwened (also derived from the Veneti), the town was the center of an independent principality or kingdom variously called Bro-Wened ("Vannes") or Bro-Ereg ("land of Gwereg "),

486-461: A national culture. Teachers humiliated students for using their regional languages, and such practices prevailed until the late 1960s. In the early 21st century, due to the political centralization of France, the influence of the media, and the increasing mobility of people, only about 200,000 people are active speakers of Breton, a dramatic decline from more than 1 million in 1950. The majority of today's speakers are more than 60 years old, and Breton

567-401: A network of small roads connects Vannes to smaller cities. There is no highway from Vannes to Saint-Brieuc, so the way to northern Brittany consists of small roads. The lack of highway or railway between Vannes and Saint-Brieuc (118 km north) cuts the communications between northern and southern Brittany, and limits Brittany economic performance. Airplanes Vannes has a small airfield in

648-609: A replica of the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in Gourin , Morbihan, to celebrate the legacy of these emigrants. The Breton people are predominantly members of the Catholic Church , with minorities in the Reformed Church of France and non-religious people . Brittany was one of the most staunchly Catholic regions in all of France. Attendance at Sunday mass dropped during the 1970s and

729-471: A schwa sound occurs as a result of vowel neutralization in post-tonic position, among different dialects. All vowels can also be nasalized , which is noted by appending an 'n' letter after the base vowel, or by adding a combining tilde above the vowel (most commonly and easily done for a and o due to the Portuguese letters ), or more commonly by non-ambiguously appending an ⟨ñ⟩ letter after

810-626: A two-wave migration. It is generally accepted that the Brittonic speakers who arrived gave the region its current name as well as the Breton language , Brezhoneg , a sister language to Welsh and Cornish. There are numerous records of Celtic Christian missionaries migrating from Britain during the second wave of Breton colonisation, especially the legendary seven founder-saints of Brittany as well as Gildas . As in Cornwall, many Breton towns are named after these early saints. The Irish saint Columbanus

891-412: Is -où , with its variant -ioù ; most nouns that use this marker are inanimates but collectives of both inanimate and animate nouns always use it as well. Most animate nouns, including trees, take a plural in -ed . However, in some dialects the use of this affix has become rare. Various masculine nouns including occupations as well as the word Saoz ("Englishman", plural Saozon ) take

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972-643: Is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language group spoken in Brittany , part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of the insular branch instead of the continental grouping. Breton was brought from Great Britain to Armorica (the ancient name for the coastal region that includes the Brittany peninsula) by migrating Britons during

1053-661: Is a commune in the French department of Morbihan , Brittany , northwestern mainland France . It was founded over 2,000 years ago. The name Vannes comes from the Veneti , a seafaring Celtic people who lived in the south-western part of Armorica in Gaul before the Roman invasions. The region seems to have been involved in a cross channel trade for thousands of years, probably using hide boats and perhaps Ferriby Boats . Wheat that apparently

1134-501: Is a market town linked to the sea. Train The Vannes railway station offers connections to Quimper , Rennes , Nantes , Paris and several regional destinations. With the fast train TGV , the journey takes: – 30 minutes to Lorient, – 1 hour to Nantes or Rennes, – 2.5 to 4 hours to Paris. The Transport express régional or TER is a slower train to join railway stations in

1215-402: Is applied for animate referents. Metals, time divisions (except for eur "hour", noz "night" and sizhun "week") and mountains tend to be masculine, while rivers, cities and countries tend to be feminine. However, gender assignment to certain words often varies between dialects. Number in Breton is primarily based on an opposition between singular and plural. However, the system

1296-523: Is equipped with an automatic rental terminal and stands for bicycles. This replaces the Velocea service, which was discontinued in August 2017. Inhabitants of Vannes are called Vannetais . The municipality launched a linguistic plan through Ya d'ar brezhoneg on 12 October 2007. In 2008, 7.71% of children attended the bilingual schools in primary education. The local football team is Vannes OC , who play in

1377-406: Is full of complexities in how this distinction is realized. Although modern Breton has lost its ancestral dual number marker, relics of its use are preserved in various nouns pertaining to body parts, including the words for eyes, ears, cheeks, legs, armpits, arms, hands, knees, thighs, and wings. This is seen in a prefix (formed in daou , di or div ) that is etymologically derived from

1458-422: Is not used, while keleier has become the regular plural, 'different news items'. Meanwhile, certain nouns can form doubly marked plurals with lexicalized meanings – bugel "child" is pluralized once into bugale "children" and then pluralized a second time to make bugaleoù "groups of children". The diminutive suffix -ig also has the somewhat unusual property of triggering double marking of

1539-609: Is now classified as an endangered language . At the beginning of the 20th century, half of the population of Lower Brittany knew only Breton; the other half were bilingual. By 1950, there were only 100,000 monolingual Bretons, and this rapid decline has continued, with likely no monolingual speakers left today. A statistical survey in 1997 found around 300,000 speakers in Lower Brittany, of whom about 190,000 were aged 60 or older. Few 15- to 19-year-olds spoke Breton. In 1993, parents were finally legally allowed to give their children Breton names. In 1925, Professor Roparz Hemon founded

1620-589: Is pluralized to pesked , singulativized to peskedenn , referring to a single fish out of a school of fish, and this singulative of the plural can then be pluralized again to make peskedennoù "fishes". On top of this, the formation of plurals is complicated by two different pluralizing functions. The "default" plural formation is contrasted with another formation which is said to "emphasize variety or diversity" – thus two semantically different plurals can be formed out of park : parkoù "parks" and parkeier "various different parks". Ball reports that

1701-446: Is reason to believe that this number includes the department of Loire-Atlantique , which the Vichy government separated from historical Brittany in 1941. It is said that, in 1914, over one million people spoke Breton west of the boundary between the Breton and Gallo-speaking region—roughly 90% of the population of the western half of Brittany. In 1945, Breton speakers consisted about 75% of

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1782-540: Is the only living Celtic language that is not recognized by a national government as an official or regional language. The first Breton dictionary, the Catholicon , was also the first French dictionary. Edited by Jehan Lagadec in 1464, it was a trilingual work containing Breton, French and Latin. Today bilingual dictionaries have been published for Breton and languages including English, Dutch, German, Spanish and Welsh. A monolingual dictionary, Geriadur Brezhoneg an Here

1863-405: Is used to form singulars out of collective nouns , for which the morphologically less complex form is the plural. Thus, the singulative of the collective logod "mice" is logod enn "mouse". However, Breton goes beyond Welsh in the complications of this system. Collectives can be pluralized to make forms which are different in meaning from the normal collective-- pesk "fish" (singular)

1944-442: The Ya d'ar brezhoneg campaign, to encourage enterprises, organisations and communes to promote the use of Breton, for example by installing bilingual signage or translating their websites into Breton. In the late 20th century, the French government considered incorporating the independent Breton-language immersion schools (called Diwan ) into the state education system. This action

2025-510: The binioù-kozh . The basic clarinet ( treujenn-gaol ) had all but disappeared but has regained popularity over the past few years. Nowadays groups with many different styles of music may be found, ranging from rock to jazz such as Red Cardell , ethno-rock, Diwall and Skeduz as well as punk . Some modern fest-noz groups also use electronic keyboards and synthesisers, for example Strobinell , Sonerien Du , Les Baragouineurs , and Plantec . Breton cuisine contains many elements from

2106-444: The hanter dro , and the plinn . During the fest-noz , most dances are practised in a chain or in a circle with participants locking pinky fingers; however, there are also dances in pairs and choreographed dances with sequences and figures. Two main types of Breton music are a choral a cappella tradition called kan ha diskan , and music involving instruments, including purely instrumental music. Traditional instruments include

2187-707: The Deixonne Law . This law allowed Breton language and culture to be taught 1–3 hours a week in the public school system on the provision that a teacher was both able and prepared to do so. In modern times, a number of schools and colleges have emerged with the aim of providing Breton-medium education or bilingual Breton/French education. There are a number of Breton language weekly and monthly magazines. Newspapers, magazines and online journals available in Breton include Al Lanv (based in Quimper), Al Liamm , Louarnig - Rouzig , and Bremañ . Several radio stations broadcast in

2268-561: The Duchy of Brittany was Latin , switching to French in the 15th century. There exists a limited tradition of Breton literature . Some philosophical and scientific terms in Modern Breton come from Old Breton. The recognized stages of the Breton language are: Old Breton – c.  800 to c.  1100 , Middle Breton – c.  1100 to c.  1650 , Modern Breton – c.  1650 to present. The French monarchy

2349-594: The Early Middle Ages , making it an Insular Celtic language . Breton is most closely related to Cornish , another Southwestern Brittonic language. Welsh and the extinct Cumbric , both Western Brittonic languages , are more distantly related, and the Goidelic languages ( Irish , Manx , Scottish Gaelic ) have a slight connection due to both of their origins being from Insular Celtic. Having declined from more than one million speakers around 1950 to about 200,000 in

2430-455: The bombard (similar to an oboe) and two types of bagpipes ( veuze and binioù kozh ). Other instruments often found are the diatonic accordion , the clarinet , and occasionally violin as well as the hurdy-gurdy . After World War II , the Great Highland bagpipe (and binioù bras ) became commonplace in Brittany through the bagado ù (Breton pipe bands) and thus often replaced

2511-431: The county of Léon ), tregerieg ( trégorrois , of Trégor ), kerneveg ( cornouaillais , of Cornouaille ), and gwenedeg ( vannetais , of Vannes ). Guérandais was spoken up to the beginning of the 20th century in the region of Guérande and Batz-sur-Mer . There are no clear boundaries between the dialects because they form a dialect continuum , varying only slightly from one village to

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2592-465: The " Seven Founder Saints ": A pardon is the patron saint's feast day of the parish . It often begins with a procession followed by mass in honour of the saint. Pardons are often accompanied by small village fairs. The three most famous pardons are: There is an ancient pilgrimage called the Tro Breizh (tour of Brittany) which involves pilgrims walking around Brittany from the grave of one of

2673-466: The 1980s, bilingual roadsides have been placed around the department as a way to regain a sense of cultural heritage. From 1880 to the mid-20th century, Breton was banned from the French school system and children were punished for speaking it. This was similar to Britain's enforcement of English, not Welsh, being used in Welsh schools during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The situation changed in 1951 with

2754-408: The 1980s; however, other religious practices, such as pilgrimages , have experienced a revival. This includes the Tro Breizh , which takes place in the shrines of the seven founding saints of Breton Christianity. The Christian tradition is widely respected by both believers and nonbelievers, who see it as a symbol of Breton heritage and culture . Breton religious tradition places great emphasis on

2835-581: The Americas, predominantly to Canada (mostly Quebec and Atlantic Canada ) and the United States . The only places outside Brittany that still retain significant Breton customs are in Île-de-France (mainly Quartier de Montparnasse in Paris), Le Havre and Îles des Saintes , where a group of Breton families settled in the mid-17th century. In the late fourth century, large numbers of British auxiliary troops in

2916-516: The Breton War of Succession. The city's defending commander, Olivier IV de Clisson , was captured by the English but finally released. The French eventually executed him since they suspected him of being a traitor since the ransom was unusually low. In 1759, Vannes was used as the staging point for a planned French invasion of Britain . A large army was assembled there, but it was never able to sail after

2997-461: The Breton language: Arvorig FM , France Bleu Armorique , France Bleu Breizh-Izel , Radio Bro Gwened , Radio Kerne , and Radio Kreiz Breizh . Television programmes in Breton are available on Brezhoweb , France 3 Breizh , France 3 Iroise , TV Breizh and TV Rennes . A fest-noz is a traditional festival (essentially a dance) in Brittany . Many festoù-noz are held outside Brittany, taking regional Breton culture outside Brittany. Although

3078-491: The Breton-language review Gwalarn . During its 19-year run, Gwalarn tried to raise the language to the level of a great international language. Its publication encouraged the creation of original literature in all genres, and proposed Breton translations of internationally recognized foreign works. In 1946, Al Liamm replaced Gwalarn . Other Breton-language periodicals have been published, which established

3159-654: The European Court of Justice recognized Breton Nationality for the six children of Jean-Jacques and Mireille Manrot-Le Goarnig; they are "European Citizens of Breton Nationality". In 2015, Jonathan Le Bris started a legal battle against the French administration to claim this status. The Breton community outside Brittany includes groups of Bretons in the Greater Paris area, Le Havre , and Toulon . Groups with Breton heritage also live in other countries, most notably in Canada and

3240-459: The European mainland, including the areas colonised by the ancestors of the Bretons. In eastern Brittany, a regional langue d'oïl , Gallo , developed. Gallo shares certain areal features such as points of vocabulary, idiom, and pronunciation with Breton, but is a Romance language . Neither language has official status under French law; however, some still use Breton as an everyday language. As of

3321-412: The French law known as Toubon , it is illegal for commercial signage to be in Breton alone. Signs must be bilingual or French only. Since commercial signage usually has limited physical space, most businesses have signs only in French. Ofis Publik ar Brezhoneg , the Breton language agency, was set up in 1999 by the Brittany region to promote and develop the daily use of Breton. It helped to create

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3402-788: The French naval defeat at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in November 1759. In 1795, during the French Revolution , French forces based in Vannes successfully repelled a planned British-Royalist invasion through Quiberon . Vannes, located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of two rivers, the Marle and the Vincin, is around 100 kilometres (62 miles) northwest of Nantes and 450 km (280 miles) south west of Paris. Vannes

3483-549: The Roman army may have been stationed in Armorica . The ninth-century Historia Brittonum states that the emperor Magnus Maximus , who withdrew Roman forces from Britain, settled his troops in the province. Nennius and Gildas mention a second wave of Britons settling in Armorica in the following century to escape the invading Anglo-Saxons and Scoti . Modern archaeology also supports

3564-618: The Seven Founder Saints to another. Currently, pilgrims complete the circuit over the course of several years. In 2002, the Tro Breizh included a special pilgrimage to Wales, symbolically making the reverse journey of the Welshmen Paul Aurelian, Brioc, and Samson. According to Breton religious tradition, whoever does not make the pilgrimage at least once in his lifetime will be condemned to make it after his death, advancing only by

3645-671: The United States. In Paris, Bretons used to settle in the neighborhood around the Montparnasse train station, which is also the terminus of the Paris- Brest railway. Famous Breton Americans and Americans of Breton descent include John James Audubon , Jack Kerouac , and Joseph-Yves Limantour . From 1885 to 1970, several thousand Bretons migrated to the United States, many of them leaving the Black Mountains of Morbihan . In June 2020,

3726-504: The University of Rennes 2 has a Breton language department offering courses in the language along with a master's degree in Breton and Celtic Studies. Vowels in Breton may be short or long . All unstressed vowels are short; stressed vowels can be short or long (vowel lengths are not noted in usual orthographies as they are implicit in the phonology of particular dialects, and not all dialects pronounce stressed vowels as long). An emergence of

3807-479: The base vowel (this depends on the orthographic variant). Diphthongs are /ai, ei, ou/ . Breton nouns are marked for gender and number. While Breton gender is fairly typical of gender systems across western Europe (with the exception of Basque and modern English), Breton number markers demonstrate rarer behaviors. Breton has two genders: masculine ( gourel ) and feminine ( gwregel ), having largely lost its historic neuter ( nepreizh ) as has also occurred in

3888-482: The changes associated with -er / -ier are less predictable. Various nouns instead form their plural merely with ablaut : a or o in the stem being changed to e : askell "wing" → eskell "wings"; dant "tooth" → dent "teeth"; kordenn "rope" → kerdenn "ropes". Vannes Vannes ( French pronunciation: [van] ; Breton : Gwened , pronounced [ˈɡweːnet] , [ˈɡɥeːnet] )

3969-558: The close neighborhood, such as Auray or Questembert . There is no direct line from Vannes to Saint-Brieuc (118 km away in the north of Brittany), so the train from Vannes to Saint Brieuc goes via Rennes, which doubles the travel time and cost: it takes 2 to 3 hours to go from Vannes to Saint Brieuc by train. Car Two highways, in the north of Vannes, provide fast connections by car: – N165: west to Lorient (58 km) and Quimper (122 km), south east to Nantes (111 km) – N166: north east to Rennes (113 km) +

4050-1087: The comic, the Gaulish village where Asterix lives is in the Armorica peninsula , which is now Brittany. Some other popular comics have also been translated into Breton, including The Adventures of Tintin , Spirou , Titeuf , Hägar the Horrible , Peanuts and Yakari . Some original media are created in Breton. The sitcom, Ken Tuch , is in Breton. Radio Kerne , broadcasting from Finistère , has exclusively Breton programming. Some movies ( Lancelot du Lac , Shakespeare in Love , Marion du Faouet , Sezneg ) and TV series ( Columbo , Perry Mason ) have also been translated and broadcast in Breton. Poets, singers, linguists, and writers who have written in Breton, including Yann-Ber Kallocʼh , Roparz Hemon , Añjela Duval , Xavier de Langlais , Pêr-Jakez Helias , Youenn Gwernig , Glenmor , Vefa de Saint-Pierre and Alan Stivell are now known internationally. Today, Breton

4131-853: The consideration of the Breton language in Microsoft products. In October 2014, Facebook added Breton as one of its 121 languages after three years of talks between the Ofis and Facebook. France has twice chosen to enter the Eurovision Song Contest with songs in Breton; once in 1996 in Oslo with " Diwanit bugale " by Dan Ar Braz and the fifty piece band Héritage des Celtes , and most recently in 2022 in Turin with " Fulenn " by Alvan Morvan Rosius and vocal trio Ahez . These are two of five times France has chosen songs in one of its minority languages for

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4212-504: The contest, the others being in 1992 (bilingual French and Antillean Creole ), 1993 (bilingual French and Corsican ), and 2011 (Corsican). Breton is spoken mainly in Lower Brittany, but also in a more dispersed way in Upper Brittany (where it is spoken alongside Gallo and French), and in areas around the world that have Breton emigrants. The four traditional dialects of Breton correspond to medieval bishoprics rather than to linguistic divisions. They are leoneg ( léonard , of

4293-599: The first decade of the 21st century, Breton is classified as "severely endangered" by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger . However, the number of children attending bilingual classes rose 33% between 2006 and 2012 to 14,709. Breton is spoken in Lower Brittany ( Breton : Breizh-Izel ), roughly to the west of a line linking Plouha (west of Saint-Brieuc ) and La Roche-Bernard (east of Vannes ). It comes from

4374-566: The growing numbers of school-age speakers of Breton. The schools have also gained fame from their high level of results in school exams, including those on French language and literature. Breton-language schools do not receive funding from the national government, though the Brittany Region may fund them. Another teaching method is a bilingual approach by Div Yezh ("Two Languages") in the State schools, created in 1979. Dihun ("Awakening")

4455-681: The growth of the movement. In 2007, some 4,500 to 5,000 adults followed an evening or correspondence one Breton-language course. The transmission of Breton in 1999 was estimated to be 3 percent. In addition to bilingual education (including Breton-medium education) the region has introduced the Breton language in primary education, mainly in the department of Finistère. These "initiation" sessions are generally one to three hours per week, and consist of songs and games. Schools in secondary education ( collèges and lycées ) offer some courses in Breton. In 2010, nearly 5,000 students in Brittany were reported to be taking this option. Additionally,

4536-537: The heritage of France ). The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , which obliges signatory states to recognize minority and regional languages, was signed by France in 1999 but has not been ratified. On 27 October 2015, the Senate rejected a draft constitutional law ratifying the charter. Regional and departmental authorities use Breton to a very limited extent. Some bilingual signage has also been installed, such as street name signs in Breton towns. Under

4617-720: The highest rank in the new society and were tied to the Normans by marriage. The Scottish Clan Stewart and the royal House of Stuart have Breton origins. Alan Rufus , also known as Alan the Red, was both a cousin and knight in the retinue of William the Conqueror. Following his service at Hastings, he was rewarded with large estates in Yorkshire . At the time of his death, he was by far the richest noble in England. His manorial holding at Richmond ensured

4698-433: The latter for a prominent member of its dynasty, which claimed descent from Caradog Strongarm . The diocese of Vannes was erected in the 5th century. The Council of Vannes was held there in 461. The realm annexed Cornouaille for a time in the early 6th century but was permanently joined with Domnonia under its king and Saint Judicaël around 635. In 1342, Vannes was besieged four times between forces from both sides of

4779-450: The latter pluralizer is used only for inanimate nouns. Certain formations have been lexicalized to have meanings other than that which might be predicted solely from the morphology: dour "water" pluralized forms dourioù which means not "waters" but instead "rivers", while doureier now has come to mean "running waters after a storm". Certain forms have lost the singular from their paradigm: keloù means "news" and * kel

4860-468: The length of his coffin every seven years. Some pagan customs from the old pre-Christian tradition remain the folklore of Brittany. The most powerful folk figure is the Ankou or the "Reaper of Death". There are four main Breton dialects: Gwenedeg ( Vannes ), Kerneveg ( Cornouaille ), Leoneg ( Leon ) and Tregerieg ( Trégor ), which have varying degrees of mutual intelligibility. In 1908, a standard orthography

4941-448: The name of one of the first known Breton rulers, who dominated the region of Vannes (Gwened). The rulers of Domnonée, such as Conomor , sought to expand their territory, claiming overlordship over all Bretons, though there was constant tension between local lords. Bretons were the most prominent of the non-Norman forces in the Norman conquest of England . A number of Breton families were of

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5022-580: The next. Gwenedeg , however, requires a little study to be intelligible with most of the other dialects. French is the sole official language of France . Supporters of Breton and other minority languages continue to argue for their recognition, and for their place in education, public schools, and public life. In July 2008, the legislature amended the French Constitution , adding article 75-1: les langues régionales appartiennent au patrimoine de la France (the regional languages belong to

5103-452: The other Celtic languages as well as across the Romance languages. Certain suffixes ( -ach/-aj, -(a)dur, -er, -lecʼh, -our, -ti, -va ) are masculine, while others ( -enti, -er, -ez, -ezh, -ezon, -i , -eg , -ell , and the singulative -enn ) are feminine. The suffix -eg can be masculine or feminine. There are certain non-determinant factors that influence gender assignment. Biological sex

5184-510: The peasant masses under-informed. In 1794, Bertrand Barère submitted his "report on the patois " to the Committee of Public Safety in which he said that "federalism and superstition speak Breton". Since the 19th century, under the Third , Fourth and now Fifth Republics , the French government has attempted to stamp out minority languages—including Breton—in state schools, in an effort to build

5265-478: The plural: bugelig means "little child", but the doubly pluralized bug ale ig où means "little children"; bag boat has a singular diminutive bagig and a simple plural bagoù , thus its diminutive plural is the doubly pluralized bag où ig où . As seen elsewhere in many Celtic languages, the formation of the plural can be hard to predict, being determined by a mix of semantic, morphological and lexical factors. The most common plural marker

5346-551: The population. Today, in all of Brittany, at most 20% of the population can speak Breton. 75% of the estimated 200,000 to 250,000 Breton speakers using Breton as an everyday language are over the age of 65. A strong historical emigration has created a Breton diaspora within the French borders and in the overseas departments and territories of France ; it is mainly established in the Paris area , where more than one million people claim Breton heritage. Many Breton families have also migrated to

5427-410: The prefixation of the number two. The dual is no longer productive, and has merely been lexicalized in these cases rather than remaining a part of Breton grammar. The (etymologically) already dual words for eyes ( daoulagad ) and ears ( divskouarn ) can be pluralized "again" to form daoulagad où and diskouarn où . Like other Brythonic languages, Breton has a singulative suffix that

5508-514: The railway station on behalf of Morbihan. So there are 2 central bus stations in Vannes: one on Place de la Libération, the other at the railway station. Bike Vannes has a public bicycle rental program, called Vélocéo based on the same idea as the Paris Vélib' . Hundreds of bicycles are available across 10 automated rental stations each with 10 to fifteen bikes/spaces. Each Vélocéo service station

5589-512: The suffix -ien , with a range of variants including -on , -ion , -an and -ian . The rare pluralizing suffixes -er / -ier and -i are used for a few nouns. When they are appended, they also trigger a change in the vowel of the root: -i triggers a vowel harmony effect whereby some or all preceding vowels are changed to i ( kenderv "cousin" → kindirvi "cousins"; bran "crow" → brini "crows"; klujur "partridge" → klujiri "partridges");

5670-539: The traditional dances of the fest-noz are old, some dating back to the Middle Ages , the fest-noz tradition is itself more recent, dating back to the 1950s. Fest-Noz was officially registered on Wednesday, December 5, 2012, by UNESCO on the "Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity." There are many traditional Breton dances, the most well-known being gavottes , an dro ,

5751-446: The use of the Spilhennig to let speakers identify each other. The office also started an Internationalization and localization policy asking Google , Firefox and SPIP to develop their interfaces in Breton. In 2004, the Breton Misplaced Pages started, which counts more than 85,000 articles as of August 2024. In March 2007, the Ofis ar Brezhoneg signed a tripartite agreement with Regional Council of Brittany and Microsoft for

5832-620: The village of Monterblanc , called Vannes-Meucon airport, or "Vannes – Golfe du Morbihan airport". It used to be a military airport, but it is now dedicated to general aviation aircraft. It belongs to Vannes Agglomeration community, the group of cities gathered around Vannes, and the main users of this airfield are Vannes flying club, the local ultralight aviation club, and Vannes school of skydiving. Bus There are 2 bus networks in Vannes: – Kicéo, proposes short travels starting from Vannes Place de la Republique on behalf of Vannes Agglomeration community, – CAT, propose longer travel starting from

5913-587: The wider French culinary tradition. Local specialities include: Traditional Breton symbols of Brittany include: Breizh.net – a non-profit association dedicated to the promotion of Brittany and the Breton language on the Internet Breizh.net Breton language Breton ( / ˈ b r ɛ t ə n / , BRET -ən , French: [bʁətɔ̃] ; endonym : brezhoneg [bʁeˈzɔ̃ːnɛk] or [bɾəhɔ̃ˈnek] in Morbihan )

5994-411: The year 900. Currently, most Bretons' native language is standard French . Historically, Brittany and its people have been counted as one of the six Celtic nations . The actual number of Bretons in Brittany and France as a whole is difficult to assess as the government of France does not collect statistics on ethnicity. The population of Brittany, based on a January 2007 estimate, was 4,365,500. There

6075-651: Was also active in Brittany and is commemorated at Saint-Columban in Carnac . In the Early Middle Ages , Brittany was divided into three kingdoms— Domnonée , Cornouaille (Kernev), and Bro Waroc'h ( Broërec )—which eventually were incorporated into the Duchy of Brittany . The first two kingdoms seem to derive their names from the homelands of the migrating tribes in Britain, Cornwall (Kernow) and Devon ( Dumnonia ). Bro Waroc'h ("land of Waroch ", now Bro Gwened ) derives from

6156-786: Was blocked by the French Constitutional Council based on the 1994 amendment to the Constitution that establishes French as the language of the republic. Therefore, no other language may be used as a language of instruction in state schools. The Toubon Law implemented the amendment, asserting that French is the language of public education. The Diwan schools were founded in Brittany in 1977 to teach Breton by immersion . Since their establishment, Diwan schools have provided fully immersive primary school and partially immersive secondary school instruction in Breton for thousands of students across Brittany. This has directly contributed to

6237-683: Was created in 1990 for bilingual education in the Catholic schools. In 2018, 18,337 pupils (about 2% of all students in Brittany) attended Diwan , Div Yezh and Dihun schools, and their number has increased yearly. This was short of the goal of Jean-Yves Le Drian (president of the Regional Council ), who aimed to have 20,000 students in bilingual schools by 2010, and of "their recognition" for "their place in education, public schools, and public life"; nevertheless he describes being encouraged by

6318-543: Was devised. The fourth dialect, Gwenedeg, was not included in this reform, but was included in the later orthographic reform of 1941. The Breton language is a very important part of Breton identity. Breton itself is one of the Brittonic languages and is closely related to Cornish and more distantly to Welsh . Breton is thus an Insular Celtic language and is more distantly related to the long-extinct Continental Celtic languages , such as Gaulish , that were formerly spoken on

6399-512: Was grown in the Middle East was part of this trade. At about 150 BC the evidence of trade (such as Gallo-Belgic coins) with the Thames estuary area of Great Britain dramatically increased. The Veneti were defeated by Julius Caesar 's fleet in 56 BC in front of Locmariaquer ; many of the Veneti were then either slaughtered or sold into slavery. The Romans settled a town called Darioritum in

6480-467: Was not concerned with the minority languages of France , spoken by the lower classes, and required the use of French for government business as part of its policy of national unity. During the French Revolution , the government introduced policies favouring French over the regional languages, which it pejoratively referred to as patois . The revolutionaries assumed that reactionary and monarchist forces preferred regional languages to try to keep

6561-483: Was published in 1995. The first edition contained about 10,000 words, and the second edition of 2001 contains 20,000 words. In the early 21st century, the Ofis Publik ar Brezhoneg ("Public Office for the Breton language") began a campaign to encourage daily use of Breton in the region by both businesses and local communes. Efforts include installing bilingual signs and posters for regional events, as well as encouraging

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