Subject: sum : walloon

several weeks ago i posted a passage in the local walloon of the bastogne area of belgium and asked for a translation . i had quite a number of responses , and it appears that the responders had a good time wrestling with the passage . here is the passage : i - gn-e ` a po ^ pre ` s kinze ans du d ' ci , dj ' asto amon albe ^ rt le ` yona ^ rd e ` t dj ' rawa ^ rdo pace k ' on m ' avot dit k ' ou profe ` sseu ^ r do se ' mine ^ re vlot nos ve ` y po pa ^ rler do walon . dju m ' sovin co k ' dj ' e ^ dmande ' a c , ' momint la : < < kin - a ^ dje k ' il e ` , don c , ' cure ' la ? > > dj ' e ^ vite avou compris k ' i n ' astot nin pus cure ' k ' mi , surtout cand dj ' l ' e ^ ve ` you avou oune be ` le djon . ne bwe ^ ce ` le ki n ' compurdot we ^ re lu walon , me ^ s k ' astot bin de ` cide ' a l ' aprinde avou de ` s profe ` sseu ^ rs come pierrot , come jeannot , come roger , ou come mi , di-st - i l ' fou . and here is the consensus translation : il y a a ` peu pre ` s quinze ans d ' ici , j ' e ' tais chez < < albert le ' onard > > et j ' attendais parce qu ' on m ' avait dit qu ' un professeur du se ' minaire voulait nous voir pour parler du wallon . je me souviens ce que j ' ai demande ' a ` ce moment-la ` : < < quel a ^ ge a-t - il donc , ce cure ' - la ` ? > > j ' avais vite compris qu ' il n ' e ' tais pas plus cure ' que moi , surtout quand je l ' ai vu avec une belle jeune demoiselle qui ne comprenait gue ` re le wallon , mais qui e ' tait bien de ' cide ' e a ` l ' apprendre avec des professeurs comme pierrot , comme jeannot , comme roger , ou comme moi , dit-il , le fou . there were some uncertainties and disagreements ; i ' ve gone with the majority view in each case . the biggest problem was the very last bit , which caused havoc , though the gist of it seems generally clear . there was some disagreement as to whether it was the non-priest or the young girl who wanted to learn walloon ; most people went for the woman , which is what the syntax appears to say . the strange form < rawa ^ rdo > in the second line appears to be the same word as french < regarder > , but i am told that , in northern dialects , this word is widely used in the sense of ` wait , wait for , watch for ' . another headache was the word < bwe ^ ce ` le > in line 6 . this clearly means something like < demoiselle > , and it is possibly the same word as french < pucelle > ` virgin , maiden ' , which is unlikely to be the sense intended . i am told that speakers of walloon are now generally elderly , apart from some younger people who are enthusiasts ( though the belgian student i consulted here told me she had a friend who spoke walloon ) . some younger people of limited education are also said to have a grasp of the variety , and , engagingly , i am told that obscenities and insults tend to persist especially well . one respondent objected to my speaking of walloon as a dialect of french , preferring to see it as a distinct language . here 's an english version : it 's fifteen years ago now ; i was at the " albert leonard " [ institute ] and i was curious because i had been told that a teacher from the seminary wanted to see us to talk about walloon . i still remember what i was wondering at that moment : " so how old is that priest ? " i quickly understood that he was no more a priest than i was , particularly when i saw him with a beautiful young girl who scarcely knew any walloon but who was determined to learn it from teachers like pierrot , like jannot , like roger , or like me ; that 's what he said , the fool . the passage was written by m . georges pasau , pre 's ident du muse ' e de la parole au pays de bastogne ; it appeared in issue 4 ( 1994 ) of the magazine _ singuliers _ , which is devoted to walloon . this was a special number given over to the publication of a new dictionary of walloon . the dictionary is michel francard ( 1994 ) , _ dictionnaire des parlers wallons du pays de bastogne _ , brussels : deboeck / universite ' , isbn 2-8041 - 1957 - 2 . francard is professor of romance linguistics at the university of louvain in belgium ; his address is faculte ' des lettres , universite ' catholique de louvain , louvain - le - nauve , belgium , and his e-mail is francard @ frwa . ucl . ac . be . i have n't consulted him yet , but plan to do so . the orthography used here for walloon was , i believe , invented by francard specifically for the dictionary . the dictionary contains some nice dialect maps and some linguistic information about walloon . my thanks to jean - francois carrasco , richard coates , jean - francois delannoy , roger feron , frederik fouvry , vincent granville , ted harding , yolande meessen , philippe mennecier , bernd moebius ( and his mother ! ) , joseph reisdoerfer , thierry j . van steenberghe , guido vanden wyngaerd , and max wheeler . larry trask cogs university of sussex brighton bn1 9qh england larryt @ cogs . susx . ac . uk
