This sound atlas allows you to discover the regional languages ​​of France

Some time ago, I introduced you to an interactive map of languages ​​and accents around the worldThis map allowed us to discover languages ​​from almost everywhere on our planet.

But a little closer to home, in France, there is also a very wide variety of regional languages ​​and dialects. And a large number of these regional languages ​​have been listed on a Grand Atlas of the regional languages ​​of France available for free online.

While French is of course the official language of our country, regional languages ​​are part of our cultural heritage. As such, some of them are now taught in schools and can be chosen as modern languages ​​for the baccalaureate, such as Basque, Breton, Catalan, Occitan, Corsican and even some Creole languages ​​such as Guadeloupean, Martinican or Reunionese.

But not so long ago, at the end of the 25th century, only XNUMX% of the French population spoke French… the others used regional languages. Paradoxically, at the same time, French was the language spoken in all the courts of Europe… it was in a way the international language as English is today.

A sound atlas of the regional languages ​​of France

In a project supported by a large number of institutions (notably the CNRS and the Musée de l'Homme), two linguists and a researcher in information visualization wanted to bring together on a map more than 280 recordings of the same Aesop's fable:

The north wind and the sun were arguing, each claiming that he was the stronger, when they saw a traveler coming along wrapped in his cloak. They agreed that whoever could make the traveler take off his cloak first would be considered the stronger. Then the north wind began to blow with all its might, but the harder it blew, the tighter the traveler pulled his cloak around him, and in the end the north wind gave up trying to make him take it off. Then the sun began to shine, and after a while the traveler, warmed up, took off his cloak. Thus the north wind had to admit that the sun was the stronger of the two.

You can listen to all these dialects or patois by clicking on their name on the map… you will also get the transcription of the fable in this same regional language.

The languages ​​are classified by color according to their root: Romance language, Occitan language, Germanic language, etc.

In short, beyond the encyclopedic aspect of this project, this sound atlas of regional languages ​​is a very good tool for discovering the richness of our linguistic heritage from the north to the south of France, including overseas!