The disappearance of the Batz Breton dialect (Nantes area), or... a Statue in Batz Like in Cornwall?

 

• in Breton (Brezhoneg) in French (Français)

The disappearance of the Batz Breton dialect (Nantes area), or... a Statue in Batz Like in Cornwall?

Links between Brittany and Cornwall

Brittany (Breizh) and Cornwall (Kernow) share a long history of cultural and linguistic ties. Both regions are part of the Celtic world, with roots in the ancient Celtic world, and have developed distinct but similar traditions over time. The sea that separates them has historically connected them through trade, migration, and cultural exchange.

Although different, the Breton and Cornish languages ​​belong to the same Celtic language family, known as Brythonic, and the two regions share common elements in their history. This cultural connection remains visible today, as Brittany and Cornwall continue to preserve their heritage, whether through language revitalization efforts or the celebration of shared traditions.

the town of Batz (Bourc'h Baz) (Picture Daniel Clerc (https://danielclerc.fr/))

1789 : Brittany divided in 5 departments

Brittany was divided into five departments in 1789. Breton-speaking Brittany mainly includes departments of Finistère, Morbihan, and Côtes d'Armor.(departments are territorial divisions since 1789)

Ille-et-Vilaine has been without the Breton language

The department of Ille-et-Vilaine (Rennes) has no contemporary Breton-speaking area.(it is estimated that the last Breton-speaking areas in this department are believed to date back to the 14th century)

Loire-Atlantique had a Breton-speaking territory

However, what is less well known is that the department of Loire-Inférieure (which became Loire-Atlantique in 1956, department of Nantes) retained a small Breton-speaking territory until after the First World War. The last speakers of this 'Nantes dialect,' or 'Guérande dialect,' died in the early 1960s.

The designations "Breton Nantais" or "Breton Guérandais" or "Breton de Batz" refer to the same dialect.

This dialect could be considered a sub-dialect of the Vannetais dialect. (Morbihan), but its gradual isolation distinguished it as a fifth dialect, so to speak, according to some.

The last village to speak Breton in the Nantes region was Batz.

The last village to retain this dialect was Batz, the emblematic village of the salt marsh workers of the Guérande salt marsh.

(It should be noted that the Nantes region, when the regions were created after the Second World War, was not placed in the administrative region of "Brittany" but in a kind of patchwork with a piece of Brittany (department of Nantes), a piece of Poitou (Vendée), Maine and Anjou.)

Loire-Atlantique (Nantes) is not in "région Bretagne" but in "Pays de la Loire"

A salt worker of Batz in the salt marshes

Linguistic border of Breton and its dialects

Searching for the last Breton speakers in Batz

Read in 'Yves Mathelier, Breton spoken in the Guérande region' (This is not an excerpt from the book but a rewording by me.)

Roffiat, the last village in Batz to speak Breton

The last village in Batz to speak Breton was Roffiat. In 1877, children aged 8 to 10 from Roffiat spoke Breton among themselves. (Roffiat is the village in Batz furthest from the town of Batz)

Jean-Marie and Florentine Cavalin, Suzanne Moreau

It can be estimated that Breton died out with the oldest of these children... around 1950 or 1960. The 1959 survey of Jean-Marie Cavalin from Trégaté (88 years old) supports this view, born in Roffiat in 1871. In 1960 and 1961, Florentine Cavalin and Suzane Moreau provided snippets of everyday conversation.

Roffiat at the edge of the marsh By Wikipedia, Jibi44 — Own work

Last Passive Speakers 1983 to 1988

Some late informants, such as Marie-Françoise Le Berre, interviewed shortly before her death in 1983, can be considered passive speakers of this dialect (fully understanding but unable to speak it).

There was also evidence to suggest that a very elderly woman (nearly 100 years old) from one of the villages of Batz, who died in 1988, must have known Breton, at least as a passive speaker.

'Thus the Breton dialect disappeared from the Nantes region after 1,400 years of barely suspected, always ignored, and most often denied existence' (Yves Mathelier)

In Cornwall, they have the emblematic figure of Dolly Pentreath, often presented as the last speaker of the Cornish language, but she was actually the last monolingual speaker. They made a statue of her.

There's nothing like that here, but it should be noted that Gildas Buron, the curator of the Salt Marsh Museum in Batz-sur-Mer, has done considerable work on the Guérandais dialect. There was an exhibition on Batz Breton at the museum.

Guérandais Breton might have deserved a statue, perhaps symbolizing the last three interviewees: Jean-Marie Cavalin, known as "Yannick," Florentine Cavalin, and Suzane Moreau.

Project for 'chatgpt' statues representing Jean-Marie and Florentine Cavalin

Dolly Pentreath, Cornwall's last (monolingual) speaker
The monument to Dolly Pentreath in the churchyard of Paul. (Photo Pauline Eccles, Wikipedia)

In June 1860, a monument in memory of Dolly Pentreath was erected in the churchyard of Paul by Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte and Vicar John Garrett. A few years later, in 1877, the centenary of her death was marked with celebrations around her grave, including readings of Cornish texts. This event marked the beginnings of the Cornish language revival.

The monument to Dolly Pentreath in Paul's cemetery. (photo Pauline Eccles, Wikipedia)

Per Jakez Helias (1914-1995)

The Breton Per-Jakez Helias dedicated a poem to her (in Breton and French). 

It is possible to see the Breton version and hear a song based on this poem in the Breton article

Poem: "The Song of Dolly Pentraeth" By Jakez Hélias

My country smells of warm horses
Crushed gorse, damp earth
Sea wind and manure
Mud and sky, it's all the same
My country smells very pure, very strong
Rather smelled it, I mean
Its scent fades every day
Along with the names of the highways

Dolly Pentraeth, it's high time
To let go of what we love
The world has changed its smell
Or our smell has changed worlds
Dolly Pentraeth! Dolly Pentraeth!

My people look at the sun
The earthworm and the lark
The big barley loaf and the ragout
The rain and the grain, it's all the same
My people look low and far
Rather looked, I mean,
Their eyes have lost their clarity
With the face of the Lord

Dolly Pentraeth, it's high time
To let go of what we love
We no longer have brothers or sisters
And our cousins ​​are all for sale
Dolly Pentraeth! Dolly Pentraeth!

My tongue sings with its words
The great ancestors, the poor devils
Exile from the world and the great day
Life and death, it's all the same,
My tongue sings its Breton
Rather sang it, I mean,
His voice fades away each time
A plowman is buried

Dolly Pentraeth, it's high time
To let go of what we love
With the last cry of the heart
Whose silence is the answer
Dolly Pentraeth! Dolly Pentraeth!

My country smells of warm horses
Crushed gorse, damp earth
Its scent fades every day
With the names of the highways
Dolly Pentraeth! Dolly Pentraeth!