Aims

1. Langues - Michel Francard
Study of the regional languages in Wallonia, fellowing a triple approach : historical, sociolinguistic and formal.

2. Literature - Jean Germain
II. Walloon literature (ROM 2471B) - Scientific study of Walloon literature, specifically examining the dialects of Wallonia. To show how this literature came into being and how it developed.

Main themes

1. Langues - Michel Francard
The course is devoted to the regional languages in Wallonia, and adopts a triple approach : historical, sociolinguistic and formal.
Historical : from the segmentation of the Oïl domain till nowadays (contribution of dialectology and linguistic geography).
Sociolinguistic : linguistic practices and behaviours of walloon speakers; representations of the regional languages in Wallonia; issues (namely the survival of these languages).
Formal : description of the most pre-eminent features (phonetical/phonological, morphological, syntactical, lexical) of the regional languages today.
The course will also present the main available research tools and will introduce to the field work methodology.

2. Literature - Jean Germain
II. Walloon literature (ROM 2471B)
Study of Walloon literature that uses the dialects of Wallonia.
The emergence of dialectal literature in the 16th century in all regions where the langue d'oïl was spoken: origin and development, relevance of this dialectal literature. History of Walloon literature from its origins (about 1600) until today.
The lectures in literary history are illustrated by reading the most important texts, with notes and comments.

Content and teaching methods

Part I : Languages

The course is devoted to the regional languages in Wallonia, and it adopts a threefold approach: historical, sociolinguistic, and formal.
Historical: from the segmentation of the territory where the langue d'oïl was spoken until today (contribution of dialectology and linguistic geography).
Sociolinguistic: linguistic practices and attitudes of Walloon speakers; representations of the regional languages in Wallonia; issues (in particular, concerning the survival of these languages).
Formal: description of the principal features (phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactical, lexical) of the regional languages today.
The course also presents the main research tools available and introduces students to field work methodology.

Part II : Literature

Study of the literature which uses as support the Romance regional languages of Wallonia, in the actual political signification.
Birth of the dialectal literature in 16th century in the field of the oïl domain : origin and developments, problem of the relevance of this dialectal literature.
History of the Walloon Letters from their origins (about 1600) to our days.
The talks of literary history are illustrated by the reading of the most important texts with commentaries and translation.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

1. Langues - Michel Francard
Evaluation : writing and oral presentation of a personal study enlarging one of the topics studied during the course.

Supports : portfolio with articles and extracts of books + standard reference books.

2. Literature - Jean Germain
Prerequisite: Supplementary reading and textbooks
II. Literature.
Piron (Maurice), 1979, Anthologie de la littérature dialectale de Wallonie. Liège, Mardaga, 1979; new edition, 1993.
Bal (Willy) and Pierret (Jean-Marie), Littérature dialectale de la Wallonie. Choix de textes, 1999.

Evaluation: Oral examination for both parts of the course.