At the Nancy-Metz Academy, candidates following the baccalaureat can choose a unit called Regional Language of the Moselle Region as an optional subject.
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european institute of cultural routes |
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| Caroline Hamajda |
| 27 October 2009 |
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| Border and linguistic evolution |
If there is evidence of a regional language in Lorraine, and more specifically in the Moselle region, it is that, despite the national language of all Mosellans being French, dialects remain one of the fundamental characteristics of the Moselle region.
The Germanic-Romance linguistic border splits the department of the Moselle in two. Dialects are spoken in the east, from Volmerange-les-Mines, in the north-east, in Walsheid, and in the south-east.
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The linguistic division of the French department of the Moselle is not unrelated to the settling of various peoples on its territory throughout history.
If the Romans had little effect on the linguistic situation in the Moselle – Latin was only spoken in the higher classes of society – the same cannot be said of the Germanic tribes.
The settlement of Germanic peoples in the region is in fact at the origin of the linguistic border. Whilst the Alemmani settled more in Alsace, the Franks occupied the Moselle.
The Alemmani spoke Alemmanic, a term designating the Alsatian dialects. The language of the Franks was Frankish , a term designating the Mosellan dialects.
With the aim of reducing paganism, Charlemagne promulgated edicts which recommended using the language spoken by the people in holy texts, sermons and hymns. Some of these texts have survived to this day, such as a catechism from 820 written by the monk Otfried of Wissembourg, the capitular of Trier dating to the 10th century and the famous “Strasbourg Sermon�.
The linguistic border became definitively fixed in around 1000AD and has hardly moved since.
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