Do You Hear the Donkeys Bray?

Over the past few months, the Times Literary Supplement has been seeking news of "lesser-used language of the British Isles." "We believed we had covered them all," writes the mysterious "J.C." (probably TLS editor James Campbell), the chatty yet refined captain of the review's N.B. section, in this week's issue. Thus far, the publication has found evidence of Welsh, Cornish, Manx, Romany, Scots, Irish Gaelic, St. Kilda Gaelic, and Channel Islands Norman French. J.C. adds: "Our personal criterion for a 'living language' is the existence of poetry, or something resembling it." (Something resembling it? We find ourselves wondering whether J.C. would consider English a living language. He is, after all, very refined.)

But this just in!

The excellent London publisher Francis Boutle, which specializes in this field, has sent us The Toad and the Donkey, an anthology of literature in Jèrriais and Guernesiais—the dialects of Jersey and Guernsey—with further contributions in Sercquiais, the language of Sark...and Auregnais (from Alderney).

J.C. proceeds to quote this rhyme:

Dgèrnésiais au Jèrriais:
J'crai qu'j'éthons d'la plyie,
car j'vai qu'les crapauds sont sortis!

Jèrriais au Dgèrnésiais:
J'n'ai pas d'peine à l'craithe,
car j'entends les ânes braithe!

Translation, suitable for this season of wild weather:

Guernseyman to Jerseyman: "I believe we'll have rain, for I see that the toads are out." Jerseyman to Guernseyman: "I have no trouble believing it, for I hear the donkeys braying."

So do we. The N.B. page is unavailable online, but can be found at your local library. For the time being, here's a British blog that offers some relevant information.