The epic of the Norman dialects across the world

The conference The Epic of Norman Speech Around the World brings together the leading international specialists in Norman dialects to share their research with both scholars and the general public. It highlights the international reach of these dialects, from England and the British Isles to Ireland, Scotland, Southern Italy and Sicily, all the way to the New World (Quebec, French-speaking Canada, the Antilles) and the medieval Levant, particularly in Armenia.

Through lectures and discussions, the conference sheds light on the scope of this diffusion, the linguistic forms inherited, and the modalities of contacts between territories, from the Middle Ages to modern times. It demonstrates how Norman dialects fully participate in a European and global history of languages, at the crossroads of human, cultural, and political movements.

Speakers
Mari Jones – Professor of Linguistics, University of Cambridge (Insular and Continental Norman)
Iride Valenti – Professor of Linguistics, Università di Catania (Norman heritage in Sicily and Southern Italy)
Stéphane Laîné – Historian and Linguist, La Fabrique de patrimoines en Normandie / University of Caen Normandy (Norman and Anglo-Norman)
Pierre Larrivée – Professor of Linguistics, University of Caen Normandy (writing and syntax in medieval Normandy)
Jessica Maierhofer & Marguerite Dallas – Researchers in Philology, Universität Zürich (early Norman and Anglo-Norman texts)
Richard Ingham – Professor of Historical Linguistics, University of Westminster (medieval Anglo-Norman)
Heather Pagan – Linguist and Medievalist, University of Westminster (language teaching and transmission)
Keith Busby – Professor of Medieval Literature, University of Wisconsin–Madison (Anglo- and Hiberno-Norman literature)
Elena Llamas‑Pombo – Professor of Historical Linguistics, Universidad de Salamanca (Normans in the Canary Islands)
Andrea Scala – Professor of Historical Linguistics, Università di Milano (French in the Levant and medieval Armenia)
Claire de Mareschal – Lecturer in Linguistics, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (creoles and Norman heritages)
Myriam Bergeron‑Magui­re – Lecturer in Linguistics, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (Normandy and French of America)
Damien Hall – Professor of Phonetics and Phonology, Newcastle University (contemporary Norman dialects)

Practical information: 
Free

Informed public

Cooperation France / Southern Italy / United Kingdom / Ireland
Partnerships MRSH, CRISCO laboratory, La Fabrique de patrimoines en Normandie, International City of the French Language, Università di Catania