Article In: Language Problems and Language Planning: Online-First Articles
Lé co crie ‘Cocolîncheux’
The arts as a resource for language planning in Jersey
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
This study considers the way in which the arts can play an important role in language planning. It focuses on
Jèrriais, the critically endangered variety of Norman spoken in Jersey, one of the British Channel Islands. The discussion
considers initiatives from across the performing, creative and visual arts and illustrates how these can serve as an effective
complement to more conventional (school-based) language planning strategies by creating a dynamic cultural ecology for the
language. The study further considers how, in Jersey, the arts are used to foster identity planning, encouraging even those
islanders who have never spoken Jèrriais to connect and identify with the language and its future.
Résumé
Lé co crie ‘Cocolîncheux’: Les arts comme ressource pour la planification linguistique à Jersey
Cette étude examine le rôle important que peuvent jouer les arts dans la planification linguistique. Elle se
concentre sur le jèrriais, le normand parlé à Jersey, l’une des îles Anglo-Normandes, qui est gravement menacé. La discussion
porte sur des initiatives issues des arts du spectacle, des arts créatifs et des arts visuels, et illustre comment celles-ci
peuvent compléter efficacement les stratégies de planification linguistique plus conventionnelles (scolaires) en créant un
environnement culturel dynamique pour la langue. L’étude examine également comment, à Jersey, les arts sont utilisés pour
favoriser la planification identitaire, en encourageant même les insulaires qui n’ont jamais parlé le jèrriais à se connecter et à
s’identifier à la langue et à son avenir.
Resumo
Lé co crie ‘Cocolîncheux’: La artoj kiel rimedo por lingvoplanado en Ĵerzejo
Tiu ĉi studo ekzamenas la manieron, kiel la artoj povas ludi gravan rolon en lingvoplanado. Ĝi fokusiĝas al
la ĵerzeja lingvo (Jèrriais), kritike endanĝerigita varianto de la normanda lingvo parolata en Ĵerzejo, unu el la Manikinsuloj. La
analizo konsideras iniciatojn el la kampoj de la nunaj kreivaj kaj vidaj artoj, kaj ankaŭ ilustras, kiamaniere ili povas funkcii
kiel efika komplemento al pli konvenciaj (lernej-bazitaj) strategioj de lingva planado per kreado de dinamika kultura ekologio por
la lingvo. Krome, la studo ekzamenas kiel, en Ĵerzejo, la artoj estas uzataj por stimuli identec-planadon, eĉ instigante
insulanojn, kiuj neniam parolis la ĵerzejan, konektiĝi kaj identiĝi kun la lingvo kaj ĝia estonteco.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Jèrriais: Decline and revitalisation
- Identity planning
- The performing arts
- Music and song
- a.La Fête Nouormande
- b.Bands, choirs and community initiatives
- The Jersey Eisteddfod
- Dance
- Music and song
- The creative arts
- Poetry
- Creative writing
- Film
- The visual arts
- Photography
- Public art
- Conclusion
- Notes
References
References (49)
Ancelet, Barry Jean & LaFleur, Amanda (2005). La
revitalisation endogène du cadien en Louisiane. In Albert Valdman, Julie Auger & Deborah Piston-Hatlet (Eds.), Le
français en Amérique du Nord: état
présent (pp. 412–437). Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval.
Anderson, Benedict (1983). Imagined
communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of
Nationalism. London: Verso.
Ashton, Kit (2025). New
border songs: towards decolonial pluri-languaging and worldmaking through minority language contemporary
music. In Gareth R. Schott (Ed.), The
language of music: Minority languages in popular music. Ashgate Popular and Folk Music
Series (pp. 14–31). London and New York: Routledge.
(2022). Êcliaithe
man tchoeu [Light Up My Heart]: Applied ethnomusicology and the revitalisation of the endangered language of
Jèrriais, [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. Goldsmiths College, University of London]. [Also listed
under C. Hanby]. Available
online at: [URL] (accessed April 30, 2026).
Benor, Sarah Bunin (2012). Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn
the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Bishop, Claire (2005). Installation
art: A critical
history. London: Tate. (Cited
in Guilat & Waksman, p. 109).
(2012). Artificial
hells: Participatory art and the politics of
spectatorship. London: Verso. (Cited
in Guilat & Waksman, p. 109).
Cru, Josep (2017). Bilingual
rapping in Yucatán, Mexico: Strategic Choices for Maya Language Legitimation and
Revitalisation. International Journal of Bilingual Education and
Bilingualism, 20(5), 481–496.
(1987). The value of language
maintenance efforts which are unlikely to succeed. International Journal for the Sociology of
Language, 681, 57–67.
Echeverria, Begoña & Sparling, Heather (2024). Heritage
language revitalisation and music. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural
Development, 45(1), 1–8.
Forsdick, Charles (2024). Literature
and the creative arts. In Robert Blackwood, Stefania Tufi & Will Amos (Eds.), The
Bloomsbury handbook of linguistic
landscapes (pp. 407–421). London: Bloomsbury.
Government of Jersey. (2022a). Report on
the 2021 Jersey census. Available online at: [URL] (accessed April 30, 2026).
. (2022b). Jèrriais
language strategy 2022–2025. Available online at: [URL] (accessed April 30, 2026).
. (2022c). The creative
island: An arts strategy for Jersey 2022–27. Available online at: [URL] (accessed April 30, 2026).
. (2024). Common
strategic policy 2024–2026. Available online at: [URL] (accessed April 30, 2026).
Grenoble, Lenore A., & Whaley, Lindsay J. (2021). Toward a new
conceptualisation of language revitalisation. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural
Development 42(10), 911–926.
Guilat, Yael & Waksman, Shoshi (2024). Art. In Robert Blackwood, Stefania Tufi & Will Amos (Eds.), The
Bloomsbury handbook of linguistic
landscapes (pp. 105–120). London: Bloomsbury.
Harasta, Jesse (2024). A
song for Cornwall (Kan Rag Kernow): a study of musicians and translators working on Cornish/Kernewek lyrics for international
song festivals. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural
Development, 45(1), 72–83.
Hublart, Claude (1979). Le
Français de Jersey [Unpublished thesis]. Université de l’Etat à Mons.
Jennings, Geraint & Marquis, Yan (Eds.), (2011). The
toad and the donkey: An anthology of Norman literature from the Channel
Islands. London: Francis Boutle.
Johnson, Henry (2008a). Jèrriais,
heritage and island identity in a festival context. Shima: The International Journal of
Research into Island
Cultures, 2(2), 73–98.
(2008b). Constructing
islandness on Jersey. Refereed papers from the Third International Small Island Cultures
Conference, Institute of Island Studies, University of PEI, June 29-July
2 20071, 55–65.
(2013). Voicing
linguistic heritage on Jersey: Popular music, language revitalisation and
intervention. In Jadey O’Regan & Toby Wren (Eds.), Communities,
places, ecologies: Proceedings of the 2013 IASPM-ANZ
conference (pp. 76–83). Brisbane: IASPM Australia/New Zealand.
Jones, Mari C. (2000). Swimming against the tide:
Language planning on Jersey. Language Problems and Language
Planning, 24(2), 167–196.
(2008). Identity planning in an
obsolescent variety: the case of Jersey Norman French. Anthropological
Linguistics, 50(3–4), 249–265.
Joseph, John (2004). Language
and identity: National, ethnic, religious. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lebarbenchon, Roger-Jean. (1988). La
Grève de Lecq: Littératures et cultures populaires de Normandie. I: Guernesey et
Jersey. Cherbourg: Isoète.
Le Coadic, Ronan (2013). ‘We
have met the enemy, and he is us’: Reversing language shift in Brittany. Hal Open
Science [URL] (accessed 30 April,
2026), 1–18.
Lowe, Anne (2002). Recherche
collaborative musique/arts/langue en milieu linguistique minoritaire: apprentissage interdisciplinaire et déceloppement de
l’identité. Canadian Journal of Applied
Linguistics, 5(1), 93–116.
Maher, John C. (2001). Akor Itak — Our language, your
language: Ainu in Japan. In Joshua A. Fishman (Ed.), Can
threatened languages be saved? Reversing language shift, revised: A 21s century
perspective (pp. 323–349). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Moriarty, Máiréad (2017). Developing
resources for translanguaging in minority language contexts: a case study of rapping in an Irish primary
school. Language, Culture and
Curriculum, 30(1), 76–90.
Nash, Manning (1996). The
core elements of ethnicity. In John Hutchinson & Anthony D. Smith (Eds.), Ethnicity (pp. 24–28). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Navarro, Jenell (2016). WORD:
Hip-Hop, Language, and Indigeneity in the Americas. Critical
Sociology, 42 (4–5), 567–581.
Picone, Michael D. (2025). Globalisation, localisation
and the preservation of French in North America (including Creole relevancies). American
Speech, 100(4), 467–516.
Picone, Michael D. & Valdman, Albert (2005). La
situation du français en Louisiane. In Albert Valdman, Julie Auger & Deborah Piston-Hatlet (Eds.), Le
français en Amérique du Nord: état
présent (pp. 143–165). Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval.
Pool, Jonathan (1979). Language
planning and identity planning. International Journal of the Sociology of
Language, 201, 5–21.