Click on names to find out more about the participants.
Relationship of interviewees: Ajudicator and competitors in Guernsey French Eistedfodd
Where: St Andrew's, Guernsey
Language of interview: Guernsey French
Voice clip 1
Bob starts by talking in Guernsey French and the group go on to talk in English about jokes and the earthy, unsophisticated Guernsey French sense of humour. They tell some jokes in Guernsey French and talk about drunkenness.
Voice clip 2
The group talking about swearing in Guernsey-French - with examples - and Sue remembers her brother using a rude word when he was a teenager, much to the shock of the family.
This clip contains language which some may find offensive.
Sue Brooks, Civil servant
Sue talks about her entry in the Guernsey Eistedfodd. She read two poems in Guernsey French.
Hazel Tomlinson, Retired teacher
Hazel talks about where her parents came from and how Guernsey French can vary from place to place.
Robert Gill, Retired school master
Bob talks about the effect of the war on Guernsey French. The German occupation and evauation of children was the end of it as a first language.
Long description of interview: The group are native patois (Guernsey French) speakers involved in efforts to keep the Guernesiaise language alive. Bob Gill was adjudicator in the 2005 Guernsey French Eistedfodd, and Sue Brooks and Hazel Tominson were competitors. All three are middle class people - two school teachers and a civil servant - and are all involved in the local Eistedfodd. The two women defer to Bob because he is the Eistedfodd adjudicator and taught Hazel at school. The subjects that engage them most include jokes - which don't work in English - and swearing, which does.
Women talk 'posher': Across the world in almost every language studied, females use more 'prestige', 'standard' forms of language. The exception is extreme Arabic societies where women do not participate in public life.
