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The epic of Norman dialects around the world

15 April 2027

The conference The Epic of Norman Dialects Around the World brings together the leading international specialists on 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, Francophone Canada, the Caribbean) and the medieval Levant, particularly Armenia.

Through lectures and discussions, the conference illuminates the extent of this diffusion, the linguistic forms inherited, and the modalities of contact between territories, from the Middle Ages to modern times. It shows how Norman dialects contribute fully to a European and global history of languages, at the intersection of human, cultural, and political circulations.

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 / Université de Caen Normandie (Norman and Anglo-Norman)
Pierre Larrivée – Professor of Linguistics, Université de Caen Normandie (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 (teaching and linguistic transmission)
Keith Busby – Professor of Medieval Literature, University of Wisconsin–Madison (Anglo-Norman 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 – Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (creoles and Norman legacies)
Myriam Bergeron‑Magui­re – Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (Normandy and French in America)
Damien Hall – Professor of Phonetics and Phonology, Newcastle University (contemporary Norman dialects)

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

Cité internationale de la langue française

1 Place Aristide Briand, 02600 Villers-Cotterêts, France