Breton language

Breton
Breton
Brezhoneg
Native to	France
Region	Brittany
Native speakers	206,000 (2007)
Language family	Indo-European Celtic Insular Briton Old Breton Breton; ; ; ; ;
Early forms:	Old Celtish Old Briton Old Breton Breton; ; ;
Writing system	Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-1	br
ISO 639-2	bre
ISO 639-3	Variously:; bre – Modern Breton; xbm – Middle Breton; obt – Old Breton
Linguist List	xbm Middle Breton
	obt Old Breton
Linguasphere	50-ABB-b (varieties: 50-ABB-ba to -be)

Breton (Brezhonegcode: br is deprecated in Breton) is a Celtic language that is spoken in Brittany, in the north-west of France. Breton is closely related to Welsh, which is spoken in Wales, and to Cornish, which is spoken in Cornwall, in south-western Great Britain. All of them are Brythonic languages.

Road sign in two languages (in Kemper/Quimper)

Breton is less closely related to the Goidelic languages of Scottish Gaelic, which is spoken in Scotland; Irish, which is spoken in Ireland; and Manx, which is spoken on the Isle of Man.

Breton has about 240,000 speakers,^[2]¹¹¹ but that number is falling very quickly because the French government has a policy of using French. As such, Breton is considered to be an endangered language.

Example

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Breton:
Dieub ha par en o dellezegezh hag o gwirioù eo ganet an holl dud. Poell ha skiant zo dezho ha dleout a reont bevañ an eil gant egile en ur spered a genvreudeuriezh.^[3]

English:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.^[4]

Breton Language Media

1911 poster with Breton slogan, Burzudus eo!!code: br is deprecated ("It's miraculous!!")
Map of the dialects of Breton.
Electronic information sign in Breton, Carhaix
Ofis Publik ar Brezhonegcode: br is deprecated , the Breton language agency, was set up in 1999 by the Brittany region to promote and develop the use of Breton.
Bilingual sign in Gwened/Vannes
Sign in French and partly in Breton in Rennes, outside a school with bilingual classes
Flag of Brittany (Gwenn ha du)

References

↑ Fañch Broudic, 2009. Parler breton au XXIe siècle – Le nouveau sondage de TMO-Régions. (including data from 2007: 172,000 speakers in Lower Brittany; slightly under 200,000 in whole Brittany; 206,000 including students in bilingual education)
↑ O'Reilly, Camille. Language, Ethnicity and the State: Minority languages in the European Union, Volume 1 (2001)Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 033392925X. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
↑ Universal Declaration of Human RightsOffice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
↑ Universal Declaration of Human RightsUnited Nations.

This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the Breton language edition.

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[Broudic2009-1] Fañch Broudic, 2009. Parler breton au XXIe siècle – Le nouveau sondage de TMO-Régions. (including data from 2007: 172,000 speakers in Lower Brittany; slightly under 200,000 in whole Brittany; 206,000 including students in bilingual education)

[2] O'Reilly, Camille. Language, Ethnicity and the State: Minority languages in the European Union, Volume 1 (2001)Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 033392925X. Retrieved 31 March 2011.

[3] Universal Declaration of Human RightsOffice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

[4] Universal Declaration of Human RightsUnited Nations.

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Breton
Brezhoneg
Native to	France
Region	Brittany
Native speakers	206,000 (2007)^[1]
Language family	Indo-European Celtic Insular Briton Old Breton Breton
Early forms:	Old Celtish Old Briton Old Breton Breton
Writing system	Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-1	`br`
ISO 639-2	`bre`
ISO 639-3	Variously: `bre` – Modern Breton `xbm` – Middle Breton `obt` – Old Breton
Linguist List	`xbm` Middle Breton
	`obt` Old Breton
Linguasphere	`50-ABB-b (varieties: 50-ABB-ba to -be)`