Negro Parlar

The negro parlar or more locally parlar negue ( ˈnøɣrə, parˈlaˈnøɣə , the " to speak noir") is a regional variety of the Gascon. Its surface of use extends mainly on the Western half of the department of the Landes, as on the Bayonne agglomeration (where an alternative called speaks itself Gascon about Bayonne ). It is the speech of the Marensin, of the Maremne, the Seignanx, the Pays of Orthe, the Grande Moor and part of the Chalosse. It is also called Gascon maritime or landais .

He is opposed to the parlar clar (to speak clearly), used more in the east.

Reorganization of the vocalic phonemes

The principal feature of the negro parlar is its propensity to pronounce some Voyelle S in a round way more (and incidentally, in a more closed or more centralized way). Thus there is a migration of the Phonème S of the general Gascon towards new phonemes in parlar negro (phenomenon of " transphonologisation")

the /e/ phoneme of the general Gascon becomes/ø/in parlar negro. One always writes E (or E ) in the Orthographe.
the phoneme/ɛ/of the general Gascon becomes negro /e/ in parlar. One always writes E in the Orthographe.
With that is added a third phenomenon who includes the negro parlar but who very largely exceeds it, since it extends to all the Western Gascon (located at the west of a Pau-Agen line): the phonemes final and posttonic /-e/ (noted - E in the Orthography) and /- ɔ/(noted - in the Orthographe has) amalgamated towards only one phoneme /- ə/. In opposition to that, the Eastern Gascon, it (in the east of the Pau-Agen line), clearly maintain the opposition phonological between /-e/ (noted - E ) and /- ɔ/(noted - has).

It results from it a diagram very interesting for the tonic vowels from the negro parlar, since it opposes three balanced series, with two degrees of aperture each one:

nonround palatal series, two degrees of aperture: 1º half-closed /e/ - 2º closed /i/
palatal series round, two degrees of aperture: 1º half-closed/ø/- 2º closed velar /y/
series, two degrees of aperture: 1º half-open/ɔ/- 2º closed /u/
… in addition to the central and opened vowel /a/.

This balanced diagram of the negro parlar is an interesting solution because it solves the imbalance of the vowels which characterizes the general Gascon (and the general occitan), where each of the three series has rather disparate degrees of aperture:

nonround palatal series, three degrees of aperture: 1º half-open/ɛ/- 2º half-closed /e/ - 3º closed /i/
round palatal series, a degree of aperture: 1º closed velar /y/
series, two degrees of aperture: 1º half-open/ɔ/- 2º closed /u/
… in addition to the central and opened vowel /a/.

Sociological representations

The negro term parlar (" to speak noir") is thus very relative: it undoubtedly comes from the speakers who speak the parlar clar (" to speak clair") and which thinks that the negro parlar would be " obscur". Actually, the negro parlar does not have anything obscure and presents on the contrary a perfectly logical rebalancing of the vocalic phonemes, which saves the articulatory effort.

Moreover, the communication is done without difficulty between the speakers of the negro parlar and those of the parlar clar. Indeed, the vocalic diagrams of the two systems (parlar negro and parlar clar) are connected by regular correspondences (Diasystème).

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