Museo digitaledo zeneisee di parlæ liguri
The Rock of Monaco seen from the sea
← All storie

O Ligure ch’o s’Imprende à Monego

The Ligurian They Teach in Monte Carlo

Monegasque is a Ligurian variety – taught by law, all the way to the baccalauréat.

Monegasque, the speech of the Principality of Monaco, is by every measure a Ligurian variety, brought to the Rock in the Middle Ages. Its literature begins in 1927 with Louis Notari’s "A Legenda de Santa Devota", and the national anthem is sung in Monegasque.

Since 1976 the language has been taught in the Principality’s schools, up to a baccalauréat exam, and since 1981 an Académie des Langues Dialectales has overseen its study and promotion. Small as it is, Monaco shows what a language policy can do when it means it.

Bibliography

  1. Fiorenzo Toso, La letteratura ligure in genovese e nei dialetti locali. Profilo storico e antologia, vol. VII, Il Novecento, Le Mani, Recco 2009, pp. 34–38, in part. pp. 37–38.
  2. Claude Passet, «Lo studio scientifico del monegasco: inventario e progetti», in Stefano Lusito (a cura di), Atti del Convegno internazionale di studio e riflessione sul patrimonio linguistico della regione intemelia (Ventimiglia, 5 ottobre 2024), Editions EGC, Monaco 2025, pp. 13–30, in part. pp. 13–15.
  3. Claude Passet, “The Status of Monegasque in School and University Education”, Académie des Langues Dialectales.
  4. Stefano Lusito, «Il monegasco e i dialetti liguri costieri dell’area intemelia: alcuni dati campionari per una definizione dei rispettivi rapporti di divergenza», Linguistik online, 133/1 (2025), pp. 23–64, in part. pp. 23–25.
  5. Louis Notari, A legenda de santa Devota, Imprimerie Monégasque, Monte-Carlo 1927.
  6. Alessandro Guasoni, “Louis Notari (1879–1961)”, in Antologia da lettiatua ligure, Conseggio pe-o patrimònio linguistico ligure, 2024–.

Image: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0