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Guernsey is the second largest of the Channel Islands, in the Gulf of St Malo off northern France. Although the Channel Islands are geographically close to France, politically they are self-governing dependencies of the British Crown; they have their own parliaments and are not members of the UK or EU. This geographical proximity to France, but political allegiance to Britain, is a major factor in the sociolinguistic situation. The islands are well known for their cattle, dairy products, tomatoes, and potatoes, and are popular as a tourist destination. The main industry is now finance, due to the islands’ political and tax status. The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by the Germans in World War II, a fact which had a significant influence on language shift. The indigenous languages of the Channel Islands are varieties of Norman, a langue d’oıl of northern France. Distinct varieties are spoken in Guernsey, Jersey, and Sark. In Alderney, up until World War II a distinct variety was also spoken; this is now extinct. Jerriais (Jersey) and Guernesiais (Guernsey) are classified as ‘severely endangered’by the UNESCO Atlas of the world’s languages in danger (Moseley 2009), a status which is defined thus:‘the language is spoken by grandparents and older generations; while the parent generation may understand it, they do not speak it to children or among themselves’. However, we suggest that Guernesiais is rapidly approaching the UNESCO classification of ‘critically endangered’:‘the youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak the language partially and infrequently’(Moseley 2009).

The authors would like to …