This work follows the 'Atlas Linguistique de la Basse-Bretagne' (ALBB) by Pierre Le Roux (77 points of investigation, 6 booklets of 100 cards published between 1924 and 1963).
Its goal is the study of the geographical variation of the 'badumes' - local Breton dialects - in the phonetical, morphological and lexical plans. The questionnaire thus relates primarily to simple notions of the everyday life: nature, meteorology, animals, everyday life, etc...
The initial investigation was followed by an investigation intended to fill gaps and to specify certain concepts. The two series of investigations (1969 to 1997) were recorded completely, what enabled the author to transcribe himself all answers, to keep the same exact kind of phonetic notation on all 600 cards.
The network includes 187 points of investigations, that is to say practically one commune of Low-Brittany on three. It deals with natural obstacles (rivers, heights), as well as particular geographical situations (islands).
In addition to the answers being reproduced on the 600 cards (more than 110 000 forms), we will find in the margins double or triple forms, varied notes (comments, proverbs and sayings, etc), as well as references to other linguistic atlases and dictionaries.
The author, Jean Le Dû, highly skilled professor of Celtic at the University of Western Brittany (Universitéde Bretagne Occidentale), belongs to the Breton and Celtic Research center (Centre de Recherches Bretonnes et Celtiques). He directed from 1989 to 1996 the group of the CNRS 0009 research project entitled ' Linguistic atlases, dialects and cultures of the areas of France'. |
