Bid to save 'endangered' Guernesias language agreed

The language has only an estimated 50 to 200 native speakers remaining

A £300,000 bid to save the "critically endangered" Guernesias language has been agreed by the States of Guernsey.

The grant will be used over three years to set up a Guernsey Language Commission.

The attempt to save a "unique heritage" was submitted by the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture (ESC).

An amendment for the proposal also directed the States to make Guernesias, alongside English, an official language of Guernsey.

The number of speakers of the language has declined to the point where it will "cease to be spoken in a few years", the committee argued.

A previous commission to promote the language was created in 2013, which ESC's proposals argued was hampered by a lack of financial and government support.

The language, a variant of Norman French, has an estimated number of native speakers of between 50 and 200, down from more than 1,800 in the April 2001 census, ESC's proposal said.

The committee said the purpose of the commission would be to "halt and then reverse this decline" by raising awareness of Guernesiais and encouraging its participation and effective teaching.