Sercquiais (French pronunciation: [sɛʁkjɛ]), also known as lé Sèrtchais, Sarkese or Sark-French, is the Norman dialect of the Channel Island of Sark (Bailiwick of Guernsey).
Sercquiais is a descendant of the 16th century Jèrriais used by the original colonists;[5] 40 families mostly from Saint Ouen, Jersey[1] who settled the then uninhabited island, although influenced in the interim by Guernésiais (the dialect of Guernsey).
The earliest published text in Sercquiais so far identified is the Parable of the Sower (Parabol du smeaux) from the Gospel of Matthew.
Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte, linguist, visited the Channel Islands in September 1862 in order to transcribe samples of the insular language varieties, which he subsequently published in 1863: Which in the NIV is translated as: As of 2022, Sercquiais had three native speakers.
[6][7] He has also conducted many tests, and created hundreds of hours of recordings, so that audio of pronunciation and rhythm — how the language sounds — is preserved.
However, Sercquiais does not geminate palatal fricatives, unlike Jèrriais: In the second half of the 19th century the language changed considerably.
Sercquiais uses an ending -dr which is typical of the St. Ouennais dialect of Jèrriais, but generally not used elsewhere in Jersey (nor nowadays by younger speakers in St. Ouen).