Savoyan

Savoyard
Savoyârd
Native to	France
Region	Savoy
Native speakers	35,000 (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Western Gallo-Romance Arpitan Savoyard
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Franco-Provençal protected by statute in Italy
Regulated by	Institut de la langue savoyarde
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	savo1253

Savoyard is a dialect of the Franco-Provençal language. It is spoken in some territories of the historical Duchy of Savoy, nowadays a geographic area spanning Savoie and Haute-Savoie, France and the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. The varieties are commonly known as patois. It has around 35,000 speakers today.

Several subdialects of Savoyard exist that exhibit unique features in terms of phonetics and vocabulary. Among them, many words have to do with the weather: bacan (French: temps mauvais); coussie (French: tempête); royé (French: averse); ni[v]ole (French: nuage); ...and, the environment: clapia, perrier (French: éboulis); égra (French: sorte d'escalier de pierre); balme (French: grotte); tova (French: tourbière); and lanche (French: champ en pente).

Savoyard has been the subject of detailed study at the Centre de dialectologie of the Stendhal University, Grenoble, currently under the direction of Michel Contini.