Lorrain language

Lorrain is a language (often referred to as patois) spoken by now a minority of people in Lorraine in France, small parts of Alsace and in Gaume in Belgium. It is a langue d'oïl.

It is classified as a regional language of France and has the recognised status of a regional language of Wallonia, where it is known as Gaumais. It has been influenced by Lorraine Franconian and Luxembourgish, West Central German languages spoken in nearby or overlapping areas.

Features
Linguist Stephanie Russo noted the difference of a 'second' imperfect and pluperfect tense between Lorrain and Standard French. It is derived from Latin grammar that no longer is used in modern French.

Variations
The Linguasphere Observatory distinguishes seven variants :


 * Argonnais (Argonne, Woëvre, eastern French Ardennes, Meuse, Meurthe-et-Moselle)
 * Longovician (Longwy, Longuyon, northern Meurthe-et-Moselle)
 * Gaumais (arrondissement of Virton, cantons of Montmédy and Stenay in Meuse and the canton of Carignan in Ardennes)
 * Messin (Metz, Metzgau and all of French-speaking Moselle)
 * Nancéien (Nancy, southern Meurthe-et-Moselle)
 * Spinalian (Épinal, central Vosges)
 * Deodatian (Saint-Dié, Hautes-Vosges)

After 1870, members of the Stanislas Academy in Nancy noted 132 variants of Lorrain from Thionville in the north to Rupt-sur-Moselle in the south, which means that main variants have sub-variants.