Olivier Frutiger on the slang of Mégevette's peddlers

Savoyard peddlers' slang: mourmé from the Mégevette region

The slang of Savoyard peddlers: Mourmé from the Mégevette region From the 15th to the beginning of the 20th century, Mégevette and the surrounding region experienced seasonal, temporary and permanent emigration to Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France. These peddlers, like other itinerant professions, developed a secret language, a slang known as mourmé, to avoid being understood by others. The mourmé of Samoëns is well known, but that of Mégevette was not, and Olivier Frutiger has carried out a long and remarkable investigation. "It's a part of the Savoyard region's linguistic intangible heritage that almost disappeared irretrievably!" In this talk, he will tell us about its history, describe its characteristics in Francoprovençal, compare it with other slang and identify borrowings from the various Occitan, German and Italian languages.