Débats et propositions préliminaires sur la graphie monégasque d’après un tapuscrit inédit de Lazare Sauvaigo (1926–1927)

By virtue of its status as a national language recognised by the princely institutions, Monegasque is the only Ligurian variety to have an officially regulated spelling system. The current writing norms, sanctioned by the Commission pour la langue monégasque, represent in essence the standardisation of the spelling choices introduced and developed in the last century by Louis Notari (1879–1961), the originator of literature in this language. This paper aims to illustrate the first proposal for the systematisation of Monegasque spelling, formulated between 1926 and 1927 within the Comité des traditions locales (ancestor of the current Comité national des traditions monégasques), an association established a few years earlier with the aim of protecting and safeguarding the linguistic and folkloric heritage of the Principality of Monaco. The proposal, while fairly naïve in terms of its approach and content, is a striking testimony to the first steps towards the linguistic analysis and representation of a variety which, until then, had not yet been codified and had known practically no written usage.