Monaco, Monte Carlo, Princess Grace (nee Kelly)--for most people these names will immediately conjure up images of wealth, luxury, pleasure, and decadence. All are connected with a small rectangular chunk of land along the coast of the French Riviera, a mere snippet of coastline, concrete, and cliffs that, at most, equals the length of only a few blocks in any large city. Yet it seems that everyone has at least heard of Monaco, and some--even among those who have not been there--will know that it is an independent country.
However, hardly anyone--even among specialists--will know about one aspect of this country, and when told about that aspect, they would at first glance be hard-pressed to believe that the Principality of Monaco (in French, Principaute de Monaco: in Monegasque, Principatu de Munegu) is going through a kind of national renaissance. Yes, there is talk of a distinct Monegasque people and culture and of a Monegasque language (a lenga Munegasca) which is already standardized and being taught in schools. And all this in a country that covers no more than 0.73 square mile (1.9 square kilometers) and has fewer than 4,500 citizens of Monegasque descent.
Despite its small size, the Principality of Monaco is actually divided into four distinct sections: Monaco city, La Condamine, Monte Carlo, and Fontvieille. Monaco city (Monaco-Ville) is the oldest part of the principality and is perched on a high, rocky cliff, known simply as "the Rock" (in Monegasque, a Roca). One end of the cliff is the prince's castle; the other end forms a picturesque peninsula that juts out into the Mediterranean Sea. Just below the eastern side of Monaco's cliff is La Condamine, a lowland coastal strip facing a natural harbor. Farther east is Monte Carlo on a hill directly opposite the old city of Monaco. Finally, Fontvieille is the newest section of the principality, built as recently as the 1980s on land reclaimed from the sea along the lowland below the west side of the Monaco cliff.
Of the four sections, Monte Carlo is the largest and most heavily populated. The principality's population totals 27,000, although only 4,480 are Monegasque citizens. This means that the vast majority of the country's inhabitants are foreigners, nearly half of whom are French (12,655); the rest (in order of population size) are Italians, British, Belgians, and even 347 Americans. Despite this mixture, Monaco seems just like any other town along the French Riviera. There is no border between Monaco and France, which surrounds the principality entirely on its landside; French is the official language of the country; and as we have seen, the French actually make up the largest portion of the country's inhabitants.
A Monegasque national revival
On the surface, it is unlikely that the visitor to the Monaco would find any traces of Monegasque specificity, with the exception perhaps of the bilingual French Monegasque street signs in the old city atop the Rock. But even here it would take a Romance linguist to distinguish the differences between Monegasque and other Provencal or Ligurian dialects in neighboring towns along the French and Italian Riviera. Yet below the seemingly Francophone surface of the principality, there has, most especially in the past decade, occurred a kind of national rebirth accompanied by all the trappings of more traditional and large-scale national revivals. This rebirth has been accompanied by the appearance of new historical
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