Acadian French

Acadian French (Template:Langx) is a variety of French spoken by Acadians, mostly in the region of Acadia, Canada. Acadian French has seven regional accents, including Chiac and Brayon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Phonology

Since there was relatively little linguistic contact with France from the late 18th century to the 20th century, Acadian French retained features that died out during the French standardization efforts of the 19th century such as these:

• The Template:IPA phoneme, Acadian French has retained an alveolar trill or an alveolar flap, but modern speakers pronounce it as in Parisian French: Template:Lang (red) can be pronounced Template:IPA, Template:IPA or Template:IPA.
• In nonstandard Acadian French, the third-person plural ending of verbs ‹Template:Lang›, such as Template:Lang Template:IPA (they eat), is still pronounced, unlike standard French (France and Quebec) Template:Lang (Template:IPA (France)/Template:IPA or (Quebec)/Template:IPA ), the ‹e› can be pronounced or not, but ‹-nt› is always silent.Template:Citation needed

According to Wiesmath (2006),<ref>Template:Cite book[1]. Accessed 5 May 2011.</ref> some characteristics of Acadian are:

• The verbal ending -ont in the third person plural
• Palatalization of Template:IPA and Template:IPA to Template:IPA and Template:IPA, respectively
• A feature called Template:Lang where Template:Lang is pronounced Template:IPA

These features typically occur in the speech of older people.

Many aspects of Acadian French (vocabulary and "trill r", etc.) are still common in rural areas in the South West of France. Speakers of Metropolitan French and even of other Canadian varieties of French sometimes have difficulty understanding Acadian French. Within North America, its closest relative is Louisiana French spoken in Southern Louisiana since both were born out of the same population that were affected during the Expulsion of the Acadians.

See also Chiac, a variety with strong English influence, and St. Marys Bay French, a distinct variety of Acadian French spoken around Clare, Tusket, Nova Scotia and also Moncton, New Brunswick.

Palatalization

not to be confused with affrication typical of Quebec French.

• Template:IPA and Template:IPA are commonly replaced by Template:IPA before a front vowel. For example, Template:Lang and Template:Lang are usually pronounced Template:Lang and Template:Lang. Template:Lang is pronounced Template:Lang Template:IPA.
• Template:IPA and Template:IPA often become Template:IPA (sometimes Template:IPA) before a front vowel. For example, Template:Lang and Template:Lang become Template:IPA and Template:IPA in informal Acadian French. Template:Lang becomes Template:IPA. (This pronunciation led to the word Cajun, from Acadien.)

Metathesis

Metathesis is quite common. For example, Template:Lang ('Wednesday') is Template:Lang, and Template:Lang ('poverty') is Template:Lang. Template:Lang (the pronoun 'I') is frequently pronounced Template:Lang and Template:Lang is frequently pronounced Template:Lang.

In words, "re" is often pronounced "er". For instance :

• Template:Lang for "Template:Lang", Template:Lang for "Template:Lang", Template:Lang for "Template:Lang", Template:Lang for "Template:Lang", Template:Lang for "Template:Lang".

Vowels

• Acadian French has maintained phonemic distinctions between Template:IPA and Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA.
• In informal speech, the Template:IPA vowel is realized as Template:IPA: Template:Lang ('step') Template:IPA → Template:IPA and Template:Lang (arm) Template:IPA → Template:IPA, etc.
• The short Template:IPA is realized as Template:IPA and it is the same as Parisian French.
• Template:IPA is open to Template:IPA or closed to Template:IPA, it depends on the region: Template:Lang ('party') Template:IPA → Template:IPA or Template:IPA and Template:Lang ('case') Template:IPA → Template:IPA or Template:IPA, etc. Template:Citation needed
• The ⟨oi⟩ spelling has different pronunciations. Old speakers pronounce Template:Lang ('king') Template:IPA, because the traditional Parisian pronunciation was like Template:IPA. But in modern standard Acadian French, it is pronounced Template:IPA. Even where there is no circumflex, there are some words which are phonemically pronounced Template:IPA and the phoneme is pronounced as Template:IPA in formal speech but Template:IPA in informal speech: Template:Lang ('three') Template:IPA or Template:IPA and Template:Lang ('nut') Template:IPA or Template:IPA. The ⟨oî⟩ spelling is phonemically Template:IPA, but old speakers pronounce it Template:IPA, while modern speakers pronounce it Template:IPA as in Quebec French: Template:Lang ('box') Template:IPA or Template:IPA and Template:Lang ('grow') Template:IPA or Template:IPA, etc.

Elision of final consonants

• Consonant clusters finishing a word are reduced, often losing altogether the last or two last consonants in informal speech: Template:Lang ('table') Template:IPA → Template:IPA and Template:Lang ('book'/'pound') Template:IPA → Template:IPA,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> etc.

Vocabulary and grammar

Yves Cormier's Template:Lang (ComiersAcad)<ref>Template:Cite book. Retrieved 5 May 2011.</ref> includes the majority of Acadian regionalisms. From a syntactic point of view, a major feature is the use of Template:Lang for the first-person singular and plural; the same phenomenon takes place with Template:Lang for the third persons. Acadian still differentiates the Template:Lang form from the Template:Lang form.

The following words and expressions are most commonly restricted to Acadian French south of the Miramichi River, but some are also used north of the Miramichi River and in Quebec French (also known as Québécois) or Joual for the Montreal version of Quebec French. The Miramichi line is an isogloss separating South Acadian (archaic or "true" Acadian) from the Canadian French dialects to the north, North Acadian, Brayon (Madawaskan) and Quebec French (Laurentian French). South Acadian typically has morphosyntactic features such as [je [V [-on] … ]] (as in Template:Lang "we speak") that distinguishes it from dialects to the north or elsewhere in the Americas such as Cajun French, Saint-Barthélemy French or Métis French that have [nouzot [on- [V …]]] (as in Template:Lang). Geddes (1908),<ref>Geddes, James (1908). Study of the Acadian-French language spoken on the north shore of the Template:Lang. Halle: Niemeyer [2]</ref> the oldest authority on any variety of French spoken in Northern Acadia, records of the morphosyntactic characteristics of "true" Acadian spoken in the South and adjacent islands to the West.<ref>Although superficially a phonological descendant of South Acadian French, analysis reveals North Acadian French to be morphosyntactically identical to Quebec French. North Acadian is believed to have resulted from a localized levelling of contact dialects between Québécois and Acadian settlers. Cf. Wittmann, Henri (1995) "Template:Lang." in Fournier, Robert & Henri Wittmann. Template:Lang. Trois-Rivières: Presses universitaires de Trois-Rivières, 281–334.[3]</ref>

Some examples of "true" Acadian French are:

• Template:Lang: 'to bother' (Fr: Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: (variation of Template:Lang, literally 'to complete') 'a while ago' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'thing, thingy, also the way things join together: the joint or union of two things' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: (literally, 'to moor') 'to tie' (Fr: Template:Lang)<ref name=crb>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Lang: (lit. 'lover') 'burdock' (Fr: Template:Lang; Quebec: Template:Lang) (also very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: (contraction of Template:Lang) 'now' (Fr: Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'to lean' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'earlier' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'to have difficulty' (Fr: Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'to give' (Fr: Template:Lang) (Usually 'to yawn')
• Template:Lang: 'a piece of machinery or tool of sorts that no longer works properly', e.g. "My car is a lemon so it is a Template:Lang" (very common in New Brunswick)
• Template:Lang: 'the central passage through a barn (Template:Lang) flanked by two storage bays adjacent to the eaves'.<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: 'twin' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'to confuse, disrupt, unsettle' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'a fearful character of fairy tales who would visit unpleasant deeds upon young children if they did not go to bed at the designated hour'.<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: (literally 'the side of a ship') Template:Lang meaning 'the other side (of a street, river, etc.'); Template:Lang meaning 'changing sides (in a team competition)'; Template:Lang meaning 'turning back or retracing one's steps'.<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: 'smoke, steam' (Fr: Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'fence' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'to cry, weep' (Fr: Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'work shoe, old or used shoe' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'drinking binge' (Fr: Template:Lang) (common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'to sink' (Fr: Template:Lang) (also 'to drink fast in one shot', Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'car' (Fr: Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'window' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'to go crazy' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'I am' (Fr: Template:Lang, or, colloquially Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'peas, green beans' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'what, or asking for information specifying something'. (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'to cheat' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'ship's knees' that are a distinctive and unusual structural feature of early Acadian houses.<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: 'Devil' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'proper, properly' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: (literally 'a ship's ladder') 'stairway' (Fr: Template:Lang)<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: 'I' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'moment, while' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'and I' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'to wait; say welcome, to invite' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'to gross out' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'loose, wild, of easy virtue' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: (lit. 'furnace') 'a wood stove, oven'
• Template:Lang: 'cold' (Fr: Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'traditional Acadian stew prepared with chicken, potatoes, onions, carrots, dumplings (lumps of dough), and seasoned with savoury'
• Template:Lang: 'to throw, chuck' (Fr: Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'spring cleaning', often more comprehensive than in other cultures.<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: (literally, 'rigging of a ship's masts') 'to describe a woman's attire or decoration of a youngster's bicycle'.<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: 'a sleeping loft'.<ref name=crb/>
• se grouiller: 'to hurry, move' (Fr: se depecher)
• Template:Lang: 'clothes, clothing' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'to beat, maltreat' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'to cry out, scream' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'precisely here' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'here; around here' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'simple, foolish or stupid' (Fr: Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'also, too' (Fr: Template:Lang) (common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: (literally 'loosening a ship's mooring lines') 'to let go of any object'<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: 'to overwork, wear out, tire, weaken' (Fr: Template:Lang) (very common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'when' + future tense (Fr: Template:Lang)
• malin/maline: 'mean or angry' (lit. malignant)
• Template:Lang: 'to be irritated or angry'
• Template:Lang: 'middle, centre' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: (lit. 'pagan') 'hick, uneducated person, peasant' (Fr: )
• Template:Lang: 'clumsy' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'park' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'a shepherd's pie casserole of mashed potatoes, ground meat, and corn'.<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: 'bad odor' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'at worst' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'plaice' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'having or showing determined courage' (lit. 'plucky')
• Template:Lang: 'buckwheat pancake', a tradition of Edmundston, New Brunswick, also common in Acadian communities in Maine (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'not', or a similar term of negation (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: (lit. 'meadow apple') American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) (Fr: Template:Lang; Quebec: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'a meat pie of venison, rabbits, and game birds'.<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: 'a ball made of grated potato with pork in the centre', a traditional Acadian dish
• Template:Lang: 'a portable wheeled boating pier pulled out of the water to avoid ice damage'.<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: (from Template:Lang) 'to fetch, go get' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'just'
• Template:Lang: (lit. 'to haul oneself') 'to hurry' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'to argue' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'see you later' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'we were' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'they were' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'Mikmaq woman, traditionally associated with medicine or Midewiwin' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'something' (Fr: Template:Lang) (Template:Lang and Template:Lang are common in Quebec French)
• Template:Lang: 'a few' (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'ostrich fern fiddlehead' (Matteuccia struthiopteris)
• Template:Lang: (lit. 'mouse tit') 'slender glasswort, an edible green plant that grows in salt marshes' (Salicornia europaea) (Fr: Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang: 'din' (also refers to an Acadian noisemaking tradition whereby people gather in the streets and parade through town)
• Template:Lang: 'meat pies', sometimes with potatoes.<ref name=crb/>
• Template:Lang: 'in disorder or confusion'
• Template:Lang: 'active, hard-working, brave' (Fr: Template:Lang) (common in Quebec French)

Numerals

• In the Nova Scotian communities of Wedgeport and Pubnico, the numbers Template:Lang ('seventy'), Template:Lang ('eighty') and Template:Lang ('ninety') are instead called Template:Lang and Template:Lang respectively, a phenomenon also observed in Swiss French; Belgian French likewise uses Template:Lang and Template:Lang but not Template:Lang.

Template:Lang

St. Marys Bay French, a conservative dialect of Acadian French spoken in the St. Marys Bay, Nova Scotia region, is notable for maintaining use of the Template:Lang in spoken conversation.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In most modern dialects of French, the tense is only used in formal writing and speech.

See also

• Creole language
• Louisiana French, also known as Cajun French
• New England French
• Poitevin language
• Saintongeais dialect

References

• Le Glossaire acadien by Pascal Poirier French language page.

External links

• Acadian English Wordlist from Webster's Online Dictionary - The Rosetta Edition
• Les Éditions de la Piquine Online Acadian Glossary with audio Template:Webarchive - (Website is only in French)