Acadian French Language

Acadian French () 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.

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

According to Wiesmath (2006), some characteristics of Acadian are:
*The verbal ending -ont in the third person plural
*Palatalization of and to and , respectively
*A feature called where is pronounced
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.''
* and are commonly replaced by before a front vowel. For example, and are usually pronounced and . is pronounced .
* and often become (sometimes ) before a front vowel. For example, and become and in informal Acadian French. becomes . (This pronunciation led to the word Cajun, from Acadien.)

Metathesis

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

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

Vowels

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

Elision of final consonants

* Consonant clusters finishing a word are reduced, often losing altogether the last or two last consonants in informal speech: ('table') → and ('book'/'pound') → , etc.

Vocabulary and grammar

Yves Cormier's (ComiersAcad) includes the majority of Acadian regionalisms. From a syntactic point of view, a major feature is the use of for the first-person singular and plural; the same phenomenon takes place with for the third persons. Acadian still differentiates the form from the 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 e [V [-on… ">_[-on.html" ;"title="e [V [-on">e [V [-on… (as in "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 ). Geddes (1908), 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.

Some examples of "true" Acadian French are:

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

Numerals

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

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 in spoken conversation. 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

Notes

References

Le Glossaire acadien
by Pascal Poirier French language page.

External links

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

{{Authority control

Acadian culture

French dialects
Canadian French