Acadian French

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Acadian French (le français acadien) is a variety or dialect of French spoken by francophone Acadians in the Canadian Maritimes provinces and the Saint John River Valley in northern Maine. Like its sister dialect Quebec French, Acadian French started to diverge from what we now know as Metropolitan French about 400 years ago at the time of the French colonization of the Americas. Some francophones from overseas say that Acadian French sounds archaic citing characteristics such as pronunciation and lexical items (vocabulary) reminiscent of the language of Rabelais and Molière. Cajun French, a regional dialect spoken in Southern Louisiana in the United States, is a direct descendant of Acadian French.

Acadian French is descended from the French dialects of Anjou and of Poitou in France. Since there was no linguistic contact with France from the late 18th century until the 20th century, Acadian French retained features that died out during the French standardization efforts of the 19th century, including an alveolar r, and the third-person plural ending of verbs "-ont", e.g. ils mangeont (IPA: /i mɑ̃ʒɔ̃/), as compared to ils mangent, which does not have an ending that is pronounced.

Many speakers of other dialects of French, such as speakers of Metropolitan French, i.e. the French of France, and even of other Canadian dialects, have difficulty understanding Acadian French.

See also Chiac, a mixed language based on French and English, and Saint Mary's Bay French, a distinct variety of Acadian French spoken around Saint Mary's Bay, Nova Scotia.

Phonology (Phonetic Aspects)

/k/ and /tj/ is commonly replaced by /tʃ/ before a front vowel. For example, queue, cuillère, quelqu'un and cul are usually pronounced tcheue, tchuillère, tchequ'un and tchu. Tiens is pronounced tchin /tʃɛ̃/.

/g/ and /dj/ often become /dʒ/ (sometimes /ʒ/) before a front vowel. For example, bon dieu and gueule become bon djeu and djeule in Acadian French. Braguette becomes brajette. (This pronunciation led to the word Cajun, from Acadian.)

The /ɛʁ/ sequence followed by another consonant sometimes becomes /aʁ/ or /ɑʁ/. For example, merde and perdre become mârde and pardre.

The r in words endings by bre is often not pronunced. For example, libre (free), arbre (tree), timbre (stamp) would become libe, arbe and timbe

oui, (yes) can sometimes sounds like oué. oua is also used.

Examples of Acadian words

The following words and expressions mostly unique to Acadian French, though some can also be found in Quebec French.

• achaler: to bother (Fr: ennuyer)
• al, a: she (subject case) (Fr: elle)
• ajeter: to buy (Fr: acheter)
• ajeuve: just now (Fr: récemment, tout juste)
• amanchure: thing, thingy (Fr: chose, truc, machin)
• amarrer: (literally, to moor) to tie (Fr: attacher)
• amoureux: (lit. lover) burdock (Fr: (capitule de la) bardane; Quebec: toque, grakia)
• arien (or erien): nothing (Fr: rien)
• asteure: now (Fr: maintenant, à cette heure, désormais)
• attoquer: to lean (Fr: appuyer)
• avoir de la misère: to have difficulty (Fr: avoir de la difficulté)
• bailler: to give (Fr: donner)
• boloxer: to confuse, disrupt, unsettle (Fr: causer une confusion, déranger l'ordre régulier et établi)
• boucane: smoke, steam (Fr: fumée, vapeur)
• bouchure: fence (Fr: clôture)
• brâiller: to cry, weep (Fr: pleurer)
• brogane: work shoe, old or used shoe (Fr: chaussure de travail, chaussure d'occasion)
• brosse: drinking binge (Fr: beuverie)
• caler: to sink (Fr: sombrer, couler)
• charcher: to go get (Fr: chercher)
• chavirer: to go crazy (Fr: devenir fou, folle)
• cotchiner: to cheat (Fr: tricher)
• de service: proper, properly (Fr: adéquat, comme il faut)
• ej: I (Fr: je)
• élan: moment, while (Fr: instant, moment)
• épeurer: to scare (Fr: faire peur, apeurer)
• esclave: (lit. slave) destitute or pitiful person, poor fool (Fr: miséreux, personne démunie qui inspire la pitié, personne dont l'esprit est borné)
• espèrer: to wait (Fr: attendre)
• faire zire: to gross out (Fr: dégouter)
• faît: top, peak (Fr: faîte, sommet, haut)
• farlaque: loose, wild, of easy virtue (Fr: dévergondée, au moeurs légères)
• frette: cold (Fr: froid)
• fricot: traditional Acadian stew prepared with chicken, potatoes, onions, carrots, dumplings (lumps of dough), and seasoned with savoury
• friloux: sensitive to cold (Fr: frileux)
• garrocher: to throw, chuck (Fr: lancer)
• gouêland: seagull (Fr: goéland)
• hardes: clothes, clothing (Fr: vêtements)
• horler: to bawl (Fr: pleurer en criant, hurler)
• hucher: to cry out (Fr: appeler (qqn) à haute voix)
• icitte: here (Fr: ici)
• ielle: her (object case) (Fr: elle)
• innocent: simple, foolish or stupid (Fr: simple d'esprit, bête, qui manque de jugement)
• itou: also, too (Fr: aussi, de même, également)
• maganer: to overwork, wear out, tire, weaken (Fr: traiter durement, malmener, fatiguer, affaiblir, endommager, détériorer)
• mais que: when + future tense (Fr: lorsque (suivi d'un futur))
• mitan: middle, centre (Fr: milieu, centre)
• mécordi: Wednesday (Fr: mercredi)
• ouâille: yeah (Fr: ouais)
• ouère: to see (Fr: voir)
• païen: (lit. pagan) hick, uneducated person, peasant
• pire à yaller/au pire à yaller: at worst ( au pire)
• pis: and (Fr: et, et puis)
• ploye: buckwheat pancake, a tradition of Edmundston, New Brunswick (Fr: crêpe au sarassin)
• pomme de pré: (lit. meadow apple) American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) (Fr: canneberge; Quebec: atoca)
• poutine râpée: a ball made of grated potato with pork in the centre, a traditional Acadian dish
• qu'ri: (from cueillir) to fetch, go get (Fr: chercher)
• sciau: bucket, pail (Fr: seau)
• se haler: (lit. to haul oneself) to hurry (Fr: se dépêcher)
• se badgeuler: to argue (Fr: se disputer)
• taweille: Native American woman, traditionally associated with sorcery (Fr: Amérindienne)
• tchequ'affaire, tchequ'chouse, quètchose,quotchose: something (Fr: quelque chose)
• tchorieux: funny
• tête de violon: ostrich fern fiddlehead (Matteuccia struthiopteris)
• tétine-de-souris: (lit. mouse tit) slender glasswort, an edible green plant that grows in salt marshes (Salicornia europaea) (Fr: salicorne d'Europe)
• vaillant, vaillante: active, hard-working, brave (Fr: actif, laborieux, courageux)
• zeux: them (Fr: eux)

References

• [Le Glossaire acadien]

External links

• [Acadian English Wordlist] from [Webster's Online Dictionary] - the Rosetta Edition

 



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