Acadian French

Acadian French (le franais acadien) is a dialect of French spoken by the Acadians in the Canadian Maritimes provinces. Like other Canadian French dialects, it diverged from the French of France about 400 years ago at the time of the French colonization of the Americas, and therefore sounds archaic and Old World to other Francophones, characterized by vocabulary and other traits reminiscent of the language of Rabelais and Molire. Cajun, a French dialect of Louisiana, is descended from Acadian French. It is descended from the dialects in France of Anjou and Poitou, and retains features obliterated during the French standardization efforts of the 19th century, such as the pronunciation of the final syllable (-ent) in the third-person plural verb form, e.g. ils mangent /i mɑ̃ʒɔ̃/ (IPA transcription). Many speakers of other dialects of French, such as the French of France and even other Canadian dialects, have difficulty understanding Acadian speech. See also Chiac, a distinct variety of Acadian French heavily influenced by English.

Phonetic changes

/k/ and /tj/ is commonly replaced by /tʃ/ before a front vowel. For example, queue, cuillre, quelqu'un and cul are usually pronounced tcheue, tchuillre, 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 mrde and pardre.

Examples of Acadian words

The following words and expressions are unique to Acadian French. Some of these can also be found in Quebec French.
  • al, a: she (subject case) (Standard French: elle)
  • ajeter: to buy (Fr: acheter)
  • ajeuve: just now (Fr: rcemment, tout juste)
  • amanchure: thing, thingy (Fr: chose, truc, machin)
  • amoureux: (literally lover) burdock (Fr: (capitule de la) bardane; Quebec: toque, grakia)
  • arien (or erien): nothing (Fr: rien)
  • asteure: now (Fr: maintenant, cette heure, dsormais)
  • attoquer: to lean (Fr: appuyer)
  • avoir de la misre: to have difficulty (Fr: avoir de la difficult)
  • badjeuler: to bitch, tell off, scold (Fr: rouspter, dblatrer, disputer)
  • bailler: to give (Fr: donner)
  • blette: dick (Fr: bitte)
  • boloxer: to confuse, disrupt, unsettle (Fr: causer une confusion, dranger l'ordre rgulier et tabli)
  • boucane: smoke, steam (Fr: fume, vapeur)
  • bouchure: fence (Fr: clture)
  • briller: to cry, weep (Fr: pleurer)
  • brogane: work shoe, old or used shoe (Fr: chaussure de travail, chaussure d'occasion)
  • brosse: drinking binge (Fr: beuverie)
  • chavirer: to go crazy (Fr: devenir fou, folle)
  • chenolles: balls, testicles (Fr: couilles)
  • cotchiner: to cheat (Fr: tricher)
  • de service: proper, properly (Fr: adquat, comme il faut)
  • ej: I (Fr: je)
  • lan: moment, while (Fr: instant, moment)
  • peurer: to scare (Fr: faire peur, apeurer)
  • esclave: (lit. slave) destitute or pitiful person, poor fool (Fr: misreux, personne dmunie qui inspire la piti, personne dont l'esprit est born)
  • esprer: to wait (Fr: attendre)
  • faire zire: to gross out (Fr: dgouter)
  • fat: top, peak (Fr: fate, sommet, haut)
  • farlaque: loose, wild, of easy virtue (Fr: dvergonde, au moeurs lgres)
  • fourrer: (lit. to stuff) to fuck (Fr: baiser)
  • frette: cold (Fr: froid)
  • fricot: traditional Acadian stew prepared with chicken, potatoes, onions, carrots, lumps of dough, and seasoned with savoury (Fr: ragot traditionnel compos de volaille, de pommes de terre, d'oignons tranchs, de carottes, de boules de pte qu'onassaisonne avec de la sariette)
  • garrocher: to throw, chuck (Fr: lancer)
  • gouland: seagull (Fr: goland)
  • hardes: clothes, clothing (Fr: vtements)
  • horler: to bawl (Fr: pleurer en criant)
  • hucher: to cry out (Fr: appeler (qqn) haute voix)
  • innocent: simple, foolish or stupid (Fr: simple d'esprit, bte, qui manque de jugement)
  • ielle: her (object case) (Fr: elle)
  • itou: also, too (Fr: aussi, de mme, galement)
  • maganer: to overwork, wear out, tire, weaken (Fr: traiter durement, malmener, fatiguer, affaiblir, endommager, dtriorer)
  • mais que: when + future tense (Fr: lorsque (suivi d'un futur))
  • mitan: middle, centre (Fr: milieu, centre)
  • mcordi: Wednesday (Fr: mercredi)
  • ouille: yeah (Fr: ouais)
  • paen: (lit. pagan) hick, uneducated person, peasant
  • pet-de-sœur: a type of Acadian pastry made with pie dough, butter and brown sugar (Fr: ptisserie faite de pte tarte, enduite de beurre et de cassonade, roule et coupe en rondelles que l'on fait cuire au four)
  • pis: and (Fr: et, et puis)
  • plotte: cunt (Fr: con)
  • ploye: buckwheat pancake, a tradition of Edmundston, New Brunswick (Fr: crpe au sarassin)
  • pomme de pr: (lit. meadow apple) American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) (Fr: canneberge; Quebec: atoca)
  • poutine rpe: a ball made of grated potato with pork in the centre, a traditional Acadian dish (Fr: pommes de terre rpes mises en boule avec, en son centre, des morceaux de viande de porc)
  • qu'ri: to fetch, go get (Fr: chercher)
  • taweille: Native American woman, traditionally associated with sorcery (Fr: Amrindienne)
  • tchequ'affaire: something (Fr: quelque chose)
  • tte de violon: ostrich fern fiddlehead (Matteuccia struthiopteris)
  • ttine-de-souris: (lit. mouse tit) slender glasswort, an edible green plant that grows in salt marshes (Salicornia europaea) (Fr: salicorne d'Europe, herbe verte comestible qui pousse dans les marais salants)
  • vaillant, vaillante: active, hard-working, brave (Fr: actif, laborieux, courageux)
  • zeux: them (Fr: eux)

 

<< PreviousWord BrowserNext >>
paso doble
encarta
mark hucko
rumba
digestion
william rose benet
viennese waltz
magma (band)
ken carson
pointillism
paul signac
sfumato
emerald park, saskatchewan
white city, saskatchewan
racialism
potato blight
laissez faire
inigo jones
big cat
lucian
handshake
holding hands
mrta sebestyn
yerba mate
kalimantan
human rights committee
battle of legnica
mount allison university
night and fog (movie)
nacht und nebel
henriette roosenburg
jie (ethnic group)
world line
daniel kahneman
amos tversky
ron dembo
anhalt
crossing number
stalker
avril lavigne
bashkirs
nogai
ulema
cheddar gorge (game)