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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, the Saint John River Valley in northern Maine, the Magdalen Islands and Havre-Saint-Pierre, along the St. Lawrence's north shore (where the original Acadian is probably best heard due to the longtime isolation of these localities). A variant of Canadian French and 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 another off-shoot of older forms of Acadian French.
Acadian French is descended from the French dialects of Maine, 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: ), as compared to Metropolitan French ''ils mangent'', which does not have an ending that is pronounced.
Although many aspects of this language (vocabulary, alveolar "r", etc.) are still common in rural areas in the West of France, any 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.

Contents

Phonology (Phonetic Aspects)

Inversion of "re"

Other

Examples of Acadian words

References

External links

Phonology (Phonetic Aspects)

===Palatalisation of "k" and "g" sounds===

★ and is commonly replaced by 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'' .

★ and often become (sometimes ) 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 Ca'j'un, from Aca'd'ian.)

Inversion of "re"

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

★ ''berloque'' for "''breloque''", ''berouette'' for "''brouette''" (wheel-barrow), ''ferdaine'' for "''fredaine''", ''guerlot'' for "''grelot''", ''s'entertenir'' for "''s'entretenir''".

Other

The sequence followed by another consonant sometimes becomes or . For example, ''merde'' and ''perdre'' become ''mârde'' and ''pardre''.
The ''r'' in words endings by ''bre'' is often not pronounced. For example, ''libre'' (free), ''arbre'' (tree), ''timbre'' (stamp)'' would become ''lib''', ''arb''' and ''timb'''
''oui'', (yes) can sometimes sound like ''oué'' or Modern French ''ouais'' meaning ''yeah''. ''oua'' is also used.
''deux'', (two) can sometimes sound like ''doy''.
''trois'', (three) can sometimes sound like ''tro'.

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: oui; Quebec: 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 quérir) to fetch, go get (Fr: aller 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 (Fr: curieux)

★ 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)

★ timber: to fall (Fr:tomber)

★ vaillant, vaillante: active, hard-working, brave (Fr: actif, laborieux, courageux)

★ zeux: them (Fr: eux)

References

★ Le Glossaire acadien by Pascal Poirier

External links

★ Acadian English Wordlist from Webster's Online Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition

★ Les Éditions de la Piquine Online Acadian Glossary with audio - (Website is only in French)