Acadian French
Acadian French (le français acadien) is a dialect of French spoken by the Acadians in the Canadian Maritimes. 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 Molière.
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.
Acadian French is the ancestor of Cajun, a French dialect of Louisiana, where the British colonial government deported many Acadians after winning Acadia from France.
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, cuillère, quelqu'un and cul are usually pronounced tcheue, tchuillère, tchequ'un and tchu. Tiens is pronounced tchin /tʃɛ̃/
/g/ and /dj/ often becomes /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.
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: récemment, 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, à cette heure, désormais)
- attoquer: to lean (Fr: appuyer)
- avoir de la misère: to have difficulty (Fr: avoir de la difficulté)
- badjeuler: to bitch, tell off, scold (Fr: rouspéter, déblatérer, disputer)
- bailler: to give (Fr: donner)
- blette: dick (Fr: bitte)
- 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)
- chavirer: to go crazy (Fr: devenir fou, folle)
- chenolles: balls, testicles (Fr: couilles)
- 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)
- espérer: 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, lumps of dough, and seasoned with savoury (Fr: ragoût traditionnel composé de volaille, de pommes de terre, d'oignons tranchés, de carottes, de boules de pâte qu'onassaisonne avec de la sariette)
- garrocher: to throw, chuck (Fr: lancer)
- gouêland: seagull (Fr: goéland)
- hardes: clothes, clothing (Fr: vêtements)
- horler: to bawl (Fr: pleurer en criant)
- hucher: to cry out (Fr: appeler (qqn) à haute voix)
- innocent: simple, foolish or stupid (Fr: simple d'esprit, bête, qui manque de jugement)
- ielle: her (object case) (Fr: elle)
- 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)
- païen: (lit. pagan) hick, uneducated person, peasant
- pet-de-soeur: a type of Acadian pastry made with pie dough, butter and brown sugar (Fr: pâtisserie faite de pâte à tarte, enduite de beurre et de cassonade, roulée et coupée 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: 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 (Fr: pommes de terre râpées 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: Amérindienne)
- tchequ'affaire: something (Fr: quelque chose)
- 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, herbe verte comestible qui pousse dans les marais salants)
- vaillant, vaillante: active, hard-working, brave (Fr: actif, laborieux, courageux)
- zeux: them (Fr: eux)
