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Home > 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.

1 Phonetic Changes

/k/ and /tj/ is commonly replaced by /tʃ/ before a front vowelA front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a conso. 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.

2 Examples of Acadian Words

The following words and expressions are unique to Acadian French. Some of these can also be found in Quebec FrenchQuebec French or Quebecois French is a dialect of French spoken by the great majority of people in Quebec. It developed out of 17th and 18th century French and in many respects it resembles it more closely than contemporary France French, although it also.

French language Languages of Canada Acadian

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Topics: Acadian French, Acadiana, Acadian Flycatcher...

AcadianAcadians are the original French settlers of parts of the northeastern region of North America comprising what is now the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Acadians Total population: 1997: 300,000 Significant populAcadian FrenchAcadian French le francais 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 AmericAcadianaAcadiana is the official name given to the traditional 22- parish Cajun homeland of South Louisiana, United States. History According to legend, The term Acadiana was born by a twist of fate in the early 1960s, when KATC TV in Lafayette, owned by the Acad
Acadian FlycatcherThe Acadian Flycatcher Empidonax virescens is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family. Adults have olive upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with whitish underparts; they have a white eye ring, white wing bars and a wide bill.Acadian (automobile)Acadians are Chevrolets built by General Motors at their Oshawa, Ontario plant; they differ in styling details from their American counterparts. Automobiles. 
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