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. A variety of a language is a form that differs from other forms of the language systematically and coherently. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... Francophone means French-speaking. ... The Acadians (French: Acadiens) are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia (located on the northern portion of North Americas east coast). ... The Maritime provinces See also Maritime province for disambiguation. ... The Saint John River is a river, approximately 418 mi (673 km) long, located in the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. ... Official language(s) None (English de facto) Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  Ranked 39th  - Total 33,414 sq mi (86,542 km²)  - Width 210 miles (338 km)  - Length 320 miles (515 km)  - % water 13. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Francophone means French-speaking. ... Look up pronunciation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The lexical items in a language are both the single words (vocabulary) and sets of words organized into groups, units or chunks. Some examples of lexical items from English are cat, traffic light, take care of, by the way, and dont count your chickens before they hatch. The entire... François Rabelais François Rabelais (ca. ... Molière, engraved on the frontispiece to his Works. ... Cajun French is a variety or dialect of the French language spoken primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana, particularly in Lafayette Parish, Evangeline Parish, St. ... This Article does not cite its references or sources. ...

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 Metropolitan French ils mangent, which does not have an ending that is pronounced. Anjou is a former county (c. ... Coat of arms of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, Plantagenet claimant to the county of Poitou, now favored as the coat of arms of Poitou by people in Poitou Poitou is a province of France. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Alveolars are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, the internal side of the upper gums (known as the alveoles of the upper teeth). ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ...

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. French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. ...

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. Chiac is an Acadian French vernacular mixed with English, spoken in the south-east Canada, especially among youth near Moncton, Memramcook and Shediac. ... A mixed language is a language that arises when two languages are in contact and there is a high degree of bilingualism among speakers. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The dialect of Acadian French spoken around Saint Marys Bay, Nova Scotia is like other dialects of Acadian French in many ways, but has some distinguishing features. ... St. ...

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/. Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ...

/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 pronounced. 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. Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

• 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)
• 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)
• timber: to fall (Fr:tomber)
• vaillant, vaillante: active, hard-working, brave (Fr: actif, laborieux, courageux)
• youcher: to cry out (Fr: appeler (qqn) à haute voix)
• zeux: them (Fr: eux)

The subjective case is the term preferred by English grammarians for the nominative case. ... An illustration of a mooring A mooring (also moorage) strictly speaking, refers to any device used to hold secure an object by means of cables, anchors, or lines though most often it is specifically a device to which a boat can attach so that it can remain in the same... Species A. lappa Burdock refers to any of a group of biennial thistles in the genus Arctium, family Asteraceae. ... Species hortensis (summer savory) montana (winter savory) viminea (serpentine savory) Savory is an herb, of the genus Satureja, best known for flavoring beans. ... The accusative case of a noun is, generally, the case used to mark the direct object of a verb. ... Binomial name Fagopyrum esculentum Common Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a plant in the genus Fagopyrum (sometimes merged into genus Polygonum) in the family Polygonaceae. ... Edmundston is a city in Madawaska County at the junction of the Saint John and Madawaska Rivers in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada only a few kilometres from the border with Quebec and on the border with the United States, opposite the town of Madawaska, Maine. ... Species Vaccinium erythrocarpum Vaccinium macrocarpon Vaccinium microcarpum Vaccinium oxycoccus Approximate ranges of the cranberries in sect. ... An Aani (Atsina) named Assiniboin Boy. ... Binomial name Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Todaro The Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) is a crown-forming, colony-forming fern, occurring in northern regions worldwide, and in northern/central North America. ... Fiddlehead is a name referring either to a young fern or to the top part of immature fronds that appear curled. ... Species See text. ...

References

• Le Glossaire acadien

External links

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