Chiac

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Not to be confused with Acadian French or Franglais.
Chiac
Native toCanada
RegionAcadian communities throughout the Maritime provinces, mainly in southeastern New-Brunswick
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
Linguasphere51-AAA-am
Two speakers of Chiac, recorded in Massachusetts, United States.

Chiac is a variety of Acadian French spoken mostly in southeastern New Brunswick, in Canada.[1] Among other features, it is often noted for its code-mixing with English, its archaisms originating from middle French, and its occasional loanwords from local Indigenous languages, such as the Eastern Algonquian languages.[1][2] The word "Chiac" can also be used to describe an Acadian, though sometimes pejoratively, living along the southeast coast of New Brunswick.

History[]

Chiac originated in the community of ethnic Acadians living on the rural southeast coast of New Brunswick. While some believe that Chiac dates back as far as the 17th or 18th centuries, others believe it developed in the 20th century, in reaction to the dominance of English-language media in Canada, the lack of French-language primary and secondary education, the increased urbanization of Moncton, and contact with the dominant Anglophone community in the area. The origin of the word "Chiac" is not known; some speculate that it is an alteration of "Shediac" or "Es-ed-ei-ik".

Background[]

The roots of Chiac are in Acadian French, a spoken French that contains an unusually high number of nautical terms (e.g., haler, embarquer), reflecting the historical importance of the sea to the local economy and culture. Chiac also contains many older French words (e.g., bailler, quérir, hucher, gosier) that are now deemed archaic by the Académie Française, as well as Indigenous terms, notably from Mi'kmaq, in words such as matues (meaning 'porcupine'); it also contains words derived from Occitanian and Spanish.[citation needed] Some people have described themselves as ethnically "Chiac" or "Chiac Acadian" to distinguish themselves culturally and linguistically from Acadians. While some mistake Chiac for Acadian French or for regional French mixed with English words, it is a distinct dialect.

In the arts[]

Acadian writers, poets and musicians such as France Daigle, Fayo,[3] Cayouche, , Radio Radio, , , Lisa LeBlanc, Les Hay Babies, 1755[4] and many others have produced works in Chiac.

Chiac is also featured in Acadieman, a comedy about "The world's first Acadian Superhero" by .[5] The animated series, also a comic book, contains a mixture of Anglophone, Francophone, and "Chiacophone" characters.[citation needed]

Example sentences[]

  • As-tu vu le crab qui crawlait su la beach de soir? (Did you see the crab that was crawling on the beach this evening?)
  • "Ej vas tanker mon truck de soir pis ej va le driver. Ça va être right d'la fun." (I am going to go put gas in my truck and drive it tonight. It's going to be so much fun.)
  • "Espère-moi su'l'corner, j'traverse le ch'min pi j'viens right back."[6] (Wait for me at the corner, I'm crossing the road and I'll be right back.)
  • "Zeux ils pensont qu'y ownont le car." (They think they own the car.)
  • "On va amarrer ça d'même pour faire sûr que ça tchenne."[6] (We will tie it like this to make sure it stays.)
  • "Asteur qu'ej cher sa, ej'y pensra probably au diferan." (Now that I know that, I'll probably think of it differently.)
  • "Ça t'tente tu d'aller watcher un movie?" (Do you want to go see a movie?)
  • "Wail na, ca ender up j'y pas iter, ej'ai ender up de passer straight out su'el cushion face platte." (No, I didn't end up going, I ended up passing out.)
  • "Ej ché pas...so quosse vous faites de soir?" (I don't know. What are you guys doing tonight?)
  • "J'aime ta skirt, j'aime la way qu'a hang." (I like your dress, it fits you well!)
  • "Ton car é ti en pretty good shape?" (Is your car in working order?)
  • "J'get pas ton troube." (I don't understand your problem.)
  • "Va waire cri a broche k'e hooké su'el wall d'salon." (Go get the wire that's plugged in the wall of the living room.)
  • "C'é pretty right on man, mon truck handle dans les trails." (It's really fun, my truck handles well off-road.)
  • "Na, ej che pas entoute ayousser j'ler mis, c'e probably a'cheuqpar d'les environs." (No, I don't know where I put it, it's most likely somewhere around here.)
  • "Man, c'té nouvelles light-là sont complicated, j'aimais mieux le four-way stop!" (Man, these new lights are complicated, I preferred the four-way stop.)
  • "K'tique k'té?" (Where are you?/Who are you?)
  • "Mame, les rules des quads sont tu les mêmes sur les chemins?" (Mom, do the four wheeler regulations apply on the city streets?)
  • "Ton truck work tu? Ch'te baillra vingt piace pour une quick drive en ville." (Does your truck work? I'll give you twenty bucks for a quick drive to the city.)
  • "T'é pu avec lui anymore, c'é pretty right on ça." (You aren't with him anymore; well that's good news.)
  • "On decole tu su la brosse desoir?" (Are we going out drinking tonight?)
  • "Sylvie, ça semble comme si tu work out man, moi chu naturally fit though!" (Sylvie, it looks like you have been working out, I'm lucky enough to be naturally fit.)
  • "J'vais parker mon car dans le driveway là." (I'm going to park my car in that driveway.)
  • "Quossé tu parles about?" (What are you talking about?)
  • "Yinque à ouaire on oua bein" (Just by seeing, you see well.)
  • "Va waire endans d'la bakery mander si yiavont still la sale su les Râpures." (Go check inside the bakery if they still have the sale on Rappie Pies.)
  • "On va faire une run au nord a la weekend, veut tu v'nir?" (We're going on a trip up north this weekend, do you want to come?)
  • "Cousse-tu veux chte-dise?" (What do you want me to tell you?)
  • "Tchein ton siault d'beluets!"[6] (Hold on to your blueberry bucket!)
  • "Chiss qu'est stia quis travle avec le muffler de blower?" (Who is that driving with a broken muffler?)
  • "J'étais tellement en djable que j'l'ai horé par dessus la fence." (I was so upset that I threw it over the fence.)
  • "J'ai crashé dans l'peteau d'hydro, pis l'car était toute smashé." (I crashed into the telephone pole and wrecked the car.)
  • "On a virer une moyenne brosse hier soire, pi sa va su le round two betot desoire." (We went on a big drinking binge last night, and it's going to be round two later tonight.)
  • "Tchin tes chulottes." (Keep your pants on!)
  • "Ayousque t'as mis mes hardes?"[6] (Where did you put my clothes?)
  • "Asteur c'é mon tour."[6] (Now it's my turn.)
  • "Clean ton mess, ça semble comme si yia eu un tornado qu'a passer en travers d'icite." (Clean your mess, it looks like a tornado passed through here.)
  • "Reste icitte, j'v'aller parker la char à côté du garage." (Wait for me here, I'm going to park the car next to the garage.)
  • "Le gars puait assez qu'les genoux m'buckleyiant!" (The guy smelled so much my knees buckled.)
  • "C'é right hard de driver standard quand tu commences à driver." (It's very hard to drive a manual stickshift when you're a beginner.)
  • "Well ça c'é pretty sharp, man." (Well that's pretty sharp, man.)
  • "Check ça out, pi call-moi back." (Gather some information and let me know what's going on.)
  • "Cheins tes overhalls pis tes r'change de d'soure." (Hold your overalls and your underwear!)

Films[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Chiac | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 2021-06-15.
  2. ^ Papen, Robert A. (2014-03-31). "Hybrid Languages in Canada Involving French: The Case of Michif and Chiac". Journal of Language Contact. 7 (1): 154–183. doi:10.1163/19552629-00701007. ISSN 1877-4091.
  3. ^ Laberge, Corinne (2007-06-28). "Le monde de Fayo". Retrieved 2007-08-09.
  4. ^ Elsliger, Lise (2007-06-26). "Acadian band 1755 together again". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
  5. ^ "C'est la vie". C'est la vie. 2006-12-08.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Boudreau, Éphrem (2009). Glossaire du vieux parler acadien. Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu: Éditions Lambda ACADIE. p. 50. ISBN 978-2-923255-06-4.
  7. ^ IMDB
  8. ^ IMDB
  9. ^ Onesheet Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading[]

  • King, Ruth. "Overview and Evaluation of Acadie's joual," in Social Lives in Language – Sociolinguistics and multilingual speech communities: Celebrating the Work of Gillian Sankoff edited by Miriam Meyerhoff and Naomi Nagy (2008) pp 137ff
  • Chiac: an example of dialect change and language transfer in Acadian French. National Library of Canada, 1987.

External links[]


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