Chiac

Chiac, is a dialect of Acadian French with some linguistic influences from the surrounding English, and to a lesser extent from various Indigenous Canadian languages, such as the Eastern Algonquian languages.[1][2] It is spoken by many Acadians in southeastern New Brunswick.[3]

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

History

While some believe that Chiac dates back as far as the 17th and 18th Century, Chiac is thought by others to be a relatively recent development of the Acadian French language whose growth was spurred in the 20th Century by the dominance of English-language media in Canada, the lack of French-language primary and secondary education, increased urbanization of Moncton, and contact with the dominant Anglophone community in the area. The origin of the word "chiac" is not known, some believe it is derived from "Shediac" or "Es-ed-ei-ik".

Background

The roots and base of Chiac are Acadian French, a spoken French often tinged with 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) which are now deemed archaic by the Académie Française, as well as Indigenous terms, notably from Mi'kmaq, evident in words such as matues, meaning 'porcupine', some have also described Chiac as a mixed Algonquian-Acadian French language.[1]

Chiac is a distinct dialect and accent, some often mistake Acadian French or regional French mixed with English words as Chiac.

In the arts

Acadian writers, poets and musicians such as France Daigle, Cayouche, Zero Celsius, Radio Radio, Chiac (Band), Fayo,[4] Lisa LeBlanc, Les Hay Babies, and 1755[5] have produced works in Chiac.

Chiac is also featured in Acadieman, a comedy about "The world's first Acadian Superhero" by Dano Leblanc.[6] The animated series, also a comic book, contains a mixture of Anglophone, Francophone, and "Chiacophone" characters.

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."[7] (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."[7] (We will tie it like this to make sure it stays.)
  • "Ça t'tente tu d'aller watcher un movie?" (Do you want to go see a movie?)
  • "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.)
  • "C'é pretty right on man, mon truck handle dans les trails." (It's really fun, my truck handles well off-road.)
  • "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.)
  • "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!"[7] (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?"[7] (Where did you put my clothes?)
  • "Astheure c'é mon tour."[7] (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. Barkwell, Lawrence J.; Doiron, Leah; Prefontaine, Darren R. (2001). Chapter 1: Deconstructing Métis Historiography: Giving Voice to the Métis People. Louis Riel Institute, Gabriel Dumont Institute. p. 23. … There may well have been other antecedents to Michif spoken in Central and Eastern Canada. For example, “Chiac,” the little-known mixed Algonquian-Acadian French language of the Métis people in Maritime Canada bears a remarkable similarity in syntax to Michif
  2. "Chiac". Sang Mêlé. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  3. Deschamps, MJ. "Chiac: A pride or a threat to French?". www.officiallanguages.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
  4. Laberge, Corinne (2007-06-28). "Le monde de Fayo". Retrieved 2007-08-09.
  5. Elsliger, Lise (2007-06-26). "Acadian band 1755 together again". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
  6. "C'est la vie". C'est la vie. 2006-12-08.
  7. Boudreau, Éphrem (2009). Glossaire du vieux parler acadien. Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu: Éditions Lambda ACADIE. p. 50. ISBN 978-2-923255-06-4.
  8. IMDB
  9. IMDB
  10. 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.
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