St. Marys Bay French
Appearance
The dialect of Acadian French spoken around Clare, Nova Scotia is like other dialects of Acadian French in many ways, but has some distinguishing features.
Standard French | Saint Mary's Bay | Meaning | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Phoneme | Example | Phoneme | Example | |
/ɑ̃/ | longtemps | /æɔ̃/ | longteaon | long (time) |
/ʒ/ | jamais /ʒaˈmɛ/ | /x/ | jama's /xaˈmɑ/ | never |
/ɛj/ | soleil /sɔlɛj/ | /ɑj/ | soleil /sɔˈlɑj/ | sun |
/ɛʁ/ | terre /tɛʁ/ | /ɑɾ/ | tarre /tɑɾ/ | land |
/ɛ̃/ | main /mɛ̃/ | /ʌn/ | main /mʌn/ | hand |
/tʲ/ | tien /tʲɛ̃/ | /tɕ/ | tien /tɕʌn/ | yours |
/ʃʲ/ | chien /ʃʲɛ̃/ | /ɕ/ | chien /ɕʌn/ | dog |
Most of the vocabulary is like other dialects of Acadian French.
(you can also find a similar 'jamais' in part of Îles de la Madeleine as /xaˈmɑ/ or similar. In Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, 'jamais' is often realized as /hɑ̃'mɛ/.)
Grand Dérangement's song "L'homme à point d'accent" (from the album Dérangé) is sung in this dialect of French