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{{Short description|Dialect of French spoken mainly in Quebec, Canada}} | |||
] ] | |||
{{more citations needed|date=January 2017}} | |||
{{Infobox language | |||
| name = Quebec French | |||
| altname = French of Quebec | |||
| nativename = {{native name|fr|Français québécois}} | |||
| pronunciation = | |||
| states = {{flatlist| *] (''primary location and sole official language'') | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] (''especially'' ])}} | |||
| speakers = 7 million in Quebec; 700,000 speakers elsewhere in Canada and the United States | |||
| date = 2006 | |||
| ethnicity = ] | |||
| ref = {{refn|Source: A 2006 Census of Canada. Includes multiple responses. The simplifying assumption has been made that there are no native speakers of Quebec French in Atlantic Canada (see ]) but that all native speakers of French in the rest of Canada are speakers of Quebec French.{{sfn|Census2006}}|group=note}} | |||
| familycolor = Indo-European | |||
| fam2 = ] | |||
| fam3 = ] | |||
| fam4 = ] | |||
| fam5 = ] | |||
| fam6 = ] | |||
| fam7 = ] | |||
| fam8 = ] | |||
| fam9 = ] | |||
<!---- Note: Do not add ] as a tenth language family. Canadian French is a catch-all term that refers to all types of French spoken in the geographic region of Canada. It is not a language family. ----> | |||
| ancestor = ] | |||
| ancestor2 = ] | |||
| ancestor3 = ] | |||
| ancestor4 = ] | |||
| script = ] (])<br />] | |||
| nation = {{QC}} | |||
| agency = {{Lang|fr|]|italic=no}} | |||
| isoexception = dialect | |||
| ietf = fr-u-sd-caqc | |||
| glotto = queb1247 | |||
| glottorefname = Québécois | |||
| lingua = 51-AAA-hq | |||
| map = | |||
}} | |||
{{IPA notice}} | |||
'''Quebec French''' ({{langx|fr|français québécois}} {{IPA|fr|fʁɑ̃sɛ kebekwa|}}), also known as '''Québécois French''', is the predominant ] of the ] spoken in ]. It is the dominant language of the province of ], used in everyday communication, in education, the media, and government. | |||
].]] | |||
'''Québécois French''', also called the '''Québécois language,''' is an array of dialects that developed out of early regional ]s; a type of ] spoken by the ] people of the province of ], ]. | |||
] is a common umbrella term to describe all varieties of French used in Canada, including Quebec French. Formerly it was used to refer solely to Quebec French and the closely related dialects spoken in ] and ],{{Citation needed|date=June 2022|reason=No citations for the claim that Quebec French is closely related to Ontario French and other Western Canadian French dialects}} in contrast with ], which is spoken in some areas of eastern Quebec (]), ], and in other parts of ], as well as ], which is found generally across the ]. | |||
Although Québécois is sometimes thought of as an exclusively non-] variant, and certain aspects of it are ] stigmatized, many (perhaps most) aspects of Québécois that distinguish it from the French of France are found throughout the different registers of speech and writing, including standard and formal usage. | |||
The term ''{{lang|fr-CA|]}}''{{sfn|Merriam-Webster}} is commonly used to refer to Quebec working class French (when considered a ]), characterized by certain features often perceived as phased out, "old world" or "incorrect" in ].{{refn|Entry for {{lang|fr|joual}} in {{lang|fr|Dictionnaire du français Plus}}. "{{lang|fr|Variété de français québécois qui est caractérisée par un ensemble de traits (surtout phonétiques et lexicaux) considérés comme incorrects ou mauvais et qui est identifiée au parler des classes populaires.}}"{{cn|date=January 2025}}|group=note}} {{lang|fr|Joual}}, in particular, exhibits strong Norman influences largely owing to Norman immigration during the ]; people from Normandy were perceived as true Catholics and allowed to emigrate to the new world as an example of ideal French settlers. The Acadian French equivalent of ''{{lang|fr-CA|]}}'' is called '']''. | |||
==History== | |||
== History == | |||
Québécois French is substantially different in pronunciation and vocabulary to the French of Europe and that of France's Second Empire colonies in Africa and Asia. | |||
{{main|History of Quebec French}} | |||
The origins of Quebec French lie in the 17th- and 18th-century regional varieties (dialects) of early modern French, also known as ], and of other {{lang|fr|]}} (especially ], ] and ]) that French colonists brought to ]. Quebec French either evolved from this language base and was shaped by the following influences (arranged according to historical period) or was imported from Paris and other urban centres of France as a ], or common language shared by the people speaking it. | |||
This is due to the long history of French in Canada, the fact that the 16th and 17th century French immigrants to Canada were largely from areas outside Paris, and the strong influence of the French spoken by the ] who were of little bourgeois class from the Paris area (Ile-de-France) and Normandy. | |||
=== New France === | |||
Whereas it was 18th century bourgeois Parisian French that eventually became the national, standardized language of France at the time of the ], the French of the '']'' kept evolving on its own in America. Indeed, the French spoken in Quebec is closer idiomatically and phonetically to the French spoken in ] despite their independent evolutions and relatively small number of Belgian immigrants to Quebec. | |||
Unlike the language of France in the 17th and 18th centuries, French in New France was fairly well unified. It acquired ]s, especially ] such as '']'', '']'' and '']'', and words to describe the flora and fauna such as {{wikt-lang|fr|atoca}} (]) and {{wikt-lang|fr|achigan}} (]), from ]. | |||
The importance of the rivers and ocean as the main routes of transportation also left its imprint on Quebec French. Whereas European varieties of French use the verbs {{wikt-lang|fr|monter}} and {{wikt-lang|fr|descendre}} for "to get in" and "to get out" of a vehicle (lit. "to mount" and "to dismount", as one does with a horse or a carriage), the Québécois variety in its informal ] tends to use {{wikt-lang|fr|embarquer}} and {{wikt-lang|fr|débarquer}}, a result of Quebec's navigational heritage.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}} | |||
==Comparisons== | |||
=== British rule === | |||
Many in France and Belgium do have some problems understanding Quebec French, especially when spoken informally. The difference is as pronounced as it may be between a Texan and a Londoner or a Scot and a Canadian speaking the English language. | |||
With the onset of ], the French of Canada became isolated from that of Europe. This led to a retention of older pronunciations, such as {{lang|fr-CA|moé}} for {{lang|fr|moi}} ({{audio|FR-moi-et-moé.ogg|audio comparison}}) and expressions that later died out in France. In 1774, the ] guaranteed French settlers as British subjects rights to ], the ] faith and the French language to appease them at a moment when the English-speaking colonies to the south were on the verge of revolting in the ]. | |||
=== 1840 to 1960 === | |||
Quebec television shows and movies, when shown in France and other ] countries, were sometimes subtitled into European French because of these differences, which Quebecers found ridiculous, for they themselves were generally able to comprehend the accents of France and adapted to the heavy use of French '']''. More recently, the exposure to Quebec culture has been more common on the old continent and the European ear is gradually adapting to this exotic element. | |||
In the period between the ] and 1960, roughly 900,000 ] to seek employment. The ones that returned, brought with them new words taken from their experiences in the ] textile mills and the northern lumber camps. As a result, Quebec French began to borrow from both ] and ] to fill ]s in the lexical fields of government, law, manufacturing, business and trade.{{sfn|Bélanger|2000a}}{{sfn|Bélanger|2000b}} | |||
=== 1960 to 1982 === | |||
Although the two (especially more standard lects) are quite intercomprehensible, modern Québécois French shows several distinctions from the French of France, both in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary. | |||
From the ] to the passing of the ], the French language in Quebec saw a period of validation in its varieties associated with the working class while the percentage of literate and university-educated francophones grew. Laws concerning the status of French were passed both on the federal and provincial levels. The {{langr|fr|]}} was established to play an essential role of support in ].{{sfn|Modernisation (1960–1981)}} Protective laws and distaste towards ]s arose at the same time to preserve the integrity of Quebec French, while ] on the other hand does not have that same protective attitude and in recent decades has been more influenced by English, causing Quebec French not to borrow recent English loanwords that are now used in Metropolitan French.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sandra |date=26 October 2017 |title=Anglicisms in Québécois French |url=https://www.vivalanguageservices.co.uk/blog/anglicisms-in-quebecois-french/ |access-date=24 November 2024 |website=Viva Language}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fournier |first=Louna |url=https://digscholarship.unco.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=ug_pres_2020 |title=French and Canadian French, Are They Really Different? |access-date=24 November 2024 |publisher=University of Northern Colorado |date=March 2020}}</ref> | |||
== Social perception and language policy == | |||
==Phonetics== | |||
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2008}} | |||
=== Mutual intelligibility with other varieties of French === | |||
One well-known distinction is a tendency to affricate dental stops before high front vowels and semivowels: the second-person pronoun ''tu'', /ty/ in the French, is /tsy/ in Québécois (n.b.: phonetic transcription in X-].) | |||
There is a continuum of intelligibility between Quebec and European French; the two are most intelligible in their more standardized forms and pose more difficulties in their dialectal forms.{{sfn|Larose|2004}}<ref name="salien1998">{{cite web|author=Jean-Marie Salien|title=Quebec French: Attitudes and Pedagodical Perspectives|publisher=]|year=1998|url=http://www.yorku.ca/fmougeon/documents/Salien.pdf}}</ref> If a comparison can be made, the differences between both varieties are analogous to those between | |||
] and | |||
] even if differences in phonology and ] for the latter are greater.<ref name="salien1998"/> | |||
Quebec's culture has only recently gained exposure in Europe, especially since the ] ({{lang|fr|Révolution tranquille}}). The difference in dialects and culture is large enough that speakers of Quebec French overwhelmingly prefer their own local television dramas or sitcoms to shows from Europe or the United States. Conversely, certain singers from Quebec have become very famous even in France, notably ], ], ], ], and ]. Some television series from Quebec such as {{lang|fr|]}} and {{lang|fr|]}} are also known in France.<ref>{{cite web|title=L'Eté Indien|url=http://www.france2.fr/emissions/ete-indien/presentation_249371}}</ref> The number of such shows from France shown on Quebec television is about the same as the number of British shows on American television even though French news channels like ] and a francophone channel based in France, ], are broadcast in Quebec.<ref>{{cite news|title=La chaîne France 24 diffusée au Québec par Vidéotron|author=Agence France Presse Québec|work=The Huffington Post|date=7 October 2014|url=http://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/10/07/la-chaine-france-24-diffusee-au-quebec-par-videotron_n_5949704.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://tv5.ca/|title=TV5 Canada}}</ref> Nevertheless, Metropolitan French series such as '']'' and {{lang|fr|Les Gens de Mogador}} are broadcast and known in Quebec.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allocine.fr/series/meilleures/pays-5018/|title=Allociné}}</ref> In certain cases, on French TV, subtitles can be added when barbarisms, rural speech and slang are used, not unlike cases in the US of a number of British programmes being shown with subtitles (notably from Scotland). | |||
Québécois also contains a much wider range of vowel allophones than the French of France; for example, the masculine and feminine adjectives ''petit'' and ''petite'', /p@ti/ and /p@tit/ in French, are /p@tsi/ and /p@tsIt/ in Québécois. Similar pre-voiceless consonant allophony are to be found with the vowels /y/ -> /Y/, /o/ -> /O/, and /u/ -> /U/. | |||
== Relation to European French == | |||
Long and nasalized vowels in the French of France are often diphthongized in Québécois ''père'' (father), /pE:r/ in France, is /pEjr/ in Québécois, and ''banque'' (bank), /ba~k/ in France, is /ba~w~k/ in Québécois. | |||
Historically speaking, the closest relative of Quebec French is the 17th and 18th-century ] of ].{{sfn|Wittmann|1997}} | |||
Formal Quebec French uses essentially the same ] and ] as the French of France, with few exceptions,{{sfn|Martel|Cajolet-Laganière|1996|page=99}} and exhibits moderate lexical differences. Differences in grammar and lexicon become more marked as language becomes more informal. | |||
Some diphthongs are ''tripthongized'', such as the suffix ''-oir'': in France /-wax/, in Quebec often /-wQj(x)/. | |||
While phonetic differences also decrease with greater formality, Quebec and European accents are readily distinguishable in all ]. Over time, European French has exerted a strong influence on Quebec French. The phonological features traditionally distinguishing informal Quebec French and formal European French have gradually acquired varying sociolinguistic status, so that certain traits of Quebec French are perceived neutrally or positively by Quebecers, while others are perceived negatively. | |||
Older speakers often use a rolled r rather than the fricative used in France and in modern Québécois. | |||
=== Perceptions === | |||
In many cases, an orthographic ''t'' that is not pronounced in France will be pronounced in Quebec: /lIt/ ''lit'' (France /li/), /fEt/ ''fait'' (participle) in some senses (France /fe/), /frEt/ ''froid'', sometimes rendered ''frette'' (France /frwa/). There is also /IsIt/ ''ici'' (sometimes rendered ''icitte''). These usages are mainly colloquial. | |||
Sociolinguistic studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s showed that Quebecers generally rated speakers of European French heard in recordings higher than speakers of Quebec French in many positive traits, including expected intelligence, education, ambition, friendliness and physical strength.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=27}} The researchers were surprised by the greater friendliness rating for Europeans,<ref name="L'attitude linguistique"> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121128132643/http://wwwens.uqac.ca/~flabelle/socio/attitude.htm |date=November 28, 2012 }}</ref> since one of the primary reasons usually advanced to explain the retention of low-status language varieties is social solidarity with members of one's linguistic group. François Labelle cites the efforts at that time by the {{Lang|fr|]|italic=no}} "to impose a French as standard as possible"<ref name="L'attitude linguistique"/> as one of the reasons for the negative view Quebecers had of their language variety. | |||
Since the 1970s, the official position on Québécois language has shifted dramatically. An oft-cited turning point was the 1977 declaration of the ''Association québécoise des professeurs de français'' defining thus the language to be taught in classrooms: "Standard Quebec French is the socially favoured variety of French which the majority of Francophone Québécois tend to use in situations of formal communication."{{sfn|Martel|Cajolet-Laganière|1996|page=77}} | |||
Some initial consonants are deleted or reduced: /jœl/ ''gueule'' (France /gœl/), especially in the construction ''ta gueule'' /tæjœl/ "shut up". Another example is /py/ ''plus'' (France /ply/). In the latter case there is a difference in meaning: the phrase ''y'en a plus'' can mean "there is more" (''il y'en a plus'') if pronounced /jãnæplœs/, but the negative meaning "there is no more" (''il n'y en a plus'') is /jãnæpy/. | |||
{{refn|Original text: "''Le français standard d'ici est la variété de français socialement valorisée que la majorité des Québécois francophones tendent à utiliser dans les situations de communication formelle.''"{{sfn|Martel|Cajolet-Laganière|1996|page=77}}|group=note}} | |||
Ostiguy and Tousignant doubt whether Quebecers today would still have the same negative attitudes towards their own variety of French that they did in the 1970s. They argue that negative social attitudes have focused instead on a subset of the characteristics of Quebec French relative to European French, and particularly some traits of informal Quebec French.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=27}} Some characteristics of European French are even judged negatively when imitated by Quebecers.{{refn|See for example Ostiguy & Tousignant, p. 68, on the perception as "pedantic" of the use of the tense allophones {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, where {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}} would be expected in Quebec French. "''En effet, l'utilisation des voyelles tendues peut avoir allure de pédanterie à l'oreille d'une majorité de Québécois.''"{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=68}}|group=note}} | |||
==Morphology== | |||
=== Typography === | |||
Some ]es are found in Quebec more widely than in France, in particular the adjectival suffix -''eux'', which has a somewhat pejorative meaning: ''tête -> têteux'' (stubborn), ''niais -> niaiseux'' (foolish, irritating); ''obstiner -> ostineux'' (stubborn). This is from the Normand dialect. | |||
Quebec French has some typographical differences from European French. For example, in Quebec French a full non-breaking space is not used before the ], ], or ]. Instead, a ] (which according to ''Le Ramat de la typographie'' normally measures a quarter of an ]{{sfn|Ramat|2012|page=12}}) is used; this thin space can be omitted in word-processing situations where the thin space is assumed to be unavailable, or when careful typography is not required.{{sfn|Ramat|2012|page=191}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://66.46.185.79/bdl/gabarit_bdl.asp?t1=1&id=2039|title=La typographie: Espacement avant et après les principaux signes de ponctuation et autres signes ou symboles|publisher=]|language=fr|quote=''Ce tableau tient compte des limites des logiciels courants de traitement de texte, qui ne comportent pas l’espace fine (espace insécable réduite). Si l’on dispose de l’espace fine, il est toutefois conseillé de l’utiliser devant le point-virgule, le point d’exclamation et le point d’interrogation.''|access-date=2 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141005060747/http://66.46.185.79/bdl/gabarit_bdl.asp?t1=1&id=2039|archive-date=2014-10-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
=== Spelling and grammar === | |||
==Lexicon== | |||
==== Formal language ==== | |||
A notable difference in grammar which received considerable attention in France during the 1990s is the feminine form of many professions that traditionally did not have a feminine form.{{refn|The {{langr|fr|Académie française}} has taken strong positions opposing the officialization of feminine forms in these cases.{{sfn|Martel|Cajolet-Laganière|1996|page=109}} ]'s female cabinet ministers were the first to be referred to as {{lang|fr|Madame {{strong|la}} ministre}} instead of {{lang|fr|Madame {{strong|le}} ministre}}, whereas this had been common practice in Canada for decades.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}|group=note}} In Quebec, one writes nearly universally {{lang|fr|une chercheuse}} or {{lang|fr|une chercheure}}<ref>Grand dictionnaire terminologique, "chercheuse", {{cite web|url=http://www.granddictionnaire.com/btml/fra/r_motclef/index800_1.asp |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120604201446/http://www.granddictionnaire.com/btml/fra/r_motclef/index800_1.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 4, 2012 |title=Grand dictionnaire terminologique |access-date=September 3, 2010 }}</ref> "a researcher", whereas in France, {{lang|fr|un chercheur}} and, more recently, {{lang|fr|un chercheur}} and {{lang|fr|une chercheuse}} are used. Feminine forms in {{lang|fr|-eur{{strong|e}}}} as in {{lang|fr|ingénieu{{strong|re}}}} are still strongly criticized in France by institutions like the {{langr|fr|]}}, but are commonly used in Canada and Switzerland. | |||
There are other, sporadic spelling differences. For example, the {{Lang|fr|]|italic=no}} formerly recommended the spelling {{lang|fr|tofou}} for what is in France {{lang|fr|tofu}} "tofu". This recommendation was repealed in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |title=tofu |url=https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/26526882/tofu |access-date=2023-11-12 |website=vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca |language=fr}}</ref> In grammar, the adjective {{lang|fr|inuit}} "Inuit" is invariable in France but, according to official recommendations in Quebec, has regular feminine and plural forms.{{sfn|Martel|Cajolet-Laganière|1996|pages=97,99}} | |||
There are also various lexical differences between Québécois and the French of France; these are distributed throughout the registers, from slang to formal usage. | |||
=== |
==== Informal language ==== | ||
Grammatical differences between informal spoken Quebec French and the formal language abound. Some of these, such as omission of the negative particle {{lang|fr|ne}}, are also present in the informal language of speakers of standard European French, while other features, such as use of the interrogative particle {{lang|fr|-tu}}, are either peculiar to Quebec or Canadian French or restricted to nonstandard varieties of European French. | |||
=== Lexis === | |||
Many differences that exist between Quebec French and European French arise from the preservation of certain forms that are today archaic in Europe. | |||
{{main|Quebec French lexicon}} | |||
==== Distinctive features ==== | |||
For example, ''espérer'' for "to wait" (''attendre'' in France). | |||
While the overwhelming majority of lexical items in Quebec French exist in other dialects of French, many words and expressions are unique to Quebec, much like some are specific to American and British varieties of English. The differences can be classified into the following five categories.{{sfn|Poirier|1995|page=32}} The influences on Quebec French from English and Native American can be reflected in any of these five: | |||
* lexically specific items ({{lang|fr|québécismes lexématiques}}), which do not exist in other varieties of French; | |||
* semantic differences ({{lang|fr|québécismes sémantiques}}), in which a word has a different meaning in Quebec French than in other French varieties; | |||
* grammatical differences in lexical items ({{lang|fr|québécismes grammaticaux}}), in which a word has different morpho-syntactic behaviour in Quebec French than in other varieties; | |||
* differences in multi-word or fixed expressions ({{lang|fr|québécismes phraséologiques}}); | |||
* contextual differences (roughly, {{lang|fr|québécisme de statut}}), in which the lexical item has a similar form and meaning in Quebec French as in other varieties, but the context in which the item is used is different. | |||
The following tables give examples{{sfn|Poirier|1995|pages=32–36}} of each of the first four categories, along with the ] equivalent and an English gloss. Contextual differences, along with individual explanations, are then discussed. | |||
''Cour'' in Québécois is a backyard (''jardin'' in French), whereas in France ''cour'' has dropped this meaning and primarily means a courtyard, plus other derived meanings like courthouse (''palais de justice'' in Québécois). | |||
Examples of lexically specific items: | |||
The word ''breuvage'' is used for "drink" in addition to ''boisson''; this is an old French usage influenced by the English "beverage." | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
The word ''piastre'' or ''piasse'', a slang term for a dollar (equivalent to "buck"), was in fact the term originally used in French for the American or Spanish dollar. | |||
|- | |||
! Quebec French | |||
! Metropolitan French | |||
! English ] | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|abrier}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|couvrir}} | |||
| to cover | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|astheure (à c't'heure)}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|maintenant}} | |||
| now | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|chum}} (m) | |||
| {{lang|fr|copain}} (m) | |||
| friend (m) or boyfriend | |||
|- | |||
|{{lang|fr|chum}} (f) | |||
|{{lang|fr|amie}} (f) | |||
|friend (f) | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|magasiner}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|faire des courses}} | |||
| to go shopping/do errands | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|placoter}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|papoter}} | |||
| to chat/chatter | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|pogner}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|attraper, prendre}} | |||
| to catch, grab | |||
|} | |||
Examples of semantic differences: | |||
===Quebec specialties=== | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
There are also words for Quebec specialties that do not exist in Europe, for example '']'', '']'', ''tuque'' (a Canadianism in both official languages), and '']'' (a corner store/small grocery; ''dépanneur'' in France is a mechanic who comes in to repair a car or a household appliance). | |||
|- | |||
! Lexical item | |||
! Quebec French meaning | |||
! Metropolitan French meaning | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|blonde}} (f) | |||
| girlfriend | |||
| blonde-haired woman | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|char}} (m) | |||
| car | |||
| tank | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|chauffer}} | |||
| to drive (a vehicle) | |||
| to heat | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|chialer}} | |||
| to complain | |||
| to bawl, blubber | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|dépanneur}} (m) | |||
| convenience store (and also repairer) | |||
| mechanic | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|gosse}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|gosses}} (fem pl): balls (testicles) | |||
| {{lang|fr|gosse}} (masc sg): child/kid | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|suçon}} (m) | |||
| lollipop | |||
| hickey/love bite | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|sucette}} (f) | |||
| hickey/love bite | |||
| lollipop | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|éventuellement}} | |||
| eventually | |||
| possibly | |||
|} | |||
Examples of grammatical differences: | |||
], abundant in the ], are called ''bleuets''; in France, they are called ''myrtilles'' and ''bleuet'' means cornflower. (''Bleuet'' is also slang for someone from the Saguenay.) | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
===Idioms=== | |||
|- | |||
! Lexical item | |||
! Quebec French grammar | |||
! Metropolitan French grammar | |||
! English gloss | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|autobus}} (noun) | |||
| {{lang|fr|autobus}} (f) (colloquial) | |||
| {{lang|fr|autobus}} (m) | |||
| bus | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|pantalon}} (noun) | |||
| {{lang|fr|pantalons}} (pl) | |||
| {{lang|fr|pantalon}} (masc sg) | |||
| trousers | |||
|} | |||
Examples multi-word or fixed expressions unique to Quebec: | |||
There are many idioms in Québécois that do not exist in France, such as ''fait que'' ("so"); ''en masse'', ''en maudit'', ''pas mal'' (all mean "a lot"); ''s'en venir'' (for ''arriver'' and ''venir ici''); ''ben là!'' or ''voyons donc!'' ("oh, come on!"). | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
Speakers of Québécois also use the ] in more contexts than speakers in France do. | |||
|- | |||
! Quebec French expression | |||
! Metropolitan French gloss | |||
! English gloss | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|avoir de la misère}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|avoir de la difficulté}} | |||
| to have difficulty, trouble | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|avoir le flu}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|avoir la diarrhée}} | |||
| to have diarrhea | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|avoir le goût dérangé}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|gouter une saveur étrange}} | |||
| to taste something strange, unexpected | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|en arracher}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|en baver}} | |||
| to have a rough time | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|prendre une marche}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|faire une promenade}} | |||
| to take a walk | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|se faire passer un sapin}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|se faire duper}} | |||
| to be tricked | |||
|- | |||
| {{lang|fr|parler à travers son chapeau}} | |||
| {{lang|fr|parler à tort et à travers}} | |||
| to talk through one's hat | |||
|} | |||
Some Quebec French lexical items have the same general meaning in Metropolitan French but are used in different contexts. English translations are given in parentheses. | |||
The expression "you're welcome" is ''bienvenue'' in Quebec, ''de rien'' in France; and the expression ''bonjour'' can be used for "goodbye" in Quebec, which it cannot in France. | |||
* {{lang|fr|arrêt}} (stop): In Quebec, most ]s say {{lang|fr|arrêt}}. Some Quebec stop signs say {{lang|fr|stop}} and older signs use both words. However, in France, all such signs say {{lang|fr|stop}}, which is the standard in Europe. | |||
* {{lang|fr|condom}}, pronounced {{IPA|}} (condom): In Quebec French, this term has neutral connotations, whereas in Metropolitan French, it is used in more technical contexts. The neutral term in Metropolitan French is {{lang|fr|préservatif}}. | |||
In addition, Quebec French has its own set of swear words, or ], distinct from other varieties of French. | |||
===Slang terms=== | |||
===== Use of anglicisms ===== | |||
As with any two regional variants, there are an abundance of slang terms found in Quebec that are not found in France. Among them, the best known is the art of ], a form of profanity that uses references to Catholic liturgical equipment, rather than the references to prostitution that are more common in France. | |||
{{POV section|date=December 2021}} | |||
One characteristic of major sociological importance distinguishing Quebec from European French is the relatively greater number of borrowings from English, especially in the informal spoken language, but that notion is often exaggerated.{{sfn|Martel|Cajolet-Laganière|1996|page=110}} The Québécois have been found to show a stronger aversion to the use of anglicisms in formal contexts than do European francophones, largely because of what the influence of English on their language is held to reveal about the historically superior position of anglophones in Canadian society.{{sfn|Martel|Cajolet-Laganière|1996|page=110}} According to Cajolet-Laganière and Martel,{{sfn|Martel|Cajolet-Laganière|2008|pages=459–474}} out of 4,216 "criticized borrowings from English" in Quebec French that they were able to identify, some 93% have "extremely low frequency" and 60% are obsolete.{{refn|That very low frequency was confirmed in a corpus of two million words of spoken French corpus from the Ottawa-Hull region by Poplack {{lang|la|et al.}} (1988).{{sfn|Poplack|Sankoff|Miller|1988}}|group=note}} Despite this, the prevalence of anglicisms in Quebec French has often been exaggerated. | |||
Various anglicisms commonly used in European French informal language are mostly not used by Quebec French speakers. While words such as {{lang|fr|shopping, parking, escalator, ticket, email}} and {{lang|fr|week-end}} are commonly spoken in Europe, Quebec tends to favour French equivalents, namely: {{lang|fr|magasinage, stationnement, escalier roulant, billet, courriel}} and {{lang|fr|fin de semaine}}, respectively. As such, the perception of exaggerated anglicism use in Quebec French could be attributed, in part, simply to the fact that the anglicisms used are different, and thus more noticeable by European speakers. | |||
One of the more hazardous differences is the fact that ''gosses'' ("boys" or "sons" in France) means "testicles" in Québécois. (''Gosser'' means "to annoy.") ''Boules'', which means testicles in Europe, means breasts in Quebec. | |||
French spoken with a large number of anglicisms may be disparagingly termed ''{{lang|fr|nocat=true|]}}''. According to Chantal Bouchard, "While the language spoken in Quebec did indeed gradually accumulate borrowings from English , it did not change to such an extent as to justify the extraordinarily negative discourse about it between 1940 and 1960. It is instead in the loss of social position suffered by a large proportion of Francophones since the end of the 19th century that one must seek the principal source of this degrading perception."{{sfn|Bouchard|2008|pages=255–264}}{{refn|Original text: "{{lang|fr|En effet, si la langue parlée au Québec s'est peu à peu chargée d'emprunts à l'anglais au cours de cette période, elle ne s'est pas transformée au point de justifier le discours extraordinairement négatif qu'on tient à son sujet de 1940 à 1960. C'est bien plutôt dans le déclassement subi par une forte proportion des francophones depuis la fin du XIX<sup>e</sup> siècle qu'il faut chercher la source de cette perception dépréciative.}}{{sfn|Bouchard|2008|pages=255–264}}|group=note}} | |||
Some slang terms unique to Quebec: | |||
===== Borrowings from Indigenous languages ===== | |||
<table border=1> | |||
{{expand section|date=March 2015}} | |||
<tr> | |||
{{lang|fr|Ouaouaron}}, the Canadian French word for ], a frog species native to North America, originates from an ] word.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.billcasselman.com/quebec_sayings/quebec_words_phrases_nine.htm|title=English Words Borrowed into Quebec French as Expressions Québécoises Modernes from Bill Casselman's Canadian Word of the Day|work=billcasselman.com|access-date=11 February 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235701/http://www.billcasselman.com/quebec_sayings/quebec_words_phrases_nine.htm|archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref> | |||
<td>''Ben''</td> | |||
<td>Well..., very</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Bibitte''</td> | |||
<td>Small insect</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Blonde''</td> | |||
<td>Girlfriend</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Bobette(s)''</td> | |||
<td>Underwear</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Brailler''</td> | |||
<td>To weep, to whine</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Char''</td> | |||
<td>Car</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Crosser''</td> | |||
<td>To masturbate; to cheat</td> | |||
<td>''Crosseur'' = wanker, swindler | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Écoeurant''</td> | |||
<td>Wonderful</td> | |||
<td>Means ''dreadful'' in France, a sense also found in Qc | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Fin''</td> | |||
<td>Nice, sweet (of a person)</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Foufounes''</td> | |||
<td>Buttocks</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Jaser''</td> | |||
<td>To chat</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Pantoute''</td> | |||
<td>Not at all</td> | |||
<td>Contraction of ''pas en tout'' (''pas du tout'') | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Platte''</td> | |||
<td>Boring, unfortunate</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Poche''</td> | |||
<td>stupid</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Pogner''</td> | |||
<td>get, grab</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Quétaine''</td> | |||
<td>kitsch, tacky</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Tanné''</td> | |||
<td>Fed up</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Tapper, tomber sur les nerfs''</td> | |||
<td>To irritate someone</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Se tasser''</td> | |||
<td>Move over</td> | |||
<td>''S'entasser'': to be jammed in together</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
</table> | |||
{{lang|fr|Maringouin}}, the word for mosquito, also originates from an aboriginal language, ], spoken by aboriginals on the northern coasts of Brazil.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gouvernement du Canada |first1=Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada |title=insectes de l'été – Clés de la rédaction – Outils d'aide à la rédaction – Ressources du Portail linguistique du Canada – Canada.ca |url=https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/fr/cles-de-la-redaction/insectes-de-lete?wbdisable=true#:~:text=Le%20mot%20maringouin%20serait%20un,par%20le%20nom%20de%20cousin. |website=www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca |access-date=4 March 2023 |date=14 February 2020}}</ref> It is thought that early French colonists adopted this word in the late 1600s after exchanges with explorers returning from South America.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Corre |first1=Daisy Le |title=Pourquoi, au Québec, les moustiques s'appellent-ils des maringouins? |url=https://mauditsfrancais.ca/quebec-on-appelle-moustiques-maringouins/ |website=Maudits Français |access-date=4 March 2023 |language=fr-FR |date=30 May 2020}}</ref> | |||
===Amerindian words=== | |||
{{lang|fr|Atoca}}, a synonym for ], also originates from Iroquois.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Atoca |url=https://usito.usherbrooke.ca/d%C3%A9finitions/atoca |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=Usito |language=fr}}</ref> | |||
<table border=1> | |||
<tr><th>Word</th><th>Meaning</th></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''Achigan''</td><td>Black bass</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''Atoca''</td><td>Cranberry</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''Manitou''</td><td>Important individual</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''Maskinongé''</td><td>Muskellunge (a pike)</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''Micouène''</td><td></td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''Mocassin''</td><td>Moccasin</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''Ouananiche''</td><td>Land-locked variety of salmon</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''Orignal''</td><td>Moose</td></tr> | |||
</table> | |||
=== |
===== Additional differences ===== | ||
The following are areas in which the lexicon of Quebec French is found to be distinct from those of other varieties of French: | |||
* ]s formerly common to both France and New France but are today unique to Quebec French (this includes expressions and word forms that have the same form elsewhere in ] but have a different denotation or connotation); | |||
* borrowings from ]s, especially place names; | |||
* {{lang|fr|les sacres}} – ]; | |||
* many ]s, ]s, and other borrowings from English in the 19th and 20th centuries, whether or not such borrowings are considered Standard French; | |||
* starting in the latter half of the 20th century, an enormous store of French ]s (coinages) and re-introduced words via terminological work by professionals, translators, and the ]; some of this terminology is "exported" to the rest of la Francophonie; | |||
* feminized job titles and ]; | |||
* ] processes that have been more productive: | |||
*# ]: {{lang|fr|-eux/euse, -age, -able,}} and {{lang|fr|-oune}} | |||
*# ] (as in the international French word {{lang|fr|guéguerre}}): {{lang|fr| cacanne, gogauche}}, etc. | |||
*# reduplication plus {{lang|fr|-oune}}: {{lang|fr|chouchoune, gougounes, moumoune, nounoune, poupoune, toutoune, foufoune}}, etc. | |||
*# new words ending in {{lang|fr|-oune}} without reduplication: {{lang|fr|zoune, bizoune, coune, ti-coune}}, etc. | |||
==== Recent lexical innovations ==== | |||
====Colloquial and slang registers==== | |||
Some recent Quebec French ] have spread, at least partially, to other varieties of French, for example: | |||
* ''clavardage'', "chat", a contraction of ''clavier'' (keyboard) and ''bavardage'' (chat). Verb: ''clavarder''<ref name="clavardage-oqlf">{{cite web|url=http://w3.olf.gouv.qc.ca/terminologie/fiches/8392463.htm|title=chat / clavardage|work=gouv.qc.ca|access-date=11 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402113344/http://w3.olf.gouv.qc.ca/terminologie/fiches/8392463.htm|archive-date=2015-04-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
* ''courriel'', "e-mail", a contraction of ''courrier électronique'' (electronic mail)<ref name="courriel-oqlf">{{cite web|url=http://w3.olf.gouv.qc.ca/terminologie/fiches/8353974.htm|title=e-mail / courriel|work=gouv.qc.ca|access-date=11 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010231246/http://w3.olf.gouv.qc.ca/terminologie/fiches/8353974.htm|archive-date=2017-10-10|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
* ''pourriel'', "spam e-mail", is a contraction of ''poubelle'' (garbage) and ''courriel'' (email),<ref name="pourriel-oqlf"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706200723/http://w3.olf.gouv.qc.ca/terminologie/fiches/8349831.htm |date=2011-07-06 }} on the ]'s website.</ref> whose popularity may also be influenced by the word ''pourri'' (rotten). | |||
* ''baladodiffusion'' (may be abbreviated to ''balado''), "podcasting", a contraction of ''baladeur'' (walkman) and ''radiodiffusion''.<ref name="baladodiffusion-oqlf"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706200726/http://w3.olf.gouv.qc.ca/terminologie/fiches/8357110.htm |date=2011-07-06 }} on the ]'s website</ref> | |||
=== Sociolinguistics === | |||
The use of ]s in colloquial and slang Québécois is commonplace. Some examples of long-standing anglicisms include: | |||
On Twitter, supporters of the Quebec separatist party ] used hashtags that align with the syntactic pattern found in hashtags used in ], rather than adopting the hashtags commonly used by other Canadian parties with similar political positions.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Wan |first=Ming Feng |date=2024-03-12 |title=The role of syntax in hashtag popularity |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/lingvan-2023-0051/html |journal=] |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=693–698 |doi=10.1515/lingvan-2023-0051 |issn=2199-174X}}</ref> | |||
== Phonology == | |||
<table border=1> | |||
{{main|Quebec French phonology}} | |||
<tr><th>Anglicism</th><th>Meaning</th><th>English word</th></tr> | |||
For phonological comparisons of Quebec French, ], ], and ], see ]. | |||
<tr><td>''anyway''</td><td>Anyway</td><td>anyway</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''bécosse''</td><td>Outhouse, washroom</td><td>backhouse</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''bines''</td><td>Pork and beans</td><td>beans</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''chum''</td><td>Male friend; boyfriend</td><td>chum</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''checker''</td><td>To check</td><td>check</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''cruiser''</td><td>Make a pass at</td><td>cruise</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''cute''</td><td>Cute (good-looking)</td><td>cute</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''flocher''</td><td>To flush (toilet)</td><td>flush</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''fucké''</td><td>Broken, crazy</td><td>fuck</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''full''</td><td>Very</td><td>full</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''hot''</td><td>Hot (excellent, attractive)</td><td>hot</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''hotchicken''</td><td>Hot chicken sandwich</td><td>hot chicken</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''match''</td><td>Match (sports)</td><td>match</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''pâte à dents''</td><td>Toothpaste</td><td>calque of "toothpaste"</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''pinotte''</td><td>Peanut</td><td>peanut</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''smoke meat''</td><td>Montreal smoked meat (like pastrami)</td><td>smoked meat</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''steamé''</td><td>Hot dog</td><td>steamed</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''tof''</td><td>Difficult, rough</td><td>tough</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''toffer''</td><td>Withstand, endure</td><td>tough</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''toune''</td><td>Song</td><td>tune</td></tr> | |||
<tr><td>''whatever''</td><td>(Indicating dismissal)</td><td>whatever</td></tr> | |||
</table> | |||
=== Vowels === | |||
It is also very commonplace for an English word to be used as a nonce word, for example when the speaker temporarily cannot remember the French word. This is particularly common with technical words; indeed, years ago before technical documentation began to be printed in French in Quebec, an English word might be the most common way for a French-speaking mechanic or other technical worker to refer to the mechanisms he or she had to deal with. | |||
==== Systematic (in all formal speech) ==== | |||
It is often difficult or impossible to distinguish between such a nonce anglicism and an English word quoted as such for effect. | |||
* {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, {{IPA|/ɛː/}}, {{IPA|/œ̃/}} and {{IPA|/ə/}} as phonemes distinct from {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ̃/}} and {{IPA|/ø/}} respectively | |||
* {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}} are ] allophones of {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/y/}}, {{IPA|/u/}} in closed syllables | |||
* Nasal vowels are similar to the traditional Parisian French: {{IPA|/ɛ̃/}} is diphthongized to {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|/ɔ̃/}} is diphthongized to {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|/ɑ̃/}} is fronted to {{IPA|}}, and {{IPA|/œ̃/}} is generally pronounced {{IPA|}} | |||
* {{IPA|/a/}} is pronounced {{IPA|}} in final open syllables (''avocat'' /avɔka/ → ) | |||
* {{IPA|/a/}} is pronounced {{IPA|}} before {{IPA|/ʁ/}} in final closed syllables (''dollar'' /dɔlaʁ/ → ) | |||
==== Systematic (in both informal and formal speech) ==== | |||
====Standard register==== | |||
* ]s are diphthongized in final closed syllables (''tête'' /tɛːt/ → ~ , the first one is considered as formal, because the diphthong is weak) | |||
* Standard French {{IPA|/a/}} is pronounced {{IPA|}} in final open syllable (''avocat'' /avɔka/ → ) {{clarify|date=August 2017}} | |||
==== Unsystematic (in all informal speech) ==== | |||
A number of Quebecisms used in the standard register are also derived from English forms, especially as calques, such as ''prendre une marche'' (from "take a walk," in France, ''se promener'', also used in Quebec) and ''banc de neige'' (from English "snowbank;" in France, "congère," a form unknown in Quebec.) However, in standard and formal registers, there is a much stronger tendency to avoid English borrowings in Quebec than in France. | |||
* {{IPA|/wa/}} (spelled ''oi'') is pronounced {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}} or {{IPA|}} | |||
* {{IPA|/ɛʁ/}} is pronounced {{IPA|}} {{clarify|date=August 2017}} | |||
=== Consonants === | |||
As a result, especially with regard to in modern items, Québécois often contains forms designed to be more "French" than an English borrowing that may be used anyway in European French, like ''fin de semaine'' which is ''week-end'' in France, or ''courriel'' for France's ''e-mail'' or ''mèl''. Some are calques into French of English phrases that Continental French borrowed directly, such as ''un chien chaud'' for European French ''hot dog''. Likewise, the word "gay" in the sense of "homosexual" is used in the English form in France, but in Quebec, the spelling ''gai'' is standard. | |||
==== Systematic ==== | |||
Although many of these forms were promulgated by the ] (OLF) of Quebec, they have been accepted into everyday use. Indeed, the French government has since adopted the word "courriel". | |||
* {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}} ]d to {{IPA|}} and {{IPA|}} before {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/y/}}, {{IPA|/j/}}, {{IPA|/ɥ/}} (except in ] and ]) | |||
==== |
===== Unsystematic ===== | ||
* Drop of ]s {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/ʁ/}} (written as ''l'' and ''r'') in unstressed position with ] {{IPA|/ə/}} or unstressed ] position | |||
* Trilled ''r'' - {{IPA|}} | |||
=== Sociolinguistic status of selected phonological traits === | |||
The perceived overuse of anglicisms in the colloquial register is a cause of the stigmatization of Québécois French. Both the Quebercers and the French accuse each other (and themselves) of using too many anglicisms. A joke runs that the difference between European French and Québécois French is that in Europe, ''on se gare dans un parking'' and in Quebec, ''on se parque dans un stationnement''. | |||
These examples are intended not exhaustive but illustrate the complex influence that European French has had on Quebec French pronunciation and the range of sociolinguistic statuses that individual phonetic variables can possess. | |||
* The most entrenched features of Quebec pronunciation are such that their absence, even in the most formal registers, is considered an indication of foreign origin of the speaker. That is the case, for example, for the affrication of {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}} before {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/y/}}, {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/ɥ/}}.{{sfn|Dumas|1987|page=8}} (This particular feature of Quebec French is, however, sometimes avoided in singing.){{sfn|Dumas|1987|page=9}} | |||
* The use of the lax Quebec allophones of {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/y/}}, {{IPA|/u/}} (in the appropriate phonetic contexts) occurs in all but highly formal styles, and even then, their use predominates. Use of the tense allophones where the lax ones would be expected can be perceived as "pedantic".{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=68}} | |||
* The Quebec variant of nasal vowels {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}} and {{IPA|}} corresponding to the Parisian {{IPA|}} (traditionally pronounced {{IPA|}}), {{IPA|}} (traditionally pronounced {{IPA|}}), {{IPA|}} (traditionally pronounced {{IPA|}}) and {{IPA|}} (traditionally pronounced {{IPA|}}) are not subject to a significant negative sociolinguistic evaluation and are used by most speakers and of educated speakers in all circumstances. However, Parisian variants also appear occasionally in formal speech among a few speakers, especially speakers who were often watching ]s when they were a child, because the dubbing affected them and it is not considered as a Quebec accent. Some speakers use them in ], but they never have ''brin-brun merger''{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|pages=112–114}} (The preceding discussion applies to stressed syllables. For reasons unrelated to their social standing, some allophones close to the European variants appear frequently in unstressed syllables.) | |||
* To pronounce {{IPA|}} instead of {{IPA|}} in such words as ''gâteau'' clearly predominates in informal speech and, according to Ostiguy and Tousignant, is likely not to be perceived negatively in informal situations. However, sociolinguistic research has shown that not to be the case in formal speech, when the standard {{IPA|}} is more common. However, many speakers use {{IPA|}} systematically in all situations, and Ostiguy and Tousignant hypothesize that such speakers tend to be less educated.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|pages=75–80}} It must be mentioned that a third vowel {{IPA|}}, though infrequent, also occurs and is the vowel that has emerged with {{IPA|/a/}} as a new European standard in the last several decades for words in this category.{{refn|For example, while ''The New Cassell's French dictionary'' (1962) records ''gâteau'' as {{IPA|}} and ''Le Nouveau Petit Robert'' (1993) gives the pronunciation {{IPA|}}.|group=note}} According to Ostiguy and Tousignant, this pronunciation is seen as "affected",{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=80}} and Dumas writes that speakers using this pronunciation "run the risk of being accused of snobbery."{{sfn|Dumas|1987|page=149}} Entirely analogous considerations apply to the two pronunciations of such words as ''chat'', which can be pronounced {{IPA|}} or {{IPA|}}.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|pages=71–75}} | |||
* The diphthonged variants of such words as ''fête'' (e.g. {{IPA|}} instead of {{IPA|}}), are rarely used in formal speech. They have been explicitly and extensively stigmatized and were, according to the official Quebec educational curricula of 1959 and 1969, among the pronunciation habits to be "standardized" in pupils. In informal speech, however, most speakers use generally such forms to some extent, but they are viewed negatively and are more frequent among uneducated speakers.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|pages=93–95}} However, many Québécois teachers use the diphthongization. | |||
* Traditional pronunciations such as {{IPA|}} for ''poil'' (also {{IPA|}}, as in France. Words in this category include ''avoine'', ''(ils) reçoivent,'' ''noirci,'' etc. ) and {{IPA|}} for ''moi'' (now usually {{IPA|}}, as in France; this category consists of ''moi,'' ''toi,'' and verb forms such as ''(je) bois'' and ''(on) reçoit'' but excludes ''québécois'' and ''toit'', which have had only the pronunciation {{IPA|}}), are no longer used by many speakers, and are virtually absent from formal speech.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=102}} They have long been the object of condemnation.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=102}} Dumas writes that the {{IPA|}} pronunciations of words in the ''moi'' category have "even become the symbol and the scapegoat of bad taste, lack of education, vulgarity, etc., no doubt because they differ quite a bit from the accepted pronunciation, which ends in {{IPA|}}, "{{sfn|Dumas|1987|page=24}} On the other hand, writing in 1987, he considers {{IPA|}} in words in the ''poil'' group "the most common pronunciation." | |||
* One of the most striking changes that has affected Quebec French in recent decades is the displacement of the alveolar trill ''r'' {{IPA|}} by the uvular trill ''r'' {{IPA|}}, originally from Northern France, and similar acoustically to the Parisian uvular ''r'' {{IPA|}}. Historically, the alveolar ''r'' predominated in western Quebec, including Montreal, and the uvular ''r'' in eastern Quebec, including Quebec City, with an isogloss near Trois-Rivières. (More precisely, the isogloss runs through Yamachiche and then between Sherbrooke and La Patrie, near the American border. With only a few exceptions, the alveolar variant predominates in Canada outside Quebec.<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222194738/http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/pub/pdf/C-71.pdf |date=December 22, 2014 }}, Claude Poirier</ref>) Elocution teachers and the clergy traditionally favoured the trilled ''r'', which was nearly universal in Montreal until the 1950s and was perceived positively. However, massive migration from eastern Quebec beginning in the 1930s with the Great Depression, the participation of soldiers in the Second World War, travel to Europe after the war, and especially the use of the uvular ''r'' in radio and then television broadcasts all quickly reversed perceptions and favoured the spread of the uvular ''r''. The trilled ''r'' is now rapidly declining. According to Ostiguy and Tousignant, the change occurred within a single generation.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|pages=162–163}} The Parisian uvular ''r'' is also present in Quebec, and its use is positively correlated with socioeconomic status.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=164}} | |||
== Syntax == | |||
See also ]. | |||
{{main|Quebec French syntax}} | |||
Like other varieties, Quebec French is characterized by increasingly wide gaps between its formal and informal forms.<ref name="Waugh">{{cite web | |||
|url=http://slat.arizona.edu/sites/slat/files/page/linbonnie.pdf | |||
|title=Authentic materials for everyday spoken french: corpus linguistics vs. french textbooks | |||
|first=Linda | |||
|last=Waugh | |||
|publisher=University of Arizona | |||
|url-status=dead | |||
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141124194707/http://slat.arizona.edu/sites/slat/files/page/linbonnie.pdf | |||
|archive-date=November 24, 2014 | |||
}}</ref> Notable differences include the generalized use of ''on'' (informal for ''nous''), the use of single negations as opposed to double negations: ''J'ai pas'' (informal) vs ''Je n'ai pas'' (formal) etc.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/subject-pronouns/|title=French Subject Pronouns - Pronoms sujets|author=Laura K. Lawless|work=Lawless French|access-date=11 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/informal-negation/|title=Informal French Negation - Pas without Ne|author=Laura K. Lawless|work=Lawless French|access-date=11 February 2016}}</ref> There are increasing differences between the ] used in spoken Quebec French and that of other ].{{sfn|Barbaud|1998|pages=107–128}} However, the characteristic differences of Quebec French syntax are not considered standard despite their high-frequency in everyday, relaxed speech. | |||
One far-reaching difference is the weakening of the syntactic role of the ]s (both verbal and nominal), which results in many syntactic changes: | |||
===Other differences=== | |||
* ]s (1) using ''que'' as an all-purpose ], or (2) embedding ]s instead of ]s (also found in informal European French): | |||
*# ''J'ai trouvé le document'' que j'ai de besoin. ({{lang|fr|J'ai trouvé le document dont j'ai besoin}}.) "I found / I've found the document I need." | |||
*# ''Je comprends'' qu'est-ce que ''tu veux dire. (Je comprends ce que tu veux dire.)'' "I understand what you mean." | |||
* Omission of the prepositions that ] with certain verbs: | |||
** ''J'ai un enfant'' à m'occuper. (]: ''s'occuper'' de; ''J'ai un enfant dont je dois m'occuper.'') "I have a child (I need) to take care of." | |||
* ] conditioned by semantics: | |||
** ''La plupart du monde'' sont ''tannés des taxes. (La plupart du monde est tanné des taxes.)'' "Most people are fed up with taxes." | |||
* A phenomenon throughout the Francophonie, dropping the ''ne'' of the double negative is accompanied, in Quebec French, by a change in word order (1), and (2) ] of direct pronouns (3) along with euphonic insertion of ] to avoid vowel ]. This word order is also found in non-standard European French. | |||
*# ''Donne-moi-le pas. (Ne me le donne pas.)'' "Don't give it to me." | |||
*# ''Dis-moi pas de m'en aller! (Ne me dis pas de m'en aller)'' "Don't tell me to go away!" | |||
*# ''Donne-moi-z-en pas ! (Ne m'en donne pas!)'' "Don't give me any!" | |||
Other notable syntactic changes in Quebec French include the following: | |||
Here are some other differences between standard Quebecois and European French: | |||
* Use of non-standard verbal ], (many of them archaisms): | |||
** J'étais pour ''te le dire. (J'allais te le dire. / J'étais sur le point de te le dire.)'' "I was going to/about to tell you about it." (old European French but still used in e.g. ]) | |||
** Avoir su, ''j'aurais... (Si j'avais su, j'aurais...)'' "Had I known, I would have..." | |||
** Mais que ''l'hiver finisse, je vais partir. (Dès que l'hiver finira, je partirai.)'' "As soon as winter ends, I will leave." | |||
* ] ''-tu'' used (1) to form ]s, (2) sometimes to express exclamative sentences and (3) at other times it is used with excess, for instance (note that this is common throughout European French via the addition of -t'y or -tu): | |||
** ''C'est-tu prêt? (Est-ce prêt? / C'est prêt? / Est-ce que c'est prêt?)'' "Is it ready?" | |||
** ''Vous voulez-tu manger? (Vous voulez manger?)'' "Do you want to eat?" | |||
** ''On a-tu bien mangé! (Qu'est-ce qu'on a bien mangé!)'' "We ate well, didn't we?" | |||
** ''T'as-tu pris tes pilules? (Est-ce que tu as pris tes médicaments?)'' "Have you taken your medications?" | |||
** This particle is ''-ti'' (from Standard French ''-t-il'', often rendered as ) in most varieties of North American French outside Quebec as well as in European varieties of ''français populaire'' as already noted by Gaston Paris.{{sfn|Meyer|Paris|1877|pages=438–442}} It is also found in the non-creole speech on the island of ] in the Caribbean. | |||
* Extensive use of ] (also common in informal European French): | |||
** ''C'est pas chaud! (C'est frais!)'' "It is not all too warm out!" | |||
** ''C'est pas laid pantoute! (Ce n'est pas laid du tout!)'' "Isn't this nice!" (literally: "This is not ugly at all.") | |||
** ''Comment vas-tu? - Pas pire, pas pire.'' "How are you? - Not bad. Not bad at all" | |||
However, these features are common to all the basilectal varieties of ''français populaire'' descended from the 17th century koiné of Paris. | |||
<table border=1> | |||
* Use of diminutives (also very common in European French): | |||
<tr><th>Québécois term</th><th>Translation</th><th>Meaning of term in Europe</th><th>European term</th><th>Note</th></tr> | |||
** ''Tu prendrais-tu un p'tit café? Une p'tite bière?'' "Would you like to have a coffee? A beer?" | |||
== Pronouns == | |||
<tr> | |||
* In common with the rest of the ], there is a shift from ''nous'' to ''on'' in all registers. In post-] Quebec, the use of informal ''tu'' has become widespread in many situations that had previously called for a semantically singular ''vous''. While some schools are trying to re-introduce this use of ''vous'', which is absent from most youths' speech, the shift from ''nous'' to ''on'' has not been similarly discouraged.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}} | |||
<td>''Auto''</td> | |||
* The traditional use of ''on'', in turn, is usually replaced by different uses of pronouns or paraphrases, like in the rest of the ]. The second person (''tu'', ''t''') is usually used by speakers when referring to experiences that can happen in one's life: | |||
<td>Car</td> | |||
** ''Quand t'es ben tranquille chez vous, à te mêler de tes affaires ...'' | |||
<td></td> | |||
* Other paraphrases using ''le monde'', ''les gens'' are more employed when referring to overgeneralisations: | |||
<td>''Voiture''</td> | |||
** ''Le monde aime pas voyager dans un autobus plein.'' | |||
</tr> | |||
* As in the rest of la Francophonie, the sound is disappearing in ''il, ils'' among informal registers and rapid speech. More particular to Quebec is the transformation of ''elle'' to , sometimes written "a" or "à" in ] or al , and less often {{IPA|, }}, sometimes written "è." ''Elle est'' may transform to '''est,'' pronounced {{IPA|}}. | |||
* Absence of ''elles'' - For a majority of Quebec French speakers, ''elles'' is not used for the third person plural pronoun, at least in the ]; it is replaced with the subject pronoun ''ils'' or the stress/tonic pronoun ''eux(-autres)''. However, '''elles''' is still used in other cases (''ce sont elles qui vont payer le prix''). | |||
* ''-autres'' In informal registers, the stress/tonic pronouns for the plural subject pronouns have the suffix ''–autres'', pronounced {{IPA|}} and written ''–aut’'' in ]. ''Nous-autres'', ''vous-autres'', and ''eux-autres'', also found in ], are comparable to the ] forms ''nosotros/as'' and ''vosotros/as'', though with different usage and meanings. | |||
== Verbs == | |||
<tr> | |||
In their syntax and ], Quebec French ]s differ very little from the verbs of other regional dialects of French, both formal and informal. The distinctive characteristics of Quebec French verbs are restricted mainly to: | |||
<td>''Abreuvoir''</td> | |||
* ] | |||
<td>Water fountain</td> | |||
*# In the present ], the forms of ''aller'' (to go) are regularized as {{IPA|}} in all singular persons: ''je '''vas''', tu vas, il/elle va''. Note that in 17th century French, what is today's international standard {{IPA|/vɛ/}} in ''je vais'' was considered substandard while ''je vas'' was the prestige form. | |||
<td>Drinking trough</td> | |||
*# In the present ] of ''aller'', the root is regularized as '''''all-''''' /al/ for all persons. Examples: ''que j''''alle''', que tu '''alles''', qu'ils '''allent''''', etc. The majority of French verbs, regardless of dialect or standardization, display the same regularization. They therefore use the same root for both the ] and the present subjunctive: ''que je finisse'' vs. ''je finissais''. | |||
<td>''Fontaine''</td> | |||
*# Colloquially, in ''haïr'' (to hate), in the present ] ] forms, the ] is found between two different vowels instead of at the ] of the verb's first syllable. This results in the forms: ''j'haïs'', ''tu haïs'', ''il/elle haït'', written with a ] (''tréma'') and all pronounced with two syllables: {{IPA|/a.i/}}. The "h" in these forms is silent and does not indicate a hiatus; as a result, ''je'' ] with ''haïs'' forming ''j'haïs''. All the other forms, tenses, and moods of ''haïr'' contain the same hiatus regardless of register. However, in ] and in more formal Quebec French, especially in the media, the present indicative singular forms are pronounced as one syllable {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and written without a ]: ''je hais'', ''tu hais'', ''il/elle hait''. | |||
</tr> | |||
* Differentiation | |||
*# In the present indicative of both formal and informal Quebec French, ''(s')asseoir'' (to sit/seat) only uses the vowel '''/wa/''' in ]ed roots and '''/e/''' in unstressed roots: ''je m'assois, tu t'assois, il s'assoit, ils s'assoient'' but ''nous nous asseyons, vous vous asseyez''. In ], stressed /wa/ and /je/ are in ] as are unstressed /wa/ and /e/. Note that in informal Quebec French, ''(s')asseoir'' is often said as ''(s')assire''. | |||
*# Quebec French has retained the '''{{IPA|/ɛ/}}''' ending for ''je/tu/il-elle/ils'' in the ] (the ending is written as ''-ais, -ait, -aient''). In most other dialects, the ending is pronounced, instead, as a neutralized sound between {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/ɛ/}}. | |||
*# Informal ''ils '''jousent''''' (they play) is sometimes heard for ''ils jouent'' and is most likely due to an analogy with ''ils cousent'' (they sew). Because of the stigma attached to "ils jousent," most people now use the normative ''ils jouent'', which is free of stigma. | |||
== See also == | |||
<tr> | |||
{{Portal|Canada}} | |||
<td>''Achalandage''</td> | |||
* ] | |||
<td>Traffic (of a store, street, public transit)</td> | |||
* ] | |||
<td>Stock, merchandise (archaic)</td> | |||
* ] | |||
<td>''Trafic''</td> | |||
* ] | |||
</tr> | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
==References== | |||
<tr> | |||
=== Notes === | |||
<td>''Aubaine''</td> | |||
{{reflist|group=note}} | |||
<td>Sale</td> | |||
<td>Opportunity</td> | |||
<td>''Vente''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
=== Citations === | |||
<tr> | |||
{{reflist|25em}} | |||
<td>''Barrer''</td> | |||
<td>To lock</td> | |||
<td>To block</td> | |||
<td>''Fermer à clef, verrouiller''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
=== Sources === | |||
<tr> | |||
====Books==== | |||
<td>''Cartable''</td> | |||
{{refbegin}} | |||
<td>Binder</td> | |||
* {{cite book | |||
<td>Satchel</td> | |||
|last = Dumas | |||
<td>''Classeur''</td> | |||
|first = Denis | |||
<td>See also ''classeur'' | |||
|year = 1987 | |||
</tr> | |||
|title = Nos façons de parler | |||
|language = fr | |||
|location = Sainte-Foy | |||
|publisher = Presses de l'Université du Québec | |||
|isbn = 2-7605-0445-X | |||
|url = https://archive.org/details/nosfaconsdeparle0000duma | |||
|url-access = registration | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite book | |||
|last = Larose | |||
|first = Karim | |||
|date = 2004 | |||
|title = La langue de papier : Spéculations linguistiques au Québec (1957-1977) | |||
|language = fr | |||
|location = Montréal | |||
|publisher = Presses de l'Université de Montréal | |||
|isbn = 978-2-7606-1953-1 | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite book | |||
|last1 = Martel | |||
|first1 = Pierre | |||
|last2 = Cajolet-Laganière | |||
|first2 = Hélène | |||
|date= 1996 | |||
|title = Le français québécois : Usages, standard et aménagement | |||
|language = fr | |||
|publisher = Presses de l'Université Laval | |||
|location = Quebec | |||
|isbn = 978-2-89224-261-4 | |||
|url-access = registration | |||
|url = https://archive.org/details/lefrancaisquebec0000mart | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite book | |||
|last1 = Ostiguy | |||
|first1 = Luc | |||
|last2 = Tousignant | |||
|first2 = Claude | |||
|date = 1993 | |||
|title = Le français québécois: normes et usages | |||
|language = fr | |||
|publisher = Guérin Universitaire | |||
|location = Montreal | |||
|isbn = 2-7601-3330-3 | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite book | |||
|editor-last = Plourde | |||
|editor-first = Michel | |||
|date = 2008 | |||
|edition = 3rd expanded | |||
|orig-date = First published 2000 | |||
|title = Le français au Québec : 400 ans d'histoire et de vie | |||
|language = fr | |||
|location = Montréal | |||
|publisher = Éditions Fides/Publications du Québec | |||
|isbn = 978-2-7621-2813-0 }} | |||
** {{cite book | |||
|last = Bouchard | |||
|first = Chantal | |||
|date = 2008 | |||
|chapter = 8:28 Anglicisation et 0autodépréciation | |||
|pages = 255–264 | |||
|title = Le français au Québec : 400 ans d'histoire et de vie | |||
|location = Montreal | |||
|publisher = Éditions Fides/Publications du Québec | |||
|isbn = 978-2-7621-2813-0 | |||
}} | |||
** {{cite book | |||
|last1 = Martel | |||
|first1 = Pierre | |||
|last2 = Cajolet-Laganière | |||
|first2 = Hélène | |||
|date = 2008 | |||
|chapter = 13:52 Le français au Québec : un standard à décrire et des usages à hierarchiser | |||
|pages = 459–474 | |||
|title = Le français au Québec : 400 ans d'histoire et de vie | |||
|location = Montreal | |||
|publisher = Éditions Fides/Publications du Québec | |||
|isbn = 978-2-7621-2813-0 | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite book | |||
|last1 = Meyer | |||
|first1 = Paul | |||
|last2 = Paris | |||
|first2 = Gaston | |||
|date = 1877 | |||
|chapter = IV. Ti, signe de l'interrogation | |||
|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/romania17romagoog/page/438/mode/2up?view=theater | |||
|pages = 438–442 | |||
|title = Romania : Recueil trimestriel consacré à l'étude des langues et des littératures romanes | |||
|location = Paris | |||
|publisher = F. Vieweg | |||
|isbn = <!-- None --> | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite encyclopedia | |||
|last = Poirier | |||
|first = Claude | |||
|author-link = :fr:Claude Poirier (linguiste) | |||
|year = 1995 | |||
|editor = Michel Francard & Danièle Latin | |||
|encyclopedia = Le Régionalisme Lexical | |||
|title = Les variantes topolectales du lexique français: Propositions de classement à partir d'exemples québécois | |||
|language = fr | |||
|pages = 13–56 | |||
|location = Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium | |||
|publisher = De Boeck Université Duculot | |||
|isbn = 978-2-8011-1091-1 | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite book | |||
|last = Ramat | |||
|first = Aurel | |||
|editor-last = Benoit | |||
|editor-first = Anne-Marie | |||
|date = 2012 | |||
|orig-date = First published 1982 | |||
|title = Le Ramat de la typographie | |||
|edition = 10<sup>e</sup> | |||
|isbn = 978-2-9813513-0-2 | |||
|publisher = Diffusion Dimedia | |||
|language = fr | |||
}} | |||
{{refend}} | |||
====Journals and magazines==== | |||
<tr> | |||
{{refbegin}} | |||
<td>''Cédule''</td> | |||
* {{cite journal | |||
<td>Schedule</td> | |||
|last = Wittmann | |||
<td>Tax bracket (archaic)</td> | |||
|first = Henri | |||
<td>''Emploi du temps''</td> | |||
|date = 1997 | |||
</tr> | |||
|title = Le français de Paris dans le français des Amériques | |||
|language = fr | |||
|journal = Proceedings of the International Congress of Linguists | |||
|doi = 10.13140/RG.2.1.4046.0328 | |||
|url = http://www.nou-la.org/ling/1998a-fpparis.pdf | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite journal | |||
|last = Barbaud | |||
|first = Philippe | |||
|date = 1998 | |||
|title = Dissidence du français québécois et évolution dialectale | |||
|language = fr | |||
|location = Montréal | |||
|publisher = Université du Québec à Montréal | |||
|journal = Revue québécoise de linguistique | |||
|volume = 26 | |||
|issue = 2 | |||
|pages = 107–128 | |||
|doi = 10.7202/603156ar | |||
|url = http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r21354/DISSIDENCE.pdf | |||
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070614075250/http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r21354/DISSIDENCE.pdf | |||
|archive-date = 14 June 2007 | |||
}} | |||
{{refend}} | |||
====Websites==== | |||
<tr> | |||
{{refbegin}} | |||
<td>''Chandail''</td> | |||
* {{Cite web | |||
<td>T-shirt, sweater, sweatshirt</td> | |||
|last = Bélanger | |||
<td>Knit sweater</td> | |||
|first = Claude | |||
<td>''T-shirt, pull''</td> | |||
|date = 23 August 2000a | |||
</tr> | |||
|orig-date = 1999 | |||
|title = Rapatriement | |||
|language = english | |||
|department = Quebec History | |||
|location = Westmount | |||
|publisher = Marianopolis College | |||
|url = http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/events/repatr.htm | |||
|access-date = 14 September 2024 | |||
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070213234956/http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/events/repatr.htm | |||
|archive-date = 13 February 2007 | |||
}} | |||
* {{Cite web | |||
|last = Bélanger | |||
|first = Claude | |||
|date = 23 August 2000b | |||
|orig-date = 1999 | |||
|title = French Canadian Emigration to the United States, 1840–1930 | |||
|department = Quebec History | |||
|location = Westmount | |||
|publisher = Marianopolis College | |||
|url = http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/readings/leaving.htm | |||
|access-date = 14 September 2024 | |||
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070210201729/http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/readings/leaving.htm | |||
|archive-date = 10 February 2007 | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite web | |||
|title = Population by mother tongue and age groups, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories | |||
|work = Statistics Canada | |||
|publisher = Canada's National Statistical Agency | |||
|url = http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/highlights/language/Table401.cfm?Lang=E&T=401&GH=4&SC=1&S=99&O=A | |||
|url-status = dead | |||
|access-date = | |||
|archive-date = 2009-03-12 | |||
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090312083450/http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/highlights/language/Table401.cfm?Lang=E&T=401&GH=4&SC=1&S=99&O=A | |||
|ref = {{sfnref|Census2006}} | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite web | |||
|title = Joual - Definition of Joual by Merriam-Webster | |||
|work = merriam-webster.com | |||
|url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/joual | |||
|access-date = 11 February 2016 | |||
|ref = {{sfnref|Merriam-Webster}} | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite report | |||
|last1 = Poplack | |||
|first1 = Shana | |||
|author-link1 = Shana Poplack | |||
|last2 = Sankoff | |||
|first2 = David | |||
|last3 = Miller | |||
|first3 = Chris | |||
|date = 1988 | |||
|title = The social correlates and linguistic processes of lexical borrowing and assimilation | |||
|department = Linguistics | |||
|volume = 26 | |||
|pages = 47–104 | |||
|location = Ottawa | |||
|publisher = University of Ottawa | |||
|url = https://albuquerque.bioinformatics.uottawa.ca/papers/journalpublication/1988_poplack_sankoff.pdf | |||
}} | |||
* {{cite web | |||
<tr> | |||
|title = La modernisation du Québec (1960–1981) | |||
<td>''Classeur''</td> | |||
|language = fr | |||
<td>Filing cabinet</td> | |||
|department = Histoire du français au Québec | |||
<td>Binder</td> | |||
|at = Section 4 | |||
<td>''Armoire à dossier''</td> | |||
|location= Québec | |||
<td>See also ''cartable'' | |||
|publisher = Université Laval | |||
</tr> | |||
|url = https://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/francophonie/HISTfrQC_s4_Modernisation.htm | |||
|website = www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca | |||
|access-date = 14 September 2024 | |||
|ref = {{sfnref|Modernisation (1960–1981)}} | |||
}} | |||
{{refend}} | |||
== Further reading == | |||
<tr> | |||
* {{cite book |last= Barbaud |first= Philippe |year= 1984 |title= Le Choc des patois en Nouvelle-France: Essai sur l'histoire de la francisation au Canada |url= https://archive.org/details/lechocdespatoise0000barb |url-access= registration |language=fr |publisher=Presses de l'Université du Québec |location=Montreal |isbn=2-7605-0330-5 }} | |||
<td>''Correct''</td> | |||
* {{cite book |last= Bergeron |first= Léandre |year= 1982 |title= The Québécois Dictionary |url= https://archive.org/details/quebecoisdiction0000berg |url-access= registration |publisher= James Lorimer & Co |location= Toronto }} | |||
<td>Good, sufficient, kind, O.K.</td> | |||
* {{cite book |last= Bouchard |first= Chantal |year= 2011 |title= Méchante langue: la légitimité linguistique du français parlé au Québec |language=fr |publisher=Presses de l'Université de Montréal |location= Montréal |isbn=978-2-7606-2284-5 }} | |||
<td>corrected</td> | |||
* {{cite book |last= Bouchard |first= Chantal |year= 2020 |author-mask = 1 |orig-date= 1st pub. 1998 |title= La langue et le nombril: Une histoire sociolinguistique du Québec |language=fr |publisher=Presses de l'Université de Montréal |location= Montréal |isbn=978-2-7606-4241-6 }} | |||
<td>''bon, beau,'' etc.</td> | |||
* {{cite book |editor1-last= Bouthillier |editor1-first= Guy |editor2-last= Meynaud |editor2-first= Jean |year= 1972 |title= Le Choc des langues au Québec 1760–1970 |language=fr |publisher= Presses de l'Université du Québec |location= Montréal |isbn=978-0-7770-0069-4 }} | |||
</tr> | |||
* {{cite book |last= Brandon |first= Edgar |year= 1898 |title= A French colony in Michigan |url= https://archive.org/details/jstor-2917288 |publisher= Modern Language Notes 13.121-24 }} | |||
* {{cite book |last1= Clermont |first1= Jean |last2= Cedergren |first2= Henrietta | |||
|date= 1979 | chapter= Les 'R' de ma mère sont perdus dans l’air |editor= P. Thibault|title= Le français parlé: études sociolinguistiques |publisher= Linguistic Research |location= Edmonton, Alta. |pages= 13–28 }} | |||
* {{cite book |last= Cossette |first= André |year= 1970 |title= Le R apical montréalais: étude de phonétique expérimentale |publisher= Thèse de D.E.S. |location= Université Laval }} | |||
* {{cite book |last= DesRuisseaux |first= Pierre |year= 1974 |edition = 1st |title= Le livre des proverbes québécois |language=fr |location= Montréal |publisher= L'Aurore }} | |||
* {{cite book |last= DesRuisseaux |first= Pierre |year= 2009 |edition = 2nd expanded |orig-year=First published 1974 |title= Dictionnaire des proverbes, dictons et adages québécois |language=fr |publisher= Bibliothèque québécoise |isbn=978-2-8940-6300-2 }} | |||
* {{cite book |last= DesRuisseaux |first= Pierre |year= 1979 |edition = 1st |title= Le livre des expressions québécoises |url= https://archive.org/details/lelivredesexpres0000desr |url-access= registration |language=fr |location= LaSalle, Quebec |publisher= Hurtubuise HMH |isbn= 9782890452008 }} | |||
* {{cite book |last= DesRuisseaux |first= Pierre |year= 2009 |edition = 2nd expanded |orig-year=First published 1979 |title= Dictionnaire des expressions québécoises |url= https://archive.org/details/dictionnairedese0000desr |url-access= registration |language=fr |publisher= Bibliothèque québécoise |isbn=978-2-8940-6299-9 }} | |||
* {{cite book |last= Dulong |first= Gaston |date= 1973 |chapter= Histoire du français en Amérique du Nord |editor= Thomas A. Sebeok|title= Current trends in linguistics | |||
|publisher= Mouton, 10.407-421 (bibliographie, 10.441-463) |location= The Hague }} | |||
* {{cite book |last1= Dulong |first1= Gaston |last2= Bergeron |first2= Gaston |year= 1980 |title= Le Parler populaire du Québec et de ses regions voisines: Atlas linguistique de l'Est du Canada |publisher= Éditeur officiel du Gouvernement du Québec (10 vol.) |location= Quebec }} | |||
* {{cite book |editor1-last= Fournier |editor1-first= Robert |editor2-last= Wittmann |editor2-first= Henri |year= 1995 |title= Le français des Amériques |language= fr |publisher= Presses Universitaires de Trois-Rivières |location= Trois-Rivières |isbn= 2-9802-3072-3 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/lefrancaisdesame0000unse }} | |||
* {{cite book |last= Geddes |first= James |year= 1908 |title= Study of the Acadian-French dialect spoken on the north shore of the Baie-des-Chaleurs |url= https://archive.org/details/studyofacadianfr00gedd |publisher= Niemeyer |location= Halle }} | |||
*Gertler, Maynard. (2020). "French-English Translation in Canada." ''Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada / Cahiers de La Société Bibliographique Du Canada'' 58 (1): 155–72. | |||
* {{cite book |last= Haden |first= Ernest F |year= 1973 | chapter= French dialect geography in North America |editor= Thomas A. Sebeok|title= Current trends in linguistics |publisher= Mouton, 10.422-439 (bibliographie, 10.441-463) |location= The Hague }} | |||
* {{cite book |last= Juneau |first= Marcel |year= 1977 |title= Problèmes de Lexicologie Québécoise |location= Québec |language=fr |publisher= Les Presses de l'Université Laval |isbn= 978-0-7746-6819-4 }} | |||
* {{cite book |last1= Lavoie |first1= Thomas |last2= Bergeron |first2= Gaston |last3= Côté |first3= Michelle |year= 1985 |title= Les parlers français de Charlevoix, du Saguenay, du Lac Saint-Jean et de la Côte Nord |location= Quebec |publisher= Éditeur officiel du Gouvernement du Québec. 5 vol. }} | |||
* {{cite book |last= Léard |first= Jean-Marcel |year=1995 |title=Grammaire québécoise d'aujourd'hui: Comprendre les québécismes |language=fr |publisher= Guérin Universitaire |location= Montreal |isbn=2-7601-3930-1 }} | |||
* {{cite book |last= Meney |first= Lionel |year= 1999 |title= Dictionnaire Québécois Français |language=fr |publisher= Guérin Editeur |location=Montreal |url = http://www.guerin-editeur.qc.ca |isbn=2-7601-5482-3 }} | |||
* {{cite book |last1= Mougeon |first1= Raymond |last2= Beniak |first2= Édouard |year=1994 |title=Les Origines du français québécois |language=fr |publisher= Les Presses de l'Université Laval |location= Quebec |isbn=2-7637-7354-0 }} | |||
* {{cite book |editor-last= Poirier |editor-first= Claude |editor-mask = 1 |year= 1998 |title= Dictionnaire Historique du français Québécois |location= Québec |language=fr |publisher= Les Presses de l'Université Laval |isbn= 978-2-7637-7557-9 }} | |||
* {{cite book |last= Wittmann |first= Henri |date= 1995 |chapter= Grammaire comparée des variétés coloniales du français populaire de Paris du 17<sup>e</sup> siècle et origines du français québécois |editor= Fournier, Robert |editor2=Henri Wittmann|title= Le français des Amériques |publisher= Presses universitaires de Trois-Rivières |location= Trois-Rivières |pages= 281–334 }} | |||
* {{cite book |author= (Collective) |year=2011 | title= Canadian French for Better Travel | |||
|url= http://www.ulyssesguides.com/catalogue/Canadian-French-for-Better-Travel-Ulysses-Phrasebook,9782894649657,product.html |publisher= Ulysses Travel Guides |location= Montreal | |||
|isbn= 978-2-89464-965-7 }} | |||
== External links == | |||
<tr> | |||
* | |||
<td>''Croche''</td> | |||
* {{in lang|fr}} | |||
<td>Crooked; strange, dishonest</td> | |||
* {{in lang|fr}} | |||
<td></td> | |||
* {{in lang|fr}} ({{Lang|fr|]|italic=no}}) | |||
<td>''crochu; bizarre''</td> | |||
* | |||
</tr> | |||
{{Languages of Quebec}} | |||
<tr> | |||
{{French dialects by continent}} | |||
<td>''Débarbouillette''</td> | |||
{{Gallo-Romance languages and dialects}} | |||
<td>Dishrag</td> | |||
{{Authority control}} | |||
<td></td> | |||
<td>''Serviette, torchon''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
] | |||
<tr> | |||
] | |||
<td>''Débarquer''</td> | |||
] | |||
<td>Get out of (a car, etc.)</td> | |||
<td>Disembark (from a boat)</td> | |||
<td>''Descendre''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Déjeuner''</td> | |||
<td>Breakfast</td> | |||
<td>Lunch</td> | |||
<td>''Petit déjeuner''</td> | |||
<td>See also ''dîner, souper''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Dîner''</td> | |||
<td>Lunch</td> | |||
<td>Dinner</td> | |||
<td>''Déjeuner''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Efface''</td> | |||
<td>Eraser</td> | |||
<td></td> | |||
<td>''Gomme''</td> | |||
<td>"Gomme" is used for chewing-gum</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Espadrilles''</td> | |||
<td>Running shoes</td> | |||
<td>Rope-soled sandal</td> | |||
<td>''Baskets''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Être plein''</td> | |||
<td>To be full (from eating)</td> | |||
<td>''pleine'': to be pregnant</td> | |||
<td>''Avoir trop mangé''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''(ma) fête''</td> | |||
<td>(my) birthday</td> | |||
<td>(my) saint's day</td> | |||
<td>''anniversaire''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Liqueur''</td> | |||
<td>Carbonated beverage</td> | |||
<td>Liquor, liqueur</td> | |||
<td>''Soda''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Magasiner''</td> | |||
<td>To go shopping</td> | |||
<td></td> | |||
<td>''Faire des courses, de la lèche-vitrine''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Maringouin''</td> | |||
<td>Mosquito</td> | |||
<td></td> | |||
<td>''Moustique''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Mouiller''</td> | |||
<td>To rain</td> | |||
<td>To wet</td> | |||
<td>''Pleuvoir''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Niaiser''</td> | |||
<td>Annoy, tease, kid, act up</td> | |||
<td>(doesn't exist as a verb; ''niais''="stupid"</td> | |||
<td>''Se moquer''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Patate''</td> | |||
<td>Potato</td> | |||
<td>a slang term</td> | |||
<td>''Pomme de terre''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Peser''</td> | |||
<td>Press (a button)</td> | |||
<td>Weigh</td> | |||
<td>''Appuyer''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Poudrerie''</td> | |||
<td>Blizzard, blowing snow</td> | |||
<td>Gunpowder factory</td> | |||
<td>''Blizzard, tempête de neige''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Souper''</td> | |||
<td>Dinner</td> | |||
<td>Late-night dinner</td> | |||
<td>''Dîner''</td> | |||
<td>See also ''déjeuner, dîner''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Suçon''</td> | |||
<td>Lollipop</td> | |||
<td>Hickey</td> | |||
<td>''Sucette''</td> | |||
<td>and vice-versa: a ''sucette'' is a hickey in Quebec | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Valise''</td> | |||
<td>Trunk of a car</td> | |||
<td>Suitcase (also in QC)</td> | |||
<td>''Coffre''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
<tr> | |||
<td>''Vidanges''</td> | |||
<td>Garbage</td> | |||
<td>Act of emptying</td> | |||
<td>''Ordures''</td> | |||
</tr> | |||
</table> | |||
Many, but not all, of the European equivalents for the words listed above are also used or at least understood in Quebec. | |||
==Grammar== | |||
In general, standard spoken and written Québécois uses the same grammar as the French of France, though there are isolated exceptions. There are many differences in informal grammar. | |||
===Verbs=== | |||
There are a few differences in verb structure. For the verb ''s'asseoir'' (to sit), the conjugation with ''eoi'' is much more common in Quebec than ''ie'' or ''ey''; ''je m'asseois'' instead of ''je m'assieds'', ''assoyez-vous'' instead of ''asseyez-vous''. Also, the verb ''haïr'' usually is conjugated as ''j'haïs'' /Zai/ (the verb has two syllables) rather than ''je hais'' /Zœ e/ (the verb has one syllable) | |||
The particle ''tu'' is often used to construct questions in colloquial usage: ''C'est'' "it is..." -> ''c'est-tu...?'' "is it...?" | |||
===Prepositions=== | |||
The preposition ''à'' is often used in possessive contexts, where the French of France uses ''de''; ''le char à Pierre'' ("Pierre's car") instead of ''la voiture de Pierre''. | |||
In a number of cases, Quebec speakers prefer to use the preposition ''à'' instead of using a non-prepositional phrase with ''ce'' ("this"); for exammple ''à matin'' or ''à soir'' instead of ''ce matin'' and ''ce soir'' ("this morning" and "this evening"). Note also ''à cet heure'', sometimes spelt ''asteure'' (literally "at this time") for ''maintenant'' ("now"). | |||
These usages of ''à'' are considered colloquial (non-written). | |||
==Non-sexist usage== | |||
Formal Québécois also has a very different approach to ] than the French of France. There is a much greater tendency to generalize feminine markers among nouns referring to professions. This is done in order to avoid having to refer to a woman with a ], and thereby seeming to suggest that a particular profession is primarily masculine. Forms that would be seen as highly unusual or stridently feminist in France are commonplace in Quebec, such as ''la docteure,'' ''l'avocate,'' ''la professeure'', ''la présidente'', ''la première ministre,'' ''la gouverneure générale'', and so forth. Many of these have been formally recommended by various regulatory agencies. | |||
Also, rather than following the rule that the masculine includes the feminine, it is relatively common to create doublets, especially in polemical speech: ''Québécoises et Québécois,'' ''tous et toutes,'' ''citoyens et citoyennes''. | |||
In fact, a union in Quebec, rather than use either ''professionnels'' (masculine only) or ''professionnels et professionnelles'' (masculine and feminine), decided to promulgate an epicene ] on the model of ''fidèle'', calling itself the ''Fédération des professionèles'' . However, this sparked a fair amount of debate and is rather on the outer edge of techniques for nonsexist writing in Québécois French. | |||
On the other hand, in informal speech, some feminine markers are lost; for example, the pronunciation ''y'' (derived from ''ils'') is often used for both ''ils'' and ''elles'' (the third person plural masculine and feminine pronouns). | |||
==Lects== | |||
Québécois has a variety of registers, ranging from formal Québécois, strongly influenced by modern European French and with phonological features softened, though still vigorously preserving many Quebec traits, to ]. | |||
Significant regional differences exist when comparing, for example, the Québécois of ], ], and the ]. For example, Montreal Québécois diphthongizes in more contexts than Quebec City Québécois. | |||
Québécois is the most prominent variety of ], and most ]s have similar dialects. However, the ]s have a separate dialect, ]. See also ]. | |||
Québécois has often been stigmatized, among the Quebecois people themselves as well as among the Continental French and anglophones, as a low-class dialect, sometimes due to its use of anglicisms, sometimes simply due to its differences from European French, seen as a standard. However, some writers and thinkers, especially ], are trying to improve the image of Québécois and promote its use as a distinct and vigorous language. | |||
==Reference work== | |||
* Léandre Bergeron, ''The Québécois Dictionary'' (Toronto, James Lorimer & Co, 1982) | |||
* | |||
* |
Latest revision as of 05:19, 9 January 2025
Dialect of French spoken mainly in Quebec, CanadaThis article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Quebec French" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Quebec French | |
---|---|
French of Quebec | |
Français québécois (French) | |
Native to |
|
Ethnicity | Québécois people |
Native speakers | 7 million in Quebec; 700,000 speakers elsewhere in Canada and the United States (2006) |
Language family | Indo-European |
Early forms | Vulgar Latin |
Writing system | Latin script (French alphabet) French Braille |
Official status | |
Official language in | Quebec |
Regulated by | Office québécois de la langue française |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | queb1247 |
Linguasphere | 51-AAA-hq |
IETF | fr-u-sd-caqc |
Quebec French (French: français québécois [fʁɑ̃sɛ kebekwa]), also known as Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language spoken in Canada. It is the dominant language of the province of Quebec, used in everyday communication, in education, the media, and government.
Canadian French is a common umbrella term to describe all varieties of French used in Canada, including Quebec French. Formerly it was used to refer solely to Quebec French and the closely related dialects spoken in Ontario and Western Canada, in contrast with Acadian French, which is spoken in some areas of eastern Quebec (Gaspé Peninsula), New Brunswick, and in other parts of Atlantic Canada, as well as Métis French, which is found generally across the Prairie provinces.
The term joual is commonly used to refer to Quebec working class French (when considered a basilect), characterized by certain features often perceived as phased out, "old world" or "incorrect" in standard French. Joual, in particular, exhibits strong Norman influences largely owing to Norman immigration during the Ancien Régime; people from Normandy were perceived as true Catholics and allowed to emigrate to the new world as an example of ideal French settlers. The Acadian French equivalent of joual is called Chiac.
History
Main article: History of Quebec FrenchThe origins of Quebec French lie in the 17th- and 18th-century regional varieties (dialects) of early modern French, also known as Classical French, and of other langues d'oïl (especially Poitevin dialect, Saintongeais dialect and Norman) that French colonists brought to New France. Quebec French either evolved from this language base and was shaped by the following influences (arranged according to historical period) or was imported from Paris and other urban centres of France as a koiné, or common language shared by the people speaking it.
New France
Unlike the language of France in the 17th and 18th centuries, French in New France was fairly well unified. It acquired loan words, especially place names such as Québec, Canada and Hochelaga, and words to describe the flora and fauna such as atoca (cranberry) and achigan (largemouth bass), from First Nations languages.
The importance of the rivers and ocean as the main routes of transportation also left its imprint on Quebec French. Whereas European varieties of French use the verbs monter and descendre for "to get in" and "to get out" of a vehicle (lit. "to mount" and "to dismount", as one does with a horse or a carriage), the Québécois variety in its informal register tends to use embarquer and débarquer, a result of Quebec's navigational heritage.
British rule
With the onset of British rule in 1760, the French of Canada became isolated from that of Europe. This led to a retention of older pronunciations, such as moé for moi (audio comparison) and expressions that later died out in France. In 1774, the Quebec Act guaranteed French settlers as British subjects rights to French law, the Roman Catholic faith and the French language to appease them at a moment when the English-speaking colonies to the south were on the verge of revolting in the American Revolution.
1840 to 1960
In the period between the Act of Union of 1840 and 1960, roughly 900,000 French Canadians left Canada to emigrate to the United States to seek employment. The ones that returned, brought with them new words taken from their experiences in the New England textile mills and the northern lumber camps. As a result, Quebec French began to borrow from both Canadian and American English to fill accidental gaps in the lexical fields of government, law, manufacturing, business and trade.
1960 to 1982
From the Quiet Revolution to the passing of the Charter of the French Language, the French language in Quebec saw a period of validation in its varieties associated with the working class while the percentage of literate and university-educated francophones grew. Laws concerning the status of French were passed both on the federal and provincial levels. The Office québécois de la langue française was established to play an essential role of support in language planning. Protective laws and distaste towards anglicisms arose at the same time to preserve the integrity of Quebec French, while Metropolitan French on the other hand does not have that same protective attitude and in recent decades has been more influenced by English, causing Quebec French not to borrow recent English loanwords that are now used in Metropolitan French.
Social perception and language policy
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Mutual intelligibility with other varieties of French
There is a continuum of intelligibility between Quebec and European French; the two are most intelligible in their more standardized forms and pose more difficulties in their dialectal forms. If a comparison can be made, the differences between both varieties are analogous to those between American and British English even if differences in phonology and prosody for the latter are greater.
Quebec's culture has only recently gained exposure in Europe, especially since the Quiet Revolution (Révolution tranquille). The difference in dialects and culture is large enough that speakers of Quebec French overwhelmingly prefer their own local television dramas or sitcoms to shows from Europe or the United States. Conversely, certain singers from Quebec have become very famous even in France, notably Félix Leclerc, Gilles Vigneault, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Céline Dion, and Garou. Some television series from Quebec such as Têtes à claques and L'Été indien are also known in France. The number of such shows from France shown on Quebec television is about the same as the number of British shows on American television even though French news channels like France 24 and a francophone channel based in France, TV5 Québec Canada, are broadcast in Quebec. Nevertheless, Metropolitan French series such as The Adventures of Tintin and Les Gens de Mogador are broadcast and known in Quebec. In certain cases, on French TV, subtitles can be added when barbarisms, rural speech and slang are used, not unlike cases in the US of a number of British programmes being shown with subtitles (notably from Scotland).
Relation to European French
Historically speaking, the closest relative of Quebec French is the 17th and 18th-century koiné of Paris.
Formal Quebec French uses essentially the same orthography and grammar as the French of France, with few exceptions, and exhibits moderate lexical differences. Differences in grammar and lexicon become more marked as language becomes more informal.
While phonetic differences also decrease with greater formality, Quebec and European accents are readily distinguishable in all registers. Over time, European French has exerted a strong influence on Quebec French. The phonological features traditionally distinguishing informal Quebec French and formal European French have gradually acquired varying sociolinguistic status, so that certain traits of Quebec French are perceived neutrally or positively by Quebecers, while others are perceived negatively.
Perceptions
Sociolinguistic studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s showed that Quebecers generally rated speakers of European French heard in recordings higher than speakers of Quebec French in many positive traits, including expected intelligence, education, ambition, friendliness and physical strength. The researchers were surprised by the greater friendliness rating for Europeans, since one of the primary reasons usually advanced to explain the retention of low-status language varieties is social solidarity with members of one's linguistic group. François Labelle cites the efforts at that time by the Office québécois de la langue française "to impose a French as standard as possible" as one of the reasons for the negative view Quebecers had of their language variety.
Since the 1970s, the official position on Québécois language has shifted dramatically. An oft-cited turning point was the 1977 declaration of the Association québécoise des professeurs de français defining thus the language to be taught in classrooms: "Standard Quebec French is the socially favoured variety of French which the majority of Francophone Québécois tend to use in situations of formal communication."
Ostiguy and Tousignant doubt whether Quebecers today would still have the same negative attitudes towards their own variety of French that they did in the 1970s. They argue that negative social attitudes have focused instead on a subset of the characteristics of Quebec French relative to European French, and particularly some traits of informal Quebec French. Some characteristics of European French are even judged negatively when imitated by Quebecers.
Typography
Quebec French has some typographical differences from European French. For example, in Quebec French a full non-breaking space is not used before the semicolon, exclamation mark, or question mark. Instead, a thin space (which according to Le Ramat de la typographie normally measures a quarter of an em) is used; this thin space can be omitted in word-processing situations where the thin space is assumed to be unavailable, or when careful typography is not required.
Spelling and grammar
Formal language
A notable difference in grammar which received considerable attention in France during the 1990s is the feminine form of many professions that traditionally did not have a feminine form. In Quebec, one writes nearly universally une chercheuse or une chercheure "a researcher", whereas in France, un chercheur and, more recently, un chercheur and une chercheuse are used. Feminine forms in -eure as in ingénieure are still strongly criticized in France by institutions like the Académie française, but are commonly used in Canada and Switzerland.
There are other, sporadic spelling differences. For example, the Office québécois de la langue française formerly recommended the spelling tofou for what is in France tofu "tofu". This recommendation was repealed in 2013. In grammar, the adjective inuit "Inuit" is invariable in France but, according to official recommendations in Quebec, has regular feminine and plural forms.
Informal language
Grammatical differences between informal spoken Quebec French and the formal language abound. Some of these, such as omission of the negative particle ne, are also present in the informal language of speakers of standard European French, while other features, such as use of the interrogative particle -tu, are either peculiar to Quebec or Canadian French or restricted to nonstandard varieties of European French.
Lexis
Main article: Quebec French lexiconDistinctive features
While the overwhelming majority of lexical items in Quebec French exist in other dialects of French, many words and expressions are unique to Quebec, much like some are specific to American and British varieties of English. The differences can be classified into the following five categories. The influences on Quebec French from English and Native American can be reflected in any of these five:
- lexically specific items (québécismes lexématiques), which do not exist in other varieties of French;
- semantic differences (québécismes sémantiques), in which a word has a different meaning in Quebec French than in other French varieties;
- grammatical differences in lexical items (québécismes grammaticaux), in which a word has different morpho-syntactic behaviour in Quebec French than in other varieties;
- differences in multi-word or fixed expressions (québécismes phraséologiques);
- contextual differences (roughly, québécisme de statut), in which the lexical item has a similar form and meaning in Quebec French as in other varieties, but the context in which the item is used is different.
The following tables give examples of each of the first four categories, along with the Metropolitan French equivalent and an English gloss. Contextual differences, along with individual explanations, are then discussed.
Examples of lexically specific items:
Quebec French | Metropolitan French | English gloss |
---|---|---|
abrier | couvrir | to cover |
astheure (à c't'heure) | maintenant | now |
chum (m) | copain (m) | friend (m) or boyfriend |
chum (f) | amie (f) | friend (f) |
magasiner | faire des courses | to go shopping/do errands |
placoter | papoter | to chat/chatter |
pogner | attraper, prendre | to catch, grab |
Examples of semantic differences:
Lexical item | Quebec French meaning | Metropolitan French meaning |
---|---|---|
blonde (f) | girlfriend | blonde-haired woman |
char (m) | car | tank |
chauffer | to drive (a vehicle) | to heat |
chialer | to complain | to bawl, blubber |
dépanneur (m) | convenience store (and also repairer) | mechanic |
gosse | gosses (fem pl): balls (testicles) | gosse (masc sg): child/kid |
suçon (m) | lollipop | hickey/love bite |
sucette (f) | hickey/love bite | lollipop |
éventuellement | eventually | possibly |
Examples of grammatical differences:
Lexical item | Quebec French grammar | Metropolitan French grammar | English gloss |
---|---|---|---|
autobus (noun) | autobus (f) (colloquial) | autobus (m) | bus |
pantalon (noun) | pantalons (pl) | pantalon (masc sg) | trousers |
Examples multi-word or fixed expressions unique to Quebec:
Quebec French expression | Metropolitan French gloss | English gloss |
---|---|---|
avoir de la misère | avoir de la difficulté | to have difficulty, trouble |
avoir le flu | avoir la diarrhée | to have diarrhea |
avoir le goût dérangé | gouter une saveur étrange | to taste something strange, unexpected |
en arracher | en baver | to have a rough time |
prendre une marche | faire une promenade | to take a walk |
se faire passer un sapin | se faire duper | to be tricked |
parler à travers son chapeau | parler à tort et à travers | to talk through one's hat |
Some Quebec French lexical items have the same general meaning in Metropolitan French but are used in different contexts. English translations are given in parentheses.
- arrêt (stop): In Quebec, most stop signs say arrêt. Some Quebec stop signs say stop and older signs use both words. However, in France, all such signs say stop, which is the standard in Europe.
- condom, pronounced (condom): In Quebec French, this term has neutral connotations, whereas in Metropolitan French, it is used in more technical contexts. The neutral term in Metropolitan French is préservatif.
In addition, Quebec French has its own set of swear words, or sacres, distinct from other varieties of French.
Use of anglicisms
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One characteristic of major sociological importance distinguishing Quebec from European French is the relatively greater number of borrowings from English, especially in the informal spoken language, but that notion is often exaggerated. The Québécois have been found to show a stronger aversion to the use of anglicisms in formal contexts than do European francophones, largely because of what the influence of English on their language is held to reveal about the historically superior position of anglophones in Canadian society. According to Cajolet-Laganière and Martel, out of 4,216 "criticized borrowings from English" in Quebec French that they were able to identify, some 93% have "extremely low frequency" and 60% are obsolete. Despite this, the prevalence of anglicisms in Quebec French has often been exaggerated.
Various anglicisms commonly used in European French informal language are mostly not used by Quebec French speakers. While words such as shopping, parking, escalator, ticket, email and week-end are commonly spoken in Europe, Quebec tends to favour French equivalents, namely: magasinage, stationnement, escalier roulant, billet, courriel and fin de semaine, respectively. As such, the perception of exaggerated anglicism use in Quebec French could be attributed, in part, simply to the fact that the anglicisms used are different, and thus more noticeable by European speakers.
French spoken with a large number of anglicisms may be disparagingly termed franglais. According to Chantal Bouchard, "While the language spoken in Quebec did indeed gradually accumulate borrowings from English , it did not change to such an extent as to justify the extraordinarily negative discourse about it between 1940 and 1960. It is instead in the loss of social position suffered by a large proportion of Francophones since the end of the 19th century that one must seek the principal source of this degrading perception."
Borrowings from Indigenous languages
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Ouaouaron, the Canadian French word for bullfrog, a frog species native to North America, originates from an Iroquois word.
Maringouin, the word for mosquito, also originates from an aboriginal language, Tupi-guarani, spoken by aboriginals on the northern coasts of Brazil. It is thought that early French colonists adopted this word in the late 1600s after exchanges with explorers returning from South America.
Atoca, a synonym for Cranberry, also originates from Iroquois.
Additional differences
The following are areas in which the lexicon of Quebec French is found to be distinct from those of other varieties of French:
- lexical items formerly common to both France and New France but are today unique to Quebec French (this includes expressions and word forms that have the same form elsewhere in La Francophonie but have a different denotation or connotation);
- borrowings from Amerindian languages, especially place names;
- les sacres – Quebec French profanity;
- many loanwords, calques, and other borrowings from English in the 19th and 20th centuries, whether or not such borrowings are considered Standard French;
- starting in the latter half of the 20th century, an enormous store of French neologisms (coinages) and re-introduced words via terminological work by professionals, translators, and the OLF; some of this terminology is "exported" to the rest of la Francophonie;
- feminized job titles and gender-inclusive language;
- morphological processes that have been more productive:
- suffixes: -eux/euse, -age, -able, and -oune
- reduplication (as in the international French word guéguerre): cacanne, gogauche, etc.
- reduplication plus -oune: chouchoune, gougounes, moumoune, nounoune, poupoune, toutoune, foufoune, etc.
- new words ending in -oune without reduplication: zoune, bizoune, coune, ti-coune, etc.
Recent lexical innovations
Some recent Quebec French lexical innovations have spread, at least partially, to other varieties of French, for example:
- clavardage, "chat", a contraction of clavier (keyboard) and bavardage (chat). Verb: clavarder
- courriel, "e-mail", a contraction of courrier électronique (electronic mail)
- pourriel, "spam e-mail", is a contraction of poubelle (garbage) and courriel (email), whose popularity may also be influenced by the word pourri (rotten).
- baladodiffusion (may be abbreviated to balado), "podcasting", a contraction of baladeur (walkman) and radiodiffusion.
Sociolinguistics
On Twitter, supporters of the Quebec separatist party Bloc Québécois used hashtags that align with the syntactic pattern found in hashtags used in French political discourse, rather than adopting the hashtags commonly used by other Canadian parties with similar political positions.
Phonology
Main article: Quebec French phonologyFor phonological comparisons of Quebec French, Belgian French, Meridional French, and Metropolitan French, see French phonology.
Vowels
Systematic (in all formal speech)
- /ɑ/, /ɛː/, /œ̃/ and /ə/ as phonemes distinct from /a/, /ɛ/, /ɛ̃/ and /ø/ respectively
- , , are lax allophones of /i/, /y/, /u/ in closed syllables
- Nasal vowels are similar to the traditional Parisian French: /ɛ̃/ is diphthongized to , /ɔ̃/ is diphthongized to , /ɑ̃/ is fronted to , and /œ̃/ is generally pronounced
- /a/ is pronounced in final open syllables (avocat /avɔka/ → )
- /a/ is pronounced before /ʁ/ in final closed syllables (dollar /dɔlaʁ/ → )
Systematic (in both informal and formal speech)
- Long vowels are diphthongized in final closed syllables (tête /tɛːt/ → ~ , the first one is considered as formal, because the diphthong is weak)
- Standard French /a/ is pronounced in final open syllable (avocat /avɔka/ → )
Unsystematic (in all informal speech)
- /wa/ (spelled oi) is pronounced , or
- /ɛʁ/ is pronounced
Consonants
Systematic
- /t/ and /d/ affricated to and before /i/, /y/, /j/, /ɥ/ (except in Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Côte-Nord)
Unsystematic
- Drop of liquids /l/ and /ʁ/ (written as l and r) in unstressed position with schwa /ə/ or unstressed intervocalic position
- Trilled r -
Sociolinguistic status of selected phonological traits
These examples are intended not exhaustive but illustrate the complex influence that European French has had on Quebec French pronunciation and the range of sociolinguistic statuses that individual phonetic variables can possess.
- The most entrenched features of Quebec pronunciation are such that their absence, even in the most formal registers, is considered an indication of foreign origin of the speaker. That is the case, for example, for the affrication of /t/ and /d/ before /i/, /y/, /j/ and /ɥ/. (This particular feature of Quebec French is, however, sometimes avoided in singing.)
- The use of the lax Quebec allophones of /i/, /y/, /u/ (in the appropriate phonetic contexts) occurs in all but highly formal styles, and even then, their use predominates. Use of the tense allophones where the lax ones would be expected can be perceived as "pedantic".
- The Quebec variant of nasal vowels , , and corresponding to the Parisian (traditionally pronounced ), (traditionally pronounced ), (traditionally pronounced ) and (traditionally pronounced ) are not subject to a significant negative sociolinguistic evaluation and are used by most speakers and of educated speakers in all circumstances. However, Parisian variants also appear occasionally in formal speech among a few speakers, especially speakers who were often watching cartoons when they were a child, because the dubbing affected them and it is not considered as a Quebec accent. Some speakers use them in Radio-Canada, but they never have brin-brun merger (The preceding discussion applies to stressed syllables. For reasons unrelated to their social standing, some allophones close to the European variants appear frequently in unstressed syllables.)
- To pronounce instead of in such words as gâteau clearly predominates in informal speech and, according to Ostiguy and Tousignant, is likely not to be perceived negatively in informal situations. However, sociolinguistic research has shown that not to be the case in formal speech, when the standard is more common. However, many speakers use systematically in all situations, and Ostiguy and Tousignant hypothesize that such speakers tend to be less educated. It must be mentioned that a third vowel , though infrequent, also occurs and is the vowel that has emerged with /a/ as a new European standard in the last several decades for words in this category. According to Ostiguy and Tousignant, this pronunciation is seen as "affected", and Dumas writes that speakers using this pronunciation "run the risk of being accused of snobbery." Entirely analogous considerations apply to the two pronunciations of such words as chat, which can be pronounced or .
- The diphthonged variants of such words as fête (e.g. instead of ), are rarely used in formal speech. They have been explicitly and extensively stigmatized and were, according to the official Quebec educational curricula of 1959 and 1969, among the pronunciation habits to be "standardized" in pupils. In informal speech, however, most speakers use generally such forms to some extent, but they are viewed negatively and are more frequent among uneducated speakers. However, many Québécois teachers use the diphthongization.
- Traditional pronunciations such as for poil (also , as in France. Words in this category include avoine, (ils) reçoivent, noirci, etc. ) and for moi (now usually , as in France; this category consists of moi, toi, and verb forms such as (je) bois and (on) reçoit but excludes québécois and toit, which have had only the pronunciation ), are no longer used by many speakers, and are virtually absent from formal speech. They have long been the object of condemnation. Dumas writes that the pronunciations of words in the moi category have "even become the symbol and the scapegoat of bad taste, lack of education, vulgarity, etc., no doubt because they differ quite a bit from the accepted pronunciation, which ends in , " On the other hand, writing in 1987, he considers in words in the poil group "the most common pronunciation."
- One of the most striking changes that has affected Quebec French in recent decades is the displacement of the alveolar trill r by the uvular trill r , originally from Northern France, and similar acoustically to the Parisian uvular r . Historically, the alveolar r predominated in western Quebec, including Montreal, and the uvular r in eastern Quebec, including Quebec City, with an isogloss near Trois-Rivières. (More precisely, the isogloss runs through Yamachiche and then between Sherbrooke and La Patrie, near the American border. With only a few exceptions, the alveolar variant predominates in Canada outside Quebec.) Elocution teachers and the clergy traditionally favoured the trilled r, which was nearly universal in Montreal until the 1950s and was perceived positively. However, massive migration from eastern Quebec beginning in the 1930s with the Great Depression, the participation of soldiers in the Second World War, travel to Europe after the war, and especially the use of the uvular r in radio and then television broadcasts all quickly reversed perceptions and favoured the spread of the uvular r. The trilled r is now rapidly declining. According to Ostiguy and Tousignant, the change occurred within a single generation. The Parisian uvular r is also present in Quebec, and its use is positively correlated with socioeconomic status.
Syntax
Main article: Quebec French syntaxLike other varieties, Quebec French is characterized by increasingly wide gaps between its formal and informal forms. Notable differences include the generalized use of on (informal for nous), the use of single negations as opposed to double negations: J'ai pas (informal) vs Je n'ai pas (formal) etc. There are increasing differences between the syntax used in spoken Quebec French and that of other regional dialects of French. However, the characteristic differences of Quebec French syntax are not considered standard despite their high-frequency in everyday, relaxed speech.
One far-reaching difference is the weakening of the syntactic role of the specifiers (both verbal and nominal), which results in many syntactic changes:
- Relative clauses (1) using que as an all-purpose relative pronoun, or (2) embedding interrogative pronouns instead of relative pronouns (also found in informal European French):
- J'ai trouvé le document que j'ai de besoin. (J'ai trouvé le document dont j'ai besoin.) "I found / I've found the document I need."
- Je comprends qu'est-ce que tu veux dire. (Je comprends ce que tu veux dire.) "I understand what you mean."
- Omission of the prepositions that collocate with certain verbs:
- J'ai un enfant à m'occuper. (Standard French: s'occuper de; J'ai un enfant dont je dois m'occuper.) "I have a child (I need) to take care of."
- Plural conditioned by semantics:
- La plupart du monde sont tannés des taxes. (La plupart du monde est tanné des taxes.) "Most people are fed up with taxes."
- A phenomenon throughout the Francophonie, dropping the ne of the double negative is accompanied, in Quebec French, by a change in word order (1), and (2) postcliticisation of direct pronouns (3) along with euphonic insertion of liaisons to avoid vowel hiatus. This word order is also found in non-standard European French.
- Donne-moi-le pas. (Ne me le donne pas.) "Don't give it to me."
- Dis-moi pas de m'en aller! (Ne me dis pas de m'en aller) "Don't tell me to go away!"
- Donne-moi-z-en pas ! (Ne m'en donne pas!) "Don't give me any!"
Other notable syntactic changes in Quebec French include the following:
- Use of non-standard verbal periphrasis, (many of them archaisms):
- J'étais pour te le dire. (J'allais te le dire. / J'étais sur le point de te le dire.) "I was going to/about to tell you about it." (old European French but still used in e.g. Haiti)
- Avoir su, j'aurais... (Si j'avais su, j'aurais...) "Had I known, I would have..."
- Mais que l'hiver finisse, je vais partir. (Dès que l'hiver finira, je partirai.) "As soon as winter ends, I will leave."
- Particle -tu used (1) to form tag questions, (2) sometimes to express exclamative sentences and (3) at other times it is used with excess, for instance (note that this is common throughout European French via the addition of -t'y or -tu):
- C'est-tu prêt? (Est-ce prêt? / C'est prêt? / Est-ce que c'est prêt?) "Is it ready?"
- Vous voulez-tu manger? (Vous voulez manger?) "Do you want to eat?"
- On a-tu bien mangé! (Qu'est-ce qu'on a bien mangé!) "We ate well, didn't we?"
- T'as-tu pris tes pilules? (Est-ce que tu as pris tes médicaments?) "Have you taken your medications?"
- This particle is -ti (from Standard French -t-il, often rendered as ) in most varieties of North American French outside Quebec as well as in European varieties of français populaire as already noted by Gaston Paris. It is also found in the non-creole speech on the island of Saint-Barthelemy in the Caribbean.
- Extensive use of litotes (also common in informal European French):
- C'est pas chaud! (C'est frais!) "It is not all too warm out!"
- C'est pas laid pantoute! (Ce n'est pas laid du tout!) "Isn't this nice!" (literally: "This is not ugly at all.")
- Comment vas-tu? - Pas pire, pas pire. "How are you? - Not bad. Not bad at all"
However, these features are common to all the basilectal varieties of français populaire descended from the 17th century koiné of Paris.
- Use of diminutives (also very common in European French):
- Tu prendrais-tu un p'tit café? Une p'tite bière? "Would you like to have a coffee? A beer?"
Pronouns
- In common with the rest of the Francophonie, there is a shift from nous to on in all registers. In post-Quiet Revolution Quebec, the use of informal tu has become widespread in many situations that had previously called for a semantically singular vous. While some schools are trying to re-introduce this use of vous, which is absent from most youths' speech, the shift from nous to on has not been similarly discouraged.
- The traditional use of on, in turn, is usually replaced by different uses of pronouns or paraphrases, like in the rest of the Francophonie. The second person (tu, t') is usually used by speakers when referring to experiences that can happen in one's life:
- Quand t'es ben tranquille chez vous, à te mêler de tes affaires ...
- Other paraphrases using le monde, les gens are more employed when referring to overgeneralisations:
- Le monde aime pas voyager dans un autobus plein.
- As in the rest of la Francophonie, the sound is disappearing in il, ils among informal registers and rapid speech. More particular to Quebec is the transformation of elle to , sometimes written "a" or "à" in eye dialect or al , and less often , , sometimes written "è." Elle est may transform to 'est, pronounced .
- Absence of elles - For a majority of Quebec French speakers, elles is not used for the third person plural pronoun, at least in the nominative case; it is replaced with the subject pronoun ils or the stress/tonic pronoun eux(-autres). However, elles is still used in other cases (ce sont elles qui vont payer le prix).
- -autres In informal registers, the stress/tonic pronouns for the plural subject pronouns have the suffix –autres, pronounced and written –aut’ in eye dialect. Nous-autres, vous-autres, and eux-autres, also found in Louisiana French, are comparable to the Spanish forms nosotros/as and vosotros/as, though with different usage and meanings.
Verbs
In their syntax and morphology, Quebec French verbs differ very little from the verbs of other regional dialects of French, both formal and informal. The distinctive characteristics of Quebec French verbs are restricted mainly to:
- Regularization
- In the present indicative, the forms of aller (to go) are regularized as in all singular persons: je vas, tu vas, il/elle va. Note that in 17th century French, what is today's international standard /vɛ/ in je vais was considered substandard while je vas was the prestige form.
- In the present subjunctive of aller, the root is regularized as all- /al/ for all persons. Examples: que j'alle, que tu alles, qu'ils allent, etc. The majority of French verbs, regardless of dialect or standardization, display the same regularization. They therefore use the same root for both the imperfect and the present subjunctive: que je finisse vs. je finissais.
- Colloquially, in haïr (to hate), in the present indicative singular forms, the hiatus is found between two different vowels instead of at the onset of the verb's first syllable. This results in the forms: j'haïs, tu haïs, il/elle haït, written with a diaeresis (tréma) and all pronounced with two syllables: /a.i/. The "h" in these forms is silent and does not indicate a hiatus; as a result, je elides with haïs forming j'haïs. All the other forms, tenses, and moods of haïr contain the same hiatus regardless of register. However, in Metropolitan French and in more formal Quebec French, especially in the media, the present indicative singular forms are pronounced as one syllable /ɛ/ and written without a diaeresis: je hais, tu hais, il/elle hait.
- Differentiation
- In the present indicative of both formal and informal Quebec French, (s')asseoir (to sit/seat) only uses the vowel /wa/ in stressed roots and /e/ in unstressed roots: je m'assois, tu t'assois, il s'assoit, ils s'assoient but nous nous asseyons, vous vous asseyez. In Metropolitan French, stressed /wa/ and /je/ are in free variation as are unstressed /wa/ and /e/. Note that in informal Quebec French, (s')asseoir is often said as (s')assire.
- Quebec French has retained the /ɛ/ ending for je/tu/il-elle/ils in the imperfect (the ending is written as -ais, -ait, -aient). In most other dialects, the ending is pronounced, instead, as a neutralized sound between /e/ and /ɛ/.
- Informal ils jousent (they play) is sometimes heard for ils jouent and is most likely due to an analogy with ils cousent (they sew). Because of the stigma attached to "ils jousent," most people now use the normative ils jouent, which is free of stigma.
See also
- Association québécoise de linguistique
- Demographics of Quebec
- Franco-Ontarian
- Franglais
- French language in Canada
- French phonology
- Gender-neutral language in French
- History of French
- Québécois
- Quebec English
- Quebec French lexicon
- Quebec French phonology
- Quebec French profanity
- Bill 104, Quebec
References
Notes
- Source: A 2006 Census of Canada. Includes multiple responses. The simplifying assumption has been made that there are no native speakers of Quebec French in Atlantic Canada (see Acadian French) but that all native speakers of French in the rest of Canada are speakers of Quebec French.
- Entry for joual in Dictionnaire du français Plus. "Variété de français québécois qui est caractérisée par un ensemble de traits (surtout phonétiques et lexicaux) considérés comme incorrects ou mauvais et qui est identifiée au parler des classes populaires."
- Original text: "Le français standard d'ici est la variété de français socialement valorisée que la majorité des Québécois francophones tendent à utiliser dans les situations de communication formelle."
- See for example Ostiguy & Tousignant, p. 68, on the perception as "pedantic" of the use of the tense allophones , , , where , , would be expected in Quebec French. "En effet, l'utilisation des voyelles tendues peut avoir allure de pédanterie à l'oreille d'une majorité de Québécois."
- The Académie française has taken strong positions opposing the officialization of feminine forms in these cases. Lionel Jospin's female cabinet ministers were the first to be referred to as Madame la ministre instead of Madame le ministre, whereas this had been common practice in Canada for decades.
- That very low frequency was confirmed in a corpus of two million words of spoken French corpus from the Ottawa-Hull region by Poplack et al. (1988).
- Original text: "En effet, si la langue parlée au Québec s'est peu à peu chargée d'emprunts à l'anglais au cours de cette période, elle ne s'est pas transformée au point de justifier le discours extraordinairement négatif qu'on tient à son sujet de 1940 à 1960. C'est bien plutôt dans le déclassement subi par une forte proportion des francophones depuis la fin du XIX siècle qu'il faut chercher la source de cette perception dépréciative.
- For example, while The New Cassell's French dictionary (1962) records gâteau as and Le Nouveau Petit Robert (1993) gives the pronunciation .
Citations
- Census2006.
- Merriam-Webster.
- Bélanger 2000a.
- Bélanger 2000b.
- Modernisation (1960–1981).
- Sandra (26 October 2017). "Anglicisms in Québécois French". Viva Language. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- Fournier, Louna (March 2020). French and Canadian French, Are They Really Different?. University of Northern Colorado. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- Larose 2004.
- ^ Jean-Marie Salien (1998). "Quebec French: Attitudes and Pedagodical Perspectives" (PDF). The Modern Language Journal.
- "L'Eté Indien".
- Agence France Presse Québec (7 October 2014). "La chaîne France 24 diffusée au Québec par Vidéotron". The Huffington Post.
- "TV5 Canada".
- "Allociné".
- Wittmann 1997.
- Martel & Cajolet-Laganière 1996, p. 99.
- ^ Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993, p. 27.
- ^ L'attitude linguistique Archived November 28, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Martel & Cajolet-Laganière 1996, p. 77.
- ^ Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993, p. 68.
- Ramat 2012, p. 12.
- Ramat 2012, p. 191.
- "La typographie: Espacement avant et après les principaux signes de ponctuation et autres signes ou symboles" (in French). Office québécois de la langue française. Archived from the original on 2014-10-05. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
Ce tableau tient compte des limites des logiciels courants de traitement de texte, qui ne comportent pas l'espace fine (espace insécable réduite). Si l'on dispose de l'espace fine, il est toutefois conseillé de l'utiliser devant le point-virgule, le point d'exclamation et le point d'interrogation.
- Martel & Cajolet-Laganière 1996, p. 109.
- Grand dictionnaire terminologique, "chercheuse", "Grand dictionnaire terminologique". Archived from the original on June 4, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
- "tofu". vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca (in French). Retrieved 2023-11-12.
- Martel & Cajolet-Laganière 1996, pp. 97, 99.
- Poirier 1995, p. 32.
- Poirier 1995, pp. 32–36.
- ^ Martel & Cajolet-Laganière 1996, p. 110.
- Martel & Cajolet-Laganière 2008, pp. 459–474.
- Poplack, Sankoff & Miller 1988.
- ^ Bouchard 2008, pp. 255–264.
- "English Words Borrowed into Quebec French as Expressions Québécoises Modernes from Bill Casselman's Canadian Word of the Day". billcasselman.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
- Gouvernement du Canada, Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada (14 February 2020). "insectes de l'été – Clés de la rédaction – Outils d'aide à la rédaction – Ressources du Portail linguistique du Canada – Canada.ca". www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
- Corre, Daisy Le (30 May 2020). "Pourquoi, au Québec, les moustiques s'appellent-ils des maringouins?". Maudits Français (in French). Retrieved 4 March 2023.
- "Atoca". Usito (in French). Retrieved 2024-05-27.
- "chat / clavardage". gouv.qc.ca. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
- "e-mail / courriel". gouv.qc.ca. Archived from the original on 2017-10-10. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
- spam / pourriel Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine on the Office québécois de la langue française's website.
- podcasting / baladodiffusion Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine on the Office québécois de la langue française's website
- Wan, Ming Feng (2024-03-12). "The role of syntax in hashtag popularity". Linguistics Vanguard. 10 (1): 693–698. doi:10.1515/lingvan-2023-0051. ISSN 2199-174X.
- Dumas 1987, p. 8.
- Dumas 1987, p. 9.
- Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993, pp. 112–114.
- Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993, pp. 75–80.
- Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993, p. 80.
- Dumas 1987, p. 149.
- Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993, pp. 71–75.
- Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993, pp. 93–95.
- ^ Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993, p. 102.
- Dumas 1987, p. 24.
- Les causes de la variation géolinguistique du français en Amérique du Nord Archived December 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Claude Poirier
- Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993, pp. 162–163.
- Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993, p. 164.
- Waugh, Linda. "Authentic materials for everyday spoken french: corpus linguistics vs. french textbooks" (PDF). University of Arizona. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 24, 2014.
- Laura K. Lawless. "French Subject Pronouns - Pronoms sujets". Lawless French. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
- Laura K. Lawless. "Informal French Negation - Pas without Ne". Lawless French. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
- Barbaud 1998, pp. 107–128.
- Meyer & Paris 1877, pp. 438–442.
Sources
Books
- Dumas, Denis (1987). Nos façons de parler (in French). Sainte-Foy: Presses de l'Université du Québec. ISBN 2-7605-0445-X.
- Larose, Karim (2004). La langue de papier : Spéculations linguistiques au Québec (1957-1977) (in French). Montréal: Presses de l'Université de Montréal. ISBN 978-2-7606-1953-1.
- Martel, Pierre; Cajolet-Laganière, Hélène (1996). Le français québécois : Usages, standard et aménagement (in French). Quebec: Presses de l'Université Laval. ISBN 978-2-89224-261-4.
- Ostiguy, Luc; Tousignant, Claude (1993). Le français québécois: normes et usages (in French). Montreal: Guérin Universitaire. ISBN 2-7601-3330-3.
- Plourde, Michel, ed. (2008) . Le français au Québec : 400 ans d'histoire et de vie (in French) (3rd expanded ed.). Montréal: Éditions Fides/Publications du Québec. ISBN 978-2-7621-2813-0.
- Bouchard, Chantal (2008). "8:28 Anglicisation et 0autodépréciation". Le français au Québec : 400 ans d'histoire et de vie. Montreal: Éditions Fides/Publications du Québec. pp. 255–264. ISBN 978-2-7621-2813-0.
- Martel, Pierre; Cajolet-Laganière, Hélène (2008). "13:52 Le français au Québec : un standard à décrire et des usages à hierarchiser". Le français au Québec : 400 ans d'histoire et de vie. Montreal: Éditions Fides/Publications du Québec. pp. 459–474. ISBN 978-2-7621-2813-0.
- Meyer, Paul; Paris, Gaston (1877). "IV. Ti, signe de l'interrogation". Romania : Recueil trimestriel consacré à l'étude des langues et des littératures romanes. Paris: F. Vieweg. pp. 438–442.
- Poirier, Claude (1995). "Les variantes topolectales du lexique français: Propositions de classement à partir d'exemples québécois". In Michel Francard & Danièle Latin (ed.). Le Régionalisme Lexical (in French). Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium: De Boeck Université Duculot. pp. 13–56. ISBN 978-2-8011-1091-1.
- Ramat, Aurel (2012) . Benoit, Anne-Marie (ed.). Le Ramat de la typographie (in French) (10 ed.). Diffusion Dimedia. ISBN 978-2-9813513-0-2.
Journals and magazines
- Wittmann, Henri (1997). "Le français de Paris dans le français des Amériques" (PDF). Proceedings of the International Congress of Linguists (in French). doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.4046.0328.
- Barbaud, Philippe (1998). "Dissidence du français québécois et évolution dialectale" (PDF). Revue québécoise de linguistique (in French). 26 (2). Montréal: Université du Québec à Montréal: 107–128. doi:10.7202/603156ar. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2007.
Websites
- Bélanger, Claude (23 August 2000a) . "Rapatriement". Quebec History. Westmount: Marianopolis College. Archived from the original on 13 February 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
- Bélanger, Claude (23 August 2000b) . "French Canadian Emigration to the United States, 1840–1930". Quebec History. Westmount: Marianopolis College. Archived from the original on 10 February 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
- "Population by mother tongue and age groups, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories". Statistics Canada. Canada's National Statistical Agency. Archived from the original on 2009-03-12.
- "Joual - Definition of Joual by Merriam-Webster". merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
- Poplack, Shana; Sankoff, David; Miller, Chris (1988). The social correlates and linguistic processes of lexical borrowing and assimilation (PDF). Linguistics (Report). Vol. 26. Ottawa: University of Ottawa. pp. 47–104.
- "La modernisation du Québec (1960–1981)". Histoire du français au Québec. www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca (in French). Québec: Université Laval. Section 4. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
Further reading
- Barbaud, Philippe (1984). Le Choc des patois en Nouvelle-France: Essai sur l'histoire de la francisation au Canada (in French). Montreal: Presses de l'Université du Québec. ISBN 2-7605-0330-5.
- Bergeron, Léandre (1982). The Québécois Dictionary. Toronto: James Lorimer & Co.
- Bouchard, Chantal (2011). Méchante langue: la légitimité linguistique du français parlé au Québec (in French). Montréal: Presses de l'Université de Montréal. ISBN 978-2-7606-2284-5.
- — (2020) . La langue et le nombril: Une histoire sociolinguistique du Québec (in French). Montréal: Presses de l'Université de Montréal. ISBN 978-2-7606-4241-6.
- Bouthillier, Guy; Meynaud, Jean, eds. (1972). Le Choc des langues au Québec 1760–1970 (in French). Montréal: Presses de l'Université du Québec. ISBN 978-0-7770-0069-4.
- Brandon, Edgar (1898). A French colony in Michigan. Modern Language Notes 13.121-24.
- Clermont, Jean; Cedergren, Henrietta (1979). "Les 'R' de ma mère sont perdus dans l'air". In P. Thibault (ed.). Le français parlé: études sociolinguistiques. Edmonton, Alta.: Linguistic Research. pp. 13–28.
- Cossette, André (1970). Le R apical montréalais: étude de phonétique expérimentale. Université Laval: Thèse de D.E.S.
- DesRuisseaux, Pierre (1974). Le livre des proverbes québécois (in French) (1st ed.). Montréal: L'Aurore.
- DesRuisseaux, Pierre (2009) . Dictionnaire des proverbes, dictons et adages québécois (in French) (2nd expanded ed.). Bibliothèque québécoise. ISBN 978-2-8940-6300-2.
- DesRuisseaux, Pierre (1979). Le livre des expressions québécoises (in French) (1st ed.). LaSalle, Quebec: Hurtubuise HMH. ISBN 9782890452008.
- DesRuisseaux, Pierre (2009) . Dictionnaire des expressions québécoises (in French) (2nd expanded ed.). Bibliothèque québécoise. ISBN 978-2-8940-6299-9.
- Dulong, Gaston (1973). "Histoire du français en Amérique du Nord". In Thomas A. Sebeok (ed.). Current trends in linguistics. The Hague: Mouton, 10.407-421 (bibliographie, 10.441-463).
- Dulong, Gaston; Bergeron, Gaston (1980). Le Parler populaire du Québec et de ses regions voisines: Atlas linguistique de l'Est du Canada. Quebec: Éditeur officiel du Gouvernement du Québec (10 vol.).
- Fournier, Robert; Wittmann, Henri, eds. (1995). Le français des Amériques (in French). Trois-Rivières: Presses Universitaires de Trois-Rivières. ISBN 2-9802-3072-3.
- Geddes, James (1908). Study of the Acadian-French dialect spoken on the north shore of the Baie-des-Chaleurs. Halle: Niemeyer.
- Gertler, Maynard. (2020). "French-English Translation in Canada." Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada / Cahiers de La Société Bibliographique Du Canada 58 (1): 155–72.
- Haden, Ernest F (1973). "French dialect geography in North America". In Thomas A. Sebeok (ed.). Current trends in linguistics. The Hague: Mouton, 10.422-439 (bibliographie, 10.441-463).
- Juneau, Marcel (1977). Problèmes de Lexicologie Québécoise (in French). Québec: Les Presses de l'Université Laval. ISBN 978-0-7746-6819-4.
- Lavoie, Thomas; Bergeron, Gaston; Côté, Michelle (1985). Les parlers français de Charlevoix, du Saguenay, du Lac Saint-Jean et de la Côte Nord. Quebec: Éditeur officiel du Gouvernement du Québec. 5 vol.
- Léard, Jean-Marcel (1995). Grammaire québécoise d'aujourd'hui: Comprendre les québécismes (in French). Montreal: Guérin Universitaire. ISBN 2-7601-3930-1.
- Meney, Lionel (1999). Dictionnaire Québécois Français (in French). Montreal: Guérin Editeur. ISBN 2-7601-5482-3.
- Mougeon, Raymond; Beniak, Édouard (1994). Les Origines du français québécois (in French). Quebec: Les Presses de l'Université Laval. ISBN 2-7637-7354-0.
- —, ed. (1998). Dictionnaire Historique du français Québécois (in French). Québec: Les Presses de l'Université Laval. ISBN 978-2-7637-7557-9.
- Wittmann, Henri (1995). "Grammaire comparée des variétés coloniales du français populaire de Paris du 17 siècle et origines du français québécois". In Fournier, Robert; Henri Wittmann (eds.). Le français des Amériques. Trois-Rivières: Presses universitaires de Trois-Rivières. pp. 281–334.
- (Collective) (2011). Canadian French for Better Travel. Montreal: Ulysses Travel Guides. ISBN 978-2-89464-965-7.
External links
- History of the French Language in Quebec
- (in French) History of French in Quebec
- (in French) Trésor de la langue française au Québec
- (in French) Grand dictionnaire terminologique (Office québécois de la langue française)
- The Alternative Québécois Dictionary
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