variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
of
Acadian French
Acadian French (french: français acadien, acadjonne) is a variety of French spoken by Acadians, mostly in the region of Acadia (region), Acadia, Canada. Acadian French has 7 regional accents, including chiac and brayon.
Phonology
Since there w ...
spoken mostly in southeastern
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
, Canada. Chiac is often characterized and distinguished from other forms of Acadian French by its borrowings from
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, it also has root words from the
Eastern Algonquian languages
The Eastern Algonquian languages constitute a subgroup of the Algonquian languages. Prior to European contact, Eastern Algonquian consisted of at least 17 languages, whose speakers collectively occupied the Atlantic coast of North America and adj ...
. The word "Chiac" can also sometimes be used to describe an ethnic
Acadian
The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...
of rural southeastern New Brunswick.
History
Chiac originated in the community of specific ethnic Acadians, known as "Chiacs or Chiaks", living on the rural southeast coast of New Brunswick. Chiac (or Chiak) is one of the varieties of the Acadian-French language, which includes some root words from the Miꞌkmaq/Micmac language (
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages ( or ; also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous American languages that include most languages in the Algic languages, Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language f ...
), and also includes some words borrowed from the surrounding English.
There is a discourse in linguistics over whether Chiac is a language or dialect. As media platforms allow more people to publish content, Chiac is used more and becoming more recognized. Many words in Chiac that do not occur in Acadian French, are English words modified to coincide with French phoneme and prosidy. There are also many words from Acadian French that have retained (or changed) their archaic denotations.
While some believe that Chiac dates back as far as the 17th or 18th century, others believe it developed in the 20th century, in reaction to the dominance of English-language media in Canada, the lack of French-language primary and secondary education, the increased urbanization of Moncton, and contact with the dominant
Anglophone
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
community in the area. The origin of the word "Chiac" is not known; some speculate that it is an alteration of "
Shediac
Shediac (official in both languages; ''Shédiac'' is colloquial French) is a heavily Acadian town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. The town is home to the famous Parlee Beach and is known as the "Lobster Capital of the World". It hosts a ...
" or "Es-ed-ei-ik".
In the arts
Acadian writers, poets and musicians such as
Lisa LeBlanc
Lisa LeBlanc (born August 13, 1990), is a Canadian singer-songwriter and banjoist, known for her enthusiastic "trash folk" performances.
Early life
LeBlanc was born in Rosaireville, New Brunswick. She is of Acadian heritage, and comes from a f ...
,
Radio Radio
"Radio Radio" is a song written by Elvis Costello and performed by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. The song originated as a Bruce Springsteen-inspired song called "Radio Soul" that Costello had written in 1974. In 1977, Costello reworked ...
,
France Daigle
France Daigle (born 18 November 1953) is a Canadian author of Acadian ethnicity. Born and raised in Moncton, New Brunswick, she has published nine novels and three plays. She writes in French and has pioneered the use of the Chiac in her written ...
,
Fayo
Mario LeBlanc (born 1977) better known under his stage name Fayo (transl. ''bean''), is an Acadian musician born in Dieppe, New Brunswick. As many artists from south eastern New Brunswick, Fayo sings in chiac, the local French dialect mixing ...
,
Cayouche
Réginald Charles Gagnon, known as Cayouche (born 7th January 1949), is an Acadian singer-songwriter of Acadian French country music. He was born in Moncton, New Brunswick on the eastern coast of Canada.
Early life
At the age of thirteen, ...
, Les Hay Babies, 1755
and many others have produced works in Chiac.
Chiac is also featured in
Acadieman
Acadieman is the first Acadian superhero, created by cartoonist and musician Daniel "Dano" Leblanc. His animated series ''Acadieman'', aired from 2005 to 2009 as a community channel production on Rogers TV, and was then acquired by TV5 Québec C ...
, a comedy about "The world's first Acadian Superhero" by
Dano Leblanc
Dano may refer to:
People
* Dano (name)
* Ken Daneyko (born 1964), Canadian retired National Hockey League player nicknamed "Dano"
Places
* Dano Department, a department or commune in Burkina Faso
* Dano, Burkina Faso, a town and capital of the ...
.
Music:
Bernard Adamus
Bernard Adamus (born December 16, 1977) is a Canadian singer-songwriter based in Quebec, whose music draws on folk, blues, country and hip-hop influences.Acadian people
The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the des ...
*
Acadian French
Acadian French (french: français acadien, acadjonne) is a variety of French spoken by Acadians, mostly in the region of Acadia (region), Acadia, Canada. Acadian French has 7 regional accents, including chiac and brayon.
Phonology
Since there w ...
*
Algic languages
The Algic languages (also Algonquian–Wiyot–Yurok or Algonquian–Ritwan) are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian subfamily, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to ...
*
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages ( or ; also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous American languages that include most languages in the Algic languages, Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language f ...
*
Greater Shediac Greater ShediacGreater Shediac Official Website. is the name given to the area encompassing the
Louisiana Creole
Louisiana Creole ( lou, Kréyòl Lalwizyàn, links=no) is a French-based creole language spoken by fewer than 10,000 people, mostly in the state of Louisiana. It is spoken today by people who may racially identify as White, Black, mixed, and N ...
*
Michif
Michif (also Mitchif, Mechif, Michif-Cree, Métif, Métchif, French Cree) is one of the languages of the Métis people of Canada and the United States, who are the descendants of First Nations (mainly Cree, Nakota, and Ojibwe) and fur trade work ...
* King, Ruth. "Overview and Evaluation of Acadie's joual," in '' Social Lives in Language – Sociolinguistics and multilingual speech communities: Celebrating the Work of Gillian Sankoff'' edited by Miriam Meyerhoff and Naomi Nagy (2008) pp 137ff
* ''Chiac: an example of dialect change and language transfer in Acadian French.'' National Library of Canada, 1987.
*