Utilisateur:CJ Withers/Français québécois

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Le français québécois (le québécois, le français du Québec, voire le français canadien) est la variété ou le dialecte le plus dominant et le plus répandu de la langue française au Canada.

La majorité des locuteurs du français québécois réside au Québec. Pourtant, dans ses registres courant, familier ou soutenu, ce dialecte est également utilisé par les importantes minorités francophones dans des régions limitrophes de l'Ontario et du Nouveau-Brunswick, ainsi que par les petites communautés francophones dans le Maine, le New Hampshire et le Vermont aux États-Unis.

Le français québécois est souvent appelé « le français canadien » par ceux ignorant l'existence du français acadien (autre dialecte régional du français au Canada) ou par ceux n'ayant pas connaissance du statut du Québec en tant que bastion de la langue française en Amérique du Nord.


Sommaire

[modifier] Vive la différence? - appellations et (mé)connaissances

[modifier] Pareil mais "distinct"

Loin d'être un dialecte archaïque ou de l'argot, le français québécois est, sous deux aspects, identique à toutes les autres variétés régionales du français. Premièrement, toutes les variétés régionales normalisées de la langue française utilisent la même orthographe et la même grammaire. Deuxièmement, comme c'est le cas avec toute variété régionale, le français québécois possède un éventail de variations internes selon les registres de langue et d'autres facteurs sociaux. À titre d'exemple, le français normalisé du Québec et celui de l'Europe emploient des graphies et des conjugaisons identiques. Pourtant, en même temps, le français québécois et, disons, le français métropolitain disposent de leurs propres régionalismes, prononciations et types d'argots (le joual, le verlan, le javanais, le louchebem, etc.).

[modifier] Do you speak franglais?

Également, on ne doit pas confondre le français québécois avec le franglais (ou le « Frenglish »), le nom courant de trois phénomènes linguistiques distincts que l'on trouve au Québec, au Canada et dans d'autres lieux où cohabitent les langues française et anglaise. D'abord, le "franglais" peut signifier une interlangue qui résulte du mélange de l'anglais et du français et vice versa. Cette pratique langagière est répandue chez les apprenants de langue étrangère et parmi certains locuteurs du français ou de l'anglais dont la langue maternelle est autre. Ensuite, le terme "franglais" peut faire allusion à l'alternance-codique pratiquée par les personnes bilingues. Finalement, le terme peut également désigner l'emploi (non) voulu des anglicismes ou des gallicismes, une pratique tant méprisée que vantée dans toutes les variétés de français et d'anglais.


[modifier] Histoire

Main article: History of Quebec French

Le français québécois n'est pas synonyme de l'ancien français - ancêtre lointain dont l'existence date de 1000 à 1300 CE et qui, à plusieurs égards, ressemblait au latin. Les origines du français québécois sont issues plutôt des variétés régionales du début du français moderne du XVIIe et de XVIIIe siècles (aussi connu sous le nom « français classique ») et d'autres langues d'oïl (le normand, le picard, etc.) que les colons français ont amenées en Nouvelle-France. Le français québécois s'est développé à partir de cette base linguistique et a été transformé par les influences suivantes (classées par période historique) :

[modifier] New France

Unlike in continental France during the 17th and 18th centuries, French in New France became fairly unified (see Barbeau's book below). It also began to borrow words, especially place names such as "Québec", "Canada" and "Hochelaga", from Amerindian languages due to contacts with First Nations peoples.

[modifier] British Regime

With the onset of the British Regime in 1760, Quebec French became isolated from European French. This period started with efforts to gain and success in guaranteeing French settlers cum British subjects rights to French law, the Roman Catholic faith, and the French language. Such early yet difficult success was followed by a socio-cultural retreat, if not repression, that would later help preserve French in Canada.

[modifier] Latter half of the 19th century

After Canadian Confederation, Québec started to become industrialized and thus experienced increased contact with English speakers. Québec business, especially with the rest of Canada and with the United States, was conducted in English. Also, communications to and within the Canadian federal government were conducted almost exclusively in English. This period included as well a sharp rise in the number of English-speaking immigrants from what are now the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. This was particularly noticeable in Montréal, the face of which grew majoritarily English-speaking. As a cumulative result, Quebec French began to borrow massively from both American and Canadian English to fill lexical gaps in the fields of government, law, manufacturing, business and trade.

[modifier] WWI to 1959

As of World War I the majority of Québec's population lived in urban areas. Also, from WWI to the death of Maurice Duplessis in 1959, Québec experienced massive modernization. It is during this period that French-language radio and television broadcasting, albeit with a façade of European pronunciation, began in Canada. While Quebec French borrowed many English-language brand names during this time, Québec's first modern terminological efforts bore a French lexicon for (ice) hockey, the national sport of Canada. Following WWII, Québec began to receive large waves of allophone immigrants who would acquire French or English, but most commonly the latter.

[modifier] 1959 to 1982

From the Quiet Revolution to the passing of Bill 101, Quebec French 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.

[modifier] 1982 to present

The post-Bill 101 period is marked by an explosion in information and communications technologies in the 1980's and 1990's and Québec's increased use of English on both North American and global scales. Nonetheless, in Québec the rate of assimilation towards English was virtually eliminated. This period is also the beginning of sizeable exports of Quebec-French cultural products and Quebec-French terminology work particularly in technical fields.

[modifier] Social perception and language policy

[modifier] Standardization

[modifier] Variation régionale

In the informal registers of Quebec French, regional variation lies in pronunciation and lexis (vocabulary). The regions most commonly associated with such variation are Montréal (esp. the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Borough), the Beauce region, the Gaspé Peninsula, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, and Québec City. It should be noted, however, that residing or having been raised in a region does not indicate how a speaker of Quebec French will sound. There are many social and individual variables that influence a person’s speech. Nonetheless, one can say that with the rise in mass media, communications, higher education levels plus increased travel and relocation among the population, instances of regional variation are on the decline.

See Quebec French pronunciation and Quebec French lexicon for examples and further information.

[modifier] Linguistic structure

[modifier] Phonology

[modifier] Vowels

Systematic, i.e. in all unmonitored speech:

  • /œ̃/ and /ɑ/ as phonemes distinct from /ɛ̃/ and from /a/ respectively
  • [ɪ], [ʏ], [ʊ] are laxed allophones of /i/, /y/, /u/ in closed syllables
  • Under certain conditions, long vowels in final (stressed) syllables
  • Drop of schwa /ə/

Observable in some but not all unmonitored speech:

  • Variants for /ɛ̃/ are tensed into [e ̃] or [ĩ] whereas [ɑ̃] is fronted into [ã]
  • Diphthongs as variants to long vowels
  • [we] (written as "oé") as a variant of [wa] and in contrast to [wɑ]

[modifier] Consonants

Systematic:

  • /t/ and /d/ affricated to [ts] and [dz] before /i/, /y/, /u/ and their allophones [ɪ], [ʏ], [ʊ]
  • Drop of liquids /l/ and (written as "l" and "r") in unstressed position with schwa or unstressed intervocalic position

Observable in some but not all unmonitored speech:

  • Trilled "r" - [r] (a disappearing phenomenon restricted to speakers over 30 yrs. old originally from areas west of Trois-Rivières)


For detailed information on other topics in phonology in Quebec French, such as prosody, see Quebec French pronunciation.

For phonological comparisons of Quebec French, Belgian French, Meridional French, and Metropolitain French, see French phonology.

[modifier] Syntax

Overall, Quebec French syntax differs very little from the syntax of other regional dialects of French. In French-speaking Canada, however, the characteristic differences of Quebec French syntax are not considered standard despite their high-frequency in everyday, relaxed speech.

What follow are examples of the most common distinctive constructions in Quebec French syntax. For comparison, a standard French used throughout la Francophonie (including Quebec and francophone Canada) is given in paretheses with the corresponding English translation given afterwards in italics. Note that some of the following constuctions can also be found in other regional dialects of French such as Acadian French and dialects in Western France.


  • Embedded questions using interrogative pronouns instead of relative pronouns:


Je comprends qu'est-ce que tu veux dire. (Je comprends ce que tu veux dire.) I understand what you mean.


  • Relative clauses using "que" as an all-purpose relative pronoun:


J'ai trouvé le document que j'ai besoin. (J'ai trouvé le document dont j'ai besoin.) I found / I've found the document I need.
C'est la femme que je sors avec. (C'est la femme avec qui je sors.) She's the woman I'm going out with.


  • Particle "-tu" used to ask "yes/no" questions or to form tag questions. In this last use, "-tu" functions in the same way as "n'est-ce pas":


C'est-tu prêt? (Est-ce prêt? / C'est prêt? / Est-ce que c'est prêt?) Is it ready?
On a-tu bien mangé? (On a bien mangé, n'est-ce pas?) We ate well, didn't we?


  • Both affirmative and negative imperatives; may bear a velours, i.e. a non-standard liaison in /z/ to avoid vowel hiatus:


Donne-moi-z-en ! ( Donne-m'en! ) Give me some!
Donne-moi-z-en pas ! ( (Ne) m'en donne pas! ) Don't give me any!

[modifier] Pronouns

Specific examples for the following characteristics can be found in the article on Quebec French syntax.


  • Also common to the rest of la 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 normally call for 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 goes relatively unnoticed.


  • As in the rest of la Francophonie, -L- drops in il, ils, lui, les, le/la; celui; etc. in informal registers and rapid speech. In Quebec French only, elle becomes [a] and less often [ɛ] written a or e in eye dialect. Note that the loss of -L- in elle was not always limited to Quebec French since it also occurred in parts of France up to the early 20th century, as documented in Jean Giono's novel Colline (1928). See more about the loss of -L- in the article on Quebec French pronunciation.


  • In informal registers, the subject pronouns tu/ils can be heard instead of on or a subject of a 3rd person pronomial verb (erroneously taught by the name "reflexive verb"). Attributed to general you/they used in all English registers and regions, this is one of the very few possible influences of English on Quebec French aside from vocabulary. This use is sometimes found in the formal registers esp. in spontaneous radio and television interviews. Note that there are some surface-structure or possible topic shifts; the basic meaning, however, is identical.


  • -autres In informal registers, the stress/tonic pronouns for the plural subject pronouns have the suffix –autres, pronounced /o:t/ and written –aut’ in eye dialect. Nous-autres, vous-autres, and eux-autres are comparable to the Spanish forms nos(otros/as) and vos(otros/as), yet the usage and meanings are different. Note that elle-autres does not exist; see “Absence of elles” below.


  • With the preposition chez, the pronouns nous/vous/eux replace moi/toi/lui-elle, respectively. Note that chez elles does not exist (in the informal registers); see “Absence of elles” below.


  • Absence of elles - Elles does not exist in the informal registers; it is replaced with the subject pronoun ils and the stress/tonic pronoun eux(-autres). This all-purpose ils/eux often can be quite common in the formal registers esp. in spontaneous radio or television interviews. Note that ils for elles is at times uttered by women when speaking about other women, even in a feminist context. This phenomenon is in stark contrast to the wide-spread and virtually automatic use of feminized titles / occupations, e.g. des écrivaines, professeures et ministres québécoises, across all registers in Quebec French. See article on Quebec French lexicon for more details.

[modifier] 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 characteristics of Quebec French verbs are restricted mainly to:

  • Verbal periphrasis
J'étais pour te dire. (J'allais te dire. / J'étais sur le point de te dire.) I was going/about to tell you.
Avoir su, j'aurais... (Si j'avais su, j'aurais...) Had I known, I would have...
J'étais après travailler quand ils sont arrivés. (J'avais travaillé depuis un certain temps quand ils sont arrivés.) I'd been working when they came.
M'as le faire. (Je vais le faire. / Je le ferai.); akin to "ahma" /ɑmə/ in Southern American English - I'm a do it. (I'm going to do it.)
  • Regularization
1. In the present indicative, the forms of aller (to go) are regularized as /vɑ/ 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.
2. 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.
3. In the present indicative of haïr (to hate) in the singular is /a.i/ (with a hiatus between vowels only) and is written j'haïs, tu haïs, il/elle haït. In Metropolitan French and in standard Quebec French in the media, the form is pronounced /.ɛ/, in which the hiatus precedes the vowel, and is written as je hais, tu hais, il/elle hait.
  • Differentiation
1. 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 Metropolitain 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.
2. 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/.
3. Informal ils jousent (they play) is often heard for ils jouent and is most likely due to an old anology with ils cousent (they sew).

[modifier] Vocabulary (lexis)

See Quebec French lexicon for more examples and further explanation.

The distinctive features of the Quebec French lexis are:

  • lexical items formerly common to both France and New France and that are today unique only to Quebec French; (This includes expressions and word forms that have the same form elsewhere in La Francophonie, yet have a different denotation or connotation.)
  • borrowings from Amerindian languages, esp. place names;
  • les sacres - Quebec French profanity (see separate article);
  • many loanwords, calques and other borrowings from English in the 19th and 20th centuries, whether such borrowings are considered standard French or not;
  • 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:
1. suffixes: -eux/euse, -age, -able, and -oune
2. reduplication (as in the international French word guéguerre): bibite, cacanne, etc.
3. reduplication plus -oune: chouchoune, doudoune, foufounes, gougounes, moumoune, nounoune, poupoune, toutoune.


[modifier] Linguistic relatives and neighbors

[modifier] Regional varieties of French

  • Metropolitan French - spoken mainly in Metropolitan France


[modifier] Mixed languages and creoles formed from French (N.A. & the Caribbean)

  • Haitian Creole - (Fr. + West African languages) spoken in Haiti and the Haitian Diaspora
  • Louisiana Creole - (same origins as Haitian Creole) spoken in Louisiana, USA

[modifier] See also

  • French language (Modern French)
  • French phonology
  • History of the French language
  • French in Canada
  • Quebec French lexicon
  • Quebec French profanity
  • Non-sexist language in French
  • Joual
  • Gaspésie French
  • Saguenay French
  • Acadian French

[modifier] References

Modèle:French dialects

Category:French language French Category:Languages of Canadafr:Français québécois