How was French spoken on the shores of Lower Louisiana in the 19th century?
Before 1861, the Acadian dialect
"was the language of three quarters of its inhabitants".
And then, with the Civil War,
"its decomposition was rapid".
It is on the basis of this observation that a man, perhaps
"planter, priest or simply curious",
decided to list in a glossary the talk of this people.
Completed in 1901, then published in 1932,
Les Acadiens louisianais et leur dire
reappears in its original version by Lux.
The work opens with a brief history of the deportation of the Acadians, leading to their customs, traditions and language. What is she? It comes in two forms: Creole,
"French transported directly from France"
and Acadian,
"French from Canada",
which is the subject of major particularities.
The unnamed author identifies words that deviate from their French analogues.
Let us quote: "jerk" (moment, some time), "chamois" (name of ox), "interested" (miser), "to ride naked" (to ride an unsaddled horse), "to fall" (to be attacked by epilepsy). ).
From this lexicon emanate a certain English influence: "drink" (drink), "expressman" (postman), "godamer" (swear in English), a folklore and a world of legends: "jack" (genius who rides the horses at night), "warwaron" (green frog as big as two fists, whose voice resembles that of a roaring bull), "warou" (werewolf) ...
Obviously, this painting of Louisiana Acadians reveals certain prejudices of the time.
But it does resuscitate the soul of a people and its French survivals which still resist in America.
Interesting.
The Louisian Acadians and their talk Edited by Jay K. Ditchy, Lux, 280 p., € 18.
