Chiac
| Chiac | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Canada |
| Region | Acadian communities throughout the Maritime provinces, mainly around Moncton, Shediac and Memramcook |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| Linguasphere | 51-AAA-am |
Chiac is a vernacular Acadian French language with influences from English and various Canadian aboriginal languages. It is spoken by many Acadians in southeast New Brunswick, especially among youth near Moncton, Dieppe, Memramcook and Shediac and is becoming increasingly popular among the youth in the area. Chiac is a relatively recent development of the French language whose growth was spurred in the 1960s by the dominance of English-language media in Canada, increased urbanization of Moncton, and contact with the dominant Anglophone community in the area. The word 'Chiac' is believed to be derived from "Shediac". University of Orléans linguist Marie‑Ève Perrot describes Chiac as "the integration and transformation of English lexical, syntactic, morphological, and phonetic forms into French structures".
The roots and base of Chiac are Acadian French, a spoken French often tinged with nautical terms (e.g. haler, embarquer), reflecting the historical importance of the sea to the local economy. Chiac also contains some older French words (e.g., bailler, quérir, hucher, gosier) which are now deemed archaic by the Académie Française, as well as aboriginal-derived terms, notably from Mi'kmaq, evident in words such as matues, meaning 'porcupine'. Chiac uses primarily French syntax with French-English vocabulary and phrase forms (see below). It is often deprecated by both French and English speakers as an ill-conceived hybrid language — either "bad" French or "bad" English. See franglais for a wider discussion of this phenomenon. The collected works of Goncourt prize-winner Antonine Maillet, and her play La Sagouine in particular illustrate this variation of French very well.
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