Paw Paw French
| Missouri French | |
|---|---|
| français du Missouri | |
| Native to | Missouri |
| Region | Missouri and elsewhere along the Mississippi River valley |
|
Native speakers
|
Unknown; perhaps a few dozen (2014) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
Missouri French (French: français du Missouri), also known as Illinois Country French and nicknamed "Paw-Paw French" or, in the dialect itself, la française assimine, is a nearly extinct variety of the French language formerly spoken in the upper Mississippi River Valley in the Midwestern United States, particularly in eastern Missouri. Once spoken widely across the region known as the Illinois Country or Upper Louisiana, the dialect is now highly endangered, with only a few elderly local residents able to speak it.
It is one of the major forms of French that developed in what is now the United States, the others being Louisiana French, New England French, Muskrat French and Métis French.
Ulrich Ammon compares it to the other two major forms of French that developed within the present-day United States: Louisiana French and New England French, which he considers largely a New England variety of Canadian French. J.-M. Carrière, who studied the dialect in the 1930s, described it as generally similar to other North American varieties, though with a number of distinguishing features. Notably, he found that Missouri French had been heavily influenced by English, with many English words and even entire idiomatic phrases borrowed or translated into the dialect. The variety features few borrowings from Spanish, African and Native American languages, which are common in Louisiana French.
The dialect contains vocabulary and grammar structure found in Louisiana French, but not Canadian French. Many phonological elements, however, are more similar to Canadian French than other varieties. Other phonological elements are unique in North American French, sometimes retaining archaic elements; for example Missouri French retains the [o] common in 16th-century French that has evolved into [u] in most other dialects.
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Wikipedia