Newsgroups: can.francais
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!neat.ai.toronto.edu!lamy
From: lamy@ai.utoronto.ca (Jean-Francois Lamy)
Subject: Re: la prononciation de la langue franc/aise
Message-ID: <89Jan11.110654est.38266@neat.ai.toronto.edu>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
Distribution: can
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 89 11:06:46 EST

That's one question I get asked quite often.  I see three major differences
between Quebec French and (Parisian) French.  One is that you need to put your
dentures on to speak Parisian French :-), as humorist Michel Barrette would
put it.  Quebecois tend to run words together. More seriously, there is a
difference in accent, and many Quebecois still say "moe'" instead of "moi" (as
was the rule in 1750 in France).  Pronounciation of Quebec French also has
peculiarities: "tu" is pronounced "tsu", "di" is pronounced "dzi", "an", "on",
"in", "un" are extremely nasal in Quebec compared to Parisian French. "oi"
becomes "waah", or "weeeh"

A second one is that vocabulary is often different: old words still linger
"maganer" for "endommager".  English words were borrowed "back house" ->
"be'cosse", "factory" -> "factrie" (especially after 20% of the population
moved to New England and industry developped -- your boss was English, in all
likelyhood). More recently french-sounding words have been used instead of
English words borrowed in France "magasiner en fin de semaine" in Quebec vs
"faire son shopping le week-end" in France.

A third one is that syntax itself has changed. "Est-ce que tu viens ce soir?"
-> "Tu viens ce soir?" -> "Tu viens-tu ce soir?" -> "Tu viens tu a soir?" ->
"tsuvientsuaswer" (which Montrealers pronounce with no pause at all).  No
wonder Parisian French speakers dont catch a thing :-).  Also pervasive is the
use of English syntax with French words: "La chose que je parle de", or
litteral translation of English idioms: "Ca fait du sens".

So what you hear on Radio-Canada is Parisian French syntax, with hints of
Quebec pronounciations (tsu and dzi are common) and French-Canadian words when
the Parisian equivalent is ill-suited or plain dumb.

Jean-Francois Lamy               lamy@ai.utoronto.ca, uunet!ai.utoronto.ca!lamy
AI Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4