Lexicology: Geographical variation

Geographical Variation: 

• International varieties of French are defined by their vocabularies
• Varieties - Belgian, Swiss, Quebecois, Algerian etc

Belgicismes: 

• kokoteur = colocateur
• aubette = arrêt de bus
• bourgmestre = maire
• Also use prepositions differently
• e.g. derrière le coin vs au coin 
• Michel Francard - le projet Valibel to record Belgicismes

Québécismes:

• à tantôt = à toute à l'heure
• le souper = le dîner
• un breuvage = un boisson
• Many of these words exist in metropolitan French but they're not as common
• Quebecois French is much more advanced in the feminisation of professions - e.g. une femme-ingénieur
• The language has a heavy English influence 
• e.g. nouns - un shop, un record, verbs - checker, afforder, kicker
• loan translations - melon d'eau

Socio-geographical context: 

• Regional varieties of French of have unique words which reflect phenomena specific to that region
• e.g. motoneige (snowmobile), souffleuse (snow blower) érablière (shop for maple syrup) 

 Metropolitan French: 

• Diversity also exists within Metropolitan French
• variation from region to region
• Haute-Marne (NE France) 
• la verne - NW wind
• les chevris - april showers
• West France
• la borderaie - small farm
• Toulouse 
• le Franchiman - Northerner
• le cacarot - immigrant labourer
• la pipine - open air theatre

Semantic differences:

• The meaning of some words differs in some regions from standard French
• West
• Affligé - afflicted (standard)/sick (West)
• S'écarter - distance o.s. (standard)/get lost (West)
• Lyon
• Allée - alley (standard)/footpath (Lyon)
• Tantôt - soon (standard)/afternoon (Lyon)
• Haute-Marne
• Différent - different (standard)/unpleasant (HM)
• Épier - look out (standard)/hesitate (HM)
• St. Etienne
• Peinable vs pénible
• Amiteux vs affecteux
• Regretteux vs difficile

Regionalisms:

• words that have filtered into standard French from regional varieties through language contact
• West
• le chai - liquor store (relates to local produce)
• Provence
• la bouillabaisse
• La pétangue
• Picardie (coal mining region)
• la houille - coal 
• Normandie
• Le homand, la crevette - types of fish 

Standard Lexicalised Norms:

• There is an established 'standard vocabulary' in French, but what linguistic norm is it based on?
• Why is metropolitan French more standard than the regional varieties?

Attitudinal Issues in Identifying Local Standard Norms:

• A negative attitude exists regarding certain language varieties
• e.g. Standard Quebecois French is pejoratively nicknamed 'joual' after their pronunciation of 'cheval'
• Pierre Trudeau (former Prime Minister of Canada) referred to Quebecois French as 'lousy French'

Origins of Quebecois French: 

• French emigrants came to Canada from western ports e.g. Nantes
• 'New France' was annexed by Britain 
• this lead to a very strong English influence and the speakers were increasingly separated from France

Linguistic Prescriptivism:

• Quebecois French is not the standard variety of French for governing bodies in Quebec
• e.g. Radio Canada offered linguistic training to help people comply with the required standard metropolitan French
• The Office de la langue française positively enhanced attitudes regarding Quebecois French by creating a dictionary of Quebecois words and the corresponding words in standard French
• supporting the idea of Quebecois norms 
• Positions regarding language norms: 
• Aménagiste position - accepting for different norms in different places
• Conservative position - only metropolitan French is the standard
• Many dictionary projects in Quebec attempt to define what is and isn't standard - like Francus Project