When the French drop “suddenly” for “fag.”

When she arrived in the metropolis seven years ago, Frenchwoman Nadège Fournier noticed with surprise that her fellow residents sometimes had a completely different accent from hers.

A linguistics student, she turned her question into a doctoral project to discover the extent to which French living in Montreal had adopted elements of Quebec French. To answer this question, he teamed up with Julie Auger, a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Translation at the University of Montreal.

Over the course of several years, they interviewed 35 French people, men and women, sometimes new to Montreal, sometimes more than eight years.

Already, one observation emerges: it is “very common” for “du sati” to be replaced by “fog” or “fog”.

“In France, a lot of people criticize younger people who say “sudden” every three words. People here get “féque”. They don't pronounce it like us, they say “féque” more often. But we see that it's integrated into their speech,” says M.^me Auger.

Another observation: “Here it is” would be changed to “That's it” because they were in Quebec for so long.

Prof. Auger notes that French people sometimes say to themselves that it is better not to adopt the way you speak in order to integrate into Quebec.

“If you always speak in the French way, twisting your mouth and, as they say, you run the risk of being left out,” says Julie Auger.

Nadège Fournier says some participants believed they wanted to speak like Quebecers, but feared it would be considered “a travesty.”

M^me Fournier says that as a linguist, he “doesn't judge”.

“Participants said that they correct their children when they make such mistakes, but also put a “tabarnak” in the interviews,” says Nadège Fournier with a laugh.

In this regard, Julie Auger explains, sociological studies show that people benefit from talking like the people around them. “We do it unconsciously. We do it because we need to establish connections, to create something together,” he explains.

Toé and moé, from France to Quebec

The participants interviewed were from Paris, but also from the north and west of France, where French speakers share characteristics with Quebec French.

As part of this study, we will try to find out if people from these regions prefer to change Quebec vocabulary or phraseology unlike Parisians, for example, who may be more resistant to changing French.

Do they pick up other tricks from here? Julie Auger notes that the French don't use inversion when asking questions. “Are you coming to see me tomorrow?” They will say that. “Are you coming to see me tomorrow?” rather than » “.

“In Quebec, it's a construction we use a lot. It's not familiar, it's not standard. The French think we speak well,” says M.^me Auger.

Acquiring another type of one's language varies depending on each person's personal journey: with whom one shares one's life, with whom one works, or not. “There are a lot of different factors,” says Julie Auger.

Nadège Fournier is a good example of the influence of those around her: for four years, she shared her life with a Beauceron.

“At that point, I adopted more Québécois elements,” he says. She asked for “tsé” or “in any case” at the beginning of a sentence, and accepted “moé itou” or “but let me do it.”

But over the past three years, she's noticed that the way she talks has changed again. “It will change,” he says.