Belgian French
Belgian French (BF) is a regional variant of the French language in Belgium . It differs mainly in the accent from Swiss French and from French as spoken in France. It is characterized by archaisms and Belgicisms .
Furthermore, Belgian French differs from the Oïl languages , which are also recognized in Belgium, Walloon , Picardy , Lorraine and Champenois .
Since the founding of the state in 1830 , French has been the de facto language of administration , justice and the school system throughout the country . It was not until the 20th century that French was pushed back in the Flemish part of the country and the majority of the Flemish population was able to enforce full equality of their Dutch language .
Phonetics and Phonology
The French used in Belgium can be characterized by linguistic features. Many of the characteristics described go back to a Walloon substrate .
Vowels
In the BF has phoneme / œ / largely intact, which in France since the mid-20th century / ɛ / collapsed. Only in the BF does the minimal pair <brun> [ bʁœ̃ ] (brown) - <brin> [ bʁɛ̃ ] ( straw ) exist , which is homophonic in standard French .
The vowel quantity is phonemic differentiating in the BF, which can be shown by the following minimal pairs:
- The opposition / a / - / A / is in place today in favor of / a / largely discontinued opposition / a / - / ɑ / of France French, z. B. <patte> [ pat ] (paw) - <pâte> [ paːt ] (dough)
- / e / - / e / , z. B. in <aimé> [ ɛme ] (beloved) - <aimée> [ ɛmeː ] (beloved) , ie the grammatical category gender is also realized phonetically
- / ɛ / - / ɛː / , z. B. in <faîte> [ fɛt ] (First) - <fête> [ fɛːt ] (festival)
- / i / - / i / , z. B. in <nid> [ ni ] (nest) - <nie> [ niː ]
- / y / - / y / , z. B. in <nu> [ ny ] (naked) - <nue> [ nyː ] (naked) , also here marking of the gender
When Bernhard Pöll , the following notice is to further the vowel quantity in question feature:
Some phenomena in the field of vocal quality are also typical of the BF: In the final position , the opening of [ o ] > [ ɔ ] and [ e ] > [ ɛ ] possible: [ kafɛ ] <café> (coffee) , [ velɔ ] <vélo> (bicycle) ; occasionally the medial position : [ diplɔm ] <diplôme> (Diploma) . The final word [ eː ] can be diphthongized to [ eɪ̯ ] : [ aleɪ ] <allez>. The group / ɥi / coincides with / wi / : [ wi (t) ] <huit> (eight) (instead of [ ɥi (t) ]) like [ wi ] <oui> (ja) . Finally, oral vowels from the Nasal / m / and / n / are nasalized: [ pɔɛm ] <poème> (poem) , [ ʁɛn ] <pure> (queen) .
The usual in France French strategy for Hiatvermeidung in words such as lion (Lion) or avion (air) , so the attenuation of [ i ] to semivowel [ j ] so [ ljɔ ] and [ avjɔ ] is rarely used , except for words with the suffixes -tion or -lion . Instead one speaks [ liɔ̃ ] and [ aviɔ̃ ]. In other cases, a is between the two successive striking vowels glide [ w ] or [ j ] inserted. One speaks [ fuwɛ ] <fouet> (whip) , [ tɛjaːtʁ ] <théâtre> (theater) instead of [ fwɛ ] and [ teaːtʁ / teɑtʁ ] as in France .
The letter combination li + vowel, e.g. B. <milieu> (environment) or <milliard> (Billion) , the ortho epic [ lj would] speak, can be used as a simple semi-vowel [ j ] realized that in [ mijo ] and [ mijaːʁ results].
Consonants
The BF knows one of devoicing in German , Dutch and other languages comparable Desonorisierung word final obstruents , so [ b ] > [ p ] , [ ɡ ] > [ k ] , [ z ] > [ s ] , [ ʒ ] > [ ʃ ] and [ v ] > [ f ] . Examples: [ bɔ̃p ] <bombe> (bomb) , [ dɔk ] <dogue> (mastiff) , [ ʁos ] <rose> (rose) , [ bɛlʃ ] <belge> (Belgian) , [ ynif ] <univ>. The phonemes concerned are in opposition in standard French. / dɔɡ / <dogue> and / dɔk / <dock> (dock) are considered a minimum pair, unlike in Belgium.
In connection with the reduction of consonant clusters in the final phase, the disonification can lead to unusual sound images such as [ taːp ] <table> (table) .
When words such as terrible (terrible) , in which according to what has been said with a pronunciation as [ tɛʁiːp ] is to be expected, is at least in Brussels a resolution of [ b ] + [ l ] to [ bǝl ] with an inserted Schwa in question.
Instead of the combinations [ tj ] and [ dj ] with a palatal approximant , e.g. B. moitié (half) or Didier, can, depending on the preceding plosive , affricates using the voiced and the unvoiced postalveolar fricative occur, so [ mwaʧe (ː) / mwaʧeɪ ], [ diʤe (ː) / diʤeɪ ].
Others
The pronunciation of proper names from Dutch by BF speakers is generally closer to the Dutch pronunciation than the pronunciation of these names by speakers of French outside Belgium. The proper name Vandervelde (ndl. [ V̊ɑndərˈv̊ɛɫdə ]), for example, would probably be pronounced [ vɑ̃nd (vɛld (ə) ] by many Francophones in France , while in Belgium a pronunciation more similar to Dutch such as [ fandɛʁfɛldə ] is to be expected. This phenomenon can e.g. For example, you can see it on Belgian news broadcasts, in which political reporting often mentions bearers of Dutch names. Similar phenomena can also be observed in other multilingual societies such as Canada or Switzerland , where speakers often have to deal with proper names that are foreign to them.
With the active bilingual speakers of Belgian French, who are primarily to be found in Brussels, interference phenomena on the phonetic-phonological level can be added to the above :
The name Bruxelles could therefore be pronounced [ brysɛɫ ] compared to the standard French [ bʁysɛl ] or [ bʁyksɛl ] (cf. Dutch [ ˈbrɵsəɫ ]).
spelling, orthography
The river “ Semois ” flowing through Belgium is called “Semoy” in France.
Lexics and semantics
Some of the Belgicisms are names for specifically Belgian institutions (statalisms), which are rarely referred to outside of Belgium, for example the following expressions: bourgmestre instead of maire (mayor) , échevin instead of adjoint au maire (councilor) , commune instead municipalité (municipality) , candidature (academic degree), as well as communauté (community) and its derivatives (communautaire, communautariser ...), which refer to the division of the country into language communities , and flamingant, wallingant and belgicain as names for the representatives of Flemish and Walloon Aspirations for autonomy and the proponents of centralism .
The Belgianisms also include some Dutchisms , e.g. B. babeler = causer, cf. ndl. babbling ( chatting, chatting ) or the expression ça cloppe = ça colle, cf. ndl. dat klopt ( that's right ).
Instead of soixante-dix (70) and quatre-vingt-dix (90), septante and nonante are used in Belgium as well as in francophone Switzerland . It should be noted, however, that the expression huitante, which is common in French-speaking Switzerland , is not used instead of quatre-vingt (80) in Belgium.
Also regionalisms can be counted among the Belgizismen when their range is largely covered with Belgium. One example is gosette, the name for a pastry that comes from Walloon, or la drache, a word for rain that is only used in Belgium. La drache nationale is the rain shower that falls on July 21st, almost traditionally on the national holiday.
Finally, there are some expressions that are used in Belgium but are considered out of date outside of Belgium. Examples are entièreté instead of Latinism totalité (totality) . Examples of such archaisms are also some anglicisms from the field of sport such as back, forward or keeper, which were adopted into French when football , which originated in England , became popular on the continent, but has since been replaced in France by French expressions.
In addition, there are also innovations in the BF that have not caught on outside of Belgium, including neologisms that are formed with the help of derivations , such as B. navette > navetteur (commuter traffic > commuter) .
literature
- Dico Belgicismes (French)
- Johannes Kramer: Bilingualism in the Benelux countries. With 11 cards. Hamburg 1984.
- Bernhard Pöll: French outside of France. History, status and profile of regional and national varieties (Romance workbooks 42). Tubingen 1998
- Heinz Jürgen Wolf: The French in Belgium . In: Wolfgang Dahmen et al. (Ed.): Germanic and Romansh in Belgium and Luxemburg (Romance Colloquium VI). Tübingen 1992
Web links
- Belgicisms - list of over 200 terms (jchr.be)
- Base de données lexicographiques panfrancophone (BDLP), Québec
Individual evidence
- ↑ For a description of this development cf. Kramer: Bilingualism in the Benelux countries, p. 59ff.
- ^ Bernhard Pöll: French outside France, p. 50
- ↑ See Kramer, p. 106
- ↑ the first two expressions from a more extensive list in Wolf: The French in Belgium, pp. 103f., The others from the Dico Belgicismes