28 | living culture
‘‘ Boudu! C’'est gavé de patois par ici! ’’ Although the difference between French accents might be less obvious than in other languages, France does have a rich and varied network of local dialects, known as “patois”, and which are still going strong today. WORDS: JESSICA KNIPE
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he common French language that we all know and love took precedence over the country’s 10 official regional languages awhile ago now, but the various patois won’t give up the ghost that easily. Apart from being used by those who fight to keep them a part of their everyday lives, French people and foreigners learning the language in France might be unconsciously repeating words and expressions that are direct descendants of these languages of the past. There are three main dialects attributed to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine: occitane, basque and oïl. Basque is found right down south, on the border with Spain, but as you climb northwards up the coast you’ll no doubt be met with some gascon, saintongeais or poitevin words and expressions. That’s because, far from simply being the
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domain of specialists and nostalgic historians, some of the vocabulary which makes up this patriotic part of France’s identity has been absorbed into the French language, and is now used on a daily basis. It’s even thought that the saintongeais patois is at the root of acadien, which went into the mix when québécois was created in Canada. The CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), France’s national think-tank, has recently taken a particular interest in these local dialects, as some regions battle to make it part of their school
Poche
A bag, used to carry shopping for example. This one confuses even the French. Anywhere north of Poitiers or east of Limoges, “une poche” suddenly becomes “un sac”, and cashiers in Nouvelle-Aquitaine will look askew at anyone asking for “un sac”, which does in fact mean “bag” in French. This doesn’t mean that the poche (or pocket) of your coat suddenly becomes a sac, though.
