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New England French
New England French (French: français de Nouvelle-Angleterre) is a variety of French spoken in the New England region of the United States. It descends from Canadian French because it originally came from French Canadians who immigrated to New England during the Grande Hémorragie.
New England French is one of the major forms of the French language that developed in what is now the United States, the others being Louisiana French and the nearly extinct Missouri French, Muskrat French and Métis French. The dialect is the predominant form of French spoken in New England (apart from standard French), except in the Saint John Valley of northern Aroostook County, Maine, where Brayon French predominates.
The dialect is endangered. After the First World War, laws were instituted banning immersive bilingual teaching outside of dedicated foreign-language classes, and during the 1960s and 1970s some public schools disciplined students for speaking French in school; however, in recent years it has seen renewed interest and is supported by bilingual education programs in place since 1987. A continuing trend of reduced bilingual and foreign-language education has affected the language's prevalence in younger generations. However, cultural programs in recent years have led to renewed interest between older generations speaking the dialect, and the language has also been bolstered by newly arrived refugee populations from Francophone Africa in cities such as Lewiston.
Dating back to the earliest colonial period, a French presence remained in New England with its proximity to Quebec, even after many Acadians were exiled in Le Grand Dérangement and later settled in Spanish Louisiana. Although the French and Indian War would leave distance between the Yankee and Franco settlers, the role of France in the American Revolution as well as the contributions of French military figures like Rochambeau in the Siege of Yorktown, engendered an alliance against Loyalists at that time.
Early figures from French stock who would become a part of the American narrative included Peter Faneuil, Gov. James Bowdoin, and Paul Revere, all descendants of Huguenots who fled persecution to the New World. However, while Faneuil and Bowdoin both spoke fluently, the latter encouraged his son James Bowdoin III to learn the language, but was described as decidedly pro-British after the Revolution, for his disdain at France's reversion of the Edict of Nantes. In contrast, born to a French household, Revere (anglicized from Rivoire) only spoke the English of the Bay Province, though he had family who spoke the French language in Boston and overseas, and would correspond with them, having replies translated for him.
The French language remained extant in Boston during its time as a British colony, though not abundant, one reason being a fear of the influence of Catholicism; academically this prevented the language from gaining early acceptance at Harvard, when its first instructor was dismissed in 1735, after two years of teaching, due to rumors of converting students from Protestantism. Six decades later, one of the first publishers of a French textbook in the Americas was Harvard's first salaried French instructor, Joseph Nancrède, who compiled then-contemporary French texts and published them alongside limited English translations in his L'Abeille Françoise in 1792. Years before, in 1789, Nancrède established the first French newspaper of Boston, a short-lived weekly published for six months that year which he described in its prospectus as a means to foster commerce between the Americans and French-speaking world, and "to convey adequate ideas of the Majesty of Congress to nations who scarcely know that there is one existing."
Outside of Boston, prior to the Industrial Revolution and the Second Industrial Revolution, the influence of French settlers in New England was diminished almost entirely following the end of the French and Indian War and the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which gave control of the region to the British. During this time many of Vermont's earliest settlers returned to Quebec; however, the Vermont Archaeological Society has noted in the past that a small number of French remained settled, at farms too remote to meet the notice of the fledgling colonial government. Similarly, Maine was claimed by the French to the east of the Kennebec River, and during the expulsion of the Acadians, French culture largely left that landscape as well.
Prior to the Great Migration of the Québécois during the Second Industrial Revolution, one of the earliest examples of New England French arose from the Papineau Rebellion in Lower Canada. Following the rebellion, Ludger Duvernay, one of the 26 patriot leaders arrested by Canadian authorities for printing articles critical of the British colonial government, went into exile in the States. Formerly publishing La Minerve in Montreal, he issued a prospectus for a French-language paper in 1838, hoping Americans would support a journal that promoted civil rights and independence in Lower Canada. He set up in Burlington, Vermont, what was described as the first French-Canadian American newspaper, publishing the first issue of Le Patriote Canadien on August 7, 1839, for both Canadians across the border and a patriot community in the United States.
Hub AI
New England French AI simulator
(@New England French_simulator)
New England French
New England French (French: français de Nouvelle-Angleterre) is a variety of French spoken in the New England region of the United States. It descends from Canadian French because it originally came from French Canadians who immigrated to New England during the Grande Hémorragie.
New England French is one of the major forms of the French language that developed in what is now the United States, the others being Louisiana French and the nearly extinct Missouri French, Muskrat French and Métis French. The dialect is the predominant form of French spoken in New England (apart from standard French), except in the Saint John Valley of northern Aroostook County, Maine, where Brayon French predominates.
The dialect is endangered. After the First World War, laws were instituted banning immersive bilingual teaching outside of dedicated foreign-language classes, and during the 1960s and 1970s some public schools disciplined students for speaking French in school; however, in recent years it has seen renewed interest and is supported by bilingual education programs in place since 1987. A continuing trend of reduced bilingual and foreign-language education has affected the language's prevalence in younger generations. However, cultural programs in recent years have led to renewed interest between older generations speaking the dialect, and the language has also been bolstered by newly arrived refugee populations from Francophone Africa in cities such as Lewiston.
Dating back to the earliest colonial period, a French presence remained in New England with its proximity to Quebec, even after many Acadians were exiled in Le Grand Dérangement and later settled in Spanish Louisiana. Although the French and Indian War would leave distance between the Yankee and Franco settlers, the role of France in the American Revolution as well as the contributions of French military figures like Rochambeau in the Siege of Yorktown, engendered an alliance against Loyalists at that time.
Early figures from French stock who would become a part of the American narrative included Peter Faneuil, Gov. James Bowdoin, and Paul Revere, all descendants of Huguenots who fled persecution to the New World. However, while Faneuil and Bowdoin both spoke fluently, the latter encouraged his son James Bowdoin III to learn the language, but was described as decidedly pro-British after the Revolution, for his disdain at France's reversion of the Edict of Nantes. In contrast, born to a French household, Revere (anglicized from Rivoire) only spoke the English of the Bay Province, though he had family who spoke the French language in Boston and overseas, and would correspond with them, having replies translated for him.
The French language remained extant in Boston during its time as a British colony, though not abundant, one reason being a fear of the influence of Catholicism; academically this prevented the language from gaining early acceptance at Harvard, when its first instructor was dismissed in 1735, after two years of teaching, due to rumors of converting students from Protestantism. Six decades later, one of the first publishers of a French textbook in the Americas was Harvard's first salaried French instructor, Joseph Nancrède, who compiled then-contemporary French texts and published them alongside limited English translations in his L'Abeille Françoise in 1792. Years before, in 1789, Nancrède established the first French newspaper of Boston, a short-lived weekly published for six months that year which he described in its prospectus as a means to foster commerce between the Americans and French-speaking world, and "to convey adequate ideas of the Majesty of Congress to nations who scarcely know that there is one existing."
Outside of Boston, prior to the Industrial Revolution and the Second Industrial Revolution, the influence of French settlers in New England was diminished almost entirely following the end of the French and Indian War and the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which gave control of the region to the British. During this time many of Vermont's earliest settlers returned to Quebec; however, the Vermont Archaeological Society has noted in the past that a small number of French remained settled, at farms too remote to meet the notice of the fledgling colonial government. Similarly, Maine was claimed by the French to the east of the Kennebec River, and during the expulsion of the Acadians, French culture largely left that landscape as well.
Prior to the Great Migration of the Québécois during the Second Industrial Revolution, one of the earliest examples of New England French arose from the Papineau Rebellion in Lower Canada. Following the rebellion, Ludger Duvernay, one of the 26 patriot leaders arrested by Canadian authorities for printing articles critical of the British colonial government, went into exile in the States. Formerly publishing La Minerve in Montreal, he issued a prospectus for a French-language paper in 1838, hoping Americans would support a journal that promoted civil rights and independence in Lower Canada. He set up in Burlington, Vermont, what was described as the first French-Canadian American newspaper, publishing the first issue of Le Patriote Canadien on August 7, 1839, for both Canadians across the border and a patriot community in the United States.