Le chiac : entre langue des jeunes et langue des ancêtres : enjeux de nomination à travers les représentations linguistiques du chiac dans le sud-est du Nouveau-Brunswick
Chiac is a variety of French spoken in southeastern New-Brunswick. It is marked by its code-mixing with English because its speakers live in close relationship with the English-speaking majority of the region. Perrot was the first to describe Chiac linguistic structure in 1995. Not only are attitudes towards Chiac varied among its speakers, but it appears that the representations of its speakers, their meta-linguistic conceptions of Chiac, diverge greatly. Indeed, this variety has the particularity of being named, which gives it the capacity to be easily apprehended and mobilized by speakers as well as researchers (Boudreau 2012). In fact, chiac would not be particularly different from other varieties of French in a minority situation in the Maritimes (King 2008). However, its name does not seem to be sufficient to describe it precisely since the definition given to chiac is not the same for everyone.  What is Chiac according to its speakers? Why are there multiple definitions for one and the same term? What linguistic practices are attributed to the name Chiac? Who speaks Chiac and in what situations? What do these discursive processes of naming their language reveal about Acadians' representations of their language? The data for this research was collected primarily through semi-structured interviews and notes taken during participant observation in activities of daily life in Moncton, New Brunswick.
Chiac Code-mixing Code-switching Moncton Metalinguistic discourse Acadian French Linguistic insecurity Naming practices