(Montreal) There is not one French person, but French people. Talk about “bobettes” to one of our cousins across the Atlantic and they will look at you with stupid eyes. Yes, the French-speaking world is rich in a variety of variations. And between washcloths, fire flies, podcasts and selfies, Quebec French is one of the standard bearers.
Laval University and the Trésor de la langue française au Québec (TLFQ) team launched a new version, digital this time, of the “Historical Dictionary of Quebec French” at the end of the month. DHRQ 2.0, as its creators call it, revises and enriches the first edition with 150 new entries, published on paper only in 1998, for a total of 810 entries at the launch of the digital version. A constantly increasing figure.
At least relatively, because there has only been one addition since DHRQ 2.0 was put online, admits Robert Vézina with a laugh. The director of the TLFQ and visiting professor at Laval University, who co-directs this new version of the dictionary, weighs his words – to say the least – when he says that “it’s a long process”.
Each word monograph must be revised meticulously before it can be finalized. “We go back to each source on all the citations that are made in a monograph to ensure that the reference is good, that everything is transcribed correctly,” explains the academic. So it’s still quite time-consuming. »
Consult the website of the “Historical Dictionary of Quebec French”
At the top of the list of next entries: “blonde”. The term is used so much that Mr. Vézina himself is surprised that it was not integrated before. And – be careful, full disclosure – the term comes… from France! Its use is very old in France, explains Mr. Vézina. “You had the folk song “Auprès de ma blonde”,” he mentions.
Far from being a romantic tale, this military march, composed in 1704 by a lieutenant in Louis XIV’s navy, André Joubert du Collet, crossed the Atlantic during the colonial era and its use remained in New France. Even if, specifies the director of DHRQ, at the time, the term rather designated a mistress.
Life and death of words
Changes in meaning, like the aforementioned significant change, hold an important place in the digital work, both those already listed in the first version and those that came in between. “There are words that begin to age and disappear for more or less obscure reasons, it has always been part of the history of all languages. Words are born and die. In some cases, we can understand why, other times not at all,” says Robert Vézina.
The most obvious influence in Quebec is of course that of the English language, which intervened according to Professor Vézina from the English conquest of 1760. “There are words that we took as they are, like “sloche”, others that we took by layer, that we translated directly or made semantic borrowings, that is, words that are completely French, but which have acquired a new meaning through the influence of English,” he explains.
Before that, there were many borrowings from indigenous languages. Some have stayed and many Quebecers have no idea of the origin of these terms. The linguist mentions, for example, the expression “it’s valuable”, in the sense of “it’s a shame”, which is a literal translation of an indigenous expression.
The neologism conquers the dictionary
Since the first edition in 1998, many words are already considered old, because new generations use them little, while neologisms take pride of place. Robert Vézina is particularly fond of them, because they are proof of “the very active creativity of current Quebec French”.
The emblematic “divulgâcheur”, whose very Quebecois charm has allowed him to carve out a small place on French lips, is an example. However, DHQF 2.0 has its share of surprises even on this front. Professor Vézina collapses a myth: “the word “email” is strongly associated with Quebec French. We always read everywhere that it was created in Quebec, but the oldest attestation we found shows that it comes from France, it was a Frenchman who first proposed it. So we could say that it’s not even a Quebecism,” he laughs.
Why the term has been more successful here than in France is another mystery to be resolved, although it is the reason for this widespread confusion, although the TLFQ team does not entirely rule out that the term may have also been created in Quebec subsequently.
“It’s a very common word, everyone knows it, so it had to be addressed,” insists Mr. Vézina. We work a lot now on these words, which people know. They expect to find answers to these words in the dictionary. »
This importance, of which he is well aware, is not only due to the expectations of the public, but to something which goes beyond the “Historical Dictionary of Quebec French”: it is to show to what extent the vocabulary can reflect the evolution of our Company.
Words, reflection of their society
The academic gives as an example the term “inhabitant”, originally referring to farmers who exploited their own land, which has slipped from valorizing to pejorative. It is, he says, from the rural exodus that the meaning will be completely reversed and show the evolution of mentalities, which will associate rurality with a negative image at that time. The examples are numerous and all deserve to have their entry into the DHFQ 2.0 if this is not already the case. “There are thousands of Quebecisms,” recalls the professor, “so it’s work that could take years. »
He also notes a form of injustice in the pages of dictionaries: “It’s a bit like playing Scrabble. If a word does not appear in the dictionary, for many people, that means that the word does not exist, that it does not deserve to be said or used. »
But Gros Robert, Petit Larousse and other heavyweights or feathers of the French-speaking vocabulary, even more so when they are designed in France and sold throughout the French-speaking world, do not or almost do not include the terms from the rest of the French-speaking world. The absence of a word in the dictionary, he explains, “creates an unfavorable prejudice from the outset. Not being in the dictionary, for a word, is like a semi-conviction to non-existence. » As a result, even if efforts have been made in recent years to integrate more and more Belgianisms, Swissisms, Quebecisms, etc., Robert Vézina strongly encourages dictionary designers to do more.
The request is not the least important however, it is not him who will say the opposite. With the DHFQ team, they are working hard to introduce more and more new terms into their digital work while, in keeping with the prerogative of modern languages, new Quebecisms are emerging. “It’s a business that’s never finished. It shows that language is a living being that always moves. »