Magoua dialect

Not to be confused with Magwa.

Magoua (French pronunciation: ​[maɡwa]), which may derive from a word in an Algonquian language (Cree: Makwa; Algonquin: Magwish; Mi'kmaq: Gwimu; French: huard) which means loon, is a particular dialect of basilectal Quebec French spoken in the Trois-Rivières area, between Trois-Rivières and Maskinongé. Long before a military fort was constructed there, Trois-Rivières became in 1615 the first stronghold of the coureurs des bois outside the city of Québec. Magoua is the ethnonym applied to their descendants in the area, many of whom originated in Mi'kma'ki (also known as Acadia). Magoua is the most conservative of all Quebec French varieties, including Joual. It preserves the sontaient "étaient" characteristic of Métis French and Cajun French, has a creole-like past tense particle tà and has old present-tense contraction of a former verb "to be" that behave in the same manner as subject clitics.

Morphology and vocabulary

Standard French equivalents are in quotation marks, and the English translations within brackets.

Magoua Standard French English
mouén moi, je I
toué toi, tu you
(mouén) ch(u) tà ben màlàd j’étais très malade I was very sick
(mouén) chu la pis j’rès j’y suis, j'y reste I am here, and I stay
i son tà deus euzot ils étaient deux There were two of them
Ti-Oui i ben màlàd Louis est très malade Louis is very sick
Ti-Oui i tà ben màlàd Louis était très malade Louis was very sick
Ti-Oui tà pour t’aider Louis t’aurait aidé Louis would have helped you
tà mér tu la? ta mère est-elle là? Is your mother at home?
tà mér tà tu la? ta mère était-elle là? Was your mother at home?
(nouzot) ouen tà pour viend nous serions venus We would have come
vouzot tà àprà bouér vous étiez en train de boire You all were drinking
m’a fer sa je le ferai I will do it
t'a fer sa tu le feras You will do it
ouan alé wér wér si la djòb tà fèt nous irons voir si le travail a été vraiment fait. We will go and see if the job was really done
mon kien le mien mine
ton kien le tien yours
à gar à la gare at the train station
dan kour dans la cour in the yard
dan kor dans le corps in the body
ya ben kàrant onz d'skotch dan kor Il a bien quarante onces de scotch dans le corps He must have been drinking 40 ounces of Scotch
kòsen vieillerie, truc, chose, affaire old stuff
èn plènté d'kosen une grosse quantité d'objets divers plenty of stuff
ranmàs té kòsen pi dékris prends tes affaires et vas-t’en Pick up your things and scram!
tokàp pénis, sans allure, con penis, idiot
tokàpin conne idiotic woman
parlé màgoua parler magoua to speak Magoua, "comme les gens de chez nous"
èn cour d'Màgoua une cour en désordre où on trouve de tout a courtyard that looks like Ali Baba's cave
en vrà Màgoua un Magoua de souche; un vrai débrouillard a person of Magoua descent; someone without "proper European" manners; a resourceful person

Bibliography

See also

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