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Feb. 26th, 2014 04:05 pm
Words, words, words
I love words. I delight in learning new ones so much that I have a "no dictionaries in bed after 10 p.m." rule because otherwise I will sacrifice sleep just to keep perusing; it is more honoured in the breach. I also love sentences. I especially love those sentences which are so full of distinctive words that they are totally unintelligible to speakers of one variety of a language while being utterly quotidian to speakers of another. Sentences like, "Can I bum a smoke?" Every word of that is completely ordinary, most American English-speakers wouldn't raise an eyebrow upon hearing it, but I can imagine millions of other fluent English-speakers (let alone L2 learners) who would respond to such a request with a look of bafflement or panic.
I love finding sentences like these in languages I'm learning. Here's a beautiful Cajun French example:
Chicoter derives from chicot which has the basic meaning of "stump" (e.g. of a branch, a tree, a tooth). The more usual word in SF souche, which also shares the extended meaning of "stock; descent". In Louisiana, chicot also designates field stubble (SF chaume; in Vermilion this is specifically rice stubble). Chicoter was used by Dumas père among others to mean "crop in such a way as to leave a stump or stub" but is rare in contemporary SF. In LF, it has been extended to mean "eat away".
Écore is actually cognate with English "shore" (probably via Middle Dutch) but in SF has been corrupted to accore. It has also been narrowed in meaning to a particularly steep bank or shore, particularly one which presents a hazard for navigation. In LF, it is used more broadly, in contexts where SF speakers would prefer rive, côte, or banc. Bayou is a term which originated in Louisiana (from Choctaw bayuk "creek") but which is as widely recognised in Standard French as in Standard English.
Then there is lame, which is a homonym for both "blade" and "wave" in both varieties. The difference is, again, that SF prefers onde for the second meaning whereas this word is quite unknown to most Cajun speakers (another relic of the maritime origins of colonial French). As a result, whereas the interpretation "wave" would be clear enough in context, in a sentence like this it only adds to the confusion.
The sentiment expressed, that the wake from the boats has eaten away at the shores of the bayou, only adds to the incomprehensibility. Even after I "translated" the utterance into Standard French, one French learner had to look up both the SF term for "wake" (sillage) and the English equivalent. Again, an unremarkable situation to someone living in the swamps but as exotic to a Parisian as snow to a Tahitian.
I love finding sentences like these in languages I'm learning. Here's a beautiful Cajun French example:
Les lames des bateaux ont chicoté l'écore du bayou.As I expected, speakers of European French were able to make ni queue ni tête of this despite the fact that every word of it can be found in the Trésor (and perhaps other comprehensive dictionaries as well, such as the Larousse or the Robert) and the grammar wouldn't offend even the strictest immortel.
Chicoter derives from chicot which has the basic meaning of "stump" (e.g. of a branch, a tree, a tooth). The more usual word in SF souche, which also shares the extended meaning of "stock; descent". In Louisiana, chicot also designates field stubble (SF chaume; in Vermilion this is specifically rice stubble). Chicoter was used by Dumas père among others to mean "crop in such a way as to leave a stump or stub" but is rare in contemporary SF. In LF, it has been extended to mean "eat away".
Écore is actually cognate with English "shore" (probably via Middle Dutch) but in SF has been corrupted to accore. It has also been narrowed in meaning to a particularly steep bank or shore, particularly one which presents a hazard for navigation. In LF, it is used more broadly, in contexts where SF speakers would prefer rive, côte, or banc. Bayou is a term which originated in Louisiana (from Choctaw bayuk "creek") but which is as widely recognised in Standard French as in Standard English.
Then there is lame, which is a homonym for both "blade" and "wave" in both varieties. The difference is, again, that SF prefers onde for the second meaning whereas this word is quite unknown to most Cajun speakers (another relic of the maritime origins of colonial French). As a result, whereas the interpretation "wave" would be clear enough in context, in a sentence like this it only adds to the confusion.
The sentiment expressed, that the wake from the boats has eaten away at the shores of the bayou, only adds to the incomprehensibility. Even after I "translated" the utterance into Standard French, one French learner had to look up both the SF term for "wake" (sillage) and the English equivalent. Again, an unremarkable situation to someone living in the swamps but as exotic to a Parisian as snow to a Tahitian.
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