A preliminary study of anglicisms in Newfoundland French

Abstract

In this article are presented the results and analyses of a preliminary study into the use of anglicisms in the Acadian French dialect of the Bay St. George area of Newfoundland.

In a sample of sixteen speakers the use of anglicisms was found to correlate with age and sex. Both the frequency with which anglicisms were employed and the relative frequency of different types of anglicisms were determined.

It was found that anglicisms comprised approximately 1% of speech. Use of anglicisms was found to be inversely proportional to age, with the exception of younger female speakers who tended to use fewer anglicisms.