A survey of the lexicon of fishing, farming and carpentry in the French community of Cape St. George, Port-au-Port Peninsula, Newfoundland

Darby, Herbert Kelvin (1978) A survey of the lexicon of fishing, farming and carpentry in the French community of Cape St. George, Port-au-Port Peninsula, Newfoundland. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (17MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

This work is a survey of three areas of the lexicon of the French dialect spoken at Cape St. George, on Newfoundland's Port-au-Port Peninsula, as seen through the ideolects of three of the community's male residents. The three areas examined are the important and typical occupations of fishing, farming and carpentry. -- Until recently, little research had been undertaken among Newfoundland's French minority and its culture. This survey is a small contribution to the growing number of studies devoted to the language and folklore of French Newfoundlanders. In a broader context, it can be seen as part of the on-going study of French as it is spoken in Canada and North America in general. -- The introductory chapter contains brief notes on the origins of French-speaking Newfoundlanders, and discusses the broad aims of this survey, attempting to show how it fits into both local and national concern of scholars with French as a North American language. Further, a biographical note is provided on each informant, mainly to suggest the Acadian and metropolitan (Breton) French origins of French Newfoundlanders. This may be of value to future students interested in comparative matters. In the same vein, the introduction discusses the collector's experiences and methodology, suggesting some of the problems encountered, and possible lacunae in this study. -- Chapters two, three and four present the material on the subjects of fishing, farming and carpentry respectively. Each topic is presented following a logical order, with processes, material and methods described in the words of each informant. The advantage of lengthy quotations is that they provide lexical data in context. Each technique is summarized in general fashion, in English. Non-standard pronunciations are noted in the alphabet of the International Phonetic Association. -- Following the chapters on the techniques and methods of the three occupations examined is a lexicon of over seven hundred words, each of which is given a phonetic transcription and a list of meanings or expressions in which each item appears. The survey concludes with a bibliography of works relating to the French language in North America.

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