Chiac in context: Overview and evaluation of Acadie's Joual

I argue that there is little evidence that chiac, an often stigmatized variety of Acadian French spoken in the urban area of Moncton, New Brunswick, differs dramatically from a number of lesser known Acadian varieties in terms of the effects of language contact; and that the degree of English influence claimed is sometimes not supported by the data provided. I begin with a sociohistorical overview of Acadian French. I then evaluate the literature on chiac and compare it with my own and others’ findings for Acadian varieties spoken in Atlantic Canada. The relationship between the social context within which chiac is spoken and its lexicon and grammar adds to our knowledge of the linguistic outcomes of language contact, in addition to providing more detail on variation in North American French.