Casson French

Casson French (Casson French: l'français d'chênagne) is the variety of the French language spoken in Cassony and Simbois. It is largely based on the Parisian French of the Old World, though with a tendency towards contractions that are not present in Standard French and a large influence in vocabulary from Polish.

Phonology

Vowels

• The Standard French sequence /wa/ becomes [wɛ] in all contexts, similar to Quebec French.

Grammar

Contractions

In Casson French, more words contract than in Standard French. This includes:

• un and une → n', e.g. n'oiseau "a bird"
• le and la → l', e.g. l'château "the castle"
• de and du → d', e.g. d'souhonnèche "of the sun"

In addition, de contracts before la and l' to make d'la and d'l', although d'l' may only occur before a vowel. Before a consonant it remains as de l', for example d'l'arbre "of the tree", but de l'château "of the palace".

These contractions also occur in more circumstances than in Standard French:

• Before a vowel, e.g. l'arbre "the tree"
• Before a sonorant or fricative, e.g. l'château "the palace"

Lexis

While the majority of Casson French's lexis is shared with other varieties of French, there are some unique lexical items, many of which are influenced by or borrowed from Polish.

Casson French	Standard French	English gloss	Notes
doque (m)	darse, quai	dock	from Polish dok
oulice (f)	rue	street	from Polish ulica
rondeau (m)	rond-point	roundabout	from Polish rondo
souhonnèche (m)	soleil	sun	from Polish słonecz(ny) "of the sun"
vispe (f)	île	island	from Polish wyspa