Parisian French · Standard French
The Paris-area standard of European French. Carried nationally by education and broadcasting; the reference point for most French taught abroad.
Acadian French
The French of the Maritime provinces, especially New Brunswick. Preserves several 17th-century features lost in both Quebec and Metropolitan French.
Shareable facts
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Frequently asked questions
What language is Acadian French?
Acadian French is a dialect of the French language.
Where is Acadian French spoken?
Acadian French is primarily spoken in Canada.
Which region is Acadian French associated with?
Acadian French is part of the North America region on DialectAtlas.
What are the other dialects of French?
French also includes Metropolitan French, Meridional French, Belgian French, Swiss French, Quebec French, Maghrebi French, West African French, Cajun French, Franco-Ontarian, Métis French. Each variety has its own vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural context.
Other French dialects
See on the atlas →Southern French · Français méridional
The southern French of Marseille, Toulouse, and the broader Occitan-speaking belt. Marked by realisation of mute vowels and a distinct intonation contour.
Français de Belgique
The French of Wallonia and Brussels. Maintains a number of vocabulary and number forms (septante, nonante) that the Paris standard has dropped.
Romand French · Suisse romand
The French of western Switzerland. Like Belgian French, retains older numerals (septante, huitante, nonante) and shows long contact with German-Swiss varieties.
Québécois · Joual
The dominant French variety of Canada. Strongly distinct from European French in vowel realisation, lexicon, and the colloquial Joual register.
The French of North Africa, used as a second language across Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. Marked by code-switching with Maghrebi Arabic and Berber.
The French of Francophone West Africa — used in administration, education, and media. Strong contact features from Wolof, Bambara, and other regional languages.
Louisiana French · Français cadien
The French of the Cajun communities of southern Louisiana, descended from 18th-century Acadian settlers expelled from the Maritimes. Endangered, with active revitalisation through CODOFIL and the Louisiana French immersion programme.
Ontario French · Français ontarien
The French of the historic Francophone communities of Ontario, especially around Sudbury, Ottawa, and the Northern shore. Closely related to Quebec French but with stronger English contact features.
Mitchif Français · Prairie French
The French variety of the Métis Nation of the Canadian Prairies. Distinct from Quebec and Acadian French; not to be confused with Michif, the mixed Cree-French language of the same communities.
Nearby dialects
See on the atlas →324 km away
An Eastern Algonquian language of the Miʼkmaq Nation across the Maritime provinces of Canada, Quebec, and Newfoundland, plus eastern Maine. Around 8,000 speakers, with a long oral and hieroglyphic tradition.
499 km away
The dominant French variety of Canada. Strongly distinct from European French in vowel realisation, lexicon, and the colloquial Joual register.
650 km away
The traditional English of Boston and eastern New England. Non-rhotic in conservative speech, with the cot-caught merger and the famously Boston-broad short-a.
827 km away
The Cree varieties of Quebec and Labrador, including the James Bay and Atikamekw communities. The Cree dialect cluster with the most active language-revitalisation infrastructure.
932 km away
The most distinctive variety of Canadian English, descended from 17th- and 18th-century West Country and Hiberno-English settlers. Strongly divergent from mainland Canadian English in vowels and grammar.
955 km away
The English of New York City and surrounding areas. Marked by the famous tense-lax split of short-a, raised /ɔ/, and (historically) non-rhoticity.