I hear dit often in English conversations among older French speaking people. The majority of the conversation is in English but for some reason, dit, sounding like Z, is said. I'll use more French in this fictional example.
Fontenot: Ca va Soileau?
Soileau: Mais, mon j'sus correct. Did you go to Mamou for Mardi Gras?
Fontenot: Non, I didn't go. I never did like that [expletive]. I talked with Bordelon the other day and he dit (Z), "They couldn't pay me to go to Mamou with all them damn drunks."
Soileau: Ouais, it's true. It's not like the old days.
Fontenot's wife: Allons old man!
Fontenot: Hein?
Fontenot's wife: Allons I dit (Z)! You want to go la veille in Reddell or you want to talk all night here?
I've heard it used in the past tense but not sure if it's said in the present tense. I'm pretty sure it's dit I'm hearing, like a Z, because within the context of the conversation it's he said or she said -- he dit (Z) or she dit (Z).
3 comments:
j'ai dit
tu as dit
il/elle a dit
nous avons dit
vous avez dit
ils/elles ont dit
/dit/ is the past pariticiple of /dire/, which explains why this morpheme only surfaces when speakers are recounting past events.
PointeCoupéeDemocrat, thanks for that France French explanation. I'll take it from here.
In Evangeline Parish, when the letter "d" is followed by a "u" or an "i" it's pronounced like "dzu" and "dzi" so, following this pronunciation guide, the word "dit" would be "dzit" pronounced "dzee" and it could be that the "d" wasn't strongly pronounced by these speakers and all you could hear was the "zee."
---Roy---
Thanks PCD and Roy for comments. Merci, I dzit. Ha. No, Roy, it's probably not the speakers but me with my Americain ears not hearing the "d" sound. Roy, cenlamar (blog) is one of my favorite sites, and PCD, check out Roy's Le Tabloid Cadien!, another of my favorite sites.
Mike
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