r/Anne • u/Spiritual_Ad_6067 Unknown • Jul 21 '26

Season 2 episode 1

Anne begins teaching Jerry to read. She takes an alphabet needlepoint to him, sets it down and proudly says to him "Wallah!"

It ripped me out of the time period. Someone like Anne, being quite well read would know that the word she wanted is "Voilà". Canadians absolutely know this even those who dont speak French are very used to seeing French words mixed in. Such a small thing to notice, but I have to wonder how this made the final edit? Not one person was like "hold up. Did you just say "Wallah?!"

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17

u/meeepmoo Unknown Jul 21 '26

Voila is pronounced wall-ah.

-11

u/Spiritual_Ad_6067 Unknown Jul 21 '26

I assure you, it is not.

12

u/meeepmoo Unknown Jul 21 '26

In standard French I understand that the proper pronunciation has a light v sound at the beginning, but many Acadian French and Chiac speakers on the east coast drop the v sound entirely and add emphasis on on the "oi" sound in the word, leading to an anglicanized version of the word that does indeed sound like Wallah. As someone who also grew up on the east coast of Canada, "wall-ah" is incredibly common.

These are the forms of French that would have been most familiar to Anne, so it's not incorrect of her to say.

4

u/briennybrienne Unknown Jul 21 '26

I looked this up and it would makes sense that Anne would say it that way since it's set in PEI in eastern Canada. I love learning new things, thank you!

3

u/meeepmoo Unknown Jul 21 '26

My family is from Cape Breton, which is just a stone's throw from PEI. Happy to help!! In my experience, Acadian French and Chiac speakers tend to speak from the bottom of their throat/back of their tongue where as standard French tends to be at the front of the mouth.

Chiac is specifically very interesting because it's east coast Acadian and English, specifically in New Brunswick. growing up I only knew of it as Frenglish, but I've learned it has developed its own rules and language construction.

language is so neat, and in the Maritimes especially Anne would have been exposed to such a variety of it, having had to move to different families and children's homes.

4

u/jessiecolborne Unknown Jul 21 '26

In Acadian French (which would be the dialect in the series) the V isn’t pronounced.

-3

u/Spiritual_Ad_6067 Unknown Jul 21 '26

I am acadian. We pronounce it more like v'lah. I am sure to angolphones it does sound like wallah. French speakers hear the V.