Japoné語 - A Pastichelang Scratchpad

[clawgrip]

I think I researched this once, but I've long since forgotten; what is 弁 actually a simplified form of, again? In Taiwan, they imported 弁当 as 便當, but that ain't it. Not leaping out as necessarily intuitive, else I'd think I'd have remembered it.

According to Wiktionary:

In Japan, this character is shinjitai of 4 characters, 辨, 瓣, 辯, and 辧. Furthermore, in modern usage, this character is used to simplify 辮 and 辦.

Also, I'm pretty sure that 聯 is fully obsolete in modern Japanese, being replaced in all cases by 連.

[Lao Kou]

According to Wiktionary:

In Japan, this character is shinjitai of 4 characters, 辨, 瓣, 辯, and 辧. Furthermore, in modern usage, this character is used to simplify 辮 and 辦.

Yep. Not so intuitive. 花弁 for hanabira? Truly, it is the end of days.

[clawgrip]

Kind of veering dangerously off topic here, but anyway, no one ever writes hanabira as 花弁; it's normally 花びら. That's the thing with Japanese, it's sometimes very hard to tell if a particular word is mazegaki (e.g. hanabira 花びら←花弁, takarakuji 宝くじ←宝籤) or just has kanji-less okurigana (e.g. mizukara 自ら, nekko 根っこ). Sometimes multiple morphemes get stuck into a single kanji too, e.g. kuchibiru 唇, mabuta 瞼. So, it's a mess.

[Lao Kou]

Kind of veering dangerously off topic here,

I don't think so -- right thread, right time. Interesting and useful comments, and they're germane to Japoné語's writing system. Reeling us in to verisimilitude? Well ...

but anyway, no one ever writes hanabira as 花弁; it's normally 花びら.

Yes, yes, I understand this. Whatever the timeline/backstory is for when this mötley crüe of Quebeckers and Japanese make first contact, we may assume it's before the war, the Great War, and well perhaps before the beginning of the last century, so perhaps we can sidestep some of this (surely it would take at least that long for such a pastiche to evolve and stick -- mind, we are not constrained by such trivialities as, say, reality). As such, "petal" comes in as 花瓣.

That's the thing with Japanese, it's sometimes very hard to tell if a particular word is mazegaki (e.g. hanabira 花びら←花弁, takarakuji 宝くじ←宝籤)

As one can see, we'll be opting for 花瓣 and 宝籤 almost every time. That said, we're also, rationally or no, doing things like this: 轢qui殺cë and 轢qui逃gué rather than this: 轢殺cë and
轢逃gué

or just has kanji-less okurigana (e.g. mizukara 自ら, nekko 根っこ)

I should anticipate 自ra (misoucara) and 根cqu子 (necquau), though it's a little premature for these.

Sometimes multiple morphemes get stuck into a single kanji too, e.g. kuchibiru 唇, mabuta 瞼.

Meh, what's to worry?

So, it's a mess.

I shouldn't expect Japoné語 to be any much tidier.

[clawgrip]

As one can see, we'll be opting for 花瓣 and 宝籤 almost every time.

So you're going to use only old style characters?

That said, we're also, rationally or no, doing things like this: 轢qui殺cë and 轢qui逃gué rather than this: 轢殺cë and 轢逃gué

Why not just allow all versions, based on the whims of the person writing?

Spoiler:

[Lao Kou]

As one can see, we'll be opting for 花瓣 and 宝籤 almost every time.

So you're going to use only old style characters?

Well, prolly for the most part. But it's not dogma or anything, otherwise it'd be 寶籤 and a nasty schoolmarm with a ruler. (But really. I mean, 弁. Really? 弁?)

That said, we're also, rationally or no, doing things like this: 轢qui殺cë and 轢qui逃gué rather than this: 轢殺cë and 轢逃gué

Why not just allow all versions, based on the whims of the person writing?

Well that's most likely how it would play out, but since for the moment the only whimsical person writing Japoné語 on this side of lucidity is me, one may expect this writing convention in this thread and elsewhere in the forum. Surely a 翰林院 worth its mirin doesn't just leave it completely up for grabs.

(RE: 引越. Takes me back. I don't know if anything's changed much, but in the early 90s, it seemed every government scandal involved moving companies. )

[Lao Kou]

Placeholder for orthography (ack!) and phonology (double-ack!)

[Lao Kou]

What would a conlang be without a cascade of IPA?

[Lao Kou]

Les 定冠詞 et les 不定冠詞 - Definite and Indefinite Articles

As with French, there are two genders, masculine and feminine, which are marked on the articles. The articles also mark for plurality, and, as it has been said that plurality is a grammatical drag, this is one of the few places one will see plurality tagged explicitly:

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                           Definite - the       Indefinite - a, an, some (pl.)

Masculine                  le [lœ̈]             un [ɚ̃]
Feminine                   la [la]              une [ʏn]
(before a vowel or         l' [l-]                                 
h muet, both genders) 
Plural (both genders)      les [le]             des [de]

Examples:

Masculine:

le tatsë (le 竜) - the dragon
un tatsë (un 竜) - a dragon
les tatsë (les 竜) - the dragons
des tatsë (des 竜) - (some) dragons

Masculine, starting with a vowel:

l'achi (l'足) - the foot
un achi (un 足) - a foot (with elision: [ɚ̃ n‿ˈaʃi])
les achi (les 足) - the feet (with elision: [le z‿ˈaʃi])
des achi (des 足) - (some) feet (with elision: [de z‿ˈaʃi])

Masculine, starting with an h muet:

l'hotôcau (l'男) - the man
un hotôcau (un 男) - a man (with elision: [ɚ̃ n‿ˈɔtoko])
les hotôcau (les 男) - the men (with elision: [le z‿ˈɔtoko])
des hotôcau (des 男) - (some) men (with elision: [de z‿ˈɔtoko])

Masculine, starting with an h aspiré:

le haheaudjou (le 覇王樹) - the cactus (no elision: [lœ̈ aˈoʊ̯dʒu])
un haheaudjou (un 覇王樹) - a cactus (no elision: [ɚ̃ aˈoʊ̯dʒu])
les haheaudjou (les 覇王樹) - the cacti/cactuses (no elision: [le aˈoʊ̯dʒu])
des haheaudjou (des 覇王樹) - (some) cacti/cactuses (no elision: [de aˈoʊ̯dʒu])

Feminine:

la bara (la 薔薇) - the rose
une bara (une 薔薇) - a rose
les bara (les 薔薇) - the roses
des bara (des 薔薇) - (some) roses

Feminine, starting with a vowel:

l'ichie (l'石) - the stone
une ichie (une 石) - a stone
les ichie (les 石) - the stones (with elision: [le z‿ˈɪʃi])
des ichie (des 石) - (some) stones (with elision: [de z‿ˈɪʃi])

Feminine, starting with an h muet:

l'hiée (l'家) - the house
une hiée (une 家) - a house
les hiée (les 家) - the houses (with elision: [le z‿iˈe])
des hiée (des 家) - (some) houses (with elision: [de z‿iˈe])

Feminine, starting with an h aspiré:

la hana (la 花) - the flower (no elision: [la aˈoʊ̯dʒu])
une hana (une 花) - a flower
les hana (les 花) - the flowers (no elision: [le aˈna])
des hana (des 花) - (some) flowers (no elision: [de aˈna])

N.B.: Plurality is not marked on the noun itself. Again, plurality is a drag, right? Too, it rather rarely shows up in spoken French anyway, and as it has been said that Canadian French elides less frequently than French French besides, meh, why bother?

Le 性 - Gender

From what has been discovered thus far, grammatical gender generally carries over from French into Japoné語, unless Japanese mucks it up. To wit:

le tatsë (le 竜) ← le dragon - dragon
l'achi (l'足) ← le pied - foot
l'hotôcau (l'男) ← l'homme - man
le haheaudjou (le 覇王樹) ← le cactus - cactus
la bara (la 薔薇) ← la rose - rose
l'ichie (l'石) ← la pierre - stone
l'hiée (l'家) ← la maison - house
la hana (la 花) ← la fleur - flower

N.B.: Persuant to a post below, the gender of "courouma", originally listed as feminine, is now masculine with the reasoning that: le courouma (le 車) ← le char - car

But Japanese may well muck it up, of course. Some examples:

"Le hérisson" (hedgehog) is masculine in French; in Japanese, the word is "harinezumi" (quill-mouse). Since "souris" (mouse) is feminine in French, the Japoné語 word for "hedgehog" is feminine:

la harinésouris (la 針鼠) - hedgehog

"Le sommet" (summit (meeting/conference)) is masculine in French; in Japanese, the word is "shunoukaigi" (head-meeting/conference). Since "réunion/conférence" (meeting/conference) are feminine in French, the Japoné語 word for "summit meeting/conference" is feminine:

la chouneaucaïguie (la 首脳会議) - summit meeting/conference

A glaring exception would be "le hitau" (le 人) (person). While "person" in French is feminine (la personne), the nature of 人 seemed so gender-neutral (and neuters in French take masculine forms), that it never became gramatically feminine. Hence:

le hitau (le 人) - person

[Lao Kou]

Les 前置詞 普通的e avec les 定冠詞 et les 不定冠詞 tau - Common Prepositions with the Definite and Indefinite Articles

In French, the prepositions that combine with the definite article are "à" and "de". "À" looks like it's taken a dive except, perhaps, in set and/or ossified expressions, so we won't worry about it here for now. "De", however, lives on. Its function as "from" has gone away, but its use as "of" continues in possessive constructions and in prepositional constructions like "in back of" (it also retains its use for partitives -- see below). When "de" knocks up against an article, it combines with it in the following ways:

Code: Select all

                           Definite - the                  Indefinite - a, an, some (pl.) ʊu̯

Masculine                  de + le → du [d͡zy]             de + un → d'un [dɚ̃ ]
Feminine                   de + la → de la [dœ̈ la/dla]    de + une → d'une [dʏn]
(before a vowel or         de + l' → de l' [dœ̈ l-/dl-]                                 
h muet, both genders) 
Plural (both genders)      de + les → des [de]             des [de]

Examples:

Masculine:

le 本 du 先生 - the teacher's book
au-de下 du 橋 - under the bridge

le 本 d'un 先生 - a teacher's book
au-de下 d'un 橋 - under a bridge

Feminine:

le 巣 de la 鵙 - the shrike's nest
au-de下 de la 卓子 - under the table

le 巣 d'une 鵙 - a shrike's nest
au-de下 d'une 卓子 - under a table

Vowel or h muet:

les 足 de l'犬 - the dog's legs
au-de下 de l' 家 - under the house

les 足 d‘un 犬 - a dog's legs
au-de下 d'une 家 - under a house

Plural:

les 巣 des 鵙 - the shrikes' nests
au-de下 des 橋 - under the bridges

les 巣 des 鵙 - shrikes' nests
au-de下 des 橋 - under bridges

Québec French apparently also allows contractions with the preposition "sur", "on". In more formal written registers, the two words will be written out while allowing for the colloquial pronunciation, whereas in more relaxed registers (eg. comic books, personal notes), the spelling pronunciation may occur:

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                           Definite - the                  

Masculine                  sur + le → su'l [sʏl]             
Feminine                   sur + la → su'a or sa [sy.a? sɥa?/sa]    
Plural (both genders)      sur + les → ses [se]

Examples:

su'l 布団 - on the futon
sa 卓子 - on the table
ses 橋 - on the bridges

Apparently also, occasionally for "dans", "in":

dans + un → dun
dans + les → dins

Examples:

dun 巣 - in a nest
dins 巣 - in the nests

Les 部分冠詞 - Partitive Articles

The partitive article marks an indefinite amount of an uncountable noun or an indefinite number of a countable noun. It is often translated as "some" in English but may also be left untranslated:

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                           Partitive - some, Ø       

Masculine                  du [d͡zy]             
Feminine                   de la [dœ̈ la/dla]              
(before a vowel or         de l' [dœ̈ l-/dl-]                                 
h muet, both genders) 
Plural (both genders)      des [de]             

Examples:

Masculine:

du pain - (some) bread
du saqué (du 酒) - (some) sake

Plural: des piment - (some) peppers

Masculine, starting with a vowel:

de l'oconômiyaqui (de l'o好mi焼qui) - (some) okonomiyaki
de l'ananas - (some) pineapple

Plural: des artichaut (some) artichokes (with elision: [de z‿ˈɑɔ̯ʁtɪʃo])

Masculine, starting with an h muet:

de l'heaumougui (de l'大麦) - (some) barley

Plural: des houdji(mouchi) (des 蛆(虫)) - (some) maggots (with elision: [de z‿ˈʊdʒi/de z‿ˈʊdʒɪmʊʃi])

Masculine, starting with an h aspiré:

du haschich - (some) hashish (no elision: [d͡zy aˈʃɪʃ])

Plural: des hamburger - (some) hamburgers (no elision: [de ˈãbuʁgaœ̯ʁ]) (I wouldn't be surprised if Quebeckers didn't pull the English pronunciation in for this one to get something like [de ˈ(h)æmbɚgɚ]. but I don't know.)

Feminine:

de la cauna (de la 粉) - (some) flour
de la misë (de la 水) - (some) water

Plural: des raccaseille (des 落花生) - (some) peanuts

Feminine, starting with a vowel:

de l'eau de cologne - (some) cologne

Plural: des olive - (some) olives (with elision: [de z‿ɔˈlɪv])

Feminine, starting with an h muet:

de l'héroïne - (some) heroin
de l'heauébie (de l'大海老) - (some) lobster

Plural: des higaille (des 貽貝) - (some) mussels (with elision: [de z‿iˈgaj])

Feminine, starting with an h aspiré:

de la hadjie (la 恥) - (some) shame (no elision: [dla ˈadʒi])
de la heaureinseau (de la heaurein草) - (some) spinach (no elision: [dœ̈ la oʊ̯ˈʁẽɪ̯̃soʊ̯])

Plural: des hachie (des 箸) - (some) chopsticks (no elision: [de ˈaʃi])

[Dormouse559]

Une question: How do you decide if a word begins with h muet or h aspiré?

la courouma (la 車) ← la voiture, l'auto - car

Une suggestion: Since Japonégueule is based on Québécois French, I would get the gender from "char" (masculine, québécisme) rather than "voiture".

[Lao Kou]

Une question: How do you decide if a word begins with h muet or h aspiré?

French words that come in keep their original h muet or h aspiré (eg.: l'héroïne and le haschich). Japanese words that come in from the h-row are all h aspiré, and originally that was going to be that. But as the quasi-Francorthography/romanization has been teasing out and congealing, various words from the Japanese vowel-initial row just seem to my eyes rather jarringly unFrench-looking (eg. "eauquë", "iée", or "eillegacan"). So slip in a little h muet, and all is right with the world: "heauquë", "hiée", or "heillegacan" -- at least as far as I'm concerned. I'd like to think I've used it sparingly thus far, but I've also grown fond of it in that it adds a little of that seeming "you just gotta know it" factor of muet/aspiré. To wit:

"spinach", from the h-row is ほうれんそう → hourensou → heaureinseau → la heaureinseau (aspiré)
"barley", from the vowel-initial row is おおむぎ → oomugi → heaumougui → l'heaumougui (muet)

How will you know? Just learn it.

Whether anyone finds my logic or aesthetic sense questionable in this instance (and sometimes it is capricious or has borderline cases) is a bit moot since you're supposed to be reading the kanji anyway :

l'大麦 - the barley (l'heaumougui: from oomugi)
l'家 - the house (l'hiée: from ie)
l'映画館 - the movie theatre (l'heillegacan: from eigakan)
l'蛆 - the maggot (l'houdji: from uji)

vs.

la 歯 - the tooth (la ha: from ha)
le 昼飯 - the lunch (le hirouhan: from hiruhan)
le 本 - the book (le hon: from hon)
la 販売 - the sale (la hambaille: from hanbai)

la courouma (la 車) ← la voiture, l'auto - car

Une suggestion: Since Japonégueule is based on Québécois French, I would get the gender from "char" (masculine, québécisme) rather than "voiture".

Good point and easy enough to fix, thanks. The fly in the ointment of this project is my limited exposure to Canadian French. I was familiar with "char" before but forgot about it at that instant . The few online resources I've found for assistance are mostly Wikipedia pages (which did list "char" -- facepalm). Another option is watching more Canadian programming on TV5Monde, which, unfortunately, tends to send me shrieking into the horizon after prolonged exposure. I was hoping Visinoid would chime in now and again, but s/he seems to have been away for a while. So, sallying onward and upward...

[Dormouse559]

How will you know? Just learn it.

Haha, cool. I like how you're incorporating the Japanese words into the system.

The fly in the ointment of this project is my limited exposure to Canadian French.

Same for me. "Char" just happens to be one of those vocab differences I'm aware of.

[clawgrip]

l'heaumougui barley
l'hautmougui oat

Once you get this language sufficiently developed, I request you create a dialect that is a combination of Chiac and like Osaka-ben or something.

[Lao Kou]

Or something. My exposure to anything remotely Acadian was when I lived in Woonsocket, Rhode Island (a pocket of now elderly and very rusty Acadian speakers) many moons ago, and the only ben I've ever dabbled in was Chikuhou. Your request is duly noted, but I wouldn't sit by the phone were I you. There's nothing to prevent you from undertaking such a project, though.

[clawgrip]

Chiac is baffling to me. I love it, but there are few resources on it because most people just think it's bad French or bad English. Maybe if I had grown up in Shediac I could make such a thing.

[Lao Kou]

Les 形容詞 et les 形容動詞 - Adjectives

Adjectives agree, both attributively and predicatively, with the nouns they modify in gender only; they do not agree in number as there is no plural marking on nouns or run-of-the-mill adjectives. As with French, there are adjectives which distinguish an unmarked masculine form from a feminine form ending in an added "-e" (and possible spelling modifications), while other adjectives are invariable in their masculine and feminine forms. Most adjectives follow the nouns they modify.

French Adjectives:

Adjectives coming from French behave as they would in French, albeit sometimes with some new spelling modifications. At present, the only adjectives of this type that come to mind are those of nationality:

addition of feminine "-e" changes pronunciation:

un 車 allemand - a German car
[ɚ̃ ˈkuʁʊmɔ alˈmã]
la 料理 allemande - German cuisine
[la ˈʁjoʊ̯ʁi alˈmãd]

un 車 américain - an American car
[ɚ̃ ˈkuʁʊmɔ aˌmeʁɪˈkẽɪ̯̃]
la 料理 américaine - American cuisine
[la ˈʁjoʊ̯ʁi aˌmeʁɪˈkeɪ̯n]

un 車 japoné - a Japanese car
[ɚ̃ ˈkuʁʊmɔ ˌʒapɔˈne]
la 料理 japonèse - Japanese cuisine
[la ˈʁjoʊ̯ʁi ˌʒapɔˈnaɛ̯z]

addition of feminine "-e" does jack to pronunciation:

un 車 espagnol - a Spanish car
[ɚ̃ ˈkuʁʊmɔ ˌespaˈɲɔl]
la 料理 espagnole - Spanish cuisine
[la ˈʁjoʊ̯ʁi ˌespaˈɲɔl]

masculine and feminine forms are invariable in spelling and pronunciation:

un 車 russe - a Russian car
[ɚ̃ ˈkuʁʊmɔ ʁʏs]
la 料理 russe - Russian cuisine
[la ˈʁjoʊ̯ʁi ʁʏs]

Japanese Adjectives:

Of the 形容詞 type:

Adjectives originally ending in "-い" end in "-i" or "-ï" in their masculine form, and add an "-e" for the feminine, with no change in pronunciation:

-aï adjectives

un 旗 赤ï - a red flag
[ɚ̃ ˈata aˈkaj]
une 薔薇 赤ïe - a red rose
[ʏn ˈbaʁɔ aˈkaj]

高ï, -e - tall, high
tacaï, -e
臭ï, -e - stinky
couçaï, -e
苦ï, -e - bitter
nigaï, -e
旨ï, -e - delicious
oumaï, -e

-ouï adjectives

un 犬 饑ï - a hungry dog
[ɚ̃ n‿ɪnœ̈ ˌɪdaˈʁʊj]
une 鼠 饑ïe - a hungry mouse
[ʏn ˈnezuʁi ˌɪdaˈʁʊj]

古ï, -e - old
fourouï, -e
低ï, -e - low
hicouï, -e
寒ï, -e - cold
samouï, -e
暑ï, -e - hot
atsouï, -e

-aui adjectives

un 本 面白i - an interesting book
[ɚ̃ ɒ̃ʊ̯̃ n‿ɔˈmoʃɪˌʁoj]
une 質問 面白ie - an interesting question
[ʏn ʃɪtsœ̈mɒ̃ʊ̯̃ n‿ɔˈmoʃɪˌʁoj]

青i, -e - blue, green
ahaui, -e
凄i, -e - amazing, terrific
sougaui, -e
広i, -e - wide, broad
hiraui, -e
重i, -e - heavy
omaui, -e

Adjectives originally ending in "-しい" end in "-chille", and are invariable in the spelling and pronunciation of their masculine and feminine forms:

-chille adjectives

un o好mi焼qui 美味chille - a delicious okonomiyaki
[ɚ̃ n‿ˌɔkɔˌnomɪˈjaki ˌo.ɪˈʃij]
une pizza 美味chille - a delicious pizza
[ʏn pɪˈdzɔ ˌo.ɪˈʃij]

難chille - difficult
mousoucachille
新chille - new
atarachille
凉chille - cool, refreshing
sousouchille
素晴chille - fabulous
soubarachille

Of the 形容動詞 type:

Adjectives derived from nouns (nominal adjectives/adjectival nouns) add the suffix "-的", "-téqui" (more broadly than Japanese) to which a feminine "-e" can be attached, with no effect on pronunication:

馬鹿 → 馬鹿的 → 馬鹿的, -e - stupid, silly
baca → bacatéqui → bacatéqui, -e

un 男 馬鹿的 - a stupid man
[ɚ̃ n‿ˈɔtoko ˌbakɔˈteki]
une 女 馬鹿的e - a stupid woman
[ʏn‿ɔnˈnɔ ˌbakɔˈteki]

静ca → 静ca的 → 静ca的, -e - quiet
chizouca → chizoucatéqui → chizoucatéqui, -e
便利 → 便利的 → 便利的, -e - convenient
beinri → beinritéqui → beinritéqui, -e
普通 → 普通的 → 普通的, -e - common
foutsoux → foutsoûtéqui → foutsoûtéqui, -e
簡単 → 簡単的 → 簡単的, -e - simple
cantan → cantantéqui → cantantéqui, -e

Some of the adjectives which precede the nouns they modify cross over into Japoné語:

haut - 高ï - tall, high:

un 高ï 木 - a tall tree
une 高ïe 山 - a tall mountain

others:

grand - 大qui - big
petit - 小çaï - small
même - 同dji - same
vieux - 古ï - old (of things)

"big" and "small" have two possible forms each which may be used interchangeably:

big, large:

大qui, -e
大quille

un 大qui 車 - a big car
un 大quille 車 - a big car
Le 車 est 大qui. - The car is big.
Le 車 est 大quille. - The car is big.

une 大quie 家 - a big house
une 大quille 家 - a big house
L'家 est 大quie. - The house is big.
L'家 est 大quille. - The house is big.

small, little:

小çaï, -e
小çaille

un 小çaï 車 - a small car
un 小çaille 車 - a small car
Le 車 est 小çaï. - The car is small.
Le 車 est 小çaille. - The car is small.

une 小çaïe 家 - a small house
une 小çaille 家 - a small house
L'家 est 小çaïe. - The house is small.
L'家 est 小çaille. - The house is small.

However, usage is increasingly trending toward using the former forms attributively and the latter predicatively:

un 大qui 車 - a big car
Le 車 est 大quille. - The car is big.

une 大quie 家 - a big house
L'家 est 大quille. - The house is big.

un 小çaï 車 - a small car
Le 車 est 小çaille. - The car is small.

une 小çaïe 家 - a small house
L'家 est 小çaille. - The house is small.

[Lambuzhao]

I figured it was from ja nai, though it should be noted that "ja" is not a negative at all and means "in this/that case"

Nothing to keep a Molson-soaked Quebecker from reanalyzing it, though. (and consider the humble beginnings of "pas")

The journey of a thousand pas starts with one ne. Very zen-nihilist.

but in a jokelang of this sort, I suppose it doesn't matter.

Gôta混zé

Spoiler:

Matthieu Ricard, Saint buddiste et Japoné語eur (?)

Spoiler:

Buddha avec temple bulldog

[Lambuzhao]

Japoné語, c’est 素晴chille!

[Lambuzhao]

Or something. My exposure to anything remotely Acadian was when I lived in Woonsocket, Rhode Island (a pocket of now elderly and very rusty Acadian speakers) many moons ago, and the only ben I've ever dabbled in was Chikuhou. Your request is duly noted, but I wouldn't sit by the phone were I you. There's nothing to prevent you from undertaking such a project, though.

Were they Les Tisserands de Pouvoir? Pas probablement.

My Uncle has lived in Georgia most of his life, but he's an old Acadian from Rhode Island. I learned some of my first French from ole' Tonton Ray. Just saw him at my godson's wedding in Baltimore. He's 93 and still as hale as all get out, and savouring a kir or two or three in between tales of WWII action in France and Germany, his two wives (both of whom he outlived), triathlons, and catching up on his near endless supply of great-grandchildren (he had nine kids).