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Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia/Balboa Creole French

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{{Infobox language
|name=Balboa Creole French
|states=[[California]]
|region=limited to quarters of [[Balboa Island]]
|speakers=virtually extinct; a few families are [[bilingual]] in either [[English Language|English]], or rarely in [[French Language|French]]
|familycolor=Creole
|iso2=cpf}}

Balboa French Creole is a Creole language used in Balboa Island in the city of Newport Beach, California. It originated from a blending of French spoken by French families on the island with English, Spanish, and German, all which are spoken by some members of the Balboa Island community. Balboa Creole French differs highly from Standard French and is incomprehensible to the majority of French speakers. People from Haiti or the French Caribbean can sometimes understand the Creole, but it remains unintelligible to the masses. Some major differences are its subjects which are Jah or Mwa, Tu, Vous or Tu'z All, Nos, Il, Elle, Ilz or Ellez and Dem. In a census published in 2009, it was revealed only 14 people on the island can still speak the language.

Characteristics

The structure of Balboa Creole French is identical with Metropolitan French, though spelling does tend to differ. The Creole Imperfect uses "-zait" or "-ziez" depending on a given verb's infinitive. Balboa Creole is similar to Portuguese and Italian in that it compounds prepositions with gender. Thus "de+(feminine)" becomes "da" and "de+(masculine)" becomes "do." However compound characters like "œ" do not exist and are often replaced by a more phonetic spelling "urr." There are a number of words of German and Spanish influence such as: to drink, "beber" (pronounced beh-bé) in lieu of "boire" and "leev" rather than "liebe" for love.

Standard French: "Douce France" by Charles Trenet
Douce France, cher pays de mon enfance, Bercée de tendre insouciance.
Je t'ai gardée dans mon cœur! Mon village au clocher aux maisons sages
Où les enfants de mon âge, Ont partagé mon bonheur.
Oui je t'aime, Et je te donne ce poème!
Oui je t'aime, Dans la joie ou la douleur!

Balboa Creole French: "Douce France" by Charles Trenet
Dolce France, cherr pays de mon ninance, Bairsé de tendre insouciance
Jah t’ai teni don le curr, Mon village bi pres da maysons viels
Kann les p’tits do meme ano, Ilz on partagé mon bunhurr.
Si Mwa vous ’aime, É mwa le vous donne ce poème
Si Mwa vous ’aime, Don le jois o do bunhurr

[[Category:French dialects]]
[[Category:California culture]]
[[Category:Newport Beach, California]]
[[Category:Endangered languages]]


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