Hi, If you want to translate FRANCA, Vila Franca do Campo, the translation would be "tax free village"!
Eliseu Pacheco da Silva No dia 14/07/2013, às 13:56, David Perry <djperr...@sbcglobal.net> escreveu: > Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread. The comments regarding > the French influence are quite interesting. I have a number of Sao Miguel > ancestors from the town of Vila Franca do Campo (I think that's correct) > which translates to French Camp. Why would anyone name a town French Camp? > By the way, there's a French Camp in CA started in the Gold Rush days named > for a similar reason. > > Also, the comments about educated vs. uneducated folks holds true with my > family. At least seven and possibly all eight of my great grandparents were > illiterate - couldn't sign their name. Three of my four grandparents were > the same way. Without the ability to see what it is they were saying, it's > no surprise that the spoken word would easily drift away from the written > word. Speaking of education, are my illiterate ancestors typical of all the > islanders? Are some of the islands more "educated" than others? My > ancestors all came from Sao Miguel, mostly the south-central part of the > island and also the southeastern corner. > David > > On Saturday, July 13, 2013 7:43:10 AM UTC-7, Herb wrote: >> Hi David >> >> I was born in Sao Miguel and still speak Portuguese with the Sao Miguel >> accent. It sounds absolutely nothing like Brazilian Portuguese >> pronunciation. Its like night and day David. In fact many Azoreans have >> great difficulty understanding a Brazilian speaker. I delved a bit into all >> of this when I took some linguistic courses while pursuing my undergarduate >> degree. I have always been fascinated by languages. Two facts are in >> evidence. One concerns the pronunciation of the Portuguese language as >> spoken in Sao Miguel where several peculiarities remind the listener of >> French. The two most striking of these characteristics are the pronunciation >> depicted by the letter u ( escudo, Furnas) as u in the French tu and the >> sound depicted in the French dipthongs ou and oi ( ouro, noite as the eu or >> French peu (foot), roughly the ur of New England, "Burt". The French sounds >> in the Michalense ( Sao Miguel) pronunciation could be due to French >> influnce on parts of the island. The village known as Bretanha may have >> been settled by Bretons from Brittanny France, possibly ship wrecked >> sailors. At the western end of Sao Miguel there is a place called Ginetes, >> probably so called from a famous breed of jennets for which the island was >> noted. The name reminds of the French word jenet " heather" as in the >> English Royal House of Plantagenet ( ruled 1154-1399). The so called French >> u also exists in Corvo and parts of Madeira. The French u and eu are heard >> in Continental Portugal specifically in the region known as the Upper >> Alentejo where the families of many Azoreans originated. Some scholars say >> that if it had been washed up Breton sailors or fishermen or sailors or >> pirates at the end of the 16th century they would have Celtic speaking and >> not French speaking. So maybe in order to confirm or deny the theory of >> Breton influence we must examine the Celtic phonological system. Having >> said all that David, there is no concrete evidence that Frenchmen did so >> settle, much less influence the pronunciation of Michaelense. The matter of >> pronumnciation impinges on that of provenience. Lingustic evidence >> however, strongly suggests that the early setllers of Sao Miguel came from >> southern Portugal from the Algarve region and from Upper Alentejo and it is >> the pronunciation from those regions that influenced Michaelense. Still >> others hold to the French theory. >> >> I hope this helps at least partially explain the Portuguese language >> pronumciation as spoken in Sao Miguel. >> >> >> Herb >> >> On Friday, July 12, 2013 4:10:06 PM UTC-4, David Perry wrote: >>> I'm starting to learn Portuguese and everything I see and hear doesn't >>> sound at all like what I remember as a child while listening to my born in >>> Sao Miguel father talking to his relatives and neighbors, all of whom spoke >>> only Portuguese. For instance, I specifically remember very well two >>> words: "legs" which my father pronounced pad-nish (doesn't sound at all >>> like what I see in a dictionary - pernas) and chourico which my father >>> pronounced shoo-dees. How different is the Sao Miguel Portuguese from >>> Lisbon Portuguese? Are there a few general rules I can follow such as "r's >>> sound like d's" or "drop the ending vowel" as in the two examples above? >>> David > -- > For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right > that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Azores Genealogy" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to azores@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. > > -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. 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