Saint Pierre and Miquelon French or the Saint Pierre French () is a variety of the French language spoken in the territorial collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Although the territory is located in North America, St. Pierre and Miquelon French is clearly distinct from Quebec French, Acadian French and the French of Canada's other French-speaking provinces. According to Quebec linguist Jacques Leclerc, it is strongly influenced by the origins of its population, which comes mainly from the Basque Country, Normandy and Brittany. It differs little from the Parisian French, but retains some âÂÂlocal particularitiesâÂÂ, including a vocabulary of maritime origin. French author and New York University professor Eugène Nicole, who was born in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, distinguishes between Miquelon French, which has retained "Acadian features", and Saint-Pierre French, whose accent has sometimes been "likened to that of Granville".
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon French has received a significant contribution from the French spoken in the western regions of France, such as Normandy, Brittany, the Basque Country and Poitou.
The influence of Acadian French, on the other hand, is less significant, "although notable (...) particularly in Miquelon", according to Saint-Pierre linguist Andrée Olano. Miquelon, where Acadians from Beaubassin or Beauséjour in New Brunswick had mainly gathered.
Quebec French is said to have influenced Saint-Pierre and Miquelon French, particularly in terms of the climate and flora, such as barachois, bleuet and platebière (plaquebière in Québécois French). According to the Quebec government's Centre de la francophonie des Amériques, Saint-Pierrais and Miquelonnais are a French-speaking society that is "culturally distinct from France".
The sounds oi are transformed into oué in the last syllable of words, such as vouèr instead of voir, "as can be observed in Normandy" notes the geologist Edgar Aubert de la Rüe, who spent several periods in the archipelago.
In his preface to Mots et expressions de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (Words and Expressions of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon), published by the author and self-taught Saint-Pierre historian Marc Dérible in 1993, the former Prefect Bernard Leurquin noted the absence of "the slightest trace of an accent" in Saint-Pierre, but "the phrases, vocabulary, tone and flow that you might hear in Paris, Caen, Brest or Bayonne". On the other hand, he notes the "words and expressions" that are hidden in the spoken language, "giving the archipelago's vocabulary a flavour of its own".