Scribd
Upload
57 views7 pages

National Varieties of English. Cajun (Louisiana) 11.10.23

Uploaded by

j.gricenuk

Cajun English is a dialect of American English spoken by Cajuns living in Southern Louisiana that has been significantly influenced by Louisiana French. It originated as the language shifted from French to English following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Cajun English is distinguished by its inclusion of many French-influenced terms and phrases, as well as influences on grammar and pronunciation from Cajun French, even among monolingual English speakers. It exists among other dialects in Louisiana, including African American English and Southern English varieties.

Copyright:

© All Rights Reserved
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Download as pptx, pdf, or txt

National Varieties of English. Cajun (Louisiana) 11.10.23

Uploaded by

j.gricenuk
57 views7 pages
Cajun English is a dialect of American English spoken by Cajuns living in Southern Louisiana that has been significantly influenced by Louisiana French. It originated as the language shifted from French to English following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Cajun English is distinguished by its inclusion of many French-influenced terms and phrases, as well as influences on grammar and pronunciation from Cajun French, even among monolingual English speakers. It exists among other dialects in Louisiana, including African American English and Southern English varieties.

Copyright

© © All Rights Reserved

Available Formats

PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Cajun English is a dialect of American English spoken by Cajuns living in Southern Louisiana that has been significantly influenced by Louisiana French. It originated as the language shifted from French to English following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Cajun English is distinguished by its inclusion of many French-influenced terms and phrases, as well as influences on grammar and pronunciation from Cajun French, even among monolingual English speakers. It exists among other dialects in Louisiana, including African American English and Southern English varieties.

Copyright:

© All Rights Reserved
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
57 views7 pages

National Varieties of English. Cajun (Louisiana) 11.10.23

Uploaded by

j.gricenuk
Cajun English is a dialect of American English spoken by Cajuns living in Southern Louisiana that has been significantly influenced by Louisiana French. It originated as the language shifted from French to English following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Cajun English is distinguished by its inclusion of many French-influenced terms and phrases, as well as influences on grammar and pronunciation from Cajun French, even among monolingual English speakers. It exists among other dialects in Louisiana, including African American English and Southern English varieties.

Copyright:

© All Rights Reserved
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1/ 7

CAJUN ENGLISH

THE FOLLOWING WORKED ON THE PRESENTATION: MARIA KORYTSKA AND


JULIA HRYTSENYUK
 Cajun English is as dialectal variety of English.
 Cajun English, or Cajun Vernacular English, is a dialect of American English spoken by Cajuns living in
Southern Louisiana. Cajun English is significantly influenced by Louisiana French, the historical language
of the Cajun people, a subset of Louisiana Creoles — although many today prefer not to identify as such —
who descend largely from the Acadian people expelled from the Maritime provinces during Le Grand
Dérangement (among many others).
THE SHIFT FROM FRANCOPHONE
TO ANGLOPHONE LOUISIANA
The decline of French in Louisiana began with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
 While Louisiana had been under Spanish rule for a brief period leading up to the purchase of the
territory by the United States, Spain did not push residents to learn Spanish, so this change in power
had little linguistic effect (Griolet 1986). In contrast, when Louisiana achieved statehood in 1812, the
United States expected English to become the primary language (see Camp, this volume; White, this
volume).
VARIETIES OF ENGLISH IN
LOUISIANA
While this chapter focuses on Cajun English, speakers of this language variety are in contact with
speakers of other dialects such as African American English, Southern English, and New Orleans
English(es), among other language varieties. A closer look at the geographic and demographic
distribution of these dialects helps situate Cajun English within the region as a whole. Very little
research has examined African American English in Louisiana, and most research to date has
centered on varieties spoken in New Orleans (Brennan 1983; Charity 2007; Casey 2016) despite the
fact that the vast majority of black Louisianans live outside the city limits (US Census Bureau 2010).
CAJUN ENGLISH: LINGUISTIC
FEATURES. PHRASES AND TERMS
One of the most distinctive features of Cajun English is the number of
French-influenced terms and phrases that are common even in the
speech of monolingual English speakers. In this complex bilingual
situation, there has been much debate about the line between code-
switches and borrowings (Brown 2003; Dajko and Carmichael 2014).
According to some definitions, a code-switch occurs when a speaker
alternates between two or more languages, while borrowing is a
process by which terms and phrases are adopted from one language
into another (Myers-Scotton 1993; Winford 2003).
GRAMMAR
French influence on Cajun English grammar can be
seen both in how sentences are structured (syntax) and
in how words are constructed and inflected
morphology). Some phrases that may sound odd to
people outside of Acadiana are calques—that is, words
that are direct translations of French phrases. For
example, make twelve (to turn twelve on a birthday)
comes from the French faire, which can be translated as
to make but is also used to indicate achieving an age.
Other calques include pass by your house (stop in for a
visit at your house), and come see (come over here),
which come from viens voir (lit. Come see) (Cheramie
and Gill 1992; Scott 1992).
PRONUNCIATION
Many phonetic (or pronunciation-related) features of Cajun English
appear to be influenced by Cajun French, though even people who speak
no French may exhibit these pronunciations (Dubois and Horvath 2000).
Most research on Cajun English pronunciation is quite recent, likely due
to advances in technology for examining phonetic variation (variation in
how sounds are produced).

You might also like