Louis in Missouri. The colonial population experienced long, arduous years during the embryonic years of the Louisiana Territory. From civil strife over land, politics and resources with American Indians, to crippling pandemics, floods, hurricanes, and tension with the adversarial and encroaching British colonizers, Louisiana, in effect, became a place to avoid.
Despite these uncertainties, a multitude of Francophone ethnic groups were lured to this harsh but potentially profitable land, most notably to pursue agriculture. When the territory was transferred to Spanish rule , the new government outpaced the French at offering sizeable land grants, tax breaks and commissions to those willing to develop land west and south of New Orleans and along the Mississippi River.
One of the primary goals of the Spaniards was to hispanicize the population. Bernard parishes. Many arrived against their free will as indentured servants and as slaves. Within 70 years — a mere three to four generations — the colony became home to a melting pot of Francophone cultures, each speaking their particular varieties of what we call today the French language. Collectively, these Francophones became known as Creoles.
Between and , 3, Acadian refugees knocked at the doors of the Spanish government in New Orleans, pleading for asylum. Knowing that the success of the colony depended unequivocally on the development of land to the south and west of New Orleans, and that the Acadians were expert planters and levee engineers, resettlement was granted. The Acadians were sent to the bayous, swamps and marshlands of the southern region, where they became neighbors of Creoles who had been well established in those parts for several decades.
Evidence in extant records as well as in oral tradition in South Louisiana suggest that the Acadians were not wholeheartedly welcomed by the military districts of colonial South Louisiana. Numerous transactions in civil records point toward multiple disputes over property between Acadians, Creoles and Native Americans. However, the cultural knowledge that Acadians, Creoles and American Indians shared and borrowed from one another were crucial in the survival and development of the colony.
This intermingling between Acadians, Creoles, Native Americans, African and Afro-Caribbean slaves, Spaniards, British, and waves of subsequent immigration by Irish , Germans, and Italians, among others, comprised the basis for a new hybrid subculture in South Louisiana.
I will not speak in French. To go against that at the time was to sell your family short of the American dream, and to teach your children French was to indoctrinate them in a life of toil and poverty. That experience, the Michots learned, was just a starting point, the first step on an endless journey. Ashlee Michot started searching for that pathway as a young mother. It was through those hours that Ashlee came to understand the vastness of the Louisiana French vocabulary.
It takes an individual effort. Eventually Ashlee, who weaves what she learns about Louisiana French into the language classes she teaches at the Arnaudville high school, started recording the shows. Now, she has hundreds of hours on tape. But once she did, it became impossible to stop exploring it.
Local researchers have worked for decades to preserve as many pieces of the language as they can. LaFleur at LSU and Barry Ancelet at University of Louisiana at Lafayette helped to compile the page Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities , which captures vocabulary that may not be used similarly elsewhere, helping to ensure future translations and conversations avoid missed communication.
Still, there are pieces of this culture that have gone missing. While working on a project to preserve the work of a local storyteller, LaFleur discovered that the meaning of some of the words he used has been lost. Two years ago, the Saint-Luc French Immersion and Cultural Center , the school she helped found, got its own building: a former nursing home in the center of town.
Already, it houses books chronicling Acadian genealogy as well as donated handicrafts and folk art that will help visitors and residents learn the language. Eventually, Saint-Luc will also house visiting students.
Though she feels confident enough speaking French, she wanted to fill the gaps in her reading and writing so she can chronicle her story for future students, adding yet another chapter to the Francophone history here. Somebody had to, she says. Borrowings from other languages The French language in France has borrowed from several other languages. French speakers in Louisiana also borrowed to add terms to their lexicon.
From the Choctaw came chaoui to name a raccoon, a creature which did not exist in Europe. And of course, numerous English words have found their way into Louisiana French over the years. Frequency of usage Contemporary Cajuns use some terms which are just as not as popular or current in France today as they are in Louisiana. Variability The French language was not "standardized" when the people who would become Acadians left France in the early 17th century.
A number of different dialects were spoken in France at the time, and many of these survive even today. Therefore, there existed pronunciations, spellings and verb forms which varied among different speakers. Language revolution comes slowly in a place such as Butte La Rose, a town of accessible by a narrow pontoon bridge, where locals for generations have harvested crawfish and catfish from the Atchafalaya River and the surrounding swamp.
Gwen Duplechin stopped in for a chat, and reflected on the survival of Cajun French. He said a good start would be tourism jobs. The school-immersion programs focus on standard French, though many teachers try to incorporate Cajun or other Louisiana dialects. French speaking in Louisiana goes far beyond the Cajuns.
That includes Louisiana Creole speakers, a language with ties to the Caribbean. The Houma Indians are thought to be the largest French-speaking group in Louisiana, with about 40 percent of tribal members still speaking French, Dunn said.
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