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).

Acadiana, the traditional Cajun homeland and the stronghold of both the Louisiana French and Cajun English dialects.

English is now spoken by the vast majority of the Cajun population, but French influence remains strong in terms of inflection and vocabulary. Their accent is considerably distinct from General American accents.[1] Cajun French is considered by many to be an endangered language, mostly used by elderly generations.[2] However, French in Louisiana is now seeing something of a cultural renaissance.[3]

History edit

Cajun English is spoken throughout Acadiana. Its speakers are often descendants of Acadians from Nova Scotia, Canada, who in 1755 migrated to French-owned Louisiana after the British took control of Nova Scotia and expelled them from their land.[4] In 1803 however, the United States purchased the territory of Louisiana and, in 1812, when Louisiana drafted their first state Constitution in order to be granted statehood, the English language received official sanction as the language of promulgation and preservation of laws.[5] Despite this change, many Cajuns at the time who lived in small towns and were poorly educated, continued to use French exclusively.[2] This isolated them, subjecting them to ridicule and treatment as second-class citizens. In the 1930s, English was the only language taught in schools and students who spoke French were punished and humiliated in front of their class. The Cajuns still continued to use Cajun French at home and in their communities, but this led to a stigma being associated with the language, and, as a result, parents stopped teaching it to their children.[6] The combination of being native French speakers, and the incomplete English that the Cajun children were learning during their inconsistent public education, led to the advent of Cajun English, a fusion of both languages.[2]

Many decades later, new generations of Cajuns perceived a loss of cultural identity, and their efforts to recover it started the Cajun Renaissance.[2] The corresponding popularity of Cajun food, music, and festivities have been well received by tourists and some programs are now supported by the state government. Although Cajun English has made a comeback, the bilingualism that originally created it, a knowledge of both French and English, has not. Cajun English speakers today typically do not speak French, and experts believe that it is unlikely that this part of the culture will be recovered.[2] This shift away from bilingualism has changed the source of many of the phonological differences between Cajun English and Standard American English from interference caused by being a native French speaker to markers of Cajun identity.[7]

Phonology edit

All vowels of Cajun English[citation needed]
English diaphoneme Cajun phoneme Example words
Pure vowels (Monophthongs)
/æ/ [æ] act, pal, trap, ham, pass
/ɑː/ [ɑ] blah, bother, father,

lot, top, wasp

/ɒ/
[a] all, dog, bought,

loss, saw, taught

/ɔː/
/ɛ/ [ɛ~æ] dress, met, bread
[ɪ] hem, pen
[i] length
/ə/ [ə] about, syrup, arena
/ɪ/ [ɪ] hit, skim, tip
// [i] beam, chic, fleet
(/i/) [ɪ~i] happy, very
/ʌ/ [ʌ] bus, flood, what
/ʊ/ [ʊ] book, put, should
// [u] food, glue, new
Diphthongs
// [ɑɪ~aː] ride, shine, try,

bright, dice, pike

// [aʊ~aː] now, ouch, scout
// [eː] lake, paid, rein
/ɔɪ/ [ɔɪ] boy, choice, moist
// [oː] goat, oh, show
R-colored vowels
/ɑːr/ [ɑ~a] barn, car, park
/ɛər/ [ɛ~æ] bare, bear, there
/ɜːr/ [ʌə~ʌɹ] burn, first, herd
/ər/ [əɹ] doctor, martyr, pervade
/ɪr/ [i~ɪ] fear, peer, tier
/ɪər/
/ɔːr/ [ɔə~ɔɹ] hoarse, horse, war
/ɒr/ [ɑ~ɔ] orange, tomorrow
/ʊər/ [uə~ʊə] poor, score, tour
/jʊər/ cure, Europe, pure

Cajun English is distinguished by some of the following phonological features:

  • The deletion of any word's final consonant (or consonant cluster), and nasal vowels, are common, both features being found in French. Therefore, hand becomes [hæ̃], food becomes [fu], rent becomes [ɹɪ̃], New York becomes [nuˈjɔə], and so on.[8]
  • As a consequence of the removal of a word's final consonant the third person singular (-S) and the past tense morpheme (-ED) tend to be dropped. So, He give me six and She go with it rather than gives and goes. And I stay two months and She wash my face rather than stayed and washed.[2]
  • Cajun English also has the tendency to drop the auxiliary verb to be in the third person singular (IS) and the second person singular and plurals. For example, She pretty and What we doing.
  • The typical American gliding vowels [oʊ] (as in boat), [eɪ] (as in bait), [ʊu] (as in boot), [aʊ~æʊ] (as in bout), [äɪ] (as in bite), and [ɔɪ] (as in boy) have reduced glides or none at all: respectively, [oː], [eː], [uː], [aː~æː], [äː], and [ɔː]. [8]
  • Many vowels which are distinct in General American English are pronounced the same way due to a merger; for example, the words hill and heel are homophones, both being pronounced /hɪɹl/[citation needed].
  • H-dropping, wherein words that begin with the letter /h/ are pronounced without it, so that hair sounds like air, and so on.[2]

Non-rhoticity, unlike most of the American south, cajun accents tend to drop r after vowel sounds.

  • Stress is generally placed on the second or last syllable of a word, a feature inherited directly from French.
  • The voiceless and voiced alveolar stops /t/ and /d/ often replace dental fricatives, a feature used by both Cajun English speakers and speakers of Louisiana Creole French (Standard French speakers generally produce alveolar fricatives in the place of dental fricatives). Examples include bath being pronounced as bat and they as day. This feature leads to a common Louisianian paradigm dis, dat, dese, dose rather than this, that, these, those as a method of describing how Cajuns speak.[2]
  • Cajun English speakers generally do not aspirate the consonants /p/, /t/, or /k/. As a result, the words par and bar can sound very similar to speakers of other English varieties. It is notable that after the Cajun Renaissance, this feature became more common in men than women, with women largely or entirely dropping this phonological feature.[7]
  • The inclusion of many loanwords, calques, and phrases from French, such as nonc ('uncle', from Louisiana French noncle, and Standard French oncle), cher/chère ('dear', pronounced /ʃɛr/, from the French cher), and making groceries ('to shop for groceries', a calque of the Cajun French faire des groceries (épicerie)).

French-influenced Cajun vocabulary edit

  • Lagniappe : Gratuity provided by a shop owner to a customer at the time of purchase; something extra
  • Allons ! : Let's go!
  • Alors pas : Of course not
  • Fais do-do : Refers to a dance party, a Cajun version of a square dance. In French, this means to go to sleep.
  • Dis-moi la vérité ! : Tell me the truth!
  • Quoi faire ? : Why?
  • Un magasin : A store
  • Être en colère : To be angry
  • Mo chagren : I'm sorry
  • Une sucette : A pacifier
  • Une piastre : A dollar
  • Un caleçon : Boxers
  • cher (e is pronounced like a in apple) : Dear or darling - also used as "buddy" or "pal"
  • Mais non, cher ! : Of course not, dear!

Some variations from Standard English edit

There are several phrases used by Cajuns that are not used by non-Cajun speakers. Some common phrases are listed below:

Come see edit

"Come see" is the equivalent of saying "come here" regardless of whether or not there is something to "see." The French "viens voir," or "venez voir," meaning "come" or "please come," is often used in Cajun French to ask people to come.[9] This phrasing may have its roots in "viens voir ici" (IPA: [isi]), the French word for "here."[citation needed]

When you went? edit

Instead of "When did you go?"

Save the dishes edit

To "save the dishes" means to "put away the dishes into cupboards where they belong after being washed". While dishes are the most common subject, it is not uncommon to save other things. For example: Save up the clothes, saving the tools, save your toys.

Get/Run down at the store edit

"Getting/Running down at the store" involves stepping out of a car to enter the store. Most commonly, the driver will ask the passenger, "Are you getting/running down (also)?" One can get down at any place, not just the store. The phrase "get down" may come from the act of "getting down from a horse" as many areas of Acadiana were only accessible by horse well into the 20th century. It also may originate from the French language descendre meaning to get down, much as some English-Spanish bilingual speakers say "get down," from the Spanish bajar.

Makin' (the) groceries edit

"Makin' groceries" refers to the act of buying groceries, rather than that of manufacturing them. The confusion originates from the direct translation of the American French phrase "faire l'épicerie" which is understood by speakers to mean "to do the grocery shopping." "Faire" as used in the French language can mean either "to do" or "to make." This is a term frequently used in New Orleans, but it's not used very much elsewhere in the Acadiana area.[10]

Make water edit

"Making water" is using the bathroom, specifically with reference to urination.[clarification needed] One would say, "I need to go make water." It's mostly used in New Orleans.

"for" instead of "at" edit

Cajun English speakers can exhibit a tendency to use "for" instead of "at" when referring to time. For example, "I'll be there for 2 o'clock." means "I'll be there at 2 o'clock." Given the connection between Cajun English and Acadia, this is also seen among Canadian English speakers.

In popular culture edit

Television edit

Film edit

Video games edit

  • Several characters of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, particularly the narrator, have Cajun accents. Some characters even use Cajun French phrases.
  • Virgil from Left 4 Dead 2, speaking with a Cajun-accent and using few Cajun English wording, during the Swamp Fever finale to The Parish beginning campaigns.
  • Teruteru Hanamura from Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair speaks with a Cajun accent and uses common phrases in the latter half of the first Class Trial.[citation needed]

See also edit

Resources edit

References edit

  1. ^ Melancon, Megan E. "Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea. American Varieties: Cajun". PBS.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Pérez Ramos, Raúl (2012). "Cajun Vernacular English A Study Over A Reborn Dialect" (PDF). Fòrum de Recerca. 17: 623–632.
  3. ^ Allard, Fanny (July 3, 2020). United States: In Louisiana, Cajuns are keen to preserve their identity. France 24 English. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2020 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ Marsh, James H. (July 15, 2015) [September 4, 2013]. "Acadian Expulsion (the Great Upheaval)". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  5. ^ Ward, Roger K. (Summer 1997). "The French Language in Louisiana Law and Legal Education: A Requiem". Louisiana Law Review. 57 (4) 7: 1283–1324.
  6. ^ Ohlsen, Claire (November 25, 2009). "Cajun French Efforting Comeback in Louisiana". WAFB. Raycom Media. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  7. ^ a b Dubois, Sylvie (2000). "When the music change, you change too: Gender and language change in Cajun English". Language Variation and Change. 11 (3): 287–313. doi:10.1017/S0954394599113036. S2CID 145419227.
  8. ^ a b Dubois & Horvath 2004, pp. 409–410.
  9. ^ Valdman 2009, p. 655.
  10. ^ "How to Say to do in French". Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  11. ^ "A.K.A. Kelly Kay". IMDb.

Bibliography edit

  • Dubois, Sylvia; Horvath, Barbara M. (2004). "Cajun Vernacular English: phonology". In Schneider, Edgar W. (ed.). A Handbook of Varieties of English: A Multimedia Reference Tool. Vol. 1. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 407–416. doi:10.1515/9783110175325.
  • Valdman, Albert (2009). Dictionary of Louisiana French. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604734034.