English Varieties: Linguistic Background of Cajun English

A presentation about the sociolinguistic and paralinguistic background of Cajun English spoken in Southern Louisiana.

1. CAJUN ENGLISH

2. Structure
1.HistoryofCajuns and theoriginsoftheCajun language
2.Pronunciation/Phonology
3.Morphologyand syntax
4.Cajun English in use
5.Currentsituation& outlook
6.Discussion

3. HISTORYAND
ORIGIN OFCAJUN

4. ■Cajun English isalmostexclusivelyfoundand spoken in Southern Louisiana
■Migration tosouthern Texas and southern Mississippi createdsmallpocketsthere
■Cajuns arewellreputatedthroughouttheUS, howevertheknowledgeaboutthemis
oftensuperficialand basedon stereotypes.
■Cajun isseenas„linguisticcuriosity“ sincetheirversionofEnglish and French differ
broadlyfromAmerican English and French spoken in France.

7. The HistoryoftheCajuns –
FromAcadianstoCajuns
■The wordCajun derivesfromthewordAcadian= descendantsofFrench settlersand
laterCanadiansfromNova Scotia (formerAcadia) in theearly16oos.
■Acadianswas latershortenedto‘Cadiansbyenglishspeakerswhichdevolvedinto
theword“Cajun“
■Remaineda disputedterritorybetweenFrance and England fora longtime
■Whenitwas declaredEnglish in thebeginningofthe18th century, theAcadians
wereeitherforcedtopledgeallegiancetoEnglish crownortheyweredeported.
➢Reason: FriendshipswithNative Americans, influxofbritishsettlers
➢Result: le granddéragement= widescatteringoftheAcadiansacrossvarious
coastlinesin theamericancolonies.

8. Origin ofCajun
■Through themaintainanceofisolatedpocketswhereonlyfrenchwas spoken, the
languageand culturalaspectssuch astheCatholic religionweremaintained.
■UprisingrivalrybetweenprotestantEnglish speakersand Cajuns, whichaffectedeven
strongerwithdrawaland creationofisolatedCajun communities
■French componentsback fromthe1700s survivedoverthecenturiesand stonglyaffect
lexicalitemsofthepresentCajun French
■CoexistenceofseveralvarietiesofFrench in Southern Louisiana includingtheAcadian
French aswellasa French-basedCreole language.
■Creole emergedfromcontactbetweentheAcadians, French settlersalreadyin
Louisiana, Native Americans, slavesfromAfricaand theCaribbean aswellasSpanish-
speakingIslenosfromCanary Islands.

9. The shift fromfrancophoneto
anglophone Lousiana
■VarietiesofFrench hadbeenmaintainedfora coupleofcenturiesasthedominant
language
■However, todayEnglish hasreplacedFrench in mostCajun communities.
➢A varietyofEnglish hasnowbecomethemaincharacteristicfor“sounding
Cajun“
▪ThishowCajun hasgaineda sociolinguisticand culturalmeaning, insteadofthe
formerassociationwithfrenchheritage
▪Tobea Cajun, yousoleyhavetosoundcajun
▪Cajun isnowadaysgenerallyassociatedwithSouthern Louisiana speechregardless
ofethnicityand heritage
▪Still, manyfeaturesoftheCajun Dialectcanbetracedback tofrenchlanguage
heritageasin aspectsofpronounciationorphonologybut aswellin phrasesand the
sentencestructure

10. PRONUNCIATION/
PHONOLOGY

11. The twoessential principles
1.Deletion offinal consonants
▪Mainlyin bimorphemicwords, but also commonin monomorphemicwords
▪The speakersdo not pronounceconsonantsin word-final position
▪Examples: late, hand, house, Larose, school, both, fish
➢Significanteffectson morphosyntactics: grammaticalmorphemessuch as
third-person-singular –smightbeomitted

12. The twoessential principles
2.Reduction/absenceofoffglidesin longstressedvowels
▪Many wordscontainingcomplexvowels(e.g. dipthongs) in GA/southern
pronunciationbecomemonophthongsin Cajun English
▪In addition, Cajun English lacksthe‘Southern drawl’
➢Distinguishes Cajun from other Southern American dialects/vernaculars of
English
▪Examples
•street, read(pronouncedwith[i:])
•way, make(pronouncedwith[e:])
•know, over(pronouncedwith[o:])
•food, school(pronouncedwith[u:])
•fire, now, oil(pronouncedwith[a:] / [ɑ:])

13. Further phonologicalfeatures
■Words such asTexas, egg, bedarepronouncedwith[æ] instead of [ɛ]
➢bed[bæ]and bad[bæ:]have the same vowel quality, but differ in vowel length
■thought/lotmerger; Mary/marry/merrymerger
■non-rhoticity
➢[ɹ] iseitheromitted(square, four) orreplacedbya an alveolar tap [ɾ]in word-initial
consonantclusters(three, tree, friend)
■[p], [t], [k] are not aspirated if they precede a stressed vowel or [r]/ [ɾ], [l], [w], [j]
■[ð] and [θ] are replaced by [d] or [t]
■Nasalization of vowels
■Deletion of [h] in syllable onsets (hairsounds like air)
■Stress on the final syllable of a word/phrase (based on the French ‘grouperhythmique’)
➢A lot of these features reflect the significant influence of the French language on Cajun English
➢Some speakers even switch between English and French while talking

14. Cajun English pronunciation: example

15. →Parallels in phonology to other regional
dialects exist, but Cajun Englishremains a
distinctive, coherent dialect!
→“[…] we are able to consider the possibility
that early CE is not just quantitatively
different from the Southern English dialects
in its region, it is also qualitatively
distinctive”
(Dubois & Horvath, “Do Cajuns speak Southern English” 37)

16. Overview: Cajun English vowelsystem
Source: Dubois & Horvath, “Cajun Vernacular English” 211f

17. MORPHOLOGYAND
SYNTAX

18. Morphologyand syntax
■French influenceon Cajun English grammarcanbeseenbothin syntaxand
morphology
■Calques(oddsoundingphrasesdue todirecttranslation)
➢Maketwelve toturn twelveon a birthday
➢Pass byyourhouse stopin fora visitat yourhouse
➢Come see comeoverhere
faire–tomake–
usedtoindicateachievingage
viensvoir–lit. comesee

19. DistinctiveGrammar
■Negative concord
■Different useofirregularverbsin
pastform
■Pasttensebeleveling
■Lack ofconjugatedtobe
■Features associatedwithlearning
English asa secondlanguage
■Progressives without-ing
They didn’twant noschooling.
She seenit. She brungit.
I was there, You wasthere, We was
there, …
They on the way. You stupid.
They wanted to drank.
I kept drank.

20. Cajun sentencepatterns
■Emphaticrepetitionofpronounsat beginning/end ofsentences
➢Me, I don‘tlike thatmuch.
➢He wenttothestore, him.
■Markers ofagreementornegationat end ofsentence
➢He don‘twatchthatshow, no.
➢I‘mgoin´pass byyourhouselater, yeah.
■Cajun questionstructure: nosubject-verb inversion
➢Whatthatis? vs. „Whatisthat?“

21. PHRASESAND
TERMS

22. Cajun phrasesinfluencedbyfrench
features
■Lexicaldifferencesareeasilyobserveddue totheirapparent effect
■French-influencedtermsand phrasesareevencommonlyusedin thespeechof
monolingual English speakers
■Due tocomplexityofthisbilingual linguisticsituation, thereisa differenciation
betweencode-switchingand borrowings
Processofadoptingtermsand
phrasesfromonelanguageto
theother
Alterningbetween two or
more languages
■Bilingual Cajun English speakerscommonlyswitch intospeakingfullfrench

23. Cajun phrasesinfluencedbyfrench
features
■Boudin = a riceand sausagemixture
■lagniappe = a littlesomethingextra directborrowingsfromfrench
■faisdo-do = familydance
■cher = darling; pronouncedshah commonlyusedin theend ofa
sentence
■mais = but/ well; pronpuncedmay ifnot usedasconjunction,
introductionofturn
■Making groceries = tobuygroceries -faire lescourses
■Togetdown out= gettingout (ofa car/ vehicle) -descendre= directtranslations
■Becauseofthisappearance, Cajun longtinehasbeenasumedtomerelybethe„leftovers“ asin
reflectionsofthetransferoflinguistictraitsfromanotherlanguageafter theformerlanguageisnolonger
used.

24. Further originsoftermsand phrases
■African American influence:
➢Okra
➢jazz
■Unknowninfluence:
➢Pronounciationofaskasax commonin dialectsofAAE
➢Equivocalmeaningofcoonass frenchtermconnasse= idiot
English roots
■Dual possibilityofinterpretationleadstohigh controversyin use:
➢Degradation ofCajuns
➢Pride
■Commonlyusedsetphrases
➢Lâchepasla patate = Don‘tgiveup! (derivesfromgame “don‘tdropthepotato“)
➢Qui/Quoicadit = greeting(lit. “whatdo yousay?“)

25. Further cajunphrases

26. CAJUN ENGLISH
IN USE

27. Cajun English in use
■Over thecourseofthe20th century, social and politicalfactorshada great
influenceon thewayCajuns madeuseofCajun English
■At thebeginningofthecentury, manyCajuns werestill bilingual
➢French was still usedin private contextsand influencedthewayCajuns spoke
English
■Pressureon Cajuns touse(standardAmerican) English becamegreaterasnewlaws
wereintroducedwhichpracticallyeliminatedFrench fromeverydaylifeand addedto
thealreadyprevalentstigmatizationoftheirdialect
■Cajun English regained popularity as a result of the ‘Cajun renaissance‘ in the60s
and 70s
➢The useofmanyCajun English featuresshowsa ‘V-shaped‘ developmentoverthe
20th century
➢Basedon thisdevelopment, threedistinctgenerationsofCajun speakershavebeen
identified

28. The oldergeneration
■Born before1930
■WerethefirstCajuns whowereforcedtolearnEnglish
■However, in theprivate spaceFrench was still thedominant language
■TheirbilingualismallowedthedevelopmentofCajun English
■Nogenderdifferentiation

29. The middle-agedgeneration
■Born mostlyduringorbeforeWWII
■Wereeducatedexclusivelyin English at school
■ReactedmoresensitivelythanthepreviousgenerationtothestigmatizationCajuns
wereconfrontedwith
➢StartedtoabandonFrench in theprivate space
➢Raisedtheirchildrenin English toimprovetheirstandingin society
➢AdjustedtheirwayofspeakingEnglish tootherspeakersfromsouthern
Louisiana
■Nogenderdifferentiation

30. The youngergeneration
■Born in theearly1970s
■Stronglyinfluencedbythe‘Cajun renaissance’
➢Cajun culturegainedprestigeand becamepopularevenamongoutsiders
■TheybegantounderstandEnglish asa carrieroftheirculturalidentity
➢Even thoughFrench was reintroducedin Louisiana in thelate1960s, Cajuns
mainlycommunicatedin English (→bilingualism is declining)
➢StartedtouseCajun English moreextensivelythanthepreviousgeneration
■Significantgenderdifferentiation
➢The Cajun renaissancewas largelycenteredon theexhibitionoftraditionally
male activities
➢This iswhythereintroductionofCajun English featureswas mostlypeformedby
men

31. Development ofCajun English usage:
‘V-shape’ illustration*
1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
Popularity of Cajun English among Cajuns
*This isnot meanttobean accuratedepictionofthedevelopment

32. CURRENTSITUATION
& OUTLOOK

33. Currentsituation
■Use ofCajun English hasrisensincethe60s, but hasnot reachedthelevelofthe
early20th century
■However, popularityof‘Cajunness’ has never been higher before
➢Over the last decades, Cajun culture has not been stigmatized but highly
valued by outsiders
➢Cajuns are proud of their identity
■WithFrench slowlygettingabandoned, Cajun English hasturnedintoa primary
meansofidentificationforCajuns
➢At fistglance, theabsenceofFrench thusseemstosolidifythestatusofCajun
English

34. Currentsituation
■However, thedisappearanceofFrench mightalso havenegative effectson Cajun
English
➢Speakers whosefirstlanguageisFrench tendtomakemoreuseofCajun
English featuresthanthosewholearnedEnglish first(acrossall generations)
➢Dubois & Horvath‘sstudyprovesthistrend: theyexaminedthedeletionof–s
and –edin final positionamongfourdifferent groupsofCajun speakers:
Source: Dubois & Horvath, “Do
Cajuns speak Southern English”, 32
Source: Dubois & Horvath, “Do
Cajuns speak Southern English”, 35

35. →Consideringthedecreasingnumberof
French speakersamongCajuns, these
resultsseemproblematic!

36. Outlook: will Cajun English survive?
■UsageofsomeCajun English featuresdoesnot follow a V-shapedcurve, but rather
showsa steadydeclineoverthecourseofthe20th century
➢The youngergenerationmakesevenlessuseofthesefeaturesthanthe
middle-agedgeneration
■In fact, youngspeakershavepartlystartedtomirrorthesouthern American wayof
speaking
■Cajun cultureislikelytosurvive
➢Isolation ofCajuns in theearlystagesallowedthedevelopmentofa relatively
stableculturalenvironment
➢Recentpopularityof‘Cajunness’ has further stabilized the culture
■Cajun English will not disappearin thenearfutureifitmaintainsitsroleasa bearer
ofCajun culturalidentity
■However, itisnot expectedtobepassedon tofuturegenerations

37. DISCUSSION

38. HOWWOULDYOU
ASSESSTHEVITALITYOF
CAJUN ENGLISH?

39. SHOULDWEMAKEA
GREATEREFFORTTO
REVITALIZEDECLINING
LANGUAGES?

40. THANKYOUFORYOUR
ATTENTIONAND
PARTICIPATION! ☺