Louisiana%20Creole%20French:%20Pt.%20I

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Louisiana Creole French Pt. I

• Historical and
• Sociolinguistic Background
• Gillia Barrows
• Linguistics 455
• Spring 2006

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Type and Parents

• Language of Louisiana, USA
• Creole (conservative)
• Closely resembles other Caribbean creoles
  (Haitian, etc)
• Mix of French (lexifier) various African
  languages (possible basilects)
• 20,000 80,000 speakers modernly
• Highly endangered

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Louisiana
Louisiana today
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Louisiana a short History

• Became French colony 1699 (claimed by LaSalle)
• 1699-1717 colonized by Mixture of non-elite
  French-speaking settlers
• from what is now Canada, various parts of France
• Small population of their Native American slaves
• (colonization continues throughout 18th and 19th
  centuries)

Map of America, including Louisiana territory ca
1720
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• African Slave trade begins ca1717
• Monopoly on Louisiana trade by the French Company
  of the Indies
• Acquired slaves mainly from tip of Western Africa
  (Senegambia)
• Slave and Indian revolts throughout early 18th
  century, due in part to solidarity of common
  mistreatment

Senegambia
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• Acadians (from Nouvelle France) emigrate to
  Louisiana area throughout middle and late 18th
  century
• Expelled from Nouvelle France by British
  takeover(?)
• 1763 Louisiana ceded to Spanish at end of Seven
  Years War
• French culture and communities remain insular
  under liberal Spanish rule

Nouvelle France
Map of Louisiana under Spanish Rule
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• 1800 Napolean forces Spain to give Louisiana back
  to France
• Ca 1800 10,000 French-speaking refugees from
  Saint Domingue (modern Haiti) arrive in Louisiana
  area
• Mixture of whites, slaves, and free black people
  (free men)
• 1803 Louisiana Purchase (US from French)
• Immigration of English-speaking Americans
  increases
• 1812 Louisiana becomes 18th state of USA
• American settlers continue to immigrate

Saint Domingue ca 1800
Louisiana Purchase
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Historical Language Influences on Louisiana
Creole French (LC)

• Mixture of nonstandard French language varieties
  of early French settlers 1699-1763
• Riffraff from all parts of France, many from the
  Western provinces, sent to colonize the unpopular
  territory of Louisiana speaking various forms of
  non-standard French
• Western dialects
• Coureurs de bois (wood runners) from Canada,
  speaking Canadianized French
• Influences of Native American languages of
  Canada?
• (Algonquin, Iraquoian)
• Settlers from Canada, speaking Canadianized
  French

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• Small lexical influence from Native American
  language(s) of Louisiana area?
• Primarily Choctaw (itself an immigrant population
  language from more Eastern territories around
  modern Mississippi)

Drawing of Choctaw women, Louisiana 18th c.
Photo of Choctaw child, Louisiana late 19th c.
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• Mixture of African language varieties, mainly
  Mandekan dialects 1717-1731
• 1717 first slaves imported from Bight of Benin,
  approx. 450 others from Angola, Congo
• Spoke Kwa languages, Bantu
• Probably did not begin creolization due to small
  population size
• 1717-1731 Largest early slave population from
  Senegambia
• Spoke mutually intelligible Mandekan dialects
• Raised slave population to roughly twice that of
  free men
• Mandekan dialects become basilect in creolization
  process

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• Cajun varieties of French
• spoken by Acadian refugees middle to late 18th
  century
• Lower class German form of French
• Spoken by Germans settlers throughout 18th
  century who assimilated to French language, but
  took on own dialect of it
• Spanish
• 1763-1803 (exerts small, mainly lexical influence
  on Louisiana Creole form)

French-Canadian settlers
Spanish settlers
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• Sudden influx of slaves from the Mina post/Gulf
  of Guinea 1777-1788
• Doubled the number of slaves in Louisiana
• Probably same Kwa, Mandekan, Bantu languages,
  perhaps others(?)
• Because of strong extant creole-speaking
  commmunity, had little impact on creolization
  process

Africa with Gulf of Guinea area outlined
Slave Compound, Gulf of Guinea
Gulf of Guinea
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• Varieties of French (ironically more standard
  than the Louisiana varieties) brought by
  French-speaking refugees from St. Domingue
  (Haiti) ca. 1800
• 10,000 mixed free men and slaves,
• English (American) 1830s onwards

Free blacks from St. Domingue
American settlers arriving by boat
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Historical Environment of LC Birth

• Population equality between basilect/acrolect
  speakers
• Habitation (vs. plantation) culture
• Relatively few slaves to each small plantation
  (habitation)
• Increased communication between slaves and their
  owners
• Shared social status between slaves and
  non-slaves
• Communication/trade throughout lower classes
• ? these factors led to large influence of
  lexifier (French) on the forming creole
• may have led to complete lexifier assumption if
  no intervening factors

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• Two major influxes of slaves with slow
  importation numbers between
• 1717-1731(Senegambia, Mandekan dialects)
• 1777-1788 (various places and languages)
• Common basilect slave language
• Mandekan dialects mutually intelligible
• Encourages a cohesive slave community with common
  non-lexifier language
• ?these factors led to the formation of a creole
  rather than complete assimilation to lexifier
  (French)

Bay of New Orleans
Slaves outside church, Louisiana 19th century(?)
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• All combine to construct LC as a creole that is
  conservative
• very closely related to its lexifier language
  (acrolect)
• Some debate regarding what basilect language(s)
  is/are for this reason

Louisiana Habitation
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Sociolinguistic Variation

• Bilingual, trilingual language communities
• English, Standard French (SF)/ Colonial French,
  Cajun (CF/LF), Louisiana Creole French (LFC/LC)
• Many people speak at least two dialects fluently,
  usually more
• Language prestige continuum
• LC at lowest end of overt prestige scale, which
  follows the categories as listed above
• Code-switching
• Due to prestige differences, speakers usually
  switch in and out of LC and the other dialects to
  establish solidarity/construct themselves within
  society

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• Variable forms of LC
• in some areas more related to Cajun or Germanized
  French as lexifier influences than Colonial
  French as lexifier influence
• LC highly endangered
• Only four areas remain where LC is spoken widely

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Map of LC-Speaking AreasLC spoken in light blue
parishes
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Why These Areas?

• 1. St. Martin Parish
• Presence of some of the larger plantations in
  18th century Louisiana (led to stronger creole,
  as slaves outnumbered whites)
• Many Cajuns
• LC may have evolved over time under influnece of
  large number of Cajun French speakers in St.
  Martin/Breaux Bridge areas
• Area with largest number of LC speakers today
• 2. Point Coupee and East Baton Rouge Parishes
• Presence of many plantations, some very large by
  Louisiana standards
• Blacks outnumbered whites
• Many whites who shared low socioeconomic status
  with blacks
• LC became main form of communication
• No Cajuns, so not a Cajun-like form, vs. St.
  Martin Parish above
• 3. St. Tammany Parish
• Isolated by Lake ponchartrain and Bayou Lacombe
• Mixed blood people
• Runaway slaves, Indians, free people of color
• LC appears in its most stabilized form
• 4. St. James and St. John the Baptist Parishes
  (German Coast)
• German settlers hearing LC and Colonial French
  every day, absorbed it linguistically
• Shared low socioeconomic status with blacks

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Bibliography

• Enthnologue.com. Louisiana Creole French.
  http//www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code_l
  ou.
• Marshall, Margaret. Origin and development of
  Louisiana Creole French French and Creole in
  Louisiana. Ed. Albert Valdman. New York Plenum
  Press, 1997.
• Neumann, Ingrid. La Creole de Breaux Bridge,
  Louisiane Etude Morphosyntaxique Texts
  Vocabulaire. Hamburg Helmut Buske, 1983.
• Valdman, Albert, ed. French and Creole in
  Louisiana. New York Plenum Press, 1997.
• Valdman, Albert et al, ed. Dictionary of
  Louisiana Creole. Bloomington, IN Indiana
  University Press,1998.