28 Facts About Louisiana French

Louisiana French is an umbrella term for the dialects and varieties of the French language spoken traditionally in colonial Lower Louisiana.

Louisiana French immigration was at its peak during the 17th and 18th centuries which firmly established the Creole culture and language there.

The 1845 Louisiana constitution permitted any legislator to address the body in either English or French, and the 1845 and 1852 constitutions required all laws to be written in both English and French.

In 1921, the new Louisiana constitution reversed the previous language rights and banned the teaching of French in all public schools.

The education and religious services of Louisiana eventually fell prey to English, and the eventual consequence of speaking French was that speaking French became a sign of cultural illegitimacy.

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The Louisiana French schools worked to emphasize Standard Louisiana French, which they considered to be the prestige dialect.

Punishment system seems to have been responsible for much of the decay that Louisiana French experienced in the 20th century since, in turn, people who could not speak English were perceived as uneducated.

Conwell focused on the French spoken in Lafayette, Louisiana, and evaluated what was then its current status.

Council for the Development of French in Louisiana was established in 1968 to promote the preservation of French language and culture in Louisiana.

Since the passage of Legislative Act No 409 in 1968, the Louisiana governor is granted the authorization "to establish the Council for the Development of Louisiana-French" and that the agency is to consist of no more than fifty members, including a chairman.

All of this culminates in the fact that outside the extremely southern portions of the state, Louisiana French remains a secondary language that retains heavy cultural and identity values.

Louisiana French goes further to write that the official recognition, appreciation by parents, and inclusion of French in schools reflects growing regard of the language.

In October 2018, through an initiative launched by Scott Tilton and Rudy Bazenet, Louisiana French became the first US state to join the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.

Reliable counts of speakers of Louisiana French are difficult to obtain as distinct from other varieties of French.

In Texas, as of 2010, the Louisiana French-speaking population was 55,773, though many of these were likely immigrants from France and other locations, living in the urban areas.

For example, at one point the Louisiana French-speaking population of Jefferson County was 24,049 as compared to the mere 1,922 today.

Likewise, in Harris County the Louisiana French-speaking population has shifted from 26,796 to 14,493 individuals.

Louisiana French-speaking populations can be found in southern Mississippi and Alabama, as well as pockets in other parts of the United States.

Furthermore, Louisiana French lacks any official regulating body unlike that of Standard French or Quebec French to take part in standardizing the language.

The traditional third-person singular feminine pronoun elle of Standard Louisiana French is present but there is the alternative of alle which is chosen by some authors since it more closely approximates speakers' pronunciation.

However, due to the unique history and development of the language, Louisiana French has many words that are unique to it or to select French varieties.

Louisiana French's mission was clear: create a European French bastion in Louisiana by making all Louisianans bilingual in International French and English.

Louisiana French found Louisiana French too limiting, so he imported francophone teachers from Europe, Canada and the Caribbean to teach normative French in Louisiana schools.

Simultaneously, an ethnic movement took root in southern Louisiana French led by Acadian-Creoles like James Donald Faulk, Dudley Joseph Leblanc and Jules O Daigle.

That same year, the Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities, was published.

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Probably the widely used variety of the language, informal Louisiana French has its roots in agrarian Louisiana, but it is found in urban centers because of urbanization beginning in the 20th century.

In terms of nasality, Louisiana French is similar to French spoken in Brussels and Dakar, Senegal.

Louisiana French has been the traditional language for singing music now referred to as Cajun, zydeco, and Louisiana French rock.