Harriet J. Bauman
Creole Language
One can find three kinds of French in Louisiana; traditional French, Acadian, and Black Creole. Louisiana natives are definitely considered to be
francophone
, French-speaking.
According to Griolet, there is enough linguistic evidence in the language spoken in Louisiana of Old French, regional or provincial French, and Canadian French to warrant more research than is possible in this unit. There is an excellent explanation of Creole or Acadian French in his book,
Cadjins et Créoles en Louisiane
(see Bibliography).
Griolet speaks about “franglais” (Frenchified English or Americanized French), as it appears today in Louisiana. This “franglais” is “le sympt™me de leur dissolution progressive: introduction de mots anglais francisés (électer) accolés et prononcés ˆ la franCaise (Ftre smart, revenir back, Ftre gone, faire friend) puis ˆ l’américaine, changements de langue continuels ˆ l’intérieur du récit, voire de la phrase, traduction mot ˆ mot d’une pensée américaine.” (the symptom of their progressive dissolution: introduction of Frenchified English (to elect) coupled with and pronounced in French (to be smart, to come back, to be gone, to make friends) then like in American English changes in the structure of the speech, in truth of the sentence, translation word by word of an American thought. (author’s translation- H.J.B.) (Griolet, p. 310)
For more detailed information about the Creole language, I recommend
Cadjins et Créoles en Louisiane
by Patrick Griolet. See the Bibliography for other sources as well.
