Where did Cajun come from?

28 July 2005

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Did you know that French was once the language of everyday life in Louisiana? Remember that it was French territory until we bought it from Napoleon in 1803, and Louisiana is still the place in the U.S. where French is spoken the most. According to the 2000 census, over a million people claim French ancestry there, with around 200,000 saying they speak some type of French at home.

So how did all those French speakers get there? In some cases their ancestors came from France as early colonists or fled from Europe during the French revolution. In other cases they came from Africa, often by way of the Caribbean, and the French they spoke was a creole, similar to the French creole of Haiti.

But the most widely-spoken variety, and the one we hear the most about -- probably because of the food and music that made it famous -- is Cajun. Oddly enough, it came from Canada.

Here's the story: Around 1600, emigrants from France settled along the coast of present day Nova Scotia, in a colony they called Acadia. After struggles between France and England over the territory, it finally came under British control. But when the Acadiens refused to swear allegiance to the king of England, they were deported in 1755, forcibly loaded onto boats and driven out. Many of them landed in Louisiana. You probably know all this from Longfellow's poem Evangeline, the story of an Acadian girl who was separated from her fiancé during deportation and spent the rest of her life trying to find him.

The refugees from Nova Scotia who went to Louisiana came to be known as "Cajuns," a local approximation of the word "Acadiens." The language the Cajuns spoke -- and what they still speak -- is French.

But is it real French? Yes, real French. The Cajuns may not always speak according to French rules, but Cajun French doesn’t differ from "standard" French any more than other varieties do -- like the French of Morocco, Quebec, or the West Indies. Cajun adds its own spice to the rich stew we call the French language.

Here's a little sample of it: (insert audio sample)

The majority of words and structures in Cajun are certainly recognizable to French speakers from other countries. The differences are like those between British and American English. Cajun has kept some words that French abandoned, and produced new words to describe new situations. And it borrowed words from other languages. For instance, Cajun kept the original word chevrette to refer to shrimp, while the French use crevette, from the Norman dialect. The term chaoui came from Choctaw, to name an animal that didn’t exist in Europe, the raccoon. African languages contributed the word gombo to refer to okra.

Acadian French was different from the French spoken by the people who came to Louisiana directly from France, because it was separated for up to 150 years. But most linguists no longer distinguish between the colonial French and Acadian French. Over time, the two strains blended together into what we now just call "Cajun."

Like many non-English languages in the U.S., Cajun faces an uncertain future. Members of the younger generation don't hear and use French as much as their parents did; and many Cajuns speak little or no French. Groups are at work to preserve the Cajun language and culture, and I hope they succeed. French has been a part of U.S. culture for as long as there has been a United States -- even longer. It's an important part of our linguistic heritage.

And by the way, the use of French in the U.S. isn't limited just to folks in Louisiana. After Spanish, it's still one of the most widely spoken foreign languages in the country. Have you noticed? Your American passport is bilingual -- both English... and French.

That's the linguistic thought for today, which comes from my colleague Dr. Robyn Holman, Professor French at the College of Charleston. And this is the Five-Minute Linguist at the College, in cooperation with the National Museum of Language. Visit us at www.cofc.edu/linguist. And in the meantime, keep in mind that wherever you are, and whatever you do... language makes a difference.