Portal:Louisiana/Selected article/3

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cajun French is one of three varieties or dialects of the French language spoken primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana, specifically in the southern parishes. Other Louisiana French dialects include Napoleonic French and Colonial or Plantation Society French, spoken primarily in Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, St. Charles, St. John the Baptiste, Jefferson, West Bâton-Rouge, Pointe-Coupée, Avoyelles, St. Mary, Iberia and St. Landry parishes. Cajun French is not the same as Louisiana Creole.

It is usually presumed that Cajun French is almost solely derived from Acadian French as it was spoken in the French colony of Acadia (located in what is now the Maritime provinces of Canada and in Maine). However the dialect also has influences from Quebec French, Louisiana Creole, Haitian Creole, Swiss French, Belgian French, as well as Parisian French.

Cajun differs from Parisian (or Metropolitan) French in pronunciation, vocabulary and intonation (linguistics). (read more . . . )