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Cajun Vernacular English: phonology

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2 The Americas and the Caribbean
This chapter is in the book 2 The Americas and the Caribbean
Cajun Vernacular English:phonology*Sylvie Dubois and Barbara M. Horvath1. The Cajun speech community: an overviewCajuns live all along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Mississippi but are primari-ly concentrated in the small rural towns of southern Louisiana. Lafayette is the metropolitan center of Cajun country. Cajuns are the descendants of Aca-dians from Nova Scotia, Canada, who fl ed to French Louisiana around 1765 when the British took control of their lands. In Louisiana they joined many other French dialect-speaking populations as well as other people who had a language other than French as their fi rst language (Dubois 2003). Even after the Louisiana Purchase, when English became the de facto offi cial language, the Cajuns living in rural communities continued to speak only French. The majority of the Cajuns were poor and had little education. They lived – as many continue to live today – in small towns in close-knit extended families. Whereas some of the people of French ancestry were held in high esteem in Louisiana, the same cannot be said for the Cajuns. They were often ridiculed and made the butt of jokes.Although the state government mandated English as the sole language of education in 1929, English was not extensively used within the Cajun com-munities and in the family setting. Moreover, English was not well learned because many attended school irregularly or left school early. For quite a while English may have been the language of the classroom, but Cajun French was the language of the playground. It is this generation, people who are 60 years or older today, who are the original speakers of the dialect we have labelled Cajun Vernacular English (CajVE). Although language contact and language interfer-ence are clearly implicated in the origins of CajVE, we want to argue against the idea that CajVE is a variant of migrant English or foreigner English. We be-lieve that the variable structure of CajVE is not Southern English and that these CajVE features are part of the vernacular of Cajuns. As Rubretch (1971) has mentioned for the nasalization process in CajVE, the phonological principles as well as the set of linguistic features we describe in CajVE represent a native development of English speech rather than a borrowing. CajVE is spoken fl u-ently by Cajuns in their everyday lives within the community and often as the primary intergenerational language (Dubois and Horvath 2001).

Cajun Vernacular English:phonology*Sylvie Dubois and Barbara M. Horvath1. The Cajun speech community: an overviewCajuns live all along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Mississippi but are primari-ly concentrated in the small rural towns of southern Louisiana. Lafayette is the metropolitan center of Cajun country. Cajuns are the descendants of Aca-dians from Nova Scotia, Canada, who fl ed to French Louisiana around 1765 when the British took control of their lands. In Louisiana they joined many other French dialect-speaking populations as well as other people who had a language other than French as their fi rst language (Dubois 2003). Even after the Louisiana Purchase, when English became the de facto offi cial language, the Cajuns living in rural communities continued to speak only French. The majority of the Cajuns were poor and had little education. They lived – as many continue to live today – in small towns in close-knit extended families. Whereas some of the people of French ancestry were held in high esteem in Louisiana, the same cannot be said for the Cajuns. They were often ridiculed and made the butt of jokes.Although the state government mandated English as the sole language of education in 1929, English was not extensively used within the Cajun com-munities and in the family setting. Moreover, English was not well learned because many attended school irregularly or left school early. For quite a while English may have been the language of the classroom, but Cajun French was the language of the playground. It is this generation, people who are 60 years or older today, who are the original speakers of the dialect we have labelled Cajun Vernacular English (CajVE). Although language contact and language interfer-ence are clearly implicated in the origins of CajVE, we want to argue against the idea that CajVE is a variant of migrant English or foreigner English. We be-lieve that the variable structure of CajVE is not Southern English and that these CajVE features are part of the vernacular of Cajuns. As Rubretch (1971) has mentioned for the nasalization process in CajVE, the phonological principles as well as the set of linguistic features we describe in CajVE represent a native development of English speech rather than a borrowing. CajVE is spoken fl u-ently by Cajuns in their everyday lives within the community and often as the primary intergenerational language (Dubois and Horvath 2001).

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Contents of companion volumes viii
  4. Abbreviations xvi
  5. List of features: Phonology and phonetics xix
  6. List of features: Morphology and Syntax xxv
  7. General introduction 1
  8. General references 8
  9. Introduction: varieties of English in the Americas and the Caribbean 23
  10. Phonology
  11. Standard American English pronunciation 37
  12. New England: phonology 52
  13. New York, Philadelphia, and other northern cities: phonology 67
  14. Rural Southern white accents 87
  15. The urban South: phonology 115
  16. The West and Midwest: phonology 129
  17. English in Canada: phonology 144
  18. Newfoundland English: phonology 161
  19. African American Vernacular English: phonology 181
  20. Gullah: phonology 192
  21. Cajun Vernacular English: phonology 208
  22. Chicano English: phonology 219
  23. Bahamian English: phonology 239
  24. Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English: phonology 256
  25. Eastern Caribbean English-derived language varieties: phonology 290
  26. Bajan: phonology 312
  27. The creoles of Trinidad and Tobago: phonology 320
  28. Suriname creoles: phonology 339
  29. Synopsis: phonological variation in the Americas and the Caribbean 383
  30. Morphology and Syntax
  31. Colloquial American English: grammatical features 401
  32. Appalachian English: morphology and syntax 428
  33. Rural and ethnic varieties in the Southeast: morphology and syntax 468
  34. Newfoundland English: morphology and syntax 492
  35. Urban African American Vernacular English: morphology and syntax 510
  36. Earlier African American English: morphology and syntax 534
  37. Gullah: morphology and syntax 551
  38. Chicano English: morphology and syntax 572
  39. Bahamian English: morphology and syntax 591
  40. Jamaican Creole: morphology and syntax 609
  41. Eastern Caribbean English-derived language varieties: morphology and syntax 645
  42. The creoles of Trinidad and Tobago: morphology and syntax 661
  43. Surinamese creoles: morphology and syntax 693
  44. Belize and other central American varieties: morphology and syntax 732
  45. Synopsis: morphological and syntactic variation in the Americas and the Caribbean 763
  46. Backmatter 777
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110208405.1.208

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Contents of companion volumes viii
  4. Abbreviations xvi
  5. List of features: Phonology and phonetics xix
  6. List of features: Morphology and Syntax xxv
  7. General introduction 1
  8. General references 8
  9. Introduction: varieties of English in the Americas and the Caribbean 23
  10. Phonology
  11. Standard American English pronunciation 37
  12. New England: phonology 52
  13. New York, Philadelphia, and other northern cities: phonology 67
  14. Rural Southern white accents 87
  15. The urban South: phonology 115
  16. The West and Midwest: phonology 129
  17. English in Canada: phonology 144
  18. Newfoundland English: phonology 161
  19. African American Vernacular English: phonology 181
  20. Gullah: phonology 192
  21. Cajun Vernacular English: phonology 208
  22. Chicano English: phonology 219
  23. Bahamian English: phonology 239
  24. Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English: phonology 256
  25. Eastern Caribbean English-derived language varieties: phonology 290
  26. Bajan: phonology 312
  27. The creoles of Trinidad and Tobago: phonology 320
  28. Suriname creoles: phonology 339
  29. Synopsis: phonological variation in the Americas and the Caribbean 383
  30. Morphology and Syntax
  31. Colloquial American English: grammatical features 401
  32. Appalachian English: morphology and syntax 428
  33. Rural and ethnic varieties in the Southeast: morphology and syntax 468
  34. Newfoundland English: morphology and syntax 492
  35. Urban African American Vernacular English: morphology and syntax 510
  36. Earlier African American English: morphology and syntax 534
  37. Gullah: morphology and syntax 551
  38. Chicano English: morphology and syntax 572
  39. Bahamian English: morphology and syntax 591
  40. Jamaican Creole: morphology and syntax 609
  41. Eastern Caribbean English-derived language varieties: morphology and syntax 645
  42. The creoles of Trinidad and Tobago: morphology and syntax 661
  43. Surinamese creoles: morphology and syntax 693
  44. Belize and other central American varieties: morphology and syntax 732
  45. Synopsis: morphological and syntactic variation in the Americas and the Caribbean 763
  46. Backmatter 777
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