Le français louisianais hors de l'Acadiana

Abstract

De manière générale, les entretiens effectués dans la périphérie de l'Acadiana semblent renforcer la notion qu'un nivellement linguistique a eu lieu dans la région. Pourtant, concernant la variation entre les pronoms interrogatifs inanimés qui et quoi, les données provenant de la paroisse des Natchitoches pourraient suggérer également que le français dit « cadien » correspond en fait à un français populaire dont l'aire linguistique, dès l'origine, dépassait les limites de l'étendue géographique traditionnellement associée à la population acadienne, mettant ainsi en cause, du moins en partie, la notion de nivellement. Par ailleurs, certaines données provenant de la Grande-Île et des Plaquemines suggèrent que le français de prestige associé à l'apogée de la société plantocratique laisse encore des traces.Generally speaking, interviews conducted at the periphery of Acadiana seem to reinforce the notion that linguistic leveling has taken place in the region. Never-theless, concerning variation between the inanimate interrogative pronouns qui and quoi, data from Natchitoches Parish might also suggest that so-called "Cajun" French corresponds, in fact, to a form of popular French whose dialect area, from the beginning, extended beyond the geographic limits traditionally associ-ated with the Acadian population, thus putting into question, at least partially, the notion of leveling. Also of interest, data from Grand Isle and Plaquemines Parish suggest that certain features of Plantation Society French, the former prestige dialect, remain in evidence

Sociolinguistics of Ethnicity in Francophone Louisiana

“…Moreover, given that many of these dialects bore similarities to each other, it is very difficult today to attribute features of modern Louisiana Regional French to any one source, Acadian or otherwise. Indeed, areas with high concentrations of Acadians often lack features that are attested in Acadia, yet these same Acadian features may be predominant in areas with higher concentrations of foreign French (for example, the replacement of the sound (the final sound in rou g e ) with /h/ (so, jamais “never” becomes hamais ), a feature well‐documented in Acadia, which is strongly attested in lower Lafourche Parish, but entirely absent in heavily Acadian Lafayette – or in fact any other region of the state) (see also Picone 2006 and Baronian 2010 for discussions of the difficulties of assigning provenience to features). Today’s Cajun French may be descended from the non‐standard dialects of the early French immigrants, Acadian French, and the near‐Standard French of the later 19th century immigrants in different measures, depending on region.…”

Grammaire comparée du français acadien et louisianais

“…Les récents travaux de Klingler (2009), Salmon (2009, NeumannHolzschuh (2009), Picone (2006) et Rottet (2005b ont engagé une intense réflexion à ce propos :…”