Language Attrition in Louisiana Creole French

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LANGUAGE ATTRITION IN LOUISIANA CREOLE FRENCH 28 between 1791 and 1808; between 1809 and 1810 “3,226 slaves, 3,102 persons of color (presumably free), and 2,731 whites” came to New Orleans; most of these stayed within New Orleans (Klingler 2003, 22). The enslaved Africans who came from St. Domingue spoke that island‟s creole language and also frequently French. Thus, the immigration from that island to Louisiana reinforced the francophone nature of the colony, but did not change the racial demographics. It also did not cause the formation of LCF, as some have mistakenly claimed (Klingler 2003, 22). The ratio of slaves to free people is summarized in Klingler 2003, and a chart is included on the following page as Figure 4.
LANGUAGE ATTRITION IN LOUISIANA CREOLE FRENCH 29 1731 1763 1766 1777 1788 New Orleans 0.43 0.88 0.83 0.68 0.67 Bas du Fleve 4.42 4.56 3.04 4.67 3.73 Chapitoulas 8.37 5.33 5.37 2.58 4.08 German Coast 0* 0.54 0.48 1.04 1.64 Pointe Coupee 0.75 1.4 1.27 1.6 2.91 Attakapas 0* 0* 0.17 0.58 0.69 Opelousas 0* 0* 0.43 0.36 0.65 *These zeroes indicate that there was no record for that year. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 8.37 5.33 5.37 4.42 4.56 4.67 4.08 3.04 3.73 2.58 2.91 1.4 1.27 1.6 1.64 0.75 0.88 0.83 1.04 0.67 0.68 0.43 0.54 0.48 0 0 0.43 0.36 0.65 1731 1763 1766 1777 1788 New Orleans Bas du Fleve Chapitoulas German Coast Pointe Coupee Attakapas Opelousas Figure 4 Ratio of Slaves to Free Persons, 1731-1788 (Rodríguez 1979 in Klingler 2003, 24). Even when the United States incorporated the Territory of Orleans and admitted that territory as the state of Louisiana in 1812, French still remained the dominant language of many of the state‟s speakers. However, at the point that Louisiana became a state and governmental work began being performed in English, the H language in the linguistic strata changed from French to English. Today, the H language is still American English.
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Language Attrition in Louisiana Creole French

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