Language Attrition in Louisiana Creole French

More documents

Recommendations

Info

LANGUAGE ATTRITION IN LOUISIANA CREOLE FRENCH 34 with minimal influence from bordering languages. Language restrictions imposed on Haitian slaves prohibited the speaking of African languages, and because no other languages could interact with the geographically-isolated HC, French provided the only competition to the language‟s evolution. As in Louisiana, government policies prevented slaves from learning French. However, Haiti‟s geographic isolation is the direct opposite of Louisiana‟s situation. Louisiana was a territory carved out of a larger continent that shares borders not just with an ocean, but with other states of the same country, as seen in Figure 5. Additionally, the Haitian Revolution which began in 1791 and ended in 1803, served both to reduce the physical presence of the French government and increase Haiti- and HC-oriented nationalistic sentiments. After the expulsion of the French colonial powers, the French language continued to be spoken by a minority elite of mixed-race mulattoes. The majority of the population spoke HC, and after the success of the slaves‟ revolution, speaking HC became strongly tied with the ideals of Haitian independence and colonial overthrow. French still was the language of the social elite, the superstrate language; however, many Haitians associated feelings of pride with speaking and using HC. This positive transformation of the substrate language helped facilitate its longevity even after HC became the official language of Haiti in 1961. In Louisiana, however, nationalist sentiments did not encourage the fostering of LCF but rather French and English. These national feelings were directed towards maintaining and promoting Louisiana‟s European heritage
LANGUAGE ATTRITION IN LOUISIANA CREOLE FRENCH 35 and the state‟s membership in the larger union, which were aspects of mainstream society that did not necessarily include other marginalized groups, such as the Louisiana Creoles, Native Americans, etc. Access to resources is also a major factor contributing to HC‟s sustainability in Haiti. Unlike the situation in previous centuries, the social elite are not monolingual speakers of French or English; instead, they are multi- or bilingual speakers of French, English, and HC. Furthermore, this multilingual population represents an extreme minority. Most Haitians achieve what little upward social mobility they can while still speaking HC. In fact, the political and economic situation of the country (Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere even before the devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake), is such that upward social mobility is severely limited. In order to improve their social and economic situation, many Haitians have been forced to emigrate. By contrast, Louisiana is one state of the wealthiest country in the world; its inhabitants generally have regular and extensive access to resources, education, and other opportunities to acquire economic wealth. For many years, a diglossia existed in Haiti between HC and French or English. Bilingual speakers used the superstrates French or English in more formal situations and HC in their everyday interactions. However, HC now “has penetrated all dimensions of Haitian expression”; native Haitians rarely use French or English (Squint 2005, 4). Although the standardization efforts have served mostly to regulate the language‟s orthography, standardization through education has contributed both to the spread and strengthened existence of
Page 1 and 2: LANGUAGE ATTRITION IN LOUISIANA CRE
Page 33: LANGUAGE ATTRITION IN LOUISIANA CRE

Language Attrition in Louisiana Creole French

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?