Language Attrition in Louisiana Creole French

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LANGUAGE ATTRITION IN LOUISIANA CREOLE FRENCH 42 deter movement; this huge immigration drastically changed the linguistic demographics of the region and increased the number of non-LCF speakers. Furthermore, technological innovations and the construction of roads and levees enabled LCF speakers to communicate with those who entered their area. However, Louisiana‟s greatest geographic tie to the outside world came when that territory was incorporated into the United States. After this acquisition, US government officials and citizens frequently came to Louisiana for short or extended periods of time, bringing English with them as the H language. These historical, economic, and geographic factors intertwine. The history of Louisiana influenced the economic situation of speakers and was affected by the geography of the region. All three of these factors contributed to the creation of LCF and also its current decline. Another factor contributing to LCF‟s attrition is the inaccuracy of data collection regarding the language. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, there were 6,310 speakers of “Creole French,” but that number “is surely too low” (Klingler 2003, xxvii). This inaccuracy can be attributed to the structure of the questions. When asked, “Does this person speak a language other than English at home?” many LCF speakers may have answered no (and thus not responded to questions specifying which language) because they did not perceive themselves as speaking LCF regularly. If they answered, “Yes,” they may have identified themselves as speaking “French or French Creole,” which counts 261,678 speakers in Louisiana in the same 1990 Census. Additionally, because
LANGUAGE ATTRITION IN LOUISIANA CREOLE FRENCH 43 of the social stigma associated with LCF due to its historical origins, many speakers of LCF may have chosen not to divulge that they spoke that language. Furthermore, the terms used by scholars to describe these languages, such as Creole and Cajun, are not always used by the speakers of these languages, who may refer to themselves as using French. There are also important ethnic and racial influences determining which languages speakers view themselves as speaking. Many white Louisianans speak LCF, however they may have selected Cajun because Cajun is the ethnic label with which they self-identify 5 ; many African-Americans, Creoles, and mixed race people speak a language that is structurally CF, but refer to it as Creole because that term describes their ethnic identity; and many “white francophones of Acadian origin” use the term Creole to describe their ethnicity and their language (although that usage was more common in the 1800s (Klingler 2003, xxvii-xxviii). And although recent efforts for the 2010 U.S. Census promote respondents writing in Louisiana Creole for ethnic and linguistic categories, these moves will only be successful if the information is widely disseminated among the population—and if respondents allay negative associations with LCF and elect to write in Louisiana Creole or Louisiana Creole French. Klingler establishes that a continuum of Louisiana languages exists, as shown on the following page in Figure 6. Standard French, positioned at the top of the social hierarchy for centuries, was replaced by English, which has 5 For more information about the Cajun ethnic group and CF language shift, please see Sexton 2000.
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Language Attrition in Louisiana Creole French

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