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op 1 origins and historical development 2 language shift endangerment and revitalization 3 geographic distribution 4 phonology toggle phonology subsection 4 1 consonants 4 2 vowels 4 2 1 vowel rounding 4 2 2 vowel lowering 4 2 3 regressive and progressive vowel nasalization 5 grammar toggle grammar subsection 5 1 determiners 5 1 1 personal pronouns 5 2 verbs 5 2 1 verbal morphology 5 2 2 tense aspect mood 6 vocabulary 7 writing system 8 language samples toggle language samples subsection 8 1 numbers 8 2 greetings 8 3 the lord s prayer 9 see also 10 notes 11 references toggle references subsection 11 1 sources 12 further reading 13 external links toggle the table of contents louisiana creole 20 languages afrikaans čeština dansk esperanto suomi français hausa kreyòl ayisyen 日本語 한국어 latina lietuvių norsk nynorsk occitan polski piemontèis português русский simple english türkçe edit links article talk english read edit view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read edit view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikimedia commons wikifunctions wiktionary wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia french based creole in louisiana not to be confused with louisiana french louisiana creole kouri vini kouri vini 1 kréyòl 2 fransé 3 native to united states region southern alabama and louisiana particularly st martin parish natchitoches parish st landry parish jefferson parish lafayette parish calcasieu parish pointe coupee parish louisiana new orleans and mobile also in california chiefly southern california illinois arkansas and in texas chiefly east texas ethnicity louisiana french cajun creole native speakers 10 000 2023 4 language family creole of african languages lexified by french circum caribbean french 5 louisiana creole official status official language in louisiana language codes iso 639 3 lou glottolog loui1240 elp louisiana creole linguasphere 51 aac ca creole speaking parishes in louisiana a man speaking louisiana creole louisiana creole a also known by the endonym kouri vini 1 louisiana creole kouri vini among other names b is a french based creole language spoken by fewer than 10 000 people mostly in the u s state of louisiana 4 today it is spoken by people who may racially identify as black mixed white and native american as well as cajun and creole making it important to distinguish between the louisiana creole language and louisiana creole identity its sister language is louisiana french a dialect of the french language many louisiana creoles do not speak the louisiana creole language and may instead use french or english as everyday languages due to its rapidly shrinking number of speakers louisiana creole is considered an endangered language 6 origins and historical development edit louisiana was colonized by the french and french canadians from quebec beginning in 1699 as well as by acadians who were forced out of acadia around the mid 18th century 7 8 colonists were large scale planters small scale homesteaders and cattle ranchers the french needed laborers as they found the climate very harsh they began to import enslaved africans as they had done in their caribbean island colonies 8 two thirds of the slaves brought to louisiana originated in the senegambian region speaking malinke sereer wolof pulaar and bambara the largest group from senegambia was the bambara who spoke mutually intelligible dialects of the malinke language 9 the monopoly held by the company of indies in both senegal and louisiana may also have contributed to the africans relative ancestral homogeneity because of this homogeneity retention of the africans indigenous languages may have hindered the development of a creole in louisiana in fact the pointe coupee slave revolt in 1731 was organized by the bambara who were purportedly speaking their ancestral languages to plan the coup ultimately louisiana creole developed with west african languages becoming the substrates to a varied french lexifier 9 the importation of enslaved people by the french regime continued until 1743 8 the language developed in 18th century louisiana from interactions among speakers of the lexifier language standard french and several substrate or adstrate languages from africa 10 8 prior to its establishment as a creole the precursor was considered a pidgin language 11 the social situation that gave rise to the louisiana creole language was unique in that the lexifier language was the language found at the contact site more often the lexifier is the language that arrives at the contact site belonging to the substrate adstrate languages neither the french the french canadians nor the enslaved africans were native to the area this fact categorizes louisiana creole as a contact language that arose between exogenous ethnicities 12 once the pidgin tongue was transmitted to the next generation who were considered the first native speakers of the new grammar as a lingua franca it could effectively be classified as a creole language 8 10 no standard name for the language has existed historically in the language community members in various areas of louisiana and elsewhere have referred to it by many expressions though kréyol kréyòl has been the most widespread until the rise of cajunism in the 1970s and 80s many louisiana francophones also identified their language as créole since they self identified as louisiana creoles in louisiana s case self identity has determined how locals identify the language they speak this leads to linguistic confusion to remedy this language activists beginning in the 2010s began promoting the term kouri vini to avoid any linguistic ambiguity with louisiana french 1 the boundaries of historical louisiana were first shaped by the french then in statehood after 1812 took on its modern form by the time of the louisiana purchase by the u s in 1803 the boundaries came to include most of the central united states ranging from present day montana parts of north dakota wyoming colorado all of south dakota nebraska and kansas part of southeast texas all of oklahoma most of missouri and arkansas as well as louisiana 13 in 1978 researchers located a document from a murder trial in the colonial period that acknowledges the existence of louisiana creole 8 13 the documentation does not include any examples of orthography or structure 8 13 in an 1807 document a grammatical description of the language is included in the experiences of an enslaved woman recorded by c c robin this was prior to arrival in louisiana of french speaking colonists and enslaved africans from saint domingue the whites and free people of color also french speaking were refugees from the haitian revolution which had established the first empire in the western hemisphere the statements collected from robin showed linguistic features that are now known to be typical of louisiana creole 8 the term criollo creole appears in legal court documents during the spanish colonial period 1762 1803 the spanish reference to the language stated that it was used among enslaved people and whites 13 the importation of enslaved africans increased after france ceded the colony to spain in 1763 following france s defeat by great britain in the seven years war in europe 14 some spaniards immigrated to the colony but it was dominated by french language and culture like south carolina louisiana had a minority population of africans that greatly outnumbered the european settlers including those white creoles born in the colony 8 language shift endangerment and revitalization edit in the case of louisiana creole a diglossia resulted between louisiana creole and louisiana french michael picone a lexicographer proposed the term plantation society french to describe a version of french which he associated with plantation owners plantation overseers small landowners military officers soldiers and bilingual free people of color as being a contributor to louisiana creole s lexical base over the centuries louisiana creole s negative associations with slavery stigmatized the language to the point where many speakers are reluctant to use it for fear of ridicule in this way the assignment of high variety or h language was allotted to standard louisiana french and that of low variety or l language was given to louisiana creole and to louisiana french 15 the social status of louisiana creole further declined as a result of the louisiana purchase americans and their government made it illegal for francophones to speak their language in 1921 the state of louisiana mandated that public education take place in english only 16 children and adults were often punished by corporal punishment fines and social degradation by the 21st century other methods were enforced the promise of upward socioeconomic mobility and public shaming did the rest of the work prompting many speakers of louisiana creole to abandon their stigmatized language in favor of english 17 additionally the development of industry technology and infrastructure in louisiana reduced the isolation of louisiana creolophone communities and resulted in the arrival of more anglophones resulting in further exposure to english because of this louisiana creole exhibits more recent influence from english including loanwords code switching and syntactic calquing 18 19 20 today louisiana creole is spoken by fewer than 6 000 people 1 4 though national census data includes figures on language usage these are often unreliable in louisiana due to respondents tendencies to identify their language in line with their ethnic identity for example speakers of louisiana creole who identify as cajuns often label their language cajun french though on linguistic grounds their language would be considered louisiana creole 21 efforts to revitalize french in louisiana have placed emphasis on cajun french to the exclusion of creole 22 zydeco musician keith frank has made efforts through the use of social media not only to promote his music but to preserve his creole heritage and language as well most notably through the use of twitter additionally frank developed a mobile application in 2012 titled the zydecoboss app which acts as a miniature social network linked to a user s facebook and twitter accounts allowing users to provide commentary in real time amongst multiple platforms aside from social media activism frank also created a creole music festival in 2012 called the creole renaissance festival which acts a celebration of creole culture 23 a small number of community organizations focus on promoting louisiana creole for example creole inc 24 and the creole table founded by velma johnson 25 northwestern state university developed the creole heritage center designed to bring people of louisiana creole heritage together as well as preserve louisiana creole through their creole language documentation project 26 in addition there is an active online community of language learners and activists engaged in language revitalization led by language activist christophe landry 27 these efforts have resulted in the creation of a popular orthography 28 a digitalized version of valdman et al s louisiana creole dictionary 29 and a free spaced repetition course for learning vocabulary hosted on memrise created by a team led by adrien guillory chatman 30 a first language primer was released in 2017 31 32 and revised into a full length language guide and accompanying website in 2020 2 2022 saw the publication of an anthology of contemporary poetry in louisiana creole the first book written completely in the language 33 a december 2023 article in the economist highlighted revitalization efforts with the headline louisiana creole is enjoying a modest revival focusing in particular on language activists jourdan thibodeaux and taalib pierre auguste 16 geographic distribution edit speakers of louisiana creole are mainly concentrated in south and southwest louisiana st martin parish is the heart of the creole speaking region other sizeable communities exist along bayou têche in st landry avoyelles iberia and st mary parishes there are smaller communities on false river in pointe coupée parish in terrebonne parish and along the lower mississippi river in ascension st charles parish and st james and st john the baptist parishes 34 there once were creolophones in natchitoches parish on cane river and sizable creolophone communities in adjacent southeast texas beaumont houston port arthur galveston 13 35 and the chicago area natchitoches being the oldest colonial settlement in louisiana proved to be predominantly creole since its inception 36 native inhabitants of the local area louisiana creole speakers in california clarification needed reside in los angeles san diego and san bernardino counties and in northern california the san francisco bay area and sacramento plumas tehama mono and yuba counties 19 historically there were creole speaking communities in arkansas mississippi and alabama on mon louis island however it is likely that no speakers remain in these areas 37 phonology edit the phonology of louisiana creole has much in common with those of other french based creole languages in comparison to most of these languages however louisiana creole diverges less from the phonology of french in general and louisiana french in particular 38 this may be due to the language s strong tendency toward decreolization 39 consonants edit consonants of louisiana creole 40 19 20 labial alveolar postalveolar velar nasal m n ɲ ŋ plosive affricate voiceless p t tʃ k voiced b d dʒ ɡ fricative voiceless f s ʃ voiced v z ʒ tap ɾ lateral l the table above shows the consonant sounds of louisiana creole not including semivowels j and w in common with louisiana french louisiana creole features postalveolar affricates tʃ and dʒ as in tʃololo weak coffee and dʒɛl mouth the nasal palatal ɲ usually becomes nasal palatal approximant j̃ when between vowels which results in the preceding vowel becoming nasalized at the end of a word it typically is replaced by n or ŋ 40 vowels edit oral and nasal vowels of louisiana creole 40 19 20 front central back unrounded rounded close oral i y u close mid e ø o open mid ɛ œ ɔ nasal ɛ̃ œ̃ ɔ̃ open ɑ̃ oral a the table above shows the oral and nasal vowels of louisiana creole as identified by linguists 8 vowel rounding edit speakers of the language may use rounded vowels y ø and œ where they occur in french this is subject to a high degree of variation with the same region sociolinguistic group and even within the same speaker 20 19 41 examples of this process include diri duri diri dyri rice compare french du riz dyri vyé vye vje vjø old compare french vieux vjø djèl djœl dʒɛl dʒœl mouth compare louisiana french djeule dʒœl 29 vowel lowering edit the open mid vowel ɛ may ...
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