Okay Piotr, I'll give it a whirl. We tend to
pronounce our words a little more broadly; and because we talk very fast, we
tend to cut off parts of words and just jam them together. The word yes,
oui, is a good example. The French pronounce it like the word we.
Cajuns pronounce it so it sounds like the word way. I don't think that I
could even begin to use the pronunciation symbols you guys use. It would
take me all night to write! I'll have to get a French-English dictionary
to spell other words! It has been a very long time since Mrs. Aguillard's
high school French class. But I will do my research. The thing about
the Cajun dialect is this, it is an oral language. There have been only a
few Cajun French dictionaries written. It is rather like the Navajo
language, a Native American dialect. It too is an oral language, passed on
by word of mouth from generation to generation. The Navajo dialect proved
to be quite valuable during WWII against the Japanese code breakers. The
radio operators on the American battle ships were all Navajo, and the Japanese
couldn't figure out what they were saying.
----- Original Message -----From: Piotr GasiorowskiSent: Monday, April 24, 2000 3:48 AMSubject: Re: [phoNet] Language in General----- Original Message -----From: kcrougeSent: Monday, April 24, 2000 1:42 AMSubject: [phoNet] Language in GeneralKaren, would you mind joining the game and giving us a few Cajun curiosities? Not necessarily phonetic ones, though if you could elaborate on the differences between Cajun pronunciation and standard French, I, for one, would be delighted. I've never met a native speaker of Cajun before, and all I know about it comes from books. What you say about local lexical differences also sounds fascinating.Piotr
I have learned a great deal about language from reading your messages. I have a better understanding as to why it is so difficult for people, like my child and husband, who have language processing disorders. I am from southwest Louisiana, and I am a Cajun. I am bilingual also. I learned French and English together. Although the French we speak is an archaic dialect of 17th century French. We have also incorporated Spanish and Indian words into our language. What makes the Cajun language a challenge is the fact that different areas may use a different word for the same thing. I may use one word for towel, but 15 miles south of where I live, in Arnauldville, for example, another word might be used for towel. Therefore, the French spoken in the prairie regions is a completely different language than the French spoken in the river land regions that are farther south and east of here. I thing that one of the reasons people have a hard time with English, or any language for that matter, is due to the cultural diversity of a country. Each country adds or corrupts words which become part of the lexicon. A text book version of a language is vastly different from the language that is spoken by the population of a country. Indeed, when I taught English at the local high school, I had a hard time understanding the African American students. They spoke a language that is now called Ebonics. They used the infinitive form of the verb to be rather than the proper present progressive form: I be going to the store instead of I am going to the store. The English many of them spoke is a completely different language than standard American English. Actually, I guess it would be considered a substandard language. I don't know if this will mean anything, but I just wanted to share my thoughts with the group.Karen Rougeau
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