When we talk about the use of the French language in the Americas, we often think about Quebec in Canada, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Haiti (though it also has a French-based creole), and that bit in the Guyana Shield which is part of overseas France, French Guiana. However, the French language also has considerable use in the United States, particularly in the state of Louisiana. This alludes to the time when France once held a significant bit of American territory comprising most of the Mississippi basin, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico in through the Mississippi river delta in Louisiana. This land was then transferred to the Americans in the turn of the 19th century in a process known as the Louisiana Purchase.

Even though some of what was formerly known as Basse-Louisiane has become what is today Louisiana, and most of the population of the state now speaks English, there is still a significant degree of French influence, as we see in the names of cities such as Lafayette and New Orleans. We also talk about Cajun culture in Louisiana, in which we find two kinds of French spoken — Louisiana French and Louisiana Creole. Today, we will look at Louisiana French, spoken by around a couple hundred thousand people today.

With centuries and an ocean of separation between Louisiana and metropolitan France, we would expect the variety of French used in Louisiana to considerably diverge from the French in France. Yet, from recordings I have found on Louisiana French, it does sound just like a dialect of French one might expect themselves to encounter. There are some differences in the sounds and words of Louisiana French, but for the most part of Louisiana French grammar, it is extremely close to that of Standard French. With centuries of influence from other languages and cultures, and the lack of standardisation of Louisiana French for most of its history, it is quite bizarre how grammatical patterns are still largely preserved in this variety of French.

One of the most striking distinctions to note in Louisiana French is in the pronunciation of the letter ‘r’. In Standard French, we are familiar with this ‘r’ being pronounced in a more guttural way, and it is often transcribed as [ʁ]. But in Louisiana French, this ‘r’ is pronounced closer to how one does in languages like Spanish, and it is transcribed as a [r] or [ɾ]. This could be due to sound changes that have occurred in France in the 17th or 18th centuries, which might not have caught on in Louisiana during that period. And so, these sounds diverged, with Louisiana French preserving the original ‘r’ sound in French.

Perhaps one interesting feature of Louisiana French is its loss of contractions we commonly find in French. What this refers to is the appearance of de le in Louisiana French instead of du in French. And like many varieties of French found across the world, 70 is septante instead of soixante-dix, 80 is octante instead of quatre-vingts, and 90 is nonante instead of quatre-vingt-dix, indicating a loss of the vigesimal system French originally had, shifting to a more decimal one.

I think one of the more unusual features of Louisiana French is the use of -autres (others) when expressing plural pronouns. Thus, you could encounter Louisiana French plural pronouns as eux-autres (they) and vous-autres (you, plural) instead of the ils / elles and vous you would otherwise normally hear in Standard French. Furthermore, in some parishes in Louisiana, you would also encounter another variant of the plural third person pronoun, eusse.

There is sort of a distinction between the present tense (I drink, for example) and the present progressive tense (I am drinking, for example) in Louisiana French. While such a distinction is present in Standard French, as en train de, I seldom encounter such an expression when using French. Here, in Louisiana French, the particle après or apé is used, and “I am drinking” would sort of translate to j’suis après / apé boire. This does kind of remind me of how the present progressive tense is expressed in Haitian French Creole, using the particle ap (as in m ap bwè to mean “I am drinking”).

But perhaps what is more notable in Louisiana French is the lexical differences it shares with Standard French. This is most due to the interactions Louisiana French has with indigenous languages in the region, and English over the centuries, giving it some words which are unique to this variety. One example is the word for ‘raccoon’, which translates to raton-laveur in Standard French, but chaoui in Louisiana French, borrowed from the Choctaw language, possibly through a pidgin spoken in that region back then.

Despite being a significant part of the culture down in Louisiana, Louisiana French was heavily suppressed in education during the 20th century, as English took over the linguistic landscape by force. With the propaganda that perceived speaking Louisiana French as ‘uneducated’ and ‘lower’ compared to speaking English, a sharp decline in the number of Louisiana French speakers was recorded in the mid to late 20th century.

This did not stop efforts to preserve the French variant, through the development of institutions such as the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana, and studies on Louisiana French. Today, one would see bilingual signs in cities such as the French Quarter in New Orleans, sometimes adopting different names entirely. One example is Governor Nicholls St, which goes by the name Rue de l’Hôpital in French. Name changes have been proposed to rename this street, given by this source, due to the racism and participation in the Confederacy by Nicholls. As of Google Street View in November 2021, the name still remains, though we could expect it to change should the local council decide a name change.

Today, French is taught in Louisiana, although it follows more closely to Standard French, and younger speakers can speak some French. There could be some influences from Louisiana French and other linguistic patterns, which could spark further evolution of Louisiana French in future. With a strong Cajun culture in Louisiana, such as food, festivities, and music, there is optimism in the revitalisation and promotion of Louisiana French in the 21st century.

Further reading

Phonology of Louisiana French

Sullivan, Margaret Anne, “A Phonological Analysis of the French of the Swords, Louisiana, Area.” (1977). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 8206. https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/8206.

Louisiana French pronouns and usage (in French)

https://www.lsu.edu/hss/french/undergraduate_program/cajun_french/pronoms_personnels.php

Louisiana French Grammar, by Marilyn J. Conwell, 1963

https://archive.org/details/louisianafrenchg0001conw/page/n215/mode/2up