Cajun French: A Language of Louisiana

Who speaks Cajun French, and what do they call it?

Cajun French is a regional variety of French, within the Romance family. It is also called Louisiana French or français cadien. Louisiana Creole, or Kouri-Vini, is a distinct language with which it has had long contact.

Its southern Louisiana speakers include people with Cajun, Creole and other family histories.

How many people speak Cajun French worldwide?

A 2010 estimate counted 136,701 Louisiana residents aged five and over speaking French at home, across French varieties and language backgrounds. A worldwide Cajun-only total remains uncertain.

Where did Cajun French come from, and who spoke it in the past?

The name recalls the Acadians, whose expulsion from what is now eastern Canada began in 1755. Some settled in Louisiana, where their French mixed with the speech of other French settlers and neighbouring communities.

The Breaux manuscript is an early written record, compiled around 1900 and recalling Louisiana French life and language from the 1840s.

Which Cajun French words might an English speaker already recognise?

English borrowed lagniappe from Louisiana French: a small extra, especially a gift added to a purchase. Its earlier path ran from Quechua through American Spanish.

How does Cajun French vary from region to region?

A car can be a char, extending a word for a cart or wagon to the motor vehicle. In France, voiture made the same shift in meaning.

Cigale can mean a cicada or, in some communities, a dragonfly—the mosquito hawk. There, cigale de bois names the cicada. Lafourche Parish instead has cigale de nuit for the cicada and cigale for the mosquito hawk.

What is Standard Cajun French, and where is it used?

In LSU’s 2003 teaching description, Cajun writing generally follows international French spelling, without a universally accepted local norm. Louisiana’s nineteenth- and twentieth-century newspapers also used Standard written French.

Which alphabet does Cajun French use, and what might surprise an English speaker?

Cajun French uses the 26 base letters of the French Latin alphabet. Accents, ç as in ça, and the joined form œ do not add separate alphabet letters.

Does Cajun French have grammatical gender?

Yes: nouns are masculine or feminine.

How do you say hello, thank you and goodbye in Cajun French?

• Bonjour — hello.
• Merci — thank you.
• Au revoir — goodbye.

Quoi ça dit? asks what is happening.

What are some memorable Cajun French sayings?

Il faut manger les grillots avec le tactac. pairs unpopped kernels with popped corn: good things come with things we would rather avoid.

Chacun prêche pour son saint. pictures everyone preaching for their own saint: each person champions their own cause or favourite.

What everyday customs might surprise a visitor?

A table française is a social gathering for speaking French. One early Lafayette group met over morning coffee at a reserved diner table. Gatherings now also take place in libraries and cafés, with volunteer capitaines helping organise them.

Fluent speakers and learners sit together; meetings may include songs, a short film or a guest speaker.

Which Cajun French-language song and film offer a cultural introduction?

In the French lyrics of Allons à Lafayette, the singer urges a woman to join him in Lafayette and change her name. Joseph Falcon sang and played accordion, with Cléoma Breaux on guitar, at their 27 April 1928 New Orleans recording session.

A jeweller who admired their performances helped secure the session by promising to buy records. The recording entered the National Recording Registry in 2007.

Yasha Aginsky’s Cajun Visits (1983) shows people at home. The film moves between French and English, with English subtitles for French passages. Canray Fontenot recalls his first cigar-box violin; Ella Read talks about her garden.

What is available for someone curious about the language now?

LSU’s Cajun French-English Glossary offers written entries and selected recordings, with voices including Earlene Broussard and Amanda LaFleur.

The Center for Louisiana Studies holds French folksongs, tales, interviews and oral histories collected by scholars including Barry Jean Ancelet and Elizabeth Brandon.

CODOFIL provides a tables françaises directory and free organisers’ guide. Folkstreams offers Cajun Visits with a transcript.

Fun Facts

• Asteur, meaning now, comes from the three French words à cette heure, literally at this hour.
• A berceuse can be a rocking chair or a lullaby.