Tamara Lindner

 

In the course of the twentieth century, Cajun French, the local French vernacular, was observed to be in rapid decline in South Louisiana’s Cajun communities; at present, the shift to English is virtually complete. Taking into account the post-language-shift context, this paper revisits the question of the role of Cajun French in Cajun identity—as examined by Dubois and Melançon (1997) with community members of varying fluency in Cajun French—with contemporary high school students, who are largely monolingual in English. As in the earlier study, participants are asked to identify which of a series of seven characteristics they consider to constitute characteristics of a ‘true’ Cajun. Data from this task informs an analysis of the role of Cajun French in the construction of Cajun identity in today’s Cajun communities.
            Data from 586 high school students in five parishes (i.e., counties) in Acadiana, Louisiana’s French Triangle, are analyzed to determine the role Cajun French in Cajun identity among young community members. Virtually all of the participants in the present study are monolingual in English, but many claim Cajun identity when asked to choose a self-identification label. Although respondents who do not self-identify as Cajun select speaking French or Cajun French as an important characteristic of ‘true’ Cajuns, linguistic competence in Cajun French is not identified as an important characteristic by respondents who claim Cajun identity. It thus appears that membership in the Cajun community, for those young people who claim it, is no longer based on participation in this community through its traditional language.

Work Cited

Dubois, S., & Melançon, M. (1997). Cajun is dead – long live Cajun: Shifting from a linguistic to a cultural community. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 1, 63-93.