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CAJUN ACCORDION DISCUSSION GROUP

 

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Re: Re: Re: some armchair linguistics.

Again, aint no pat answers about anything Cajun. The number of Cajun speakers vary from area to area. From the area I am from, around Mamou, it seems that people from mid 50's in age and older, are usually pretty fluent, and it drops off in varying amounts from there. It would be rare to find someone who uses it exclusively, except maybe in nursing homes by some of the very older generation who are forgetting what little English they knew. There are many who use it a lot every day, but since mainly only the 55 (with exceptions) and up crowd can converse in Cajun, they will speak whichever suits the moment. On top of that, many Cajun speakers will switch in and out of French and English, even mid sentence, almost like it is all one language. I am 43, so no one speaks to me in French unless I speak to them in French first. They instinctively know most people my age wouldnt understand it. Many will answer me in English when I speak in French, I'm not sure if its because they just arent used to speaking French with someone my age, or they may not even realize I am speaking French.

At the point we are at now, it will be hard to save the language. Roy is doing some inovative stuff that only a young dude could come up with. I think thats what we need to grab the attention of the young folks. Most of the older generation who speak it have resigned themselves to letting it go, and that is the biggest shame of all.

Re: Re: Re: Re: some armchair linguistics.

Pretty well sums it up Bryan. You are on top of things more than you know. I suspect that the area around Mamou will hang on to cajun french language the longest but for how long we don't know.

Re: some armchair linguistics.

I disagree, John. The people who will hold on to Cajun French the longest aren't Cajuns at all. The Houma and Pointe-au-Chien Indians in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishses use the language everyday (and there are a few monolinguals) and they teach it to their children. People from 3 to 101 years old speak Cajun French in Terrebonne Parish. I'm not too sure of the age range for Lafourche, though, but I'm sure it's about the same.

Why have the Indians held on to Cajun French? It's because the Indians weren't allowed to attend the English-only schools with the Cajuns. Indians, at that time, were treated worse than black people. The Indians in this area went to an Indian school and they weren't punished for speaking French like the Cajuns were.

---Roy---

Re: Re: some armchair linguistics.

Hey Roy, Glenn, Bryan, and all--

I am enjoying reading the discussion. Great information and ideas.

When I was in Southern France some years ago, I saw the Jetsons in Basque language. (I think they really had to fight to keep their language alive in both Spain and in France) I made me think right then if we could get regular children's television in Louisiana in Cajun French--not standard French...that would start a whole new generation of speakers. Children and youth will not use the language if they never hear it in their cultural environment...and unfortunately that means television probably more than anything else. Television is the new provider of culture...for the most part the youth pick up the culture that they see on TV and do not keep the culture of their families--many times, they do not actually spend very little time with their families, definitely not as much time as years ago in a rural agricultural environment. They seem to spend much more time in front of the TV, computer, and listening to IPOD.

What do y'all think?

Re: some armchair linguistics.

I fully agree that television, radio, magazines, movies, and all things connected to pop culture are what carries the language into the future. Bryan and I had this discussion in 2005 when I decided to create Le Tabloid Cadien!. Then after Le Tabloid Cadien! was created, I started working on Cajun French hip-hop. I believe that a language should not be confined to its folklore. When you look at other cultures and languages, the one thing that is consistent is that they have a popular culture in their language. It's popular culture that dictates what is cool and what is not cool. It's popular culture that introduces new vocabulary. Just think how many English words you picked up by watching television during your lifetime! Cajun French is definately lacking when it comes to fun, innovative, entertaining and educational media for children.

You can see a few of the videos that I subtitled in Cajun French on YouTube by clicking on Link #3 above. I guess I should upload the other videos that subtitled. I would dub the videos in Cajun French, but I can't split my voice six different ways.

---Roy---

Re: Re: Re: some armchair linguistics.

S'up Chris!? I think that's a cool idea... but check it out: Kids will start speaking Cajun French to each other when they don't want their parents to know what they are talking about!

Obviously there are several exceptions within this forum. Hats off to you and the other Cajuns who embrace their heritage.

Can I please join?!

R!CK

Re: Re: Re: Re: some armchair linguistics.

Hey, Rick been trying to fix you up. If you'd hurry up and get that wedding jazz out of the way, we could get back to bizness. I could teach you just enough french to get you into trouble, and you could teach me some of them little finger thingies.

Yes Chris, I think you are right, and that's what Roy has been working on. We can complain about what the kids are doing all we want, but if we want to reach them, we should use their media, or they'll just gaff it off. Me, I'm too wrapped up in old stuff, and they aint interested in that stuff. Chris, have you kept your kids interested in the cultural aspects? I remember that you got them in the music.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: some armchair linguistics.

The kids have been with me on many jobs and this has been their primary exposure to the culture. It is one of the main reasons I started Bayou Roots and started playing more family-friendly places...so that they could hear Cajun music and language before they grew up. I had been playing a "cajun flavored" music (Louisiana's Kingfish) before that time that didn't have as many songs in French. Bayou Roots, whether they realize it yet or not, was my way of passing some the older stuff on to them...don't tell them that though! Before Bayou Roots, they hadn't heard me play in a band directly devoted to Cajun music...most of that had happened when they before they were born or when they were very young.

For the most part though, they are little "Americans" as Roy would say. (I mean no disrepect to our country, I love the USA) They are pretty much taken in by the glitz and glamor of pop culture. But I take hope in the Savoy "children's (Joel, Sarah, Wilson)" back story--It seems like I read that they started appreciating the Cajun scene more after they got away from home...before that time, they had sort of taken it for granted. Maybe my children will be like that too.

Point being--I am not sure my children realize what they have been exposed to all their lives...customs, language, music, etc. I know that I never realized that stuff in full until I moved away to the big city of Lake Charles--then I wanted to go back "home" to the farm in the country. You know you spend your whole youth trying to figure out how to get off the farm and after you do...you start missing the old life. At least that is how it was for me. The grass is always greener on the other side, as they say...

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: some armchair linguistics.

That's all we can do, expose them to it, try not to push them away from it, and hope for the best.

Like many, I didnt really appreciate it until I had moved away. I was always interested, but took it for granted. It never occured to me years ago that things would be disappearing. Now my kids are growing up Texans, with a Texas accent, and though I expose them as much as I can, they consider themselves outsiders. They are having to learn some French, there are some things I only say to them in French, but it is a drop in the bucket. Maybe someday they will come to be interested. My biggest hope is that my son in interested in music in a big way, now I just gotta aim it at Cajun music in a offhanded way and see what happens.

Hope for Bryan

Bryan, don't give up. If that can be of encouragement, my wife was born in Quebec city, but her family moved to Halifax Nova Scotia when she was very young. Her father switched to English in the house, and they were in a total English environment outside (school, street, etc.). My wife always spoke to her family in English. Despite that complete English immersion, her mother (my mother in law) never stopped speaking to her in French, event her daughter always responded in English. When we met, my wife could barely speak French. However, the language was all in her brains.... We moved to Montreal (French environment) and we started speaking French at home.. within a few months, something in her brain unlocked and she became fully bilingual. Today (19 years later), one would be challenge to say what is her mother's tongue, when she speaks French or English.
So the moral is: Never give up and continue with your drops in the buckets, someday the bucket will fill up.
Maz

Re: Hope for Bryan

"Never give up and continue with your drops in the buckets, someday the bucket will fill up."

Now that should be patented Maz. Non, moi j'va jamais lacher la langage ou la couture.

Re: Re: Hope for Bryan

S'long as them drops ain't tears! Ha! Yeah, Bryan -- looking forward to moving beyond this matrimonial month and getting back on track with another fine eve of chanky chankin' with ya. Which of course, includes some of your Francophication and Pearl pops with da foam on top! Sit tight... and pull right!

R!CK



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