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The singer-songwriter, Zachary Richard, is from Scott, Louisiana, near Lafayette. He used to live in Montreal, where he had quite a following. He said sometimes Montrealers would ask him if he were Czech (he speaks Cajun French). Here's a video of Glen Trahan of Lafourche Parish (I think) speaking French:
Being a lover of demolinguistics I don't judge harshly when it comes to such things, but to most people in Quebec that type of French sounds archaic and unpolished. (Ironically, some people in France say that about Quebec French, though the French here is much much closer to standard French than that spoken in the video.)
What's interesting is how similar that sounds to some varieties of Acadian French in Nova Scotia. I would not go so far as saying it's identical but definitely there are some common intonations and archaisms.
I'd also mention that I've heard Zachary Richard interviewed many times, and he speaks French somewhat differently. He definitely has a Louisiana accent (but less pronounced) and at least when in Quebec or France, does not really use colloquialisms from Louisiana. If Zac is watching a Saints game with a few beers in the company of his Cajun buddies in bayou country he might sound a bit different.
In that era, some people had heard of him for sure but most had never heard him speak French. People were shocked that the lionized guru of America's Beat Generation spoke French like a lumberjack who'd never been out of the woods!
Demolinguistics are super interesting. We may one day all be speaking some form or derivative of contemporary English centuries from now, but until then... (if we make it).
An old girlfriend of Jack Kerouac wrote about Kerouac being "haunted" by his French-Canadian background. She wrote that he was "precariously balanced between conflicting selves, between two cultures and two different languages, between ambition and self-immolation." I mean, she became a university professor and academicians tend to dramatize things about culture and identity, but it is still an interesting observation, even if not entirely accurate or at all accurate.
There are still a few people, mostly old-timers and a handful of younger types, who speak Kerouac-like French in places like Berlin, NH; Biddeford, ME; and Lewiston, ME. Really, it's the only French spoken on those places.
Quebeckers have been smart about modernizing their French.
Joual is still very much alive but fades a bit more with each passing generation. Some terms are lost on my kids and their friends.
This is the first part of a series about joual.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jtlXJdYvh4s
The Catholic Church figures prominently in this segment. I guess it’s being criticized for not properly educating the students.
Interesting. For some reason I thought French was no longer spoken at all in Louisiana.
Are there any other parts of the US where French is still spoken?
French as a 1st language is a vestige, but many Louisianans study it as a 2nd language, including some 4,500 young-uns in elementary and middle school immersion programs. New Orleans, the home to most immersion students, has some French-language high schools, following the French curriculum. Lafayette has the 2nd largest number of immersion students; Lake Charles the 3rd largest. Even some of the more remote, rural towns have it. Pierre Part in Assumption Parish has had immersion for years. Evangeline Parish got 2 new programs last year—Ville Platte Elementary and Mamou Elementary. New Orleans’ programs are very France-centric. Those in Acadiana or *Cajun Country* are more local Cajun- or Creole-centric.
Second-language speakers of French, particularly those from Acadiana, tend to use a hybrid of Standard and Cajun varieties of the language. A few younger Louisianan musicians / bands sing in French. Louis Michot, of the Lost Bayou Ramblers, is here speaking of and in Louisiana French (his forbears came to New Orleans during/after the slave revolts/revolution in Haiti):
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