Louisiana's Cajun Dialect

Nous sommes Acadiens. (We are Acadians.) Some outsiders see us as a quaint, virtuous people, spending a great deal of time singing, dancing, praying, and visiting? (Conrad, 1978, p.14). Others see us as independent and unsophisticated. We see ourselves as fun-loving, carefree, happy, proud people who have a great love for our culture. The Acadians were French settlers of eastern Canada who were exiled from their land in the 1750?s. The Acadians are known to have settled in the southern bayou lands of Louisiana around that time. The Acadiana people acquired their nickname, ?Cajuns,? from those people who could not pronounce Acadians correctly. Due to the opinion that Cajuns were ?different?, they lived close together and became isolated

Louisiana is an interesting place to visit and live in. Louisiana has always had a passion for food and the different types of culture that comes along with it. There are many different subjects in Louisiana to research, such as plantations, festivals, swamps, cities, and different heritages. Food brings everyone and everything together. By researching food, all of the many different facts about Louisiana can tie together. There is always a cultural background when it comes to food anywhere. The festivals in Louisiana always either include food or base themselves on food. Louisiana has a crawfish festival, po-boy festival, shrimp festival, gumbo cook-offs throughout the year, and more. Louisiana even has its own holiday known as “Mardi Gras,”

Cajuns: name of the descendants (in Louisiana) of French Acadians forced out of Nova Scotia by the British and number nearly a million

As someone who identifies with both culture varieties in Louisianan and Hispanic Texan forms, one can see the various types of differences, including music, food, recreation, and life as a seventeen-year-old. As a senior in high school, my parents still give my commutes to and from school. This can be shown by the quote, “In short, the society in which you grow up, and your particular location in that society, lie at the center of what you do and how you think” (James M. Henslin, 2014, pg. 3.) A noticeable confliction shows when my dad drives me to school, he plays the radio, which predominantly plays country music. However, when my mom picks me up from school, she uses Pandora, which gives her more independence on choosing the genre she wants. The songs she often wants to hear is Mariachi, a Spanish-speaking music genre which mixes pop culture in Mexico, folk tales, and current issues. When I either practice my driving or hang out with friends, music genre tends to lean towards what is popular amongst my age group and location, which is pop and country. When I am around my family and relatives, music tends to be in Spanish, such as Mariachi and Spanish Pop. A Mexican-American culture had been forming over generations in my family tree, as my grandparents are from Mexico and my parents are from South Texas. When I visit my grandparents and other relatives, who mainly live at the tip of Southern Texas, cultural changes start to become more apparent as radio stations change

English is spoken by nearly all Apache Indians today, yet many Apaches also still speak their native language. There are two Apache languages, an Eastern Apache and a Western Apache and within the language there are several dialects to each. It's a complicated language to master due to various tones and vowel sounds.

The Cajuns are an extremely interesting ethnic group, who are located in southwestern and southcentral Louisiana. As of now, there are at least 800 to 900 THOUSAND people! Here are some cool things about the Cajuns.

Acadians are the descendants of a group of French-speaking settlers who migrated from coastal France in the late sixteenth century to establish a French colony called Acadia in the maritime provinces of Canada and part of what is now the state of Maine. Forced out by the British in the mid-sixteenth century, a few settlers remained in Maine, but most resettled in southern Louisiana and are popularly known as Cajuns.

For example, students from Baltimore use the word “dummy” to refer to their friend or other natives of Baltimore. In Prince George’s County, Maryland, students use word “moe” to refer to people in general. Another example of how different slang is used is further south in Texas. A student from Texas uses “buddy” or “partner” to reference his friends . Thus, southern dialect in regards to slang is too broad to be categorized as one specific way southerners choose their words. As previously stated, the lexical differences between the North and the South could be because of a number of factors. It can especially be dependent on something deeper than just the geographical location, such as race or social

Louisiana has one of the most culturally diverse areas on earth, with respect to “SoLa,” or Southern Louisiana. New Orleans was the birthplace of Jazz, and is full of great culture from people who have developed unique traditions that are special to New Orleans. Not is the culture diverse, the wetlands contain some of the most diverse ecosystems in North America. With 40% of America’s wetlands in SoLa, the area is very unique when compared to many other places in the US. Along with the uniqueness in culture and environment, the practices of the politicians and industries may be unique due to the questionable practices of the politicians and companies. The problems described in the film for Louisiana seem to be quite unique, but after some thought, the problems are almost universal to most of the modern world.

The United States is known as the world’s melting pot. However, California adopts this title to a greater extent, as California accepts immigrants from a variety of different countries. Heritage languages specifically have impacted the state of California as the diverse languages enable first, second, and third generation speakers to all connect and communicate. Throughout California, there are specific regions in which a particular language is most prevalent. Languages like Hebrew, Italian, Armenian, Korean, and variations of Chinese are represented with their own sector in California. These areas strengthen the ethnolinguistic vitality of these languages.

Storytelling in New Orleans cannot be forced into a single definition. It is a compilation of a myriad of cultural artifacts, all of which incorporate storytelling. The history of storytelling in New Orleans can be found in the early settlers of the region, the infamous legends and folklore that surround the city itself, and the people who sought out the city as a muse for their stories, such as William Faulkner. The living culture of telling stories continues in today’s world through food, celebrations like Mardi Gras, and storytelling events such as Bring Your Own. Unfortunately, the story of New Orleans is currently being pigeonholed into this one singular account of what New Orleans is about. With all of these various cultural

Accents are found around the world. Some are more prominent then others but essentially we all speak the same language. The difference in how we speak can cast a positive or negative view on the person we are communicating with. Where do these associations come from? I believe it’s the encounters and experiences we have with those people that make up our mind. This may even cause us to communicate differently then we would who has the same dialect as us.

Collective improvisation is when a group of musicians improvise to form a complete, multilayered song. While it comes with rules, it also comes with the freedom of individual expression. “Improvisation should not be equated with total freedom” (Collective Improvisation Lecture, Part 1). In other words, it is a group effort, not an allowance for musical anarchy. This lesson covered 2 types of collective improvisation: New Orleans Dixieland and Chicago Dixieland.

Acadian is a term dubbed to the French and Métis descendants that speak Acadian French. This umbrella name gives them a collective identity, even though their main populations live either on the East Coast of Canada,

Since English is the primary language of Hawai‘i Creole, most of the words come from English. But they are often pronounced in a different way, and some may have different meanings. For example: “beef” can mean 'fight.' Also, some combinations of words have different meanings: e.g. “stink eye” means 'dirty look' and “chicken skin” means 'goose