Cajun French Language Dictionary
cajun french language dictionary
The New Dictionary Of Louisiana French
Ils Nous Comprennent!: A Dictionary for the People
Several years ago as an intern for this magazine, I was sent to the Museum Café in Erath to take photos of a Cajun jam session. What I knew would be a fun assignment turned into an unforgettable experience when I met an old gentleman and revealed that I speak French. Next thing you know I was getting a personal tour of the museum next door entirely in Cajun French, my guide breathlessly explaining all of the items that had been donated by local Cajun families. As others walked into the museum he would stop mid-sentence and let them know, Elle me comprend, elle me comprend!—”She understands me!” I left wondering what efforts would make understanding Cajun French more than a novelty in these parts.
The recent publication of Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and Native American Communities is a major step in the preservation, and possibly the utilization, of French in Louisiana. A team of nine researchers and linguists, including Amanda LaFleur of LSU and Barry Ancelet of ULL and their students, worked on the project for more than a decade, digging deep into Cajun-speaking communities to find locals who not only spoke fluently, but had a certain linguistic repertoire. LaFleur explained this idea to me: “We wanted to speak with people who knew the vocabulary of nature, for example, who could tell us the name of this flower or that tree. We spoke with farmers to find out the names of this part of the saddle, or that tool. We asked seamstresses how to say ‘hem’ in Cajun French.”
As the title suggests, the researchers widened the geographic target and made it inclusive of many parishes, interviewing people who speak French but who would ethnically identify themselves as of Creole or Native American descent, as opposed to Cajuns from Acadia. Each term in the dictionary includes a list of parishes where it was found.
Outside of this more formal investigation, LaFleur, a native of Ville Platte, said that friends and relatives would call and leave voice messages to suggest a word or phrase that had suddenly come to mind. She also set up a mass e-mail contact list, so she could quickly consult with locals on the precise meaning of certain expressions. Multiply that networking times the eight other editors of this dictionary, and you arrive at the final version’s eight hundred pages.
I asked LaFleur for her opinion on the state of French in Louisiana. Despite the optimism that her profession demands, she did admit some disappointment that only a few members of the “only French” generation remain, as the loss of those people means the loss, for many people, of a very real motivation to use the language. But she is encouraged by the success of French immersion programs and young Louisiana French musicians. “French will be different in the next generation, but that’s always been the case. Languages evolve… In the 1960s, some predicted that Cajun French would be dead in twenty years. But here we are, still speaking it.”
The dictionary may be purchased from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or ordered from the publisher, the University of Mississippi Press. (800) 737-7788. $38.
About the Author
Anne Craven is assistant editor for Country Roads magazine.
http://www.countryroadsmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1811:the-new-dictionary-of-louisiana-french&catid=134:news-a-noteworthies&Itemid=156
Tags: cajun, dictionary, français, french, language, louisiana