The Origin and Development of Louisiana Creole French

Abstract

The origin & development of Louisiana Creole French is traced, noting that the majority of colonists were not well-educated & came from many different French-speaking areas, thus presenting their slaves with highly variable models. A complex language & cultural contact situation is described in which slaves, Indians, whites, Spanish officials, soldiers, refugees from Saint Domingue, newly arrived African slaves, & Anglophones provided a great deal of variability. The slaves came from limited African origins, resulting in their native languages contributing to an Afro-Creole. Among the records documenting some of these creoles are those of a plantation owner (Le Page du Pratz, 1758) & judicial records which indicated that social conditions & small plantations fostered many contacts with vernacular French. Some of the diversity has been veiled by the authors' likely regularization of their writings. It is concluded that modern Louisiana Creole French is a reflection of settlement patterns & 2 centuries of contact & variation. 35 References. B. Gadalla