Colonial French - Description

Description

Historically spoken by a part of the Louisiana Creole population in lower French Louisiana, Colonial French is generally considered to be nearly extinct as a separate variety today. Most linguists consider it to have largely merged with Cajun French, which is distinguishable from Louisiana Creole French.

Following the Great Upheaval in the mid-18th century, when many Acadians relocated to French Louisiana, Colonial French was displaced by the developing Cajun dialect. Some scholars suggested that it survived as the prestige dialect spoken by Creoles, both white and of color, into the 19th century. There are populations of Creoles and other ethnic groups in the parishes of St. Martin, Avoyelles, Iberia, Pointe-Coupée, St. Charles, St. Landry, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Plaquemines, and other parishes south of Orleans, that still speak this prestige dialect, as opposed to Cajun. White and Native American speakers are often considered by outsiders to belong to Cajun culture, though this classification has not been traditionally welcomed by white Creoles.

However, linguists have pointed out this prestige dialect is distinct from the pre-Upheaval Colonial French, and is largely derived from the standard French of the mid-19th century. As such, in 1998 linguist Michael Picone of the University of Alabama introduced the term "Plantation Society French" for the prestige dialect. There is a history of diglossia between Plantation Society French and Louisiana Creole French. Plantation Society French, at any rate, is quite close to the Standard French of the time of its origin, with some possible differences in pronunciation and vocabulary use.