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How Cajuns Talk

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Those How to Speak Australian TV commercials bring to mind unique dialects characterizing particular regions or groups of people. One such example is the patois spoken in the south Louisiana region known as Acadiana. The Cajun-French language should be heard for full appreciation, since some of its enchantment is lost in translation to standard English. Many Cajuns typically "talk with their hands" and visually emphasize their frequently animated conversations.

Most tourists do not need a translator when visiting Cajun Country, yet they may be baffled by unfamiliar words and expressions. The friendly greeting "comment ca va?" (coam-on'-sah-vawh') asks how are you doing? in local jargon. If a Cajun shopkeeper adds a little "lagniappe" (lah-nyahp') in a customer's bag, it's a small extra item for free. Conversations in Acadiana, especially among the elderly, often include the phrase "Le Bon Dieu" in reference to God. Arriving at a Cajun home, one might hear "we got companie; mais beb, pick up the house tout suite an I gonna ax dem ta git down, me" (it means we have visitors; well dear, quickly tidy up our home and I'll ask them to come in!). Guests may remain for a long evening of friendly conversation when invited by the Cajun host to "stay make the veiller chez moi" (vay-yae'shay mwah).

The Cajun dialect contains casual combinations of archaic French with some English, Indian, African, German, Spanish, and other lineages. Early Cajun families mostly lived in isolation and never learned to read or write, so their communication developed mainly as a spoken language. Their mixed lingual heritage is a prime example of the Hooked-On-Phonics approach! Lexicons of the Cajun-French language wisely emphasize phonetic spellings, pronunciation guides, and context vocabulary. Readers may enjoy the alphabetized listings in an unofficial Cajun Dictionary and other online sources. A very interesting pictorial version, From Au Revoir to Zydeco, features common Cajun words and phrases illustrated by students' drawings. Those who really want to try to talk Cajun or just understand the dialect should refer to books authored by Father Jules Daigle: Cajun Self-Taught with accompanying audio cassettes or the extensive Dictionary of the Cajun Language publication.

Because Cajun-French remained an unwritten language for so long, spelling variations are common. To add to the confusion, lots of Cajun words don't look the way they sound! A good example of such discrepancy is the Cajun endearment "cher" which, unlike the superstar's name, is pronounced as shaaa. Another improbable spelling-pronunciation combo is the famous square doughnut "beignet" (called ban'-yae or ben-yaye', depending on the locale). Various communities have their own particular idiosyncrasies of speech, so Acadiana has an abundance of language peculiarities.

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