The Sociolinguistic Situation of Creoles in South Louisiana: Identity, Characteristics, Attitudes

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Sociolinguistic Situation of Creoles in South Louisiana: Identity, Characteristics, Attitudes Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 2000 The oS ciolinguistic Situation of Creoles in South Louisiana: Identity, Characteristics, Attitudes. Megan Elizabeth Melancon Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Melancon, Megan Elizabeth, "The ocS iolinguistic Situation of Creoles in South Louisiana: Identity, Characteristics, Attitudes." (2000). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 7283. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/7283 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9* black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC SITUATION OF CREOLES IN SOUTH LOUISIANA: IDENTITY, CHARACTERISTICS, A T T IT U D E S A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty o f the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment o f the requirements for the degree o f Doctor o f Philosophy in The Interdepartmental Program in Linguistics by Megan Elizabeth Melancon B.A., Louisiana State University, I98S M.A., Louisiana State University, 1990 M .A ., University o f Kansas, 1995 August, 2000 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number 9984351 Copyright 2000 by Melancon, Megan Elizabeth All rights reserved. UMI* UMI Microform 9984351 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. OCopyright 2000 Megan Elizabeth Melancon All rights reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. D E D IC A T IO N This adventure would not have been possible without the love and support o f my husband, Stephen Roger Parrish, my parents, Eria Faye and Lolan, and my siblings, Tammy, Marcy and Michael. Thank you all. in Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS One should never begin a project the magnitude o f a dissertation without projecting the cost involved: emotional, spiritual, physical, monetary. But then one rarely appreciates how much o f all o f those attributes will be required to finish a dissertation. More important than all o f these, though, are the people which support and help in the undertaking. In my case, Dr. Sylvie Dubois has been the major driving force o f this project. It truly would not have been possible without her inspiration, her dedication, and her continual guidance. The best test o f a teacher is that she be able to put theory into practice. Sylvie has achieved this and more, and, in the process, has aided and abetted the survival and renaissance o f the Cajun and Creole communities in South Louisiana. Dr. Hugh Buckingham has provided support in the form o f critical feedback, laughter, and liquid refreshment. Dr. Jill Brody has been both a rock and a shoulder to cry on at will, and the enthusiasm and energy o f Dr. Janna Oetting has contributed greatly to the success o f this venture. Thank you all. Other people who have made this research possible are Dr. Stuart Stewart, Steve Bell, Richard Hallett, and Joke Mondada - without their e-mails, telephone calls, visits, and cards, I would never have survived. Abby, Rebel, and Rosco Parrish deserve special mention in the category o f non-human assistance and stress release. To those with whom I have interacted in the Cajun/Creole fields at conferences and elsewhere, keep up the good work. Becky Brown, Rocky Sexton, Jane Smith, and Tom Klingler were particularly encouraging, and I appreciate all o f you. The support o f my husband, my family, and my family-in-law has been unfailing and indefatigable. The monetary support iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. o f the Interdepartmental Program in Linguistics at Louisiana State University and a grant from the South Central Modem Language Association were greatly appreciated. In addition, and most importantly, grateful appreciation goes out to the people in the two communities which were investigated. They opened themselves up to total strangers and gave o f themselves, and none o f this would have occurred i f it had not been for that. It is hoped that the results o f this research can be used to the betterment o f the Louisiana Creole French community. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.. ....................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ ix ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ x CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ I 1.1 Overview .......................................................................................................1 1.2 Theoretical Basis o f the Study .................................................................... 3 1.3 Clarification of Terms................................................................................... 5 1.4 Organization o f the Chapters .......................................................................9 CHAPTER 2. CREOLE FRENCH ID EN TITY ..........................................................11 2.1 Introduction.................................................................................................11 2 .2 Historical Background o f the Louisiana Creole French Community 16 2.2.1 Native to Louisiana/French Ownership ....................................... 16 2.2.2 French Louisiana Identity/Spanish Possession............................. 18 2.2.3 American Reign/Anglicization ......................................................20 2.3 Modern-Day Situation o f the Louisiana Creole French Community 30 2.4 Current Situation o f the Louisiana Creole French Community .................. 35 2.5 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 37 CHAPTER 3. LOUISIANA CREOLE FRENCH LITERATURE REVIEW .... 39 3.1 Overview .................................................................................................... 39 3.2 Early Studies (Pre-1960) ......................................................................... 40 3.3 Post 1960 Research ....................................................................................47 3.3.1 Genesis Studies ............................................................................. 47 3.3.2 Descriptive Studies ....................................................................... 54 3.3.3 Continuum Studies ....................................................................... 60 3.4 Discussion and Conclusions....................................................................... 68 CHAPTER 4. SOCIOLINGUISTIC LITERATURE REVIEW/GOALS AND HYPOTHESES ................................................................................................... 72 4.1 Sociolinguistic Literature R eview ..............................................................
Recommended publications
  • Interdental Fricatives in Cajun English
    Language Variation and Change, 10 (1998), 245-261. Printed in the U.S.A. © 1999 Cambridge University Press 0954-3945/99 $9.50 Let's tink about dat: Interdental fricatives in Cajun English SYLVIE DUBOIS Louisiana State University BARBARA M. HORVATH University of Sydney ABSTRACT The English of bilingual Cajuns living in southern Louisiana has been pejoratively depicted as an accented English; foremost among the stereotypes of Cajun English is the use of tink and dat for think and that. We present a variationist study of/9/ and /d/ in the speech of bilingual Cajuns in St. Landry Parish. The results show a complex interrelationship of age, gender, and social network. One of the major findings is a v-shaped age pattern rather than the regular generational model that is expected. The older generation use more of the dental variants [t,d] than all others, the middle-aged dramatically decrease their use, but the young show a level of usage closer to the old generation. The change is attributed to both language attri- tion and the blossoming of the Cajun cultural renaissance. Interestingly, neither young men in open networks nor women of all ages in open networks follow the v-shaped age pattern. In addition, they show opposite directions of change: men in open networks lead the change to [d], whereas women in open networks drop the dental variants of [t,d] almost entirely. The variety of English spoken by people of Acadian descent (called Cajuns) in southern Louisiana has been the subject of pejorative comment for a long time.
    [Show full text]
  • Spanish Through Time
    ROMANCE LANGUAGES Rhaeto-Cisalpine at a glance Spanish through Time Vol.1 Phonology, Orthography, FLORA KLEIN-ANDREU Morphology Stony Brook University CLAUDI MENEGHIN MIUR (Ministero dell'Istruzione Università Spanish through time is an introduction to the development of the Spanish language, e ricerca) designed for readers with little or no prior experience in linguistics. It therefore stresses explanation of the workings of language and its development over time: They are viewed as Rhaeto-Cisalpine (or Padanese) is a western attibutable to characteristics of human speakers, in particular social and historical Romance language, spoken in the Po valley (extended to include the Ligurian coast), which circumstances, as illustrated by the history of Spanish. has developed in an independent fashion from The development of Spanish from Latin is presented divided into three broad periods-- Italian and is strictly related to French, Occitan, "Vulgar Latin", Castilian, and Spanish--characterized by specific linguistic developments and Catalan. This subject has been relatively and the historical circumstances in which they occurred. In each case the mechanics of neglected in recent years, apart from a monumental work by Geoffrey Hull, dating back particular language changes are explained in detail, in everyday terms. Emphasis is on the to 1982. more general developments that differentiate, first, various Romance languages, and finally This book aims at both offering a solid different current varieties of Castilian-- Peninsular and Atlantic (American). Evidence is reference about, and at proposing a complete also presented for the chronology of some major changes, so as to familiarize the reader synthesis of this diasystem, including the Rhaeto-Romance languages and the so called with traditional linguistic reasoning.
    [Show full text]
  • Help Languages
    Edutasia – Help languages Talk Now help languages ▪ Abruzzese ▪ Hausa ▪ Punjabi (Indian) ▪ Afrikaans ▪ Hawaiian ▪ Quechua ▪ Albanian ▪ Hebrew ▪ Romanian ▪ Alsatian ▪ Hindi ▪ Romansh ▪ Amharic ▪ Hungarian ▪ Russian ▪ Arabic ▪ Icelandic ▪ Saami ▪ Arabic (Egyptian) ▪ Igbo ▪ Sardinian ▪ Arabic (Modern Standard) ▪ Indonesian ▪ Scottish Gaelic ▪ Armenian ▪ Irish ▪ Serbian ▪ Assamese ▪ Italian ▪ Sesotho (Southern) ▪ Aymara ▪ Japanese ▪ Shona ▪ Azeri ▪ Jèrriais ▪ Sinhala ▪ Basque ▪ Kannada ▪ Slovak ▪ Belarusian ▪ Kazakh ▪ Slovenian ▪ Bengali ▪ Khmer ▪ Somali ▪ Berber (Tamazight) ▪ Kinyarwanda (Rwanda) ▪ Spanish ▪ Breton ▪ Kirghiz ▪ Swahili ▪ Bulgarian ▪ Klingon ▪ Swedish ▪ Burmese ▪ Korean ▪ Swiss German ▪ Canadian English ▪ Lao ▪ Tagalog ▪ Canadian French ▪ Latin ▪ Tamil ▪ Cantonese ▪ Latin American Spanish ▪ Telugu ▪ Catalan ▪ Latvian ▪ Thai ▪ Chichewa ▪ Lingala ▪ Tibetan ▪ Chinese (Mandarin) ▪ Lithuanian ▪ Tswana ▪ Chuvash ▪ Luganda ▪ Turkish ▪ Cornish ▪ Luxembourgish ▪ Ukrainian ▪ Corsican ▪ Macedonian ▪ Urdu ▪ Croatian ▪ Malagasy ▪ Uzbek ▪ Czech ▪ Malay ▪ Vietnamese ▪ Danish ▪ Malayalam ▪ Welsh ▪ Dari ▪ Maltese ▪ Xhosa ▪ Dutch ▪ Manx ▪ Yiddish ▪ English ▪ Marathi ▪ Yoruba ▪ English (American) ▪ Mongolian ▪ Zulu ▪ Esperanto ▪ Māori ▪ ▪ Estonian ▪ Navajo ▪ Faroese ▪ Nepali ▪ Finnish ▪ Norwegian ▪ Flemish ▪ Occitan ▪ French ▪ Papiamento ▪ Frisian ▪ Pashto ▪ Galician ▪ Persian ▪ Georgian ▪ Pidgin (Papua New ▪ German Guinea) ▪ Greek ▪ Polish ▪ Greenlandic ▪ Portuguese (Brazilian) ▪ Gujarati ▪ Portuguese (European) ▪ Haitian Creole ▪ Provençal
    [Show full text]
  • The Linguistic Context 34
    Variation and Change in Mainland and Insular Norman Empirical Approaches to Linguistic Theory Series Editor Brian D. Joseph (The Ohio State University, USA) Editorial Board Artemis Alexiadou (University of Stuttgart, Germany) Harald Baayen (University of Alberta, Canada) Pier Marco Bertinetto (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy) Kirk Hazen (West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA) Maria Polinsky (Harvard University, Cambridge, USA) Volume 7 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ealt Variation and Change in Mainland and Insular Norman A Study of Superstrate Influence By Mari C. Jones LEIDEN | BOSTON Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jones, Mari C. Variation and Change in Mainland and Insular Norman : a study of superstrate influence / By Mari C. Jones. p. cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-25712-2 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-25713-9 (e-book) 1. French language— Variation. 2. French language—Dialects—Channel Islands. 3. Norman dialect—Variation. 4. French language—Dialects—France—Normandy. 5. Norman dialect—Channel Islands. 6. Channel Islands— Languages. 7. Normandy—Languages. I. Title. PC2074.7.J66 2014 447’.01—dc23 2014032281 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 2210-6243 ISBN 978-90-04-25712-2 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-25713-9 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff and Hotei Publishing.
    [Show full text]
  • Barthé, Darryl G. Jr.Pdf
    A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Becoming American in Creole New Orleans: Family, Community, Labor and Schooling, 1896-1949 Darryl G. Barthé, Jr. Doctorate of Philosophy in History University of Sussex Submitted May 2015 University of Sussex Darryl G. Barthé, Jr. (Doctorate of Philosophy in History) Becoming American in Creole New Orleans: Family, Community, Labor and Schooling, 1896-1949 Summary: The Louisiana Creole community in New Orleans went through profound changes in the first half of the 20th-century. This work examines Creole ethnic identity, focusing particularly on the transition from Creole to American. In "becoming American," Creoles adapted to a binary, racialized caste system prevalent in the Jim Crow American South (and transformed from a primarily Francophone/Creolophone community (where a tripartite although permissive caste system long existed) to a primarily Anglophone community (marked by stricter black-white binaries). These adaptations and transformations were facilitated through Creole participation in fraternal societies, the organized labor movement and public and parochial schools that provided English-only instruction.
    [Show full text]
  • French in Québec: a Standard to Be Described and Uses to Be Prioritized
    The French Language in Québec: 400 Years of History and Life Part Four II – French a Shared Language Chapter 13 – Which Language for the Future? 52. French in Québec: A Standard to be Described and Uses to Be Prioritized PIERRE MARTEL and HÉLÈNE CAJOLET-LAGANIÈRE The Evolution of the Standard for Written and Spoken French in Québec For more than two centuries, Québécois have lived in a twofold linguistic insecurity. On the one hand, French was rendered a second-class language by English, which was widely dominant in a number of social spheres and, on the other, its status was undermined compared to the French of France, the one and only benchmark. The “ Joual dispute” of the 1960s and 1970s crystallized opinions around a simplistic alternative: either the language of Québécois was the French of France (most usually termed International French 1, chiefly in order to indicate no dependence on the mother country), in which case every effort would have to be made to conform to it on every point, or else theirs was the popular language of those who were little educated, that is, vernacular speech, stigmatized by the term “ Joual ,” which some associated with the very identity of the Québécois. This black and white representation of the state of our language was ideological and unrealistic. It was as if French was made up of only a “standard” level, the correct written usage, and as if Québec French had only one language level, the vernacular, and even the lax and vulgar language. The Charter of the French Language, promulgated in 1977, contained no provision aimed at defining “French in Québec,” the “standard” or the “quality of the language.” However, the 1 The French Language in Québec: 400 Years of History and Life Part Four II – French a Shared Language Chapter 13 – Which Language for the Future? Policy Statement that gave birth to the Charter drew attention to the necessity of having a quality language.
    [Show full text]
  • 6 X 10.5 Long Title.P65
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19673-4 - A Reference Grammar of French R. E. Batchelor Excerpt More information Brief introduction to the French language (with reference to the French of francophone countries) / Br`eve introduction a` la langue franc¸aise (avec r´ef´erence au franc¸ais des pays francophones) French is the official language of twenty-nine independent states and is spoken, to a greater or lesser extent, in fifty-one or fifty-two countries.1 Most recent calculations suggest that over 200 million use it as a first or second language. Although not as diffuse as English, but certainly more so than Spanish, since it enjoys currency on five continents and Spanish 1 Henriette Walter suggests fifty-two in Le franc¸ais d’ici, de l`a, de l`a-bas (1998, p. 135). The figure 1 beside a country indicates the authors’ serious reservations about any validity over claims for francophonie for this country. The figure 2 beside a country indicates that French is spoken by a percentage of the population, and this could vary from country to country, who use it as a mother tongue, or as a major second language: Albanie 1, Belgique, Belgique (communaut´e francophone), B´enin, Brunswick 1, Bulgarie 1, Burkina Faso, Burundi 2, Cambodge 1, Canada: Nouveau, Cap-Vert 1, Centrafrique, Comores, Congo, Congo (R´epublique d´emocratique = RDC), Coteˆ d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominique 1, Egypte´ 1, France, Gabon, Guin´ee, Guin´ee-Bissau 1, Guin´ee Equatoriale,´ Ha¨ıti, Laos 1, Liban 2, Luxembourg, Mac´edoine 1, Madagascar, Mali, Maroc 2, Maurice, Mauritanie, Moldavie 1, Niger, Pologne 1, Roumanie 1, Rwanda 2, Sainte-Lucie 2, Sao˜ Tom´eetPrincipe1,S´en´egal, Seychelles 2, Suisse 2, Tchad, Togo, Tunisie 2, Vanuatu, Viˆetnam, Za¨ıre.
    [Show full text]
  • Cane River, Louisiana
    ''ewe 'Know <Who <We !A.re'' An Ethnographic Ove1'View of the Creole Traditions & Community of Isle Brevelle & Cane River, Louisiana H.F. Gregory, Ph.D. Joseph Moran, M.A. I /'I "1\ 1'We Know Who We Are": I An Ethnographic Overview of the Creole Community and Traditions of I Isle Breve lie and Cane River, Louisiana I I I' I I 'I By H.F. Gregory, Ph.D. I Joseph Moran, M.A. I I I Respectfully Submitted to: Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve U.S. Department of the Interior I In partial fulfillment of Subagreement #001 to Cooperative Agreement #7029~4-0013 I I December, 1 996 '·1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Errata Page i - I "Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve" should read, "Jean Lafitte National I Historical Park and Preserve ...." Please define "emic" as the point of view from the culture as opposed to the I anthropological, descriptive view of the culture - the outsider's point ofview(etic). I Page vi- "Dr. Allison Pena" should read, "Ms. Allison Pena. ." I Page 13 - I "The first was literary-folkloristic which resulted in local color novels and romantic history - all but 'outside' authors and artists ... "should read, "The first was literary-folkloristic which I resulted in local color and romantic history - all by 'outside' authors and artists ...." I Page 14 - "Whenever Creoles tried to explain who they were, who they felt they were, it ultimately was, and is, interpreted as an attempt to passer pour blanc" should read, "Whenever Creoles tried I to explain who they were, who they felt they were, it ultimately was, and is, interpreted as an I attempt to passer pour blanc, or to pass for white...
    [Show full text]
  • Acadiens and Cajuns.Indb
    canadiana oenipontana 9 Ursula Mathis-Moser, Günter Bischof (dirs.) Acadians and Cajuns. The Politics and Culture of French Minorities in North America Acadiens et Cajuns. Politique et culture de minorités francophones en Amérique du Nord innsbruck university press SERIES canadiana oenipontana 9 iup • innsbruck university press © innsbruck university press, 2009 Universität Innsbruck, Vizerektorat für Forschung 1. Auflage Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Umschlag: Gregor Sailer Umschlagmotiv: Herménégilde Chiasson, “Evangeline Beach, an American Tragedy, peinture no. 3“ Satz: Palli & Palli OEG, Innsbruck Produktion: Fred Steiner, Rinn www.uibk.ac.at/iup ISBN 978-3-902571-93-9 Ursula Mathis-Moser, Günter Bischof (dirs.) Acadians and Cajuns. The Politics and Culture of French Minorities in North America Acadiens et Cajuns. Politique et culture de minorités francophones en Amérique du Nord Contents — Table des matières Introduction Avant-propos ....................................................................................................... 7 Ursula Mathis-Moser – Günter Bischof des matières Table — By Way of an Introduction En guise d’introduction ................................................................................... 23 Contents Herménégilde Chiasson Beatitudes – BéatitudeS ................................................................................................. 23 Maurice Basque, Université de Moncton Acadiens, Cadiens et Cajuns: identités communes ou distinctes? ............................ 27 History and Politics Histoire
    [Show full text]
  • Recommended Educational Practices for Standard English Learners
    Recommended Educational Practices for Standard English Learners Cheryl Wilkinson, Jeremy Miciak, Celeste Alexander, Pedro Reyes, Jessica Brown, and Matt Giani The University of Texas at Austin: Texas Education Research Center January 31, 2011 T HE U NIVERSITY OF T E X A S A T A USTIN i Recommended Practices for SELs CREDITS The Texas Education Research Center is located at The University of Texas at Austin. The Texas ERC is an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization focused on generating data-based solutions for Texas education and workforce demands. The goal of the Texas ERC is to supply policymakers, opinion leaders, the media, and the general public with academically sound research surrounding today's critical education issues. Texas Education Research Center The University of Texas at Austin Department of Educational Administration, SZB 310 Austin, TX 78712 Phone: (512) 471-4528 Fax: (512) 471-5975 Website: www.utaustinERC.org Contributing Authors Cheryl Wilkinson, Jeremy Miciak, Celeste Alexander, Pedro Reyes, Jay Brown, Matt Giani, Carolyn Adger, and Jeffery Reaser Prepared for Texas Education Agency 1701 North Congress Avenue Austin, Texas 78701‐1494 Phone: 512‐463‐9734 Funded by The evaluation is funded through General Appropriations Act (GAA), Senate Bill No. 1, Rider 42 (81st Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2009), via Texas Education Agency Contract No: 2501. ii Recommended Practices for SELs COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright © Notice: The materials are copyrighted © as the property of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of TEA, except under the following conditions: 1. Texas public school districts, charter schools, and Education Service Centers may reproduce and use copies of the Materials and Related Materials for the districts‘ and schools‘ educational use without obtaining permission from TEA.
    [Show full text]
  • The Performance of Cajun English in Boudreaux and Thibodeaux Jokes
    The performance of cajun english in Boudreaux and ThiBodeaux jokes KAtie CArmiChAel Ohio State University abstract: in South louisiana, there is a genre of jokes featuring the bumbling Cajun characters Boudreaux and thibodeaux. these jokes are often told with an exagger- ated Cajun english accent, an ideal opportunity to examine and better understand local perceptions of Cajun english linguistic features. Th-stopping, nonaspiration of [p, t, k], and vowel quality were analyzed in recordings of six lafourche Parish, loui- siana speakers conversing casually as well as performing Boudreaux and thibodeaux jokes. While all speakers exaggerated one or the other consonantal feature while joketelling, vowel quality was not manipulated in the expected ways. Such patterning may indicate that th-stopping and nonaspiration of [p, t, k] are more salient, or more easily imitable, features of Cajun english than the vowel features examined. Notably, there was some patterning of features exaggerated based on where the speaker lived along the bayou, with “up the bayou” joketellers having a more standard baseline to begin with and thus exaggerating different features, demonstrating the importance of considering culturally specific social categories in analyzing performances of local speech varieties. Boudreaux and thibodeaux (Bt) jokes are a genre of ethnic jokes told by Cajuns in South louisiana. Bt jokes are similar in style to Newfie (New- foundlanders) jokes of Canada: both function to poke fun at a stigmatized socioethnic group, the members of which are seen as stupid (Davies 1982). Usually Bt jokes are humorous narratives about the eponymous fictional Cajuns, who are portrayed as ignorant, unsophisticated, and generally incom- petent, as in the following example: One day tibodeau told Boudreau that he was going to the trade school to make hisself smart.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolution of the Franco-American Novel of New England (1875-2004)
    BORDER SPACES AND LA SURVIVANCE: THE EVOLUTION OF THE FRANCO-AMERICAN NOVEL OF NEW ENGLAND (1875-2004) By CYNTHIA C. LEES A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2006 Copyright 2006 By Cynthia C. Lees ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to the members of my supervisory committee, five professors who have contributed unfailingly helpful suggestions during the writing process. I consider myself fortunate to have had the expert guidance of professors Hélène Blondeau, William Calin, David Leverenz, and Jane Moss. Most of all, I am grateful to Dr. Carol J. Murphy, chair of the committee, for her concise editing, insightful comments, and encouragement throughout the project. Also, I wish to recognize the invaluable contributions of Robert Perreault, author, historian, and Franco- American, a scholar who lives his heritage proudly. I am especially indebted to my husband Daniel for his patience and kindness during the past year. His belief in me never wavered. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................ iii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................... vii ABSTRACT.......................................................... viii CHAPTER 1 SITING THE FRANCO-AMERICAN NOVEL . 1 1.1 Brief Overview of the Franco-American Novel of New England . 1 1.2 The Franco-American Novel and the Ideology of La Survivance ..........7 1.3 Framing the Ideology of La Survivance: Theoretical Approaches to Space and Place ....................................................13 1.4 Coming to Terms with Space and Place . 15 1.4.1 The Franco-American Novel and the Notion of Place .
    [Show full text]