What makes Louisiana French stand out is its many particularities, which includes words borrowed from Indigenous groups and more archaic expressions that were long left behind in France. This makes the region’s French dialect unique in a world where the language is increasingly standardized.
To better display the richness of Louisiana French, CODOFIL produced a series of seven videos in partnership with Louisiana Public Broadcasting called “Paroles de la Louisiane” that explores the French language as it has been historically spoken in the region. In each episode, language scholar Amanda LaFleur and French immersion teacher Ryan Langley guide viewers through excerpts from authentic recordings of Louisiana French and then discuss the characteristics of the language used in these source materials.
“Paroles de la Louisiane was created with French teachers in mind,” said LaFleur. “We were looking to give them tools that would help them understand the particularities of Louisiana French and the reasons behind them, so that they can better integrate our local varieties into their classroom instruction. But I think independent learners, too, will appreciate looking at our vernacular in context. The native speakers in the clips are the real stars of the show.”
Louisiana French: A Dialect Unique to the Region
Anchoring each episode in the series is a real recording of native speakers of Louisiana French. These excerpts were taken from field recordings conducted throughout the 20th century in Louisiana. The above video, for example, features a 1983 recording of Nina Bellard Bergeron, a native speaker who was from Pointe Noire in Acadia Parish, as she discussed the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic. Not only does this recording serve as an interesting anecdote from this period in history, it also allows an analysis of Bellard Bergeron’s local variant of French.
Hosts LaFleur and Langley use the interview to discuss local pronunciations of “un/une” and “juin, juillet, août,” as well as the presence of anglicisms in Louisiana French. Subsequent episodes use songs as a way to discuss local grammar, while others employ interviews from the 1980s-era LPB series “En Français.”
You can watch all seven episodes of Paroles de la Louisiane on our website.
