This variety of Louisiana French has historically been spoken along the state’s most important waterways, used until well into the 20th century as a means of transporting, receiving, shipping and bartering goods, crop, merchandise and so on.
It is therefore not surprising to find in census records countless merchants living along these waterways throughout Louisiana history.
Until the 20th century, goods from New Orleans, France, Spain, the Caribbean and Canada would have been delivered by ship captains, like Joseph Fortuné de Penne of France who had residences and businesses in St. Martinville and New Orleans.
Many of the speakers of FLF have been fishermen, crab farmers, boatpeople, shrimpers, swampers and boat builders.
As a result, the French spoken in these fluvial business centres naturally transformed into a variety of Louisiana French rich in business and aquatic vocabulary, with a mixture of the alveolar R of the speakers of Provincial Louisiana French and the guttural R of the speakers of Urban Louisiana French.
Bayou Lafourche, which is a tributary of the Mississippi River, cutting through several parishes, has a particular variety of French spoken.
More on Bayou Lafourche French
Louisiana Fluvial French in Natchitoches Parish