This variety of Louisiana French is spoken deep in the Louisiana hinterland, where agriculture dominated the economy.
Historically, along the prairies of Southwest Louisiana, Francophone Louisianians were cattle grazers and rice and cotton farmers.
Along the bayous and the Louisiana littoral, sugar cane cultivation dominated and in many parishes today, sugar cultivation remains an important source of economy (e.g. Iberia and St. Martin parishes).
In this variety of LF, the Rs are alveolar (not guttural, they’re flat), the AU in words becomes /aw/, the vowels at the beginning and end of words is usually omitted (Américain -> Méricain, Espérer -> Spérer) and the letter O following an É usually becomes a diphthong (Léonide -> Lonide, Cléophas -> Clophas).
Typically the intonation in PLF is very nasal. It is the wailing sound that is often associated with provincial speech in Québec. Two things the two varieties have shared: farming and relative isolation.
Joseph Mouton “Zydeco Joe” | Lafayette Parish
LANGUAGES
LOUISIANA FRENCH
URBAN LOUISIANA FRENCH
FLUVIAL LOUISIANA FRENCH