Stirring the Linguistic Gumbo Several varieties of French, Canary Island Spanish, German and adash of English flavor Louisiana’s colorful Cajun English dialect.Megan Melanconserves it up.(The research cited in this essay was first published in 2001.) The ingredients in the gumbo that is southern Louisiana’s linguisticheritage include several varieties of French (17th century,Cajun, and Creole), Canary Island Spanish, German, and, the most recentaddition to the dish, English. All of these ingredients have flavoredthe speech of French Louisiana, yielding a unique dialect called CajunEnglish.The dialect is spoken mainly in southern Louisiana, althoughemigrations to southern Texas and southern Mississippi have resulted inpockets of Cajuns living in those areas. The Cajuns have been referredto as a “linguistic curiosity,” and, in fact, their versions of Englishand French differ from American English and the French spoken inFrance. So, who are the Cajuns, and where they come from?Cajuns are...
