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jonezsodaz t1_iv5iom4 wrote

Reply to comment by cindy_lou_who_1982 in New member! Been lurking for a while! Just bought my daughter her first small gumbo pot! It’s a vintage Magnalite 5qt! These puppies last forever! by cindy_lou_who_1982

Le gens qui parle cajun sont t’ils capable de comprendre le français entièrement ou juste quelque mots?

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gaspergou t1_iv5y4k9 wrote

It’s strictly an oral language, with no real orthographic model. Having said that, older Cajuns who actually speak the language have little trouble conversing with native speakers of traditional French.

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wortwoot t1_iv709h1 wrote

Has no one written Cajun language novels or the like?

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gaspergou t1_iv7rvri wrote

No. We have plenty of songs, but as far as I know, the lyrics weren’t really written down until academics and preservationists transcribed them.

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oxtigerfrog t1_ivcrm0d wrote

When novels were written, they tried to write them in more “proper” French. To them, their French was just like a dialect.

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wortwoot t1_iveqhy4 wrote

Gotcha. Similar situation in Quebec prior to the 1960’s, no one wrote the language as it was actually spoken (vocabulary/grammar). I’d imagine that while Cajun speakers can understand French speakers the reverse is not true if ppl go full dialect on them?

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UnholyWardenG t1_ivm2ftr wrote

I was struggling with it. From what I've learned, it's is a mixture of standard French, and ...something?I have an atrocious American accent with French. But I've always found Cajun very interesting.

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