At our Pause Midi on March 14, Trenton Holliday gave an overview of Louisiana French, the population groups who speak it, and where they came from. Holliday is a professor of anthropology at Tulane University in New Orleans and a ninth-generation Louisianan.
Of special interest to those of us who are learning French, he pointed out particularités of Louisiana French. His own slides (which were screenshot) summarize it best.
For one thing, compound-tense verbs that, in the French spoken in France, use être as the auxiliary use avoir in Louisiana French!
For another, Louisiana French uses connaître in places where standard French uses savior:
Holliday explained that tee (above) is a genteel way to write tit, short for petit. More particularités:
Some common expressions and some jokes. Tee monde is … a term of endearment!
But all this was just the beginning. Holliday talked about his own family background, dating back to Acadia and even earlier; gave us illustrated vocabulary; and played Zydeco music and a recording of a story from the bayou. Watch it all on our YouTube.