6-1 Cajun Flashcards
Vowels, Realisational features
Monophthongization of PRICE, GOAT, FACE, FLEECE.
FLEECE and GOOSE
FLEECE and GOOSE are typically realized with the pure
monophthongs [iː] and [uː], respectively
GOAT and FACE
GOAT and FACE tend to become the monophthongs [oː] and [eː]
PRICE
PRICE /aɪ/ is turned into [ɑː]
FACE
The FACE vowel can be monophthongized and shortened.
Shortening in particularly striking in the words day and today
nazalisation
Realisational features
Heavy nasalization: while vowel nasalization is a common feature of Southern
American English, CE nasalization also spreads to adjacent phones:
certainly under the influence of Louisiana French: chêne (“oak tree”),
pomme (“apple”), femme (“woman”) respectively yield the
following realizations in LF: [ʃɛ̃n], [pɔ̃m], [fɑ̃m]/[fɔ̃m
→ “Heavy nasalization” in Cajun Vernacular English is likely to appear in
monosyllabic words and can be characterized by a heavier than normal
degree of nasalization, that is the nasalization spreads to the consonant
before the vowel (e.g. where the [b] in a word like Alabama is nasalized).
More front closed vowels are nasalized than back vowels.
DRESS
DRESS lowering to [æ]
tEll
cElebrate [ˈsæləbreɪt]
NovEmber
Consonants
CE consonants have been the subject of more attention than vowels.
They are also much more manipulated and exaggerated than CE
vowels when the speakers of the CEC tell the jokes
TH
TH-stopping
- /t/, /d/ are plosives or stops.
- TH-stopping= the realization of the dental fricatives /θ, ð/ as the dental plosives
[t̪, d̪], respectively. - A near-phonemic feature (possibility of a loss of contrast but it doesn’t happen
systematically, for each occurrence of /θ/ and /ð/ ) - Probably the number-one stereotype of CE among the general public. Rubrecht
(1971: 151–52) remarks that “Louisianans often cite the paradigm, ‘dis, dat, dese, and dose’ to partially explain how Acadians talk.”
Nonaspiration
Nonaspiration” of /p, t, k/ at the beginning of stressed syllables
attributable to French influence : Cf. French Pierre [pjɛʀ] vs. English Peter [ˈphiːtə]
voice onset time (VOT) and it manifests itself
with a fricative element that delays the phonation of the following vowel or that
devoices the first part of the following approximant [l, r, w, j].
The articulators are in the right position to produce the following phoneme, but
voicing is delayed
Rhoticity
Cajun English is variably rhotic today; that is post-vocalic /r/ is not systematically pronounced, as it is in
most accents of American English
=> Contact phenomena and interference from Louisiana French are certainly two explanations
for this feature.
Historically, post-vocalic /r/ was not pronounced in the neighboring variety of Southern
American English
However, it has become an increasingly rhotic variety over the last decades
In Louisiana French , post-vocalic /r/ exhibits a tendency to weaken when it comes in wordfinal
position, sometimes to the point of being completely elided
Speakers of the CEC display variable rhoticity, with word-final position being the most likely
context for elision (e.g. after, war, weather, brother)
CCR
Final consonant cluster reduction (CCR)
Final consonant cluster reduction (CCR) frequently occurs in CE
Speakers do not pronounce final consonants and drop certain final clusters
altogether the standard inflectional morphemes -ed and -s are often absent from
CE.
dialect, last, next = /t/ ellision
wind = /d/ ellision
drunk = /k/ ellision
- Cf. Louisiana French: table [tab], quatre [kat], masque [mas], insecte “insect” [ɛ̃sɛk].
(Ancelet et al 2010: xxxiv).
Suprasegmental features
Lexical stress
A number of shifts from regular English stress patterns can be found in lexical words in the CEC in no way systematic).
- All the shifts display the tendency for the stress to move to the right, thus
reflecting the general pattern of French
examples CEC
Panama: [ˈpænəmɑː] in Standard American English) → [ˌ pænəˈmɑː]
- perfume (as a noun): [ˈpɜː fjuːm] → [pərˈfjuːm]
- supermarket: [ˈsuːpərˌmɑːrkət] → [ˌsuːpərˈmɑːrkət]
Intonation & rhythm
- CE is characterized by an intonation pattern that sometimes resembles that of
(Louisiana) French. - The rhythm of the variety is more syllable-timed and more “French-like” than
that of other accents of (American) English. - In the CEC, such “French” patterns are more obvious when the informants tell
jokes, when they appear to “exaggerate their accents”.
Rhythm
- English tends to be stress-timed, while French tends to be syllabletimed
rhythm. - CE displays a tendency to be closer to a typical sort of French rhythm
than other accents of English.
