History of Louisiana Creole

History and Development of Louisiana Creole

ABSTRACT

The historical development of the Louisiana Creole language will be examined in this paper. This particular form of Creole is still being practiced in certain areas of this American state of Louisiana. The French Creole influence stemmed primarily from the Louisiana Purchase made by the United States between 1803-1804 when France sold the state to President Thomas Jefferson for a total of 15,000,000 USD. This put into place a group of individuals who were already immersed in the land and had established a particular form of Creole that merged with the dialect of the South in the United States to make a particular form of Creole. The Louisiana Creole language will be looked at in terms of numbers of speakers that still employ it in the state of Louisiana, how it might differ from separate areas within the state of Louisiana and down the Bayou (such as New Orleans vs. a smaller area such as Pierre Part), its history of origin and how it is part of the primary lexicon of the European French language. The phonological and grammatical features of the language of origin (European French) will be explored to see how it both resembles and differs with that of the native Louisiana Creole tongue.