Words and Phrases 1.

Je m'ennuie (Shmawn wā) I'm lonesome
Beaucoup (boo koo) very much
plutôt (pee tō) instead
Vous-autres aller avec eux-autres. (Voozawt ahli ahvek ōzawt.) Y'all go with them.
Vous-autres vas avec eux-autres. (Voozawt vah ahvek ōzawt.)Y'all go with them.
Elle à est gone. (Ehl ah ā gawn.) She is gone.
El la fini (ah-lah feenee) She finished.
Arrête ta bouche. (ahreht tah boosh.) Stop your mouth (Shut up).
Je parle (Shpahl) I speak     
Ce livre icitte. (Suh liv ee seet) This book here.
Ce livre droit la. (Suh liv dreht lahl.) That book right there.  
gauche (gawsh) left
droit (dreht) right 

Deportation

Between 1/3 and 1/2 of all Acadians who were forced onto the British transport ships never set foot on land again.

Source:
John M. Faragher (2005) A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company).

Cajun French--is it "proper"?

Also, supposedly Cajun French is more like the old French from the Poitou region of France (where our ancestors were from before they moved to Acadie), whereas standard French is more modernized and has undergone many changes. Acadian French is not a "bad" French or ungrammatical. It is an older version of French that was indigenous to Poitou. Obviously, Native American words were incorporated, and for Cajun French, Spanish, African, and words from other countries were also incorporated. Language is ever-evolving. What constitutes a "proper" language?

From the same website as below:
"'Real' French speakers will claim that words like asteur used by Cajuns for maintenant or "now" were made up and aren't 'French.' But my friend, Amanda LaFleur, who is professor of Cajun French at LSU, found the word (it's a contraction of a cette heure or "at this hour") in a French book from the 17th century."

Do Cajuns still speak French?

"As an example, Cajuns might use the word espoir (to hope) in expressions that in standard French use attendre (to wait). An elderly former nun who taught Cajun French told me that you might hear a Cajun mama cautioning her child while crossing a busy street by saying, "Espois!" Hearing someone tell a child "Hope!" instead of "Wait!" might seem strange, but think of it. If you are waiting, you're hoping for something to happen - in this case to cross the street safely, and when you hope for something, you are also waiting for it. To me this exemplifies the beauty and nuance of Cajun French."

 Source

Cajun names for boys

Common Cajun names for boys:
ʒ will be used to represent the French j sound.
Auguste (ō guhst)
Augustin (ō guhst a[n])
Octave (ōk tahv)
Joseph (ʒō zef)

Camille (kah mil)
Rémy (Ray mee)
René (ruh nay)
Basile (Ba[a as in apple] zeel)
Ignace (ee-nyas)
Jean (ʒa[n])
Jacques (ʒahk)
Pierre (pee air)
Jean-Pierre
Louis (loo ee)
Jean-Louis
Jean-Baptiste (ʒa[n] bah tees) *probably the most common name
Gaspard (gahs pah)
Solastie (???) *Often shortened to "Lastie / Lasty"
Sébastien (say bass tye[n])
Phillippe (fee leep)
Phileos (fee lee ōs)
Ambroise (am brahz)
Honoré (ō nō ray)
Virgil (probably pronounced the same way as in English, but with a Cajun accent)
Alphonse (al fo[n]s)
Adolphe (a[as in apple] dolf)
Alexandre (ah lex an druh)
Lucien (loosye[n])
Armand (ar mo[n])

Eustache (oostash)

Olivier (ō liv ee ay)

Martin (mar ta[n])

Placide (plah sid) 

Francois (Fro[n] swah)

Felix (fee leeks) 

Hippolyte (ee pō leet)

Eloi (Aylwah)

Clovis (klō veece)

Charles (Sharl)

Oscar (Aw skehr)

Théodule (tee ō dyool)

Léon (lay o[n])

Théophile (tee ō fil)

KVPI news in Cajun French

KVPI
Here you can listen to the news in Cajun French at 7:30am (Central).

“Hippy-Ti-Yo”

Taïaut / Taiyo (Tī yō) hound dog

Thought to have influenced the English “Tallyho,” which is a cry used to excite hound dogs when fox hunting.

The geneology of the phrase “Hippy-Ti-Yo” is complex. “Hippy-Ty-Yo,” “Hippy-Ti-Yo,” “Hippy-Tai-Yo,” “Hippitiyo,” “Les huppés taïauts,” “Tayeaux Dog Tayeaux,” and “Hip et Taïauts” are among some of the variations of the phrase and song. Origin of the phrase is suggested to belong to the Cajun and Black Creole cowboys of the Cajun Prairies, which extend west from Bayou Teche and the Vermillion river to the Calcasieu river. Lafayette is the largest city on the eastern border of the prairie, while Lake Charles is the largest city on the western border. East of Bayou Mermentau was corn and cotton land (due to soil type), while west of the bayou was ric

e and cattle land. Growing up in Evangeline parish, within the watershed area of Bayou Mermentau, I was surrounded by rice fields and cattle, however, when my parents were growing up, the land was used to raise cotton. The town of Ville Platte, county seat of Evangeline parish, has a cotton festival every October. So, land that was formerly used to grow cotton is now used to grow rice and raise cattle. Since the land is within the watershed, this would make sense, since it is sort of a transition zone from the land in the East to the land in the West.

Anyway, it is suspected that cowboys from Texas heard the phrase being used as they drove their cattle across the Cajun prairies to be sold in New Orleans (Kansas stockyards eventually became more popular). It is thought that such phrases as “Whoopie Ti Yi Yo!” found in the Western classic “Git Along Little Dogies (doggies?)” is derived from the exclamation “Hip et Taïaut” and its variations that were heard in the Cajun prairies.

Sources:
Bernard, S. K. (1996). Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues. University Press of Mississippi, MS.

Vidrine, M. F., Fontenot, W. R., Allen, C. M., Bosari, B., and Alain, M. (2001). Prairie Cajuns and the Cajun Prairie: A history. Proc. 17th N. A. Prairie Conference: 220-224, 2001.