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Cajun English, or Cajun Vernacular English, is the dialect of English spoken by Cajuns living in southern Louisiana and, to some extent, in eastern Texas. Cajun English is significantly influenced by Cajun French, the historical language of the Cajun people, a direct descendant of Acadian French, which differs extensively from Metropolitan or Parisian French in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary, particularly because of the long isolation of Acadians, and even more so Cajuns, from the Francophone world. English is now spoken by the vast majority of the Cajun population, but French influence remains strong in terms of inflection and vocabulary, and the accent is quite distinct from the General American.〔(Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Cajun | PBS )〕 While Cajun French is considered by many to be an endangered language, mostly used by elderly generations, Cajun English is spoken by even the youngest Cajuns, and is considered to be part of the identity of the ethnic group. == Phonology == Cajun English distinguishes itself with some of the following phonological features: *The deletion of any word's final consonant (or consonant cluster) is common. Therefore, ''hand'' becomes , ''food'' becomes , ''rent'' becomes , ''New York'' becomes , and so on.〔Dubois, Sylvia and Barbara Horvath (2004). "Cajun Vernacular English: phonology." In Bernd Kortmann and Edgar W. Schneider (Ed). ''A Handbook of Varieties of English: A Multimedia Reference Tool.'' New York: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 409-10.〕 *The typical American gliding vowels (as in ''boat''), (as in ''bait''), (as in ''boot''), (as in ''bout''), (as in ''bite''), and (as in ''boy'') have reduced glides or none at all: respectively, , , , , , and . 〔 *Many vowels which are distinct in General American English are pronounced the same way due to a merger; for example, the words ''hill'' and ''heel'' are homophones, both being pronounced . *Stress is generally placed on the second or last syllable of a word, a feature directly inherited from French. *The voiceless and voiced alveolar stops and often replace dental fricatives, a feature used by both Cajun English speakers and speakers of Louisiana Creole French (Standard French speakers generally render dental fricatives as alveolar). Examples include "bath" being pronounced as "bat" and "they" as "day." *Cajun English speakers generally do not aspirate the consonants , , or . As a result, the words "par" and "bar" can sound very similar to speakers of other English varieties. *The inclusion of many loanwords, calques, and phrases from French, such as "nonc" (uncle, from the French ''oncle''), "cher" (dear, pronounced , from the French ''cher''), and "making groceries" (to shop for groceries, a calque of the Cajun French ''faire des groceries (épicerie)'') These are a few other examples. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cajun English」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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