Features of Cajun English
Cajun English distinguishes itself with some of the following features:
- Many vowels which are separate in General American English are pronounced the same way, for example, the words hill and heel are homophones, both being pronounced /hɪɹl/.
- 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 /t/ and /d/ 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 /p/, /t/, or /k/. As a result, the words "par" and "bar" can sound very similar.
- The inclusion of many loanwords, calques, and phrases from French, such as "nonc" (uncle, from the French oncle), "cher" (dear, pronounced /ʃæ/, 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.
| English | Cajun English (pronounced) |
|---|---|
| Ask | Aks |
| They | Dey |
| Them | Dem |
| Those | Dose |
| Something | Sometin |
| Think | Fink or Tink |
| Enough | Nuff |
| Respect | Respek |
| Except | Sept |
| Three | Tree |
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