ABSTRACT
Though it is endangered, the persistence of French in Louisiana three centuries after the initial colonization is remarkable. While Cajun music has recently given the French language of Louisiana a measure of public awareness, the rich and diverse history of French in that state is not well known. It includes not only the story of Cajun French but also the rise and fall of Plantation Society French and the creation of a French-lexifier creole language, generally referred to as Louisiana French Creole, Louisiana Creole, French Creole, or just Creole. A creole language is one that was formed under social conditions of intense contact among peoples speaking different languages, notably, in the case of the Americas, in plantation societies. (Note that there are French-lexifier creoles spoken around the globe that are called Creole by their speakers. Linguists usually add the place where the language emerged to the name in order to clarify which one is being discussed, for example, Haitian Creole. See the chapters on language contact, Jamaican, and Haitian Creole for more details on creole languages.)
