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The LouisianaCreoleFrenchLanguage is a FrenchBasedCreoleLanguage of the UnitedStates. SIL code: LOU. ISO 639-2: cpf. Population: 60,000 to 80,000 (1985 Neumann) out of an ethnic group of 1,500,000 (1977 M. Adler). Region: Predominantly in St. Martin parish (St. Martinville, Breaux Bridge, Cecilia), New Roads and Edgard, Louisiana, parts of east Texas, small community in Sacramento, California. Comments: Different from Standard French, the Cajun French also spoken in Louisiana, Haitian Creole French, and others of the Caribbean. Reports indicate that monolingual speakers may not be able to understand those other creoles. 'Over 2/3 of the original slaves came from Senegambia, hardly any slaves arrived during the second decade of exploitation, and within just over two decades, 2/3 of the population was native-born. No slaves (and few if any of the slaveowners) appear to have come from the French Antilles ... What we now need is a careful comparison between Louisiana Creole and other French Caribbean creoles, detailing the similarities and differences' (D. Bickerton, Carrier Pidgin 1995.23.2:2). People are reported to have a high degree of bilingualism in English. 4.6% in the older group are monolingual in Creole. Some in the younger group are monolingual in English. Those over 60 prefer Creole, and those under 30 prefer English. Investigation needed: intelligibility with French Caribbean Creoles, bilingual proficiency in English. Dictionary. Grammar.(extract from http://www.ethnologue.com/)
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