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Inanimate interrogatives and settlement patterns in Francophone Louisiana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2004

KEVIN J. ROTTET
KEVIN J. ROTTET
Affiliation:
Indiana University
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Abstract

In the light of the extensive dialect leveling found in Francophone Louisiana, the suggestion made in Byers (1988) is a particularly interesting one, that the geographical distribution of qui and quoi, both meaning ‘what’, reflects the differential settlement histories of early 18th century Creoles, and Acadians, respectively. In this article I document these two interrogative patterns as to form and locales of attestation, and I explore the evidence for Byer's claim, showing that a strong case can be made by considering not only settlement history but also the interrogatives of Louisiana Creole, the origins of which arguably predate the arrival of the Acadians in Louisiana.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of French Language Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , July 2004 , pp. 169 - 188
Copyright
2004 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

For their helpful comments and suggestions I wish to thank the numerous colleagues who have read or heard earlier versions of this paper including Albert Valdman, Tom Klingler, Amanda Lafleur, members of the audience at the annual conference of the Association of French Language Studies (St. Andrews, Scotland, August 31, 2002), and the anonymous reviewers. Any remaining shortcomings are of course solely my responsibility.