An Inspection of the Syntax of Cajun French, with Particular Attention on the Relationship between the Syntax of Cajun French, Modern European French, and English
“Mon pape et ses frères, c’était mes oncles à mon…ça jouait de la musique” Frequency of fronting (Generally subject-fronting, but we will also see object-fronting) Weakness of verb conjugation system (unlike Modern European French) Ability to drop ‘that’ (unlike Modern European French)
“Mon pape, son violin, eux-autres l’a toujours mais c’est pas—c’est pas mon qui l’a” “My dad, his violin, they still have it but it’s not—it’s not me who has it”
“to go”Cajun French Modern European French English 1 st Person Sing.Vais/VasVaisGo 2 nd Person Sing.Vas Go 3 rd Person Sing.Va Goes 1 st Person PluralVaAllonsGo 2 nd Person PluralVaallezGo 3 rd Person PluralVaVontGo
Cajun French Modern European French English Strong Verb Conjugations?NoYesNo SVI?NoYesNo ‘that’-drop?YesNoYes