Date:  Wed, 20 Apr 1994 15:25:00 EDT

From:  "Mary.Ojibway" <20676MKB[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MSU.BITNET>

Subject: Cajun query



I am not a linguist but I have visited relatives along the Grand Caillou bayou

many times. They speak Cajun but are not related to those who came down from

Acadia. My brother-in-law and his family are Houma Indians. There also seem to

be many Blacks who speak that dialect. I would consider the Blacks, white

ancesters of those from Canada, and the Houmas as three different Cajun

speaking groups. That is purely a layman's guess. Wouldn't it just be a

dialect since French in Canada and France can easily understand it? My same

brother-in-law spent one semester as an exchange student in Paris. Everyone

understood his French but he heard frequent comments about how horrible his

grammar was. That's it for me. I am sorry I can't be of more help. Perhaps if

you contacted my brother-in-law, he could be more helpful. He's a professor at

the Vermont Law School but receives he mail via Dartmouth at:

               Bruce Duthu[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Dartmouth.edu

I haven't had much luck reaching him there. Supposedly they collect messages

and someone from the Dartmouth systems office sends them to the law school

daily. Good luck.

      Kate Ojibway