Trust me from my experiences of working in Baton Rouge, its hard for anyone with a country twang to even attempt Cajun French. Of course there will be cajun people in Baton Rougetransplants. It's a redneck town, it will always be a redneck town, no ______ing matter what they want to be. It's a cultural dead zone with gobs of money. Just a polished terd if you ask me. Time to flush.
The way we pronounce Lafayette has absolutely nothing to do with what sounds are in the French language. However, it has everything to do with how our French language has translated over to English in the form of our Cajun English accent. Becuase the short A was not in the French language it is a bit different in our dialect, or accent, of English.
I've had a Cajun accent for a good while now. I'm not in "way" over my head. There's no reason to flex your muscles man. I'm just trying to have a discussion. No reason to try and be-little anyone else.
I grew up in rural north Lafayette Parish. French is my first language. My degree is in English. Lafayette pronounced "Laugh-a-yette" uses English, not French, not Cajun-English, but just plain old English phonetics. You're just plain wrong. There isn't anything wrong with the way we pronounce Lafayette, its the proper English way to pronounce it. I've just always found it ironic that most Americans pronounce the city's name using French phonetics, and the natives pronounce it using English phonetics. (an incidentally, in Cajun-French, Lafayette is pronounced exactly the same way its pronounced in Paris. The accent may be different, but the phonetics are identical.)
Sure, the short a exists in French: gaz, pâte. Even 'Place de la Concorde'; supposedly Place has the 'ah' sound, but when I listen closely to the French it sounds to me like the the first 'a' in the American pronunciation of Lafayette. (Well, sometimes like the American pronunciation. Oxford MS is in Luh FAYE ut county.)
I think you guys are arguing about different things. Cajun pronunciations are different from 'hexagonal' pronunciations, as are Quebecois, Caribbean French, and African French pronunciations, and numerous others. Heck, I've visited with people from different parts of France, and even the regional dialects can be wild (I had a guy who kept talking about 'paguis', or so I thought; it was 'Paris').
Nevertheless, the Cajuns pronounce Lafayette very similarly to the French. sometimes. I've observed Cajuns changing the pronunciation depending on whether they're speaking French or English, and depending on to whom they are speaking.
Yall do realize that Lafayette is a City in multiple states of America right?
Such as Indiana, Georgia, Colorado, just to name a few. I wonder how they pronounce it?
in Oxford, we live in la-fay ette county the rednecks in the country say laafet
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