Newswise — Jambalaya in Vermont? Jazz in Texas? Yat in Utah?
Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, forcing tens of thousands to relocate across the United States. The migration required hurricane evacuees to take what possessions they could, including recipes, music and dialects.
The rich cultural characteristics that make New Orleans renowned worldwide, such as jambalaya and jazz, were forced to other parts of the country as a result of the disaster. Also driven away were the many English dialects spoken by New Orleans residents.
The topic was addressed recently at the University of Mississippi by a faculty panel and a local scholar during a roundtable discussion on "The Displacement of New Orleans Speakers: Linguistic Consequences of Hurricane Katrina."
"Hurricane Katrina creates lots of potential cultural changes to the landscape of New Orleans," said Donald Dyer, interim chair of modern languages. "The dialects and languages of the New Orleans area are just one aspect of the expected changes."
Panelist and UM linguistics professor Allison Burkette said New Orleans residents scattered to more than 700 cities across the United States in the hurricane's wake. That relocation, she said, also dispersed the many English dialects associated with different New Orleans neighborhoods.
"In New Orleans, the dialects are identified with specific neighborhoods, such as the Irish Channel dialect, the Ninth Ward dialect and the Garden District dialect," Burkette said. "There are more, especially considering the varied backgrounds of New Orleans settlers, but these are the most recognizable."
"The future of the New Orleans English dialects is dependant upon who returns to the Crescent City," she continued. "Whatever happens, though, we can expect the dialects spoken in heavily flooded neighborhoods to eventually die off in successive generations if large groups of New Orleans residents do not return to rebuild their communities."
Recent polls suggest that as many as 40 percent of New Orleans residents will not return following rebuilding efforts. Burkette said those who don't return could even alter the English dialect in Houston, Texas, for example, where a majority of New Orleans residents relocated.
"Other cities can expect to see their dialect change if large portions of their population shifted as a result of New Orleans residents seeking new places to live," she said.
Anther dialect examined as part of the roundtable discussion was Isleno Spanish. Since migrating from the Canary Islands to areas east of New Orleans in the late 18th century, Isleno Spanish-speaking residents had experienced a recent revival of their language, according to modern languages professor Felice Coles. That revitalization has diminished as a result of Katrina.
"Through social gatherings, newsletters and even a museum, Isleno Spanish was being revitalized, but that's been halted now," Coles said. "The disposable income of the Isleno Spanish-speaking residents used to revive their language is now being used for survival."
During the height of the revival, there were approximately 1,500 Isleno Spanish speakers in the New Orleans area. Since the hurricane, the number has dropped to an estimated 50 people.
"The key to maintaining these dialects is daily close-knit social interaction," Coles said. "When you lose that interaction, then you are in danger of losing the language."
Sponsored by the Department of Linguistics, with support from the departments of modern languages and English, and the College of Liberal Arts, the roundtable also addressed the demise of Mississippi Gulf Coast French.
Although there were only an estimated 50 people who spoke French on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the early 1990s, Hurricane Katrina has all but killed the language, said independent scholar Rebecca Moreton.
"The French spoken along the Mississippi Gulf Coast was almost gone when Katrina hit," said Moreton. "Now because of the hurricane, we can easily say the language is dead."
For more information on the Department of Linguistics, go to http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/modern_languages/Linguistics.html
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