While Louisiana Creole has been a dying language for some time now, the Creole Club is hoping to breathe some life back into it.
The Organizasyon Langaj é Lakilchi Kréyol Lalwizyàn, translated as the Organization of Language and Culture of Louisiana Creole, is concerned with the revitalization and preservation of one of Louisiana’s more forgotten heritage languages: Louisiana Creole, or Kouri-Vini.
To Creole Club president and senior Anthony Mouton, the term ‘Creole’ can mean any number of different things to different Louisianians. This comes from its origins around the time of the Louisiana Purchase, where it meant ‘of the colony.’
“Creole was an ethnicity, and is an ethnicity that, really, surpasses the concept of race,” explained Mouton. “But you do get this concept of, if someone identifies as Cajun, they’re claiming onto, really, an identity of whiteness.”
This racial distinction is one of many reasons there was a distinction of Cajun versus Creole, as well as the suppression of the latter, according to Mouton. He also attributes it to a simple lack of education on the complexity of the subject matter. Louisiana Creole was not only considered just a dialect of Cajun French for a long time, but it did not even have its own writing system until around 20-30 years ago.
Mouton believes that while preservation is important, adapting these unique perspectives to the present day is even more so.
“Things are becoming standardized, which, of course, there’s benefits to that,” Mouton said. “But then we lose a whole perspective of the world when we lose a language.”
Many of the members did not begin speaking Creole either. The club’s officers understand how daunting it can be to learn a new language, but Mouton thinks it is one of the easier French-style languages to get an idea of.
“There’s so much variation in a Creole language that even someone down the street would say something differently, and because these people were considered ‘uneducated’, there was not this standardization of what was correct,” Mouton said, “and so basically, if you can communicate your idea in Creole, then you’re speaking Creole.”
Mouton and the other members of the Creole Club have many inventive ways to learn the language and engage people in the culture, from Creole poetry books to a playlist full of old Creole jazz songs. However, attendance has not been ideal lately, and they want to save heavy hitters such as these for when they draw a crowd.
“That’s kind of like, always ready if there’s more people, but when it’s kind of just a few, you know, we can just kind of have conversations,” Mouton said.
Despite a lack of attendance, the club members’ spirits are high. Tomorrow is always a new day, and Mouton said they have the perfect Creole phrase to keep them smiling.
“‘Lash pa patat-la,’ which literally means ‘don’t let go of the potato.’ But of course, the expression really means ‘don’t give up and hang in there,’” Mouton said.
For more Creole language resources, Mouton recommends that anyone interested visit this educational website. To join the Creole Club or be in the know about future meetings, join the club’s TigerLink.
