Cajun Vernacular English is a dialect with a rich history, found in southern Louisiana. It is heavily influenced by the French language, as its first speakers were French settlers. This group originates from Vendée, a region in western France. The settlers from this region went to Acadia, which has since become Nova Scotia. When France lost control of the territory to Great Britain, its inhabitants were forced to convert to Protestantism. When the Acadians refused, they were expelled from their new home and scattered across the continent. Over time, these scattered people traveled and began to settle southern Louisiana. Over time, the Acadians formed a new culture in their new swamp country: Cajun. Cajuns continued to speak French until the early 20th century, when English in the education system created the first bilingual speakers of Cajun English. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Cajun English has many markers that distinguish it from Standard English at almost every level of language study. On the phonological level, Ramos identifies two main characteristics, the first of which is the elimination or modification of final consonants. Ending consonant deletions include the [t] in the end, the [r] together, and the [rk] in New York. Changes to consonant clusters/final consonants include dropping the single [l] to make "simpuh", the single [v] becoming an [f] to make "leaf". There are, however, still other consonant changes in addition to these. An example is the [s] which changes to [z] for most words, with sink becoming "zinc" and gas becoming "gas". The [r] is often deleted when it is not at the beginning of a word. For example, Robert becomes “Robet” and tired becomes “attached”. The [th] in words such as this, these and these becomes a [d], forming "dis", "dese" and "dose". Many other consonant clusters are shortened or simplified, such as [nd] to [n] as in kind for "kine", [nt] to [n] as in gone for "wen", [st] for [s] as in cost in “cos” and [kt] in [k] as in act in “ak”. The second feature noted by Ramos is the modification of the long vowels [i], [e], [o] and [u]. All these vowels lengthen, becoming [i:], [e:]. [o:] and [u:]. There are several other notable differences. The long [i] can become a short [a:], so that using the pronoun "I" sounds like "ah". The vowel [e] changes to the vowel [i] in some cases. An example is the word plane, which a Cajun might pronounce as "pleen." Being so closely related to the French of the Acadian settlers, it is not surprising that Cajun English borrowed some of its phonology. An example is the use of nasal vowels. They are not typically found in English, but Cajun speakers have transformed some vowels into their more familiar counterparts. Some examples include replacing uncle with "uncle", don't with "don" and friend with "fran". Another French characteristic is a difference in the way syllables are stressed. In English, the stress of words and sentences can vary. In French, however, sentence stress is usually even and syllable stress focuses on the last syllable of a word. An example where this is easy to see is with strawberries. Where a standard English speaker would emphasize “straw,” those who speak the Cajun dialect would emphasize “berry.” Cajun grammar also has many differences from standard English..