Quote:
Originally Posted by jd3189
If Louisiana can attract immigrants from France or the Francophone countries in Africa, Haiti, etc, it may be able to retain that nature. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon. The Mississippi hinterlands as a whole are not as popping as they were a century ago.
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This kind of thing happened in Quebec, where now a flow of Francophone immigrants is helping sustain the culture (well aside from internal growth of the language being strong), unlike in the past. Historically, Quebecois, Acadians etc. actually emigrated away into the US (into New England particularly), thus French Canada actually lost people from emigration, not gained them. And historically, in places like Montreal, some immigrants like Italians, Greeks etc. would assimilate to English-speaking culture in Canada, not French, so that immigration took away or diluted French influence. This changed with the politics of the post 60s, 70s etc.
Now, people from France, Haiti and Francophone African countries helps immigration actually start adding to French influence in Quebec, not taking away from it.
I'm guessing, Louisiana or particular big cities like New Orleans, would have to undergo some similar shift where people moving there add to, rather than take away from the French influence.
I don't know if immigrants to Louisiana in the past like Italians ever tried to learn French or try and share some common ground with the Francophone locals, but I wonder if any would today.
According to this source, for Louisiana
"The top countries of origin for immigrants were Mexico (14.5 percent of immigrants), Honduras (14.4 percent), Vietnam (12.8 percent), India (4.1 percent), and Cuba (3.8 percent)."
So not really Haiti or any majorly large-scale Francophone countries in there, although I wonder if from French Indochina, any Vietnamese immigrants who knew French coming to Louisiana ever tried to speak it with the locals to find common ground?
https://www.americanimmigrationcounc...s-in-louisiana