Oldest Recording of Louisiana’s Vanishing Creole Language Is Published

The earliest spoken-word recordings of Louisiana Creole, a uniquely American language at risk of extinction, have been uncovered and analyzed for the first time, shedding light on a tongue that defined the docks and saloons of New Orleans for well over a century.

The rediscovery of a forgotten recording from 1935 sheds light on a language rooted in the state’s history of slavery and French colonialism.