— un projet cadien —

Cajun French Digital Lexicon

Because le français cadien deserves digital infrastructure.

A community-curated digital lexicon of français cadien, with an open API:
for educators, linguists, developers, and the communities who speak it.

A project by Amanda Jones (Coulon)

in active development · pour ma mémère.

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Pourquoi ça compte

Why it matters

Cajun French is an endangered language spoken across south Louisiana. Fluent speakers are elderly. Younger generations, including my own family, grew up English-dominant. La langue was lost in a single generation. Here's how it happened.

I'm a software developer and I'm cadienne. So I'm building the tool that I wish I'd had growing up: a public, verified, community-curated digital lexicon of français cadien, with the regional granularity, spelling variants, and etymological depth that no existing dictionary tool captures.

une question?

Qu'est-ce qu'un lexique?

What's a lexicon?

A lexicon is a structured record of a language's vocabulary, with the context a reader needs to actually understand and use each word.

What makes this one different: each entry is tagged by the region where it's spoken, carries its spelling variants, traces its etymology, and cites the sources it came from. Le français cadien is a living patchwork, and the lexicon is built to reflect that.

Stage 1 of this project is building the lexicon: every entry researched, verified, and cited. Stage 2 is the API: how software can talk to it.

et l'API?

Qu'est-ce qu'une API?

What's an API?

An API is a structured way for one program to ask another program a question and get a clean answer back. Think of a library catalog: instead of wandering the stacks, you search for Civil War history in Tennessee and get back exactly the books that match. Pareil pour un API: same idea, just for software.

Let's say a language-learning app wants to ask the lexicon: "every spelling of rougarou across south Louisiana, with the parish where it's used." The API returns a tidy list: variants, definitions, regional notes, example sentences. No spreadsheets, no guesswork, no wading through the swamp.

le projet

Le Projet

Who this project is for

For everyone

A digital archive of Cajun French vocabulary: searchable, citable, and free to access. Entries are tagged by parish and include spelling variants, etymology, and example sentences.

For developers

An open REST API sits on top of the lexicon, so language-learning apps, research tools, and creative projects can pull structured entries directly. Designed from day one for future expansion to Louisiana Creole.

For institutions

Built with cultural accountability in mind: I aim to partner with verified contributors, maintain an audit trail, and include citations to academic sources including Valdman (2010) and Papen & Rottet (1997).

contact

Travaillons ensemble

Let's work together

Whether you're a heritage speaker, a researcher, a developer, a cultural institution, or a reclamation learner like me, I'd like to hear from you. This project is in active development and I'm seeking collaborators, community input, and institutional partners.

Venez comme vous êtes.

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