NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

7/08/2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-Language is more than just words to Dr. Comfort Pratt. A language and the way it is used tell a great deal about people and how they evolve and interact with other cultures.

Pratt, an assistant professor of Spanish at Northwestern State University, has published a book about a small group of Spanish speakers in northwest Louisiana, mainly in Sabine and Natchitoches parishes. The book, "El español del noroeste de Luisiana: Pervivencia de un dialecto amenazado (Spanish in Northwestern Louisiana: Survival of a Threatened Dialect)" was published by Editorial Verbum, a leading publisher in Spain. Pratt's book was published in Spanish. She has begun working on an English translation.

"When people talk about Spanish speakers in Louisiana, they discuss the Isleños in St. Bernard Parish and the Brules in Ascension Parish," said Pratt. "I am a linguist and like to find out the kinds of dialects spoken. I heard there were some Spanish speakers in this area, so with some help, I started looking for them door to door."

Pratt began her research six years ago and found 17 Spanish speakers in the communities of Ebarb, Noble, Spanish Lake and Zwolle with the assistance of Rhonda Gauthier, who was an NSU student at the time.

"All of them were between 55 and 90 and some of them hadn't spoken Spanish in more than 40 years," said Pratt. "Speaking Spanish was forbidden and was only spoken in the home."

According to Pratt, the area's Spanish speakers, who she calls Adaeseños, have a unique dialect.

"Even though Spanish wasn't spoken, it was very much alive," she said. "They use terms that are not far from the norm. When you hear someone speak Spanish, you can always trace where they are from.

"The dialect is like any other vestigial dialect. They use some different words here and there and there is an elimination of some sounds."

In the book, Pratt does a detailed analysis of the dialect. She recorded all of her interviews and had them transcribed to determine how words were pronounced.

Pratt said the people she interviewed were descendants of those who came to the presidio of Los Adaes, which the Spanish built in 1721 and established as the capital of the province of Texas in 1729. Spain closed the fort in 1773 and the inhabitants moved to San Antonio, but many eventually moved back to the area.

"The people found themselves in flux with the transfer of the area from the Spanish to the French and the Americans," said Pratt. "After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the language began to die. The Adaeseños are so far removed from other Spanish speakers that they retain many archaic words."

She hopes the book can be used in classes on Spanish in the United States, linguistics and field methods.

Pratt was also assisted in her research by NSU faculty Dr. Hiram F. Gregory and George Avery. The cover illustration was done by NSU Middle Lab School art teacher James Gianforte.

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