Minorisation linguistique et mergence d'un thtre cadien et franco-amricain en franais vernaculaire

This article examines Cajun and Franco-American Theatre in vernacular French dialects (respectively Cajun French and Franco-American French), as a case of literary emergence coming from les immigrs de l'intrieur de la francophonie (migrants from within the francophone world) to use Eric Waddell's words. It uses both a sociolinguistic and a literary approach to investigate the apparent paradox of a phenomenon of literary emergence in a context of linguistic obsolescence. Some features of Franco-American and Cajun theatre in vernacular language, such as the popularity of the monologue, are analyzed in relation to oral tradition, but others (in particular the staging of stigma) are analysed in terms of different strategic responses to linguistic and cultural assimilation. Finally the study identifies the repeated appearance of the old woman as a paradigm of Cajun and Franco-American drama and offers some possible interpretations.