Culture of New Orleans

The people and culture of New Orleans have made New Orleans, Louisiana, unique among and distinct from other cities in the United States, including other Southern U.S. cities. New Orleans in modern times has been described as being not a Southern city but a Caribbean city.

In a locale once used by Choctaw, Houmas, and other Indians, prominent cultural influences date to the French and Spanish colonial periods and the introduction of African slaves in the 18th century.

American English, with significant variations, is the dominant language in New Orleans. Despite the city's French colonial history, French is rarely used in daily life. However, its expressions and pronunciation have influenced various dialects in New Orleans, and it was still in significant use at the start of the 20th century. There are nine French immersion schools in the Greater New Orleans area and French is still spoken among elites in the city. The city has a long tradition of Hispanic immigrants dating back to the 18th century. Louisiana French and Vietnamese are also heard in the city; Louisiana French speakers from southeast Louisiana entered the city during the 1970s–1980s oil boom, and a sizable Vietnamese community established itself in the city in the last third of the 20th century.

The distinctive local accent is unlike either Creole or the stereotypical Southern accent so often misportrayed by film and television actors. It does, like earlier Southern Englishes, features frequent deletion of post-vocalic "r". There are many theories of the origin of the accent, but it likely results from New Orleans' geographic isolation by water, and the fact that New Orleans was a major port of entry into the United States throughout the 19th century [1]. Many of the immigrant groups who reside in Brooklyn also reside in New Orleans, with the largest groups being Irish, Germans, and Italians (with Sicilians predominating in the last group).

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