Demographic Data - French, Cajun, or Haitian Languages - Aaron Wessner

 

The map I have chosen for this blog describes where people in the United States speak French, Cajun French, and/or Haitian French. The style that I chose for the map is a dot-density map with every dot representing 1,000 people who speak either the three styles of French. As I analyzed the map, I noticed there are some noticeable patterns and regions where people speak the three styles of French. The first regions/areas that I noticed were the states of Louisiana and Florida. Both of these states have a big population of French speakers and a plethora of dots cover both states. This is due to Louisiana being known as Cajun country and being the host of French culture, values, traditions, etc. for centuries. Florida on the other hand isn’t far from Haiti nor Louisiana which can possibly explain the large population of Cajun/Haitian French speakers as people from both areas may have possibly moved from those two areas. The second region that I noticed a large pattern of French speakers is the northeastern/New England region of the U.S. This region is also mostly covered in dots and specially applies to states like New York, Maine, and Massachusetts. The reasons for this may be that these states are not too far from Canada and towns such as Ottawa and Quebec which both have large French speaking populations. Some of these people may have moved into the New England region or even work/conduct business in the U.S especially in areas close to the U.S/Canadian border. The third and final region that has a large population of French speaking people and its dialects is California. California has the highest population in the U.S and has always been known for its vast diversity when it comes to culture. People from all over the world come, work, and live in California which can explain the huge number of dots that cover the state of California.