Haitian Creole (/ˈheɪʃən ˈkriːoʊl/; Haitian Creole: kreyòl ayisyen, [kɣejɔl ajisjɛ̃];[6][7] French: créole haïtien, [kʁe.ɔl a.i.sjɛ̃]), or simply Creole (Haitian Creole: kreyòl), is a French-based creole language spoken by 10 to 12 million people worldwide, and is one of the two official languages of Haiti (the other being French), where it is the native language of the vast majority of the population.[8][9] Northern, Central, and Southern dialects are the three main dialects of Haitian Creole. The Northern dialect is predominantly spoken in Cap-Haïtien, Central is spoken in Port-au-Prince, and Southern in the Cayes area.[10]
Haitian Creole | |
---|---|
kreyòl ayisyen | |
Pronunciation | [kɣejɔl ajisjɛ̃] |
Native to | Haiti |
Ethnicity | Haitians |
Native speakers | 13 million (2020)[1] |
Latin (Haitian Creole alphabet) | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Haiti |
Recognised minority language in | |
Regulated by | Akademi Kreyòl Ayisyen[5] (Haitian Creole Academy) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | ht |
ISO 639-2 | hat |
ISO 639-3 | hat |
Glottolog | hait1244 Haitian |
Linguasphere | 51-AAC-cb |
IETF | ht |
![]() Distribution of Haitian Creole, areas in dark blue is where it is spoken by a majority, areas in light blue is where it is spoken by a minority. | |
The language emerged from contact between French settlers and enslaved Africans during the Atlantic slave trade in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) in the 17th and 18th centuries.[11][12] Although its vocabulary largely derives from 18th-century French, its grammar is that of a West African Volta-Congo language branch, particularly the Fongbe and Igbo languages.[12] It also has influences from Spanish, English, Portuguese, Taino, and other West African languages.[13] It is not mutually intelligible with standard French, and has its own distinctive grammar. Haitians are the largest community in the world speaking a modern creole language, according to some sources.[14] However, this is disputable, as Nigerian Pidgin may have more speakers.
The usage of, and education in, Haitian Creole has been contentious since at least the 19th century. Some Haitians view French as a legacy of colonialism, while Creole has been maligned by francophones as a miseducated person's French.[15][16] Until the late 20th century, Haitian presidents spoke only standard French to their fellow citizens, and until the 21st century, all instruction at Haitian elementary schools was in modern standard French, a second language to most of their students.[8]
Haitian Creole is also spoken in regions that have received migration from Haiti, including other Caribbean islands, French Guiana, Martinique, France, Canada (particularly Quebec) and the United States (including the U.S. state of Louisiana).[17] It is related to Antillean Creole, spoken in the Lesser Antilles, and to other French-based creole languages.
Etymology
editThe word creole comes from the Portuguese term crioulo, which means "a person raised in one's house" and from the Latin creare, which means "to create, make, bring forth, produce, beget".[18][19] In the New World, the term originally referred to Europeans born and raised in overseas colonies[7] (as opposed to the European-born peninsulares). To be "as rich as a Creole" at one time was a popular saying boasted in Paris during the colonial years of Haiti (then named Saint-Domingue), for being the most lucrative colony in the world.[20] The noun Creole, soon began to refer to the language spoken there as well, as it still is today.[7][19]
Origins
editHaitian Creole contains elements from both the Romance group of Indo-European languages through its superstrate, French, as well as influences from African languages.[3][2][21] There are many theories on the formation of the Haitian Creole language.
One theory estimates that Haitian Creole developed between 1680 and 1740.[22][23][24] During the 17th century, French and Spanish colonizers produced tobacco, cotton, and sugar cane on the island.[24] Throughout this period, the population was made of roughly equal numbers of engagés (white workers), gens de couleur libres (free people of colour) and slaves.[25] The economy shifted more decisively into sugar production about 1690, just before the French colony of Saint-Domingue was officially recognized in 1697.[11][23] The sugar crops needed a much larger labor force, which led to an increase in slave trafficking . In the 18th century an estimated 800,000 West Africans were enslaved and brought to Saint-Domingue.[24] As the slave population increased, the proportion of French-speaking colonists decreased.
Many African slaves in the colony had come from Niger-Congo-speaking territory, and particularly speakers of Kwa languages, such as Gbe from West Africa and the Central Tano languages, and Bantu languages from Central Africa.[23] Singler suggests that the number of Bantu speakers decreased while the number of Kwa speakers increased, with Gbe being the most dominant group. The first fifty years of Saint‑Domingue's sugar boom coincided with emergent Gbe predominance in the French Caribbean. In the interval during which Singler hypothesizes the language evolved, the Gbe population was around 50% of the kidnapped enslaved population.[23]
Classical French (français classique) and langues d'oïl (Norman, Poitevin and Saintongeais dialects, Gallo and Picard) were spoken during the 17th and 18th centuries in Saint‑Domingue, as well as in New France and French West Africa.[7][26] Slaves lacked a common means of communication and as a result would try to learn French to communicate with one another, though most were denied a formal education. With the constant trafficking and enslavement of Africans, the language became increasingly distinct from French. The language was also picked up by other members of the community and became used by the majority of those born in what is now Haiti.[7]
Saint-Domingue Creole French
editThis section may be confusing or unclear to readers. In particular, the relevance (and source) of the quoted text is unclear. (June 2024) |
In Saint-Domingue, people of all classes spoke Creole French. There were both lower and higher registers of the language, depending on education and class. Creole served as a lingua franca throughout the West Indies.[27]
L'Entrepreneur. Mo sorti apprend, Mouché, qué vou té éprouvé domage dan traversée.
Le Capitaine. Ça vrai.
L'Entr. Vou crére qué navire à vou gagné bisoin réparations?
Le C. Ly té carené anvant nou parti, mai coup z'ouragan là mété moué dan cas fair ly bay encor nion radoub.
L'Entr. Ly fair d'iau en pile?
Le C. Primié jours aprés z'orage, nou té fair trente-six pouces par vingt-quatre heurs; mai dan beau tem mo fair yo dégagé ça mo pu, et tancher miyor possible, nou fair à présent necqué treize pouces.[28]
The Entrepreneur. I just learned, sir, that you garnered damages in your crossing.
The Captain. That's true.
The Entrepreneur. Do you believe that your ship needs repair?
The Captain. It careened before we left, but the blow from the hurricane put me in the position of getting it refitted again.
The Entrepreneur. Is it taking on a lot of water?
The Captain. The first days after the storm, we took on thirty six inches in twenty four hours; but in clear weather I made them take as much of it out as I could, and attached it the best we possibly could; we're presently taking on not even thirteen inches.
Haïti, l'an 1er, 5e, jour de l'indépendance.
Chère maman moi,
Ambassadeurs à nous, partis pour chercher argent France, moi voulé écrire à vous par yo, pour dire vous combien nous contens. Français bons, oublié tout. Papas nous révoltés contre yo, papas nous tués papas yo, fils yo, gérens yo, papas nous brûlées habitations yo. Bagasse, eux veni trouver nous! et dis nous, vous donner trente millions de gourdes à nous et nous laisser Haïti vous? Vous veni acheter sucre, café, indigo à nous? mais vous payer moitié droit à nous. Vous penser chère maman moi, que nous accepté marché yo. Président à nous embrassé bon papa Makau. Yo bu santé roi de France, santé Boyer, santé Christophe, santé Haïti, santé indépendance. Puis yo dansé Balcindé et Bai chi ca colé avec Haïtienes. Moi pas pouvé dire vous combien tout ça noble et beau.
Venir voir fils à vous sur habitation, maman moi, li donné vous cassave, gouillave et pimentade. Li ben content si pouvez mener li blanche france pour épouse. Dis li, si ben heureuse. Nous plus tuer blancs, frères, amis, et camarades à nous.
Fils à vous embrasse vous, chère maman moi.
Congo, Haïtien libre et indépendant, au Trou-Salé.[29]
Haiti, 1st year, 5th day of independence.
My dear mother,
Our ambassadors left to get money from France, I want to write to you through them, to tell you how much we are happy. The French are good, they forgot everything. Our fathers revolted against them, our fathers killed their fathers, sons, managers, and our fathers burned down their plantations. Well, they came to find us, and told us, "you give thirty million gourdes to us and we'll leave Haiti to you? (And we replied) Will you come buy sugar, coffee, and indigo from us? You will pay only half directly to us." Do you believe my dear mother, that we accepted the deal? Our President hugged the good papa Makau (the French ambassador). They drank to the health of the King of France, to the health of Boyer, to the health of Christophe, to the health of Haiti, to independence. Then they danced Balcindé and Bai chi ca colé with Haitian women. I can't tell you how much all of this is so beautiful and noble.
Come see your son at his plantation, my mother, he will give you cassava, goyava, and pimentade. He will be happy if you can bring him a white Frenchwoman for a wife. Tell her, if you please. We won't kill anymore whites, brothers, friends, and camarades of ours.
Your son hugs you, my dear mother.
Congo, free and independent Haitian, at Trou-Salé.
Difference between Haitian Creole and French
editHaitian Creole and French have similar pronunciations and also share many lexical items.[30][31] However, many cognate terms actually have different meanings. For example, as Valdman mentions in Haitian Creole: Structure, Variation, Status, Origin, the word for "frequent" in French is fréquent; however, its cognate in Haitian Creole frekan means 'insolent, rude, and impertinent' and usually refers to people.[32] In addition, the grammars of Haitian Creole and French are very different. For example, in Haitian Creole, verbs are not conjugated as they are in French.[7] Additionally, Haitian Creole possesses different phonetics from standard French; however, it is similar in phonetic structure.[30] The phrase-structure is another similarity between Haitian Creole and French but differs slightly in that it contains details from its African substratum language.[30]
Both Haitian Creole and French have also experienced semantic change: words that had a single meaning in the 17th century have changed or have been replaced in both languages.[7] For example, "Ki jan ou rele?" ("What is your name?") corresponds to the French "Comment vous appelez‑vous ?". Although the average French speaker would not understand this phrase, every word in it is in fact of French origin: qui "who"; genre "manner"; vous "you", and héler "to call", but the verb héler has been replaced by appeler in modern French and reduced to a meaning of "to flag down".[7]
Lefebvre proposed the theory of relexification, arguing that the process of relexification (the replacement of the phonological representation of a substratum lexical item with the phonological representation of a superstratum lexical item, so that the Haitian creole lexical item looks like French, but works like the substratum language(s)) was central in the development of Haitian Creole.[33]
The Fon language, also known as the Fongbe language, is a modern Gbe language native to Benin, Nigeria and Togo in West Africa. This language has a grammatical structure similar to Haitian Creole, possibly making Creole a relexification of Fon with vocabulary from French. The two languages are often compared:[34]
French | Fon | Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|---|---|
la maison[35] | afe a | kay la | the house |
Taino influence
editThere are a number of Taino influences in Haitian Creole; many objects, fruit and animal names are either haitianized or have a similar pronunciation. Many towns, places or sites have their official name being a translation of the Taino word.
Taino | Haitian Creole | Meaning |
---|---|---|
Ayiti, Ayti | Ayiti, Haiti | The name of the country and the island |
Gonaibo | Gonayiv, or Gonaïves | The biggest city and capital of Artibonite |
Yaguana | Leyogàn, Léogane | A coastal town south of Port-au-Prince and capital of the cacicat of Xaragua |
Guanabo | Gonav, Gonâve or Lagonav | The biggest satellite island of Hispaniola and last refuge of the Taino |
Jatibonico | Latibonit or Artibonite | The longest river of Hispaniola and the biggest and most populous département of Haiti. In Taino the word mean "sacred water" |
Canari | Kannari | A clay pot to keep water cool |
Amani-y | Amani-y | The nickname of the town of Saint-Marc and famous beach |
Mamey | Mamey, or Abriko | The nickname of the town of Abricots |
Tiburon | Tibiwon | The same word means "Tiburon", a coastal town in the South Peninsula (also called Tiburon Peninsula) and a river near the town |
Mabouya | Mabouya | Iguana |
Mabi | Mabi | A bitter drink known in the West Indies as Mauby |
Bajacu | Bayakou | The northern star, dawn, a Vodoun Loa associated with the star |
Langay
editLangay is a specialized vocabulary used in Haiti for religion, song, and dance purposes. It appears to not be an actual language, but rather an assortment of words, songs, and incantations – some secret – from various languages once used in Haitian Vodoun ceremonies.
History
editEarly development
editHaitian Creole developed in the 17th and 18th centuries in the colony of Saint-Domingue, in a setting that mixed speakers of various Niger–Congo languages with French colonials.[11] In the early 1940s under President Élie Lescot, attempts were made to standardize the language. American linguistic expert Frank Laubach and Irish Methodist missionary H. Ormonde McConnell developed a standardized Haitian Creole orthography. Although some regarded the orthography highly, it was generally not well received.[36] Its orthography was standardized in 1979. That same year Haitian Creole was elevated in status by the Act of 18 September 1979.[37] The Institut Pédagogique National established an official orthography for Creole, and slight modifications were made over the next two decades. For example, the hyphen (-) is no longer used, nor is the apostrophe.[38]: 131 [15]: 185–192 The only accent mark retained is the grave accent in ⟨è⟩ and ⟨ò⟩.[15]: 433
Becoming an official language
editThe Constitution of 1987 upgraded Haitian Creole to a national language alongside French.[39] It classified French as the langue d'instruction or "language of instruction", and Creole was classified as an outil d'enseignement or a "tool of education". The Constitution of 1987 names both Haitian Creole and French as the official languages, but recognizes Haitian Creole as the only language that all Haitians hold in common.[40]: 263 [41] French is spoken by only a small percentage of citizens.[11][17]
Literature development
editEven without government recognition, by the end of the 19th century, there were already literary texts written in Haitian Creole such as Oswald Durand's Choucoune and Georges Sylvain's Cric? Crac!. Félix Morisseau-Leroy was another influential author of Haitian Creole work. Since the 1980s, many educators, writers, and activists have written literature in Haitian Creole. In 2001, Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry was published. It was the first time a collection of Haitian Creole poetry was published in both Haitian Creole and English.[42] On 28 October 2004, the Haitian daily Le Matin first published an entire edition in Haitian Creole in observance of the country's newly instated "Creole Day".[43]: 556 Haitian Creole writers often use different literary strategies throughout their works, such as code-switching, to increase the audience's knowledge on the language.[17] Literature in Haitian Creole is also used to educate the public on the dictatorial social and political forces in Haiti.[17]
List of Haitian Creole-language writers
edit- Louis-Philippe Dalembert (b. 1962), poet and novelist
- Frankétienne (b. 1936), poet, playwright, painter, musician, activist
- Ady Jean-Gardy (b. 1967), international press activist
- Josaphat-Robert Large (1942–2017), poet, novelist and art critic
- Félix Morisseau-Leroy (1912–1998), poet and playwright
- Elsie Suréna (b. 1956), writer and visual artist
- Lyonel Trouillot (b. 1956), poet and novelist
- Fred Edson Lafortune (b. 1982), poet
Sociolinguistics
editRole in society
editAlthough both French and Haitian Creole are official languages in Haiti, French is often considered the high language and Haitian Creole as the low language in the diglossic relationship of these two languages in society.[32] That is to say, for the minority of Haitian population that is bilingual, the use of these two languages largely depends on the social context: standard French is used more in public, especially in formal situations, whereas Haitian Creole is used more on a daily basis and is often heard in ordinary conversation.[44]
There is a large population in Haiti that speaks only Haitian Creole, whether under formal or informal conditions:
French plays no role in the very formal situation of a Haitian peasant (more than 80% of the population make a living from agriculture) presiding at a family gathering after the death of a member, or at the worship of the family lwa or voodoo spirits, or contacting a Catholic priest for a church baptism, marriage, or solemn mass, or consulting a physician, nurse, or dentist, or going to a civil officer to declare a death or birth.
— Yves Dejean[45]: 192
Use in educational system
editIn most schools, French is still the preferred language for teaching. Generally speaking, Creole is more used in public schools,[46] as that is where most children of ordinary families who speak Creole attend school.
Historically, the education system has been French-dominant. Except the children of elites, many had to drop out of school because learning French was very challenging to them and they had a hard time to follow up.[citation needed] The Bernard Reform of 1978 tried to introduce Creole as the teaching language in the first four years of primary school; however, the reform overall was not very successful.[47] The use of Creole has grown; after the earthquake in 2010, basic education became free and more accessible to the monolingual masses.[citation needed] In the 2010s, the government has attempted to expand the use of Creole and improve the school system.[48][49]
Orthography
editHaitian Creole has a phonemic orthography with highly regular spelling, except for proper nouns and foreign words. According to the official standardized orthography, Haitian Creole is composed of the following 32 symbols: ⟨a⟩, ⟨an⟩, ⟨b⟩, ⟨ch⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨è⟩, ⟨en⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨h⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨j⟩, ⟨k⟩, ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨ng⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨ò⟩, ⟨on⟩, ⟨ou⟩, ⟨oun⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨r⟩, ⟨s⟩, ⟨t⟩, ⟨ui⟩, ⟨v⟩, ⟨w⟩, ⟨y⟩, and ⟨z⟩.[6]: 100 The letters ⟨c⟩ and ⟨u⟩ are always associated with another letter (in the multigraphs ⟨ch⟩, ⟨ou⟩, ⟨oun⟩, and ⟨ui⟩). The Haitian Creole alphabet has no ⟨q⟩ or ⟨x⟩; when ⟨x⟩ is used in loanwords and proper nouns, it represents the sounds /ks/, /kz/, or /gz/.[15]: 433
|
|
- There are no silent letters in the Haitian Creole orthography.
- All sounds are always spelled the same, except when a vowel carries a grave accent ⟨`⟩ before ⟨n⟩, which makes it an oral vowel instead of a nasal vowel:
- ⟨en⟩ for /ɛ̃/ and ⟨èn⟩ for /ɛn/;
- ⟨on⟩ for /ɔ̃/ and ⟨òn⟩ for /ɔn/; and
- ⟨an⟩ for /ã/ and ⟨àn⟩ for /an/.
- When immediately followed by a vowel in a word, the digraphs denoting the nasal vowels (⟨an⟩, ⟨en⟩, ⟨on⟩, and sometimes ⟨oun⟩) are pronounced as an oral vowel followed by /n/.
- There is some ambiguity in the pronunciation of the high vowels of the letters ⟨i⟩ and ⟨ou⟩ when followed in spelling by ⟨n⟩.[50] Common words such as moun ("person") and machin ("car") end with consonantal /n/, while very few words, mostly adopted from African languages, contain nasalized high vowels, as in houngan ("vodou priest").
- The diphthong /ɥi/ is extremely rare, and maybe only exists in the common word uit (← French huit) "eight". Most other instances of this diphthong have been replaced by /wi/, e.g. fwi (← fruit) "fruit", nwit (← nuit) "night".
Haitian orthography debate
editThe first technical orthography for Haitian Creole was developed in 1940 by H. Ormonde McConnell and Primrose McConnell, Irish Methodist missionaries. It was later revised with the help of Frank Laubach, resulting in the creation of what is known as the McConnell–Laubach orthography.[15]: 434 [51]
The McConnell–Laubach orthography received substantial criticism from members of the Haitian elite. Haitian scholar Charles Pressoir critiqued the McConnell–Laubach orthography for its lack of codified front rounded vowels, which are typically used only by francophone elites.[15]: 436 Another criticism was of the broad use of the letters ⟨k⟩, ⟨w⟩, and ⟨y⟩, which Pressoir argued looked "too American".[15]: 431–432 This criticism of the "American look" of the orthography was shared by many educated Haitians, who also criticized its association with Protestantism.[15]: 432 The last of Pressoir's criticisms was that "the use of the circumflex to mark nasalized vowels" treated nasal sounds differently from the way they are represented in French, which he feared would inhibit the learning of French.[15]: 431
The creation of the orthography was essentially an articulation of the language ideologies of those involved and brought out political and social tensions between competing groups. A large portion of this tension lay in the ideology held by many that the French language is superior, which led to resentment of the language by some Haitians and an admiration for it from others.[15]: 435 This orthographical controversy boiled down to an attempt to unify a conception of Haitian national identity. Where ⟨k⟩ and ⟨w⟩ seemed too Anglo-Saxon and American imperialistic, ⟨c⟩ and ⟨ou⟩ were symbolic of French colonialism.[52]: 191
French-based orthography
editWhen Haiti was still a colony of France, edicts by the French government were often written in a French-lexicon creole and read aloud to the slave population.[53] The first written text of Haitian Creole was composed in the French-lexicon in a poem called Lisette quitté la plaine in 1757 by Duvivier de la Mahautière, a white Creole planter.[53][54]
Before Haitian Creole orthography was standardized in the late 20th century, spelling varied, but was based on subjecting spoken Haitian Creole to written French, a language whose spelling has a complicated relation to pronunciation. Unlike the phonetic orthography, French orthography of Haitian Creole is not standardized and varies according to the writer; some use exact French spelling, others adjust the spelling of certain words to represent pronunciation of the cognate in Haitian Creole, removing the silent letters. For example:
Li ale travay nan maten (lit. "He goes to work in the morning") could be transcribed as:
- Li ale travay nan maten,
- Lui aller travail nans matin, or
- Li aller travail nans matin.
Grammar
editHaitian Creole grammar is highly analytical: for example, verbs are not inflected for tense or person, and there is no grammatical gender, which means that adjectives and articles are not inflected according to the noun. The primary word order is subject–verb–object as it is in French and English.
Many grammatical features, particularly the pluralization of nouns and indication of possession, are indicated by appending certain markers, like yo, to the main word. There has been a debate going on for some years as to whether these markers are affixes or clitics, and if punctuation such as the hyphen should be used to connect them to the word.[15]: 185–192
Although the language's vocabulary has many words related to their French-language cognates, its sentence structure is like that of the West African Fon language.[34]
Haitian Creole | Fon | French | English |
---|---|---|---|
bekàn bike mwen my |
keke bike che my |
ma my bécane bike |
my bike |
bekàn bike mwen my yo PL |
keke bike che my le PL |
mes my bécanes bikes |
my bikes |
Pronouns
editThere are six pronouns: first, second, and third person, each in both singular, and plural; all are of French etymological origin.[55] There is no difference between direct and indirect objects.
Haitian Creole | Fon[23]: 142 | French | English | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Long form | Short form[38]: 131 [56] | |||
mwen | m | nyɛ̀ | je | I |
j' | ||||
me | me | |||
m' | ||||
moi | ||||
ou[a][b] | w | hwɛ̀ | tu | you (singular), thou (archaic) |
te | ||||
t' | ||||
toi | ||||
li[c] | l | é, éyɛ̀ | il | he |
elle | she, her | |||
le | him, it | |||
la | her, it | |||
l' | him, her, it | |||
lui | him, her, it | |||
nou | n | mí | nous | we, us |
vous[59]: 94 | you (plural)[d] | |||
yo[e] | y | yé | ils | they |
elles | ||||
les | them | |||
leur | ||||
eux |
- ^ sometimes the French pronoun on ("one", "[generic] you", "[singular] they") is translated to Haitian Creole as ou[57] and other times it is translated as yo[58]
- ^ sometimes ou is written as w and in the sample phrases below, w indicates ou.
- ^ in the northern part of Haiti, li is often shortened to i as in Guadeloupe, Martinique and the other Lesser Antilles.
- ^ in southern Haiti, the second person plural is zòt
- ^ sometimes the French pronoun on ("one", "[generic] you", "[singular] they") is translated to Haitian Creole as yo[58] and other times it is translated as ou[57]
Possessive pronouns
editSingular
editHaitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
pa mwen an | le mien | mine (masculine) |
la mienne | mine (feminine) | |
pa ou a | le tien | yours (masculine) |
la tienne | yours (feminine) | |
pa li a | le sien | his/hers/its (masculine) |
la sienne | his/hers/its (feminine) | |
pa nou an | le/la nôtre | ours |
le/la vôtre | yours ("of you-PLURAL") | |
pa yo a | le/la leur | theirs |
Plural
editHaitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
pa mwen yo | les miens | mine |
les miennes | ||
pa ou yo | les tiens | yours |
les tiennes | ||
pa li yo | les siens | his/hers/its |
les siennes | ||
pa nou yo | les nôtres | ours |
les vôtres | yours ("of you-PLURAL") | |
pa yo | les leurs | theirs |
Plural of nouns
editDefinite nouns are made plural when followed by the word yo; indefinite plural nouns are unmarked.
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
liv yo | les livres | the books |
machin yo | les voitures | the cars |
tifi yo met wòb | les filles mettent des robes | the girls put on dresses |
Possession
editPossession is indicated by placing the possessor or possessive pronoun after the item possessed. In the Capois dialect of northern Haiti, a or an is placed before the possessive pronoun. Note, however, that this is not considered the standard Kreyòl most often heard in the media or used in writing.[60]
Possession does not indicate definiteness ("my friend" as opposed to "a friend of mine"), and possessive constructions are often followed by a definite article.
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
lajan li | son argent | his money |
her money | ||
fanmi mwen | ma famille | my family |
fanmi m | ||
fanmi an m (Capois dialect) | ||
kay yo | leur maison | their house |
leurs maisons | their houses | |
papa ou | ton père | your father |
papa w | ||
chat Pyè a | le chat de Pierre | Pierre's cat |
chèz Marie a | la chaise de Marie | Marie's chair |
zanmi papa Jean | l'ami du père de Jean | Jean's father's friend |
papa vwazen zanmi nou | le père du voisin de notre ami | our friend's neighbor's father |
Indefinite article
editThe language has two indefinite articles, on and yon (pronounced /õ/ and /jõ/) which correspond to French un and une. Yon is derived from the French il y a un ("there is a"). Both are used only with singular nouns, and are placed before the noun:
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
on kouto | un couteau | a knife |
yon kouto | ||
on kravat | une cravate | a necktie |
yon kravat |
Definite article
editIn Haitian Creole, the definite article has five forms,[61]: 28 and it is placed after the noun it modifies. The final syllable of the preceding word determines which form the definite article takes.[62]: 20 If the last sound is an oral consonant or a glide (spelled 'y' or 'w'), and if it is preceded by an oral vowel, the definite article is la:
Haitian Creole | French | English | Note |
---|---|---|---|
kravat la | la cravate | the tie | |
liv la | le livre | the book | |
kay la | la maison | the house | From French "la cahut(t)e" (English "hut, shack") |
kaw la | le corbeau | the crow |
If the last sound is an oral consonant and is preceded by a nasal vowel, the definite article is lan:
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
lanp lan | la lampe | the lamp |
bank lan | la banque | the bank |
If the last sound is an oral vowel and is preceded by an oral consonant, the definite article is a:
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
kouto a | le couteau | the knife |
peyi a | le pays | the country |
If the last sound is any oral vowel other than i or ou and is preceded by a nasal consonant, then the definite article is also a:
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
lame a | l'armée | the army |
anana a | l'ananas | the pineapple |
dine a | le dîner | the dinner |
nò a | le nord | the north |
If a word ends in mi, mou, ni, nou, or if it ends with any nasal vowel, then the definite article is an:
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
fanmi an | la famille | the family |
jenou an | le genou | the knee |
chen an | le chien | the dog |
pon an | le pont | the bridge |
If the last sound is a nasal consonant, the definite article is nan, but may also be lan:
Haitian Creole | French | English | |
---|---|---|---|
machin nan | la voiture | the car | |
machin lan | |||
telefonn nan | le téléphone | the telephone | The spelling "telefòn" is also attested. |
telefonn lan | |||
fanm nan | la femme | the woman | |
fanm lan |
Demonstratives
editThere is a single word sa that corresponds to English "this" and to "that" (and to French ce, ceci, cela, and ça). As in English, it may be used as a demonstrative, except that it is placed after the noun that it qualifies. It is often followed by a or yo (in order to mark number): sa a ("this here" or "that there"):
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
jaden sa bèl | ce jardin est beau | this garden is beautiful |
that garden is beautiful |
As in English, it may also be used as a pronoun, replacing a noun:
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
sa se zanmi mwen | c'est mon ami | this is my friend |
that is my friend | ||
sa se chen frè mwen | c'est le chien de mon frère | this is my brother's dog |
that is my brother's dog |
Verbs
editMany verbs in Haitian Creole are the same spoken words as the French infinitive, but there is no conjugation in the language; the verbs have one form only, and changes in tense, mood, and aspect are indicated by the use of markers:
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
li ale travay nan maten | il va au travail le matin | he goes to work in the morning |
elle va au travail le matin | she goes to work in the morning | |
li dòmi aswè | il dort le soir | he sleeps in the evening |
elle dort le soir | she sleeps in the evening | |
li li Bib la | il lit la Bible | he reads the Bible |
elle lit la Bible | she reads the Bible | |
mwen fè manje | je fais à manger | I make food |
I cook | ||
nou toujou etidye | nous étudions toujours | we always study |
Copula
editThe concept expressed in English by the verb "to be" is expressed in Haitian Creole by three words, se, ye, and sometimes e.
The verb se (pronounced similarly to the English word "say") is used to link a subject with a predicate nominative:
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
li se frè mwen | c'est mon frère | he is my brother |
mwen se yon doktè | je suis médecin | I'm a doctor |
je suis docteur | ||
sa se yon pyebwa mango | c'est un manguier | this is a mango tree |
that is a mango tree | ||
nou se zanmi | nous sommes amis | we are friends |
The subject of a sentence with se might not be included. In which case, the sentence is interpreted as if the subject were sa ("this" or "that") or li ("he", "she" or "it"):
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
se yon bon ide | c'est une bonne idée | that's a good idea |
this is a good idea | ||
se nouvo chemiz mwen | c'est ma nouvelle chemise | that's my new shirt |
this is my new shirt |
To express "I want to be", usually vin ("to become") is used instead of se.
Haitian Creole | French | English | |
---|---|---|---|
li pral vin bofrè m | il va devenir mon beau-frère | he will be my brother-in-law | he will be my stepbrother |
li pral vin bofrè mwen | |||
mwen vle vin yon doktè | je veux devenir docteur | I want to become a doctor | |
sa pral vin yon pye mango | ça va devenir un manguier | that will become a mango tree | |
this will become a mango tree | |||
nou pral vin zanmi | nous allons devenir amis | we will be friends |
Ye also means "to be", but is placed exclusively at the end of a sentence, after the predicate and the subject (in that order):
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
mwen se Ayisyen | je suis haïtien | I am Haitian |
Ayisyen mwen ye | ||
Kòman ou ye? | lit. Comment + vous + êtes ("Comment êtes-vous?") | How are you? |
Haitian Creole has stative verbs, which means that the verb "to be" is not covert when followed by an adjective. Therefore, malad means both "sick" and "to be sick":
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
mwen gen yon sè ki malad | j'ai une sœur malade | I have a sick sister |
sè mwen malad | ma sœur est malade | my sister is sick |
To have
editThe verb "to have" is genyen, often shortened to gen.
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
mwen gen lajan nan bank lan | j'ai de l'argent dans la banque | I have money in the bank |
There is
editThe verb genyen (or gen) also means "there is" or "there are":
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
gen anpil Ayisyen nan Florid | il y a beaucoup d'Haïtiens en Floride | there are many Haitians in Florida |
gen on moun la | il y a quelqu'un là | there is someone here |
there is someone there | ||
pa gen moun la | il n'y a personne là | there is nobody here |
there is nobody there |
To know
editThe Haitian Creole word for "to know" and "to know how" is konnen, which is often shortened to konn.
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
Èske ou konnen non li? | Est-ce que tu connais son nom? | Do you know his name? |
Do you know her name? | ||
mwen konnen kote li ye | je sais où il est | I know where he is |
je sais où elle est | I know where she is | |
Mwen konn fè manje | Je sais comment faire à manger | I know how to cook (lit. "I know how to make food") |
Èske ou konn ale Ayiti? | Est-ce que tu as été en Haïti? | Have you been to Haiti? (lit. "Do you know to go to Haiti?") |
Li pa konn li franse | Il ne sait pas lire le français | He cannot read French (lit. "He doesn't know how to read French") |
Elle ne sait pas lire le français | She cannot read French (lit. "She doesn't know how to read French") |
To do
editFè means "do" or "make". It has a broad range of meanings, as it is one of the most common verbs used in idiomatic phrases.
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
Kòman ou fè pale kreyòl? | Comment as-tu appris à parler Créole? | How did you learn to speak Haitian Creole? |
Marie konn fè mayi moulen. | Marie sait faire de la farine de maïs. | Marie knows how to make cornmeal. |
To be able to
editThe verb kapab (or shortened to ka, kap or kab) means "to be able to (do something)". It refers to both "capability" and "availability":
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
mwen ka ale demen | je peux aller demain | I can go tomorrow |
petèt mwen ka fè sa demen | je peux peut-être faire ça demain | maybe I can do that tomorrow |
nou ka ale pita | nous pouvons aller plus tard | we can go later |
Tense markers
editThere is no conjugation in Haitian Creole. In the present non-progressive tense, one just uses the basic verb form for stative verbs:
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
mwen pale kreyòl | je parle créole | I speak Creole |
When the basic form of action verbs is used without any verb markers, it is generally understood as referring to the past:
Haitian Creole | French | English |
---|---|---|
mwen manje | j'ai mangé | I ate |
ou manje | tu as mangé | you ate |
li manje | il a mangé | he ate |
elle a mangé | she ate | |
nou manje | nous avons mangé | we ate |
yo manje | ils ont mangé | they ate |
elles ont mangé |
Manje means both "food" and "to eat", as manger does in Canadian French[citation needed]; m ap manje bon manje means "I am eating good food".
For other tenses, special "tense marker" words are placed before the verb. The basic ones are:
Tense marker | Tense | Annotations |
---|---|---|
te | simple past | from French été ("been") |
t ap | past progressive | a combination of te and ap, "was doing" |
ap | present progressive | with ap and a, the pronouns nearly always take the short form (m ap, l ap, n ap, y ap, etc.). From 18th-century French être après, progressive form |
a | future | some limitations on use. From French avoir à ("to have to") |
pral | near or definite future | translates to "going to". Contraction of French pour aller ("going to") |
ta | conditional future | a combination of te and a ("will do") |
Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|
mwen te manje | I ate |
I had eaten | |
ou te manje | you ate |
you had eaten | |
li te manje | he ate |
she ate | |
he had eaten | |
she had eaten | |
nou te manje | we ate |
we had eaten | |
yo te manje | they ate |
they had eaten |
Past progressive:
Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|
mwen t ap manje | I was eating |
ou t ap manje | you were eating |
li t ap manje | he was eating |
she was eating | |
nou t ap manje | we were eating |
yo t ap manje | they were eating |
Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|
m ap manje | I am eating |
w ap manje | you are eating |
l ap manje | he is eating |
she is eating | |
n ap manje | we are eating |
y ap manje | they are eating |
For the present progressive, it is customary, though not necessary, to add kounye a ("right now"):
Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|
m ap manje kounye a | I am eating right now |
y ap manje kounye a | they are eating right now |
Also, ap manje can mean "will eat" depending on the context of the sentence:
Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|
m ap manje apre m priye | I will eat after I pray |
I am eating after I pray | |
mwen p ap di sa | I will not say that |
I am not saying that |
Near or definite future:
Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|
mwen pral manje | I am going to eat |
ou pral manje | you are going to eat |
li pral manje | he is going to eat |
she is going to eat | |
nou pral manje | we are going to eat |
yo pral manje | they are going to eat |
Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|
n a wè pita | see you later (lit. "we will see later") |
Other examples:
Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|
mwen te wè zanmi ou yè | I saw your friend yesterday |
nou te pale lontan | we spoke for a long time |
lè l te gen uit an... | when he was eight years old... |
when she was eight years old... | |
m a travay | I will work |
m pral travay | I'm going to work |
n a li l demen | we'll read it tomorrow |
nou pral li l demen | we are going to read it tomorrow |
mwen t ap mache epi m te wè yon chen | I was walking and I saw a dog |
Recent past markers include fèk and sòt (both mean "just" or "just now" and are often used together):
Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|
mwen fèk sòt antre kay la | I just entered the house |
A verb mood marker is ta, corresponding to English "would" and equivalent to the French conditional tense:
Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|
yo ta renmen jwe | they would like to play |
mwen ta vini si m te gen yon machin | I would come if I had a car |
li ta bliye w si ou pa t la | he would forget you if you weren't here |
she would forget you if you weren't here |
Negation
editThe word pa comes before a verb and any tense markers to negate it:
Haitian Creole | English |
---|---|
Rose pa vle ale | Rose doesn't want to go |
Rose pa t vle ale | Rose didn't want to go |
Lexicon
editMost of the lexicon of Creole is derived from French, with significant changes in pronunciation and morphology; often the French definite article was retained as part of the noun. For example, the French definite article la in la lune ("the moon") was incorporated into the Creole noun for moon: lalin. However, the language also inherited many words of different origins, among them Wolof, Fon, Kongo, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Taino and Arabic.[citation needed]
Haitian Creole creates and borrows new words to describe new or old concepts and realities. Examples of this are fè bak which was borrowed from English and means "to move backwards" (the original word derived from French is rekile from reculer), and also from English, napkin, which is being used as well as tòchon, from the French torchon.[citation needed]
Sample
editHaitian Creole | IPA | Origin | English |
---|---|---|---|
ablado[63] | /ablado/ | Spanish: hablador | "a talker" |
anasi | /anasi/ | Akan: ananse | spider |
annanna | /ãnãna/ | Taino: ananas; also used in French | pineapple |
Ayiti | /ajiti/ | Taino: Ahatti, lit. 'mountainous land' | Haiti ("mountainous land") |
bagay | /baɡaj/ | French: bagage, lit. 'baggage' | thing |
bannann | /bãnãn/ | French: banane, lit. 'banana' | banana/plantain |
bekàn | /bekan/ | French: bécane | bicycle |
bokit[13] | /bokit/ | bucket | |
bòkò | /bɔkɔ/ | Fon: bokono | sorcerer |
Bondye | /bõdje/ | French: bon dieu, lit. 'good God' | God |
chenèt | /ʃenɛt/ | French: quénette (French Antilles) | gap between the two front teeth |
chouk | /ʃuk/ | Fula: chuk, lit. 'to pierce, to poke' | poke |
dekabès | /dekabes/ | Spanish: dos cabezas, lit. 'two heads' | two-headed win during dominos |
dèyè | /dɛjɛ/ | French: derrière | behind |
diri | /diɣi/ | French: du riz, lit. 'some rice' | rice |
èkondisyone | /ɛkondisjone/ | air conditioner | air conditioner |
Etazini[64] | /etazini/ | French: États-Unis | United States |
fig | /fiɡ/ | French: figue, lit. 'fig' | banana[65] |
je | /ʒe/ | French: les yeux, lit. 'the eyes' | eye |
kannistè[13] | /kannistɛ/ | canister | tin can |
kay | /kaj/ | French: la cahutte, lit. 'the hut' | house |
kle | /kle/ | French: clé, lit. 'key' | key, wrench |
kle kola | /kle kola/ | French: clé, lit. 'key' | bottle opener |
cola | |||
kònfleks | /kɔnfleks/ | corn flakes | breakfast cereal |
kawotchou | /kawotʃu/ | French: caoutchouc, lit. 'rubber' | tire |
lalin | /lalin/ | French: la lune, lit. 'the moon' | moon |
li | /li/ | French: lui | he, she, him, her, it |
makak | /makak/ | French: macaque | monkey |
manbo | /mãbo/ | Kongo: mambu or Fon: nanbo | vodou priestess |
marasa | /maɣasa/ | Kongo: mapassa | twins |
matant | /matãt/ | French: ma tante, lit. 'my aunt' | aunt, aged woman |
moun | /mun/ | French: monde, lit. 'world' | people, person |
mwen | /mwɛ̃/ | French: moi, lit. 'me' | I, me, my, myself |
nimewo | /nimewo/ | French: numéro, lit. 'number' | number |
oungan | /ũɡã/ | Fon: houngan | vodou priest |
piman | /pimã/ | French: piment | a very hot pepper |
pann | /pãn/ | French: pendre, lit. 'to hang' | clothesline |
podyab | /podjab/ | French: pauvre diable or Spanish: pobre diablo | poor devil |
pwa | /pwa/ | French: pois, lit. 'pea' | bean |
sapat[63] | /sapat/ | Spanish: zapato; French: savatte | sandal |
seyfing | /sejfiŋ/ | surfing | sea-surfing |
tonton | /tõtõ/ | French: tonton | uncle, aged man |
vwazen | /vwazɛ̃/ | French: voisin | neighbor |
zonbi | /zõbi/ | Kongo: nzumbi
or English: zombie |
soulless corpse, living dead, ghost, zombie |
zwazo | /zwazo/ | French: les oiseaux, lit. 'the birds' | bird |
Nèg and blan
editAlthough nèg and blan have similar words in French (nègre, a pejorative to refer to black people, and blanc, meaning white, or white person), the meanings they carry in French do not apply in Haitian Creole. Nèg means "a person" or "a man" (like "guy" or "dude" in American English).[66] The word blan generally means "foreigner" or "not from Haiti". Thus, a non-black Haitian man (usually biracial) could be called nèg, while a black person from the US could be referred to as blan.[66][67]
Etymologically, the word nèg is derived from the French nègre and is cognate with the Spanish negro ("black", both the color and the people).
There are many other Haitian Creole terms for specific tones of skin including grimo, bren, roz, and mawon. Some Haitians consider such labels as offensive because of their association with color discrimination and the Haitian class system, while others use the terms freely.
Examples
editSalutations
editHaitian Creole | English |
---|---|
A demen! | See you tomorrow! |
A pi ta! | See you later! |
Adye! | Good bye! (permanently) |
Anchante! | Nice to meet you! (lit. "enchanted!") |
Bon apre-midi! | Good afternoon! |
Bòn chans! | Good luck! |
Bòn nui! | Good night! |
Bonjou! | Good day! |
Good morning! | |
Bonswa! | Good evening |
Dezole! | Sorry! |
Eskize m! | Excuse me! |
Kenbe la! | Hang in there! (informal) |
Ki jan ou rele? | What's your name? |
Ki non ou? | |
Ki non w? | |
Kòman ou rele? | |
Mwen rele | My name is... |
Non m se. | |
Ki jan ou ye? | How are you? |
Ki laj ou? | How old are you? (lit. "What is your age?") |
Ki laj ou genyen? | |
Kòman ou ye? | How are you? |
Kon si, kon sa | So, so |
Kontinye konsa! | Keep it up! |
M ap boule | I'm managing (informal; lit. "I'm burning") (common response to sa kap fèt and sak pase) |
M ap kenbe | I'm hanging on (informal) |
M ap viv | I'm living |
Mal | Bad |
Men wi | Of course |
Mèsi | Thank you |
Mèsi anpil | Many thanks |
Mwen byen | I'm well |
Mwen dakò | I agree |
Mwen gen an | I'm years old |
Mwen la | I'm so-so (informal; lit. "I'm here") |
N a wè pita! | See you later! (lit. "We will see later!") |
Orevwa! | Good bye (temporarily) |
Pa mal | Not bad |
Pa pi mal | Not so bad |
Padon! | Pardon! |
Sorry! | |
Move! | |
Padone m! | Pardon me! |
Forgive me! | |
Pòte w byen! | Take care! (lit. "Carry yourself well!") |
Sa k ap fèt? | What's going on? (informal) |
What's up? (informal) | |
Sa k pase? | What's happening? (informal) |
What's up? (informal) | |
Tout al byen | All is well (lit. "All goes well") |
Tout bagay anfòm | Everything is fine (lit. "Everything is in form") |
Tout pa bon | All is not well (lit. "All is not good") |
Proverbs and expressions
editProverbs play a central role in traditional Haitian culture and Haitian Creole speakers make frequent use of them as well as of other metaphors.[68]
Proverbs
editHaitian Creole | English |
---|---|
Men anpil, chay pa lou | Strength through unity[69] (lit. "With many hands, the burden is not heavy";[70] Haitian Creole equivalent of the French on the coat of arms of Haiti, which reads l'union fait la force) |
Apre bal, tanbou lou | There are consequences to your actions (lit. "After the dance, the drum is heavy")[71] |
Sak vid pa kanpe | No work gets done on an empty stomach (lit. "An empty bag does not stand up")[72]: 60 |
Pitit tig se tig | Like father like son (lit. "The son of a tiger is a tiger") |
Ak pasyans w ap wè tete pis | Anything is possible (lit. "With patience you will see the breast of the ant") |
Bay kou bliye, pote mak sonje | The giver of the blow forgets, the carrier of the scar remembers |
Mache chèche pa janm dòmi san soupe | You will get what you deserve |
Bèl dan pa di zanmi | Not all smiles are friendly |
Bèl antèman pa di paradi | A beautiful funeral does not guarantee heaven |
Bèl fanm pa di bon mennaj | A beautiful wife does not guarantee a happy marriage |
Dan konn mòde lang | People who work together sometimes hurt each other (lit. "Teeth are known to bite the tongue") |
Sa k rive koukouloulou a ka rive kakalanga tou | What happens to the dumb guy can happen to the smart one too (lit. "What happens to the turkey can happen to the rooster too")[72]: 75 |
Chak jou pa Dimanch | Your luck will not last forever (lit. "Not every day is Sunday") |
Fanm pou yon tan, manman pou tout tan | A woman is for a time, a mother is for all time[72]: 93 |
Nèg di san fè, Bondye fè san di | Man talks without doing, God does without talking[72]: 31 |
Sa Bondye sere pou ou, lavalas pa ka pote l ale | What God has saved for you, nobody can take it away |
Nèg rich se milat, milat pòv se nèg | A rich negro is a mulatto, a poor mulatto is a negro |
Pale franse pa di lespri | Speaking French does not mean you are smart[72]: 114 |
Wòch nan dlo pa konnen doulè wòch nan solèy | The rock in the water does not know the pain of the rock in the sun[73] |
Ravèt pa janm gen rezon devan poul | Justice will always be on the side of the stronger[74] (lit. "A cockroach in front of a chicken is never correct") |
Si ou bwè dlo nan vè, respèkte vè a | If you drink water from a glass, respect the glass |
Si travay te bon bagay, moun rich ta pran l lontan | If work were a good thing, the rich would have grabbed it a long time ago |
Sèl pa vante tèt li di li sale | Let others praise you (lit. "Salt doesn't brag that it's salty," said to those who praise themselves) |
Bouch granmoun santi, sak ladan l se rezon | Wisdom comes from the mouth of old people (lit. "The mouth of the old stinks but what's inside is wisdom") |
Tout moun se moun | Everyone matters (lit. "Everybody is a person")[75] |
Expressions
editHaitian Creole | English |
---|---|
Se lave men, siye l atè | It was useless work (lit. "Wash your hands and wipe them on the floor") |
M ap di ou sa kasayòl te di bèf la | Mind your own business |
Li pale franse | He cannot be trusted, he is full of himself (lit. "He speaks French")[76] |
Kreyòl pale, kreyòl konprann | Speak straightforwardly and honestly (lit. "Creole talks, Creole understands")[72]: 29 |
Bouche nen ou pou bwè dlo santi | You have to accept a bad situation (lit. "Pinch your nose to drink smelly water")[72]: 55 |
Mache sou pinga ou, pou ou pa pile: "Si m te konnen!" | "Be on your guard, so you don't have to say: 'If only I'd known!'"[72]: 159 |
Tann jis nou tounen pwa tann | To wait forever (lit. "left hanging until we became string beans" which is a word play on tann, which means both "to hang" and "to wait") |
San pran souf | Without taking a breath; continuously |
W ap konn jòj | Warning or threat of punishment or reprimand (lit. "You will know George") |
Dis ti piti tankou ou | Dismissing or defying a threat or show of force (lit. "Ten little ones like you couldn't.") |
Lè poul va fè dan | Never (lit. "When hens grow teeth")[77] |
Piti piti zwazo fè nich li | You will learn (lit. "Little by little the bird makes its nest")[72]: 110 |
Usage abroad
editUnited States and Canada
editHaitian Creole is used widely among Haitians who have relocated to other countries, particularly the United States and Canada. Some of the larger Creole-speaking populations are found in Montreal, Quebec (where French is the official language), New York City, Boston, and Central and South Florida (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach). To reach out to the large Haitian population, government agencies have produced various public service announcements, school-parent communications, and other materials in Haitian Creole. For instance, Miami-Dade County in Florida sends out paper communications in Haitian Creole in addition to English and Spanish. In the Boston area, the Boston subway system and area hospitals and medical offices post announcements in Haitian Creole as well as English.[78] North America's only Creole-language television network is HBN, based in Miami. These areas also each have more than half a dozen Creole-language AM radio stations.[79]
Haitian Creole and Haitian culture are taught in many colleges in the United States and the Bahamas. York College at the City University of New York features a minor in Haitian Creole.[80] Indiana University's Albert Valdman founded the country's first Creole Institute[81] where Haitian Creole, among other facets of Haiti, were studied and researched. The University of Kansas, Lawrence has an Institute of Haitian studies, founded by Bryant Freeman. The University of Massachusetts Boston, Florida International University, and Indiana University Bloomington offer seminars and courses annually at their Haitian Creole Summer Institutes. Brown University, University of Miami, Tulane University, and Duke University[82] also offer Haitian Creole classes, and Columbia University and NYU have jointly offered a course since 2015.[83][84] The University of Chicago began offering Creole courses in 2010.[85]
As of 2015[update], the New York City Department of Education counted 2,838 Haitian Creole-speaking English-language learners (ELLs) in the city's K–12 schools, making it the seventh most common home language of ELLs citywide and the fifth most common home language of Brooklyn ELLs.[86]: 19–20 Because of the large population of Haitian Creole-speaking students within NYC schools, various organizations have been established to respond to the needs of these students. For example, Flanbwayan and Gran Chimen Sant Kiltirèl, both located in Brooklyn, New York, aim to promote education and Haitian culture through advocacy, literacy projects, and cultural/artistic endeavors.[87]
Cuba
editHaitian Creole is the second most spoken language in Cuba after Spanish,[88][89] where over 300,000 Haitian immigrants speak it. It is recognized as a minority language in Cuba and a considerable number of Cubans speak it fluently. Most of these speakers have never been to Haiti and do not possess Haitian ancestry, but merely learned it in their communities. In addition, there is a Haitian Creole radio station operating in Havana.[89]
Dominican Republic
editAs of 2012[update], the language was also spoken by over 450,000 Haitians who reside in the neighboring Dominican Republic,[90] although the locals do not speak it. However, some estimates suggest that there are over a million speakers due to a huge population of undocumented immigrants from Haiti.[91]
The Bahamas
editAs of 2009, up to 80,000 Haitians were estimated residing in the Bahamas,[92] where about 20,000 speak Haitian Creole. It is the third most‑spoken language after English and Bahamian Creole.[93]
Software
editAfter the 2010 Haiti earthquake, international aid workers desperately needed translation tools for communicating in Haitian Creole. Furthermore, international organizations had little idea whom to contact as translators. As an emergency measure, Carnegie Mellon University released data for its own research into the public domain.[94] Microsoft Research and Google Translate implemented alpha version machine translators based on the Carnegie Mellon data.
Several smartphone apps have been released, including learning with flashcards by Byki and two medical dictionaries, one by Educa Vision and a second by Ultralingua, the latter of which includes an audio phrase book and a section on cultural anthropology.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Haitian Creole at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- ^ a b Gurevich, Naomi (2004). "Appendix A: Result Summary". Lenition and Contrast: The Functional Consequences of Certain Phonetically Conditioned Sound Changes. New York: Routledge. pp. 112, 301–304. ISBN 978-1-135-87648-7. LCCN 2004051429. OCLC 919306666. OL 5731391W.
Name: ... Haitian Creole ...; Phylum: ... Indo‑European...
- ^ a b Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Haitian". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ^ a b Dufour, Fritz, ed. (2017). "Exploring the Possibilities for the Emergence of a Single and Global Native Language". Language Arts & Disciplines. p. 4. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- ^ "Cérémonie de lancement d'un partenariat entre le Ministère de l'Education Nationale et de la Formation Professionnelle et l'Académie Créole" (in French and Haitian Creole). Port‑au‑Prince, Haiti: Government of the Republic of Haiti. 8 July 2015. Archived from the original on 28 July 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
- ^ a b Faraclas, Nicholas; Spears, Arthur K.; Barrows, Elizabeth; Piñeiro, Mayra Cortes (2012) [1st pub. 2010]. "II. Structure and Use § 4. Orthography". In Spears, Arthur K.; Joseph, Carole M. Berotte (eds.). The Haitian Creole Language: History, Structure, Use, and Education. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-7391-7221-6. LCCN 2010015856. OCLC 838418590.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Valdman, Albert (2002). "Creole: The National Language of Haiti". Footsteps. 2 (4): 36–39. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015.
- ^ a b DeGraff, Michel; Ruggles, Molly (1 August 2014). "A Creole Solution for Haiti's Woes". The New York Times. p. A17. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015.
Under the 1987 Constitution, adopted after the overthrow of Jean‑Claude Duvalier's dictatorship, [Haitian] Creole and French have been the two official languages, but most of the population speaks only Creole fluently.
- ^ Léonidas, Jean-Robert (1995). Prétendus Créolismes: Le Couteau dans l'Igname [So‑Called Creolisms: The Knife in the Yam] (in French). Montréal: Editions du CIDIHCA. ISBN 978-2-920862-97-5. LCCN 95207252. OCLC 34851284. OL 3160860W.
- ^ Schieffelin, Bambi B.; Doucet, Rachelle Charlier (1994). "The "Real" Haitian Creole: Ideology, Metalinguistics, and Orthographic Choice". American Ethnologist. 21 (1): 176–200. doi:10.1525/ae.1994.21.1.02a00090. ISSN 0094-0496. JSTOR 646527.
- ^ a b c d DeGraff, Michel (2007). "Kreyòl Ayisyen, or Haitian Creole ('Creole French')" (PDF). In Holm, John; Patrick, Peter L. (eds.). Comparative Creole Syntax: Parallel Outlines of 18 Creole Grammars. London: Battlebridge. pp. 101–102. ISBN 978-1-903292-01-3. OCLC 192098910. OL 12266293M. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 July 2015.
- ^ a b Seguin, Luisa (2020). Transparency and Language Contact: The Case of Haitian Creole, French, and Fongbe. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages. pp. 218–252.
- ^ a b c Bonenfant, Jacques L. (2011). "History of Haitian-Creole: From Pidgin to Lingua Franca and English Influence on the Language" (PDF). Review of Higher Education and Self-Learning. 3 (11). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 March 2015.
- ^ Nadeau, Jean-Benoît; Barlow, Julie (2008) [1st pub. 2006]. "Far from the Sun". The Story of French. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-312-34184-8. LCCN 2006049348. OCLC 219563658.
There are more speakers of French-based Creoles than all other Creoles combined (including English), thanks mostly to Haiti, the biggest Creole-speaking nation in the world...
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Schieffelin, Bambi B.; Doucet, Rachelle Charlier (September 1992). "The 'Real' Haitian Creole: Ideology, Metalinguistics, and Orthographic Choice" (PDF). Journal of Pragmatics. 2 (3): 427–443. doi:10.1525/ae.1994.21.1.02a00090. ISSN 0378-2166. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 July 2015.
- ^ DeGraff, Michel (2003). "Against Creole exceptionalism" (PDF). Language. 79 (2): 391–410. doi:10.1353/lan.2003.0114. S2CID 47857823. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 July 2015.
- ^ a b c d Spears, Arthur K.; Joseph, Carole M. Berotte (22 June 2010). The Haitian Creole Language: History, Structure, Use, and Education. Lexington Books. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-4616-6265-5.
- ^ Harper, Douglas (ed.). "Creole". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on 21 January 2016.
- ^ a b Archer, Marie-Thérèse, ed. (1998). "Créolologie haïtienne: latinité du créole d'Haïti : créole étudié dans son contexte ethnique, historique, linguistique, sociologique et pédagogique. Volume 1 of Livre du maître". Impr. Le Nata. p. 7. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- ^ Dinga, John S., ed. (2011). America's Irresistible Attraction: Beyond the Green Card. Trafford Publishing. p. 489. ISBN 9781426961250. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- ^ John, Vijay; Slocum, Jonathan (2014). "Indo‑European Languages: Italic Family". Linguistics Research Center. University of Texas at Austin. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015.
- ^ Spears, Arthur K. "Haitian Creole chapter from the book: Languages and Dialects in the U.S.: Focus on Diversity and Linguistics (pp.180–195)". Research Gate. Routledge. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Lefebvre, Claire (2006). Creole Genesis and the Acquisition of Grammar: The Case of Haitian Creole. Cambridge University Press. pp. 53–57, 190. ISBN 978-0-521-02538-6. LCCN 2006280760. OCLC 71007434. OL 7714204M.
- ^ a b c Velupillai, Viveka (2015). Pidgins, Creoles and mixed languages: an introduction. Creole language library. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 198. ISBN 9789027252715.
- ^ Singler, John Victor (1996). "Theories of Creole Genesis, Sociohistorical Considerations, and the Evaluation of Evidence: The Case of Haitian Creole and the Relexification Hypothesis". Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages. 11 (2): 185–230. doi:10.1075/jpcl.11.2.02sin.
- ^ Lefebvre, Claire (2004). "The linguistic situation in Haiti at the time Haitian Creole was formed". Issues in the Study of Pidgin and Creole Languages. Studies in language companion series. Vol. 70. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 240–241. doi:10.1075/slcs.70. ISBN 978-1-58811-516-4. ISSN 0165-7763. LCCN 2004041134. OCLC 54365215.
- ^ Carl A. Brasseaux, Glenn R. Conrad (1992). The Road to Louisiana: The Saint-Domingue Refugees, 1792–1809. New Orleans: Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana. pp. 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 15, 21, 22, 33, 38, 108, 109, 110, 143, 173, 174, 235, 241, 242, 243, 252, 253, 254, 268.
- ^ S.J. Ducoeurjoly (1803). Manuel des habitans de Saint-Domingue. pp. 363, 364.
- ^ L. Bouchard (8 October 1825). La Nouveauté No. 38. pp. 3, 4.
- ^ a b c Hall, Robert Anderson (1953). Haitian Creole: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary. American Anthropological Association.
- ^ Lagarde, François (2007). "5. Langues § 1. Locaters § 1.2. Immigrés". Français aux Etats-Unis (1990–2005): migration, langue, culture et économie. Transversales (in French). Vol. 20. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers. p. 137. ISBN 978-3-03911-293-7. LCCN 2008271325. OCLC 122935474.
le français et le créole haïtien ... sont des langues différentes « non-mutuellement intelligibles »
- ^ a b Valdman, Albert (2015). Haitian Creole : structure, variation, status, origin. Equinox: Equinox. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-84553-387-8.
- ^ Lefebvre, Claire (1997). "Relexification in Creole Genesis: The Case of Demonstrative Terms in Haitian Creole". Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages. 12 (2): 181–201. doi:10.1075/jpcl.12.2.02lef. ISSN 0920-9034.
- ^ a b Lefebvre, Claire (1986). "Relexification in Creole Genesis Revisited: the Case of Haitian Creole". In Muysken, Pieter; Smith, Norval (eds.). Substrata Versus Universals in Creole Genesis. Creole Language Library. Vol. 1. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 279–301. doi:10.1075/cll.1.13lef. ISBN 978-90-272-5221-0. ISSN 0920-9026. LCCN 86018856. OCLC 14002046. OL 5268669W.
- ^ The modern French construction la maison‑là (roughly "that there house") instead of the standard la maison ("the house") is only superficially and coincidentally similar to the Haitian Creole construction.[improper synthesis?]
- ^ Fontaine, Pierre-Michel (1981). "Language, Society, and Development: Dialectic of French and Creole Use in Haiti". Latin American Perspectives. 8 (1): 28–46. doi:10.1177/0094582X8100800103. ISSN 0094-582X. JSTOR 2633128. OCLC 5724884282. S2CID 145302665.
- ^ "Haïti: Loi du 18 septembre 1979" [Haiti: Act of 18 September 1979]. Chaire pour le développement de la recherche sur la culture d'expression française en Amérique du Nord (in French). Québec City: Université Laval. Archived from the original on 27 July 2015.
L'usage du créole, en tant que langue commune parlée par les 90 % de la population haïtienne, est permis dans les écoles comme instrument et objet d'enseignement.
- ^ a b Védrine, Emmanuel W. (2007) [1st pub. 1994]. "Òtograf ofisyèl la" (PDF). Yon koudèy sou pwoblèm lekòl Ayiti [Official spelling] (PDF) (in Haitian Creole) (2nd ed.). Boston. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-938534-28-0. LCCN 94-65943. OCLC 37611103. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 April 2015.
Nou suiv sa yo rele 'òtograf ofisyèl' la lan tout sa li mande. Tout liv oubyen dokiman Éditions Deschamps sòti respekte òtograf sa a alalèt. Yon sèl ti eksepsyon petèt, se kesyon apostwòf nou pa anplwaye aprè de gwoup kòm 'm ap' (m'ap); 'sa k ap fèt?' (sa k'ap fèt?)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Valdman, Albert (1989). "The Use of Creole as a School Medium and Decreolization in Haiti". In Zuanelli Sonino, Elisabetta (ed.). Literacy in School and Society: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Topics in Language and Linguistics. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 59. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-0909-1. ISBN 978-1-4899-0909-1. LCCN 89-35803. OCLC 646534330. OL 9382950W.
In 1979, by a presidential decree, Haitian Creole was officially recognized as classroom medium and as school subject at the primary level. In the 1983 Constitution it was upgraded to the level of national language with French.
- ^ Hebblethwaite, Benjamin (2012). "French and underdevelopment, Haitian Creole and development: Educational language policy problems and solutions in Haiti" (PDF). Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages. 27 (2): 255–302. doi:10.1075/jpcl.27.2.03heb. ISSN 0920-9034. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 July 2015.
Article 5 of the ... Constitution of 1987 ... recognizes Creole as the sole language that unites all Haitians.
- ^ "La Constitution de 1987, Article 5" [Constitution of 1987, Article 5] (in French). 1987. Archived from the original on 12 September 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
Tous les Haïtiens sont unis par une Langue commune : le Créole.
- ^ Laraque, Paul (April 2001). Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry. Curbstone Press. ISBN 978-1-880684-75-7.
- ^ DeGraff, Michel (2005). "Linguists' most dangerous myth: The fallacy of Creole Exceptionalism" (PDF). Language in Society. 34 (4): 533–591. doi:10.1017/S0047404505050207 (inactive 18 August 2024). ISSN 0047-4045. S2CID 145599178. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 April 2015.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2024 (link) - ^ Férére, Gérard A. (March 1977). "Diglossia in Haiti: A Comparison with Paraguayan Bilingualism". Caribbean Quarterly. 23 (1): 50–69. doi:10.1080/00086495.1977.11671912. JSTOR 40653330.
- ^ Dejean, Yves (1983). "Diglossia revisited: French and Creole in Haiti". Word. 34 (3): 189–213. doi:10.1080/00437956.1983.11435744. ISSN 0043-7956. OCLC 5845895993.
- ^ Scott, Nicole A. (2013). "Creole Languages". Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ World Education Encyclopedia: A Survey of Educational Systems Worldwide. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Group. 2002. ISBN 978-0-02-865594-9.
- ^ Daniel, Trenton (6 February 2013). "Haitian schools expand use of Creole language". US News. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017.
- ^ Hebblethwaite, Benjamin (2012). "French and underdevelopment, Haitian Creole and development" (PDF). Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages. 27 (2): 255–302. doi:10.1075/jpcl.27.2.03heb. ISSN 0920-9034. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
- ^ Cadely, Jean‑Robert (2002). "Le statut des voyelles nasales en Créole haïtien" [The Status of Nasal Vowels in Haitian Creole]. Lingua (in French). 112 (6): 437–438. doi:10.1016/S0024-3841(01)00055-9. ISSN 0024-3841.
L'absence d'opposition distinctive dans la distribution des voyelles hautes ainsi que le facteur combinatoire illustré ci-dessus amènent certains auteurs ... à considérer les voyelles nasales [ĩ] et [ũ] comme des variantes contextuelles de leurs correspondantes orales. Toutefois, l'occurrence dans le vocabulaire des Haïtiens de nombre de termes qui se rattachent pour la plupart à la religion vaudou contribue à affaiblir cette analyse. Par exemple, dans la liste des mots que nous présentons ... il est facile de constater que les voyelles nasales hautes n'apparaissent pas dans l'environnement de consonnes nasales:
[ũɡã] 'prêtre vaudou'
[ũsi] 'assistante du prêtre/ de la prêtresse'
[ũfɔ] 'sanctuaire du temple vaudou'
[hũ] 'tambour'
[oɡũ] 'divinité vaudou'
[ũɡɛvɛ] 'collier au cou du prêtre vaudou'
[bũda] 'derrière'
[pĩɡa] 'prenez garde'
[kaʃĩbo] 'pipe de terre'
[jũ/ũ nɛɡ] 'un individu' - ^ Andrews, Helen (2009). "Frances Elaine ('Primrose') McConnell in Beckett, George Francis". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Romaine, Suzanne (2002). "Signs of Identity, Signs of Discord: Glottal Goofs and the Green Grocer's Glottal in Debates on Hawaiian Orthography". Journal of Linguistic Anthropology. 12 (2): 189–224. doi:10.1525/jlin.2002.12.2.189. ISSN 1055-1360. JSTOR 43104013.
For some opponents of the official orthography, ⟨k⟩ and ⟨w⟩ are tainted with the perceived stigma of being Anglo-Saxon and smack of American imperialism. The French symbols ⟨c⟩ and ⟨ou⟩, however, are allied with colonialism.
- ^ a b Ayoun, Dalila, ed. (2008). Studies in French Applied Linguistics. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 230. ISBN 978-90-272-8994-0. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
- ^ Jenson, Deborah, ed. (2012). Beyond the Slave Narrative: Politics, Sex, and Manuscripts in the Haitian Revolution. Liverpool University Press. p. 257. ISBN 978-1-84631-760-6. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
- ^ Saint Martin, Weston (2005). Les formes des pronoms personnels de l'haïtien et leur place en comparaison avec celles du français (PDF) (Thesis) (in French). pp. 9–11. OCLC 155834626. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 April 2016.
- ^ Léger, Frenand (2011). Pawòl Lakay: Haitian-Creole Language and Culture for Beginner and Intermediate Learners. Coconut Creek, Florida: Educa Vision. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-58432-687-8. OCLC 742361935.
- ^ a b Damoiseau, Robert; Jean-Paul, Gesner (2002). J'apprends le créole haïtien [I’m Learning Haitian Creole] (in French and Haitian Creole). Port-au-Prince and Paris: Faculté de Linguistique Appliquée, Université d'État d'Haïti and Éditions Karthala. pp. 66–67. ISBN 978-2-84586-301-9. OCLC 50772881. OL 4553655W.
Kèlkeswa kote ou fè nan peyi a lè ou kite Pòtoprens, ou travèse zòn kote yo fè jaden... / Quelle que soit la route qu'on emprunte pour sortir de Port-au-prince, on traverse des zones cultivées.
- ^ a b Damoiseau, Robert; Jean-Paul, Gesner (2002). J'apprends le créole haïtien [I'm Learning Haitian Creole] (in French and Haitian Creole). Port-au-Prince and Paris: 'Faculté de Linguistique Appliquée, Université d'État d'Haïti and Éditions Karthala. pp. 82–83. ISBN 978-2-84586-301-9. OCLC 50772881. OL 4553655W.
Yo pa fè diferans ant « kawotchou » machin ak « wou » machin nan. Yo di yonn pou lòt. Gen kawotchou ki fèt pou resevwa chanm, genyen ki pa sèvi ak chanm. Yo rele kawotchou sa a tiblès... / On ne fait pas de différence entre « pneu » et « roue » d'une voiture. On dit l'un pour l'autre. Il y a des pneus conçus pour recevoir une chambre à air, il y en a qui s'utilisent sans chambre à air. On appelle ce dernier type de pneus « tubeless ».
- ^ DeGraff, Michel; Véronique, Daniel (2000). "À propos de la syntaxe des pronoms objets en créole haïtien : points de vue croisés de la morphologie et de la diachronie" [On the Syntax of Object Pronouns in Haitian Creole: Contrasting Perspectives of Morphology and Diachrony]. Langages. Syntaxe des langues créoles (in French). 34 (138): 89–113. doi:10.3406/lgge.2000.2373. ISSN 0458-726X. JSTOR 41683354. OCLC 196570924.
- ^ Tézil, David. 2019. The nasalization of the Haitian Creole determiner La in non-nasal contexts: a variationist sociolinguistic study. PhD dissertation, Indiana University. (Têzil 2019, p. 9, notes: "[T]his variety is frequently subject to depreciative [sic] attitudes, as Capois speakers face the predominance of Port-au-Prince Creole...")
- ^ Heurtelou, Maude; Vilsaint, Féquière (2004). "Atik defini ak atik endefini". Guide to Learning Haitian Creole (in English and Haitian Creole) (2nd ed.). Coconut Creek, Florida: Educa Vision. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-58432-108-8. LCCN 2007362183. OCLC 56117033.
- ^ Cadely, Jean-Robert (2003). "Nasality in Haitian Creole". In Adone, Dany (ed.). Recent Development in Creole Studies. Linguistische Arbeiten. Vol. 472. Tübingen, Germany: Max Niemeyer Verlag. p. 20. doi:10.1515/9783110948318.5. ISBN 978-3-11-094831-8. ISSN 0344-6727. OCLC 5131095031.
- ^ a b Gall, Timothy L.; Hobby, Jeneen, eds. (2009). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life: Americas. p. 265. ISBN 978-1-4144-4890-9. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ^ Targète, Jean; Urciolo, Raphael G. (1993). Haitian Creole–English Dictionary (in Haitian Creole and English) (2nd ed.). Kensington, Maryland: Dunwoody Press. pp. i, 63, 141. ISBN 978-0-931745-75-1. LCCN 93071725. OCLC 30037768. OL 3628156W. Archived from the original on 12 November 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015 – via Yumpu.
Most English words that are of the same origin as Creole words are marked with an asterisk (*).... Etazini n[oun] United States* ... ozetazini In the U.S.A.
- ^ Bollée, Annegret, ed. (2018). Dictionnaire étymologique des créoles français d'Amérique (PDF). Kreolische Bibliothek (in French and English). Vol. 29. Hamburg: Buske. p. 32. ISBN 978-3-87548-881-4. OCLC 982379542. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 July 2018.
- ^ a b Katz, Jonathan M. (2013). The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster. St. Martin's Press. pp. 77–78. ISBN 978-1-137-32395-8. LCCN 2012037217. OCLC 886583605. OL 16813109W.
- ^ "Vignettes from Jakzi" (PDF). Haiti Marycare News. 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 May 2015.
- ^ Rahill, Guitele; Jean-Gilles, Michele; Thomlison, Barbara; Pinto-Lopez, Elsa (2011). "Metaphors as Contextual Evidence for Engaging Haitian Clients in Practice: A Case Study". American Journal of Psychotherapy. 65 (2): 138–139. doi:10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.2011.65.2.133. ISSN 0002-9564. PMID 21847891. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 October 2015.
The importance of metaphors in Haitian storytelling is reflected in the value ascribed to proverbs as an important aspect of teaching and reinforcing practical wisdom and values to children and community members. The existence of two separate texts in which 999 to more than 3000 Haitian proverbs are documented serve as evidence of the importance of these proverbs and their centrality in traditional Haitian culture...
- ^ "Civic Heraldry of Haiti". Heraldry of the World. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
- ^ McAlister, Elizabeth A. (2002). "6. Voices under Domination: Rara and the Politics of Insecurity". Rara!: Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and Its Diaspora. University of California Press. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-520-22822-1. LCCN 2001005016. OCLC 5559545903. OL 7711139M.
Aristide took ownership of the pwen and replied with another: 'Men anpil chay pa lou' ("With many hands, the burden is not heavy").
- ^ Cynn, Christine (2008). "Nou Mande Jistis! (We Demand Justice!): Reconstituting Community and Victimhood in Raboteau, Haiti". Women's Studies Quarterly. 36 (½): 42–57. doi:10.1353/wsq.0.0071. ISSN 1934-1520. JSTOR 27649734. OCLC 5547107092. S2CID 84608576.
After Aristide announced his unexpected candidacy in the 1990 presidential elections, the American ambassador to Haiti, Alvin Adams, in a speech assured Haitians that the United States would support whichever candidate was elected but concluded his remarks with a proverb (or pwen) emphasizing the problems that would remain after the elections: 'After the dance, the drum is heavy [Apre bal, tanbou lou]'....
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Freeman, Bryant C. (1997). Haitian–English Medical Phraseology (PDF). Medicine in Haiti (in English and Haitian Creole). Vol. 1. Lawrence, Kansas: Institute of Haitian Studies, University of Kansas. OCLC 38740045. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 September 2015.
- ^ Rosenthal, Kent (11 July 2006). "Undeclared War on Haiti's Poor". Eureka Street. 16 (8). ISSN 1036-1758. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014.
The rock in the sun cannot get ahead like the rock in the water. Whether you're the rock suffering in the sun or whether you're cooling off in the water depends on where you were born, what passport you hold, what education you have, whether you speak French, whether your parents are peasants or well-off, whether your parents are married or if you have a birth certificate. Chance can deal a very cruel or kind hand in Haiti.
- ^ Joint, Gasner (1999). "Impact social du vaudou". Libération du vaudou dans la dynamique d'inculturation en Haïti [The Liberation of Vodou in the Dynamic of Inculturation in Haiti]. Interreligious and Intercultural Investigations (in French). Vol. 2. Rome: Gregorian & Biblical Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-88-7652-824-8. LCCN 2001421254. OCLC 51448466.
Cette situation d'injustice institutionalisée est dénoncée par la philosophie populaire dans les adages courants comme : ... « Ravèt pa janm gen rezon devan poul » ... « Un cafard ne saurait l'emporter sur un poulet ». Expression populaire et imagée de la loi de la jungle: « la raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure ».
- ^ Joseph, Celucien L. (2014). "Toward a Politico-Theology of Relationalit: Justice as Solidarity and the Poor in Aristide's Theological Imagination". Toronto Journal of Theology. 30 (2): 270. doi:10.3138/tjt.2105. ISSN 0826-9831. S2CID 144847968.
[Peter] Hallward has wrongly misconstrued [Jean-Bertrand] Aristide's affirmative and egalitarian principle tout moun se moun ('Everybody is a person')—the idea that everyone matters and that 'everyone is endowed with the same essential dignity.'
- ^ Faedi Duramy, Benedetta (2008). "The Double Weakness of Girls: Discrimination and Sexual Violence in Haiti". Stanford Journal of International Law. 44: 150.
Li pale franse (He speaks French (so he is likely deceiving you).)
- ^ Targète, Jean; Urciolo, Raphael G. (1993). Haitian Creole–English Dictionary (in Haitian Creole and English) (2nd ed.). Kensington, Maryland: Dunwoody Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-931745-75-1. LCCN 93071725. OCLC 30037768. OL 3628156W. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015 – via Yumpu.
Lè poul va fè dan: Never (when hens grow teeth).
- ^ "enfòmaysyan sou tit iv – haitian creole" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
- ^ Moise, Raymond (30 October 2015). "Haitian Radio Stations". Bonpounou. Archived from the original on 9 August 2015.
- ^ "Creole (Minor)". Jamaica, New York: York College. 2014. Archived from the original on 30 August 2015.
- ^ "Creole Institute History". Department of French and Italian.
- ^ "Schedule of Classes, Fall 2015" (PDF). Durham, North Carolina: Duke University. 2015. p. 40. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
- ^ "Elementary Haitian Kreyol". Directory of Classes. New York: Columbia University. 2015. Archived from the original on 30 August 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
This course is part of the language exchange program with New York University...
- ^ "Institute of Latin American Studies: CU–NYU Consortium Courses: Spring 2016" (PDF). New York: Columbia University. 4 November 2015. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 January 2016.
- ^ "College of Liberal Arts and Sciences". Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ^ "English Language Learner Demographics Report for the 2015–16 School Year" (PDF). New York City Department of Education. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
- ^ Cerat, Marie Lily (2011). "Myths and Realities: A History of Haitian Creole Language Programs in New York City". Journal of Haitian Studies. 17: 73–91.
- ^ Press, ed. (16 March 2016). "Haitian and Creole Culture in Cuba". Cuba Journal. Archived from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b "Haiti in Cuba". AfroCubaWeb. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015.
- ^ "Primera Encuesta Nacional de Inmigrantes en la República Dominicana" [First National Survey of Immigrants in the Dominican Republic] (PDF) (in Spanish). Santo Domingo: Oficina Nacional de Estadística. 2012. p. 163. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- ^ "Illegal Haitians deported". DR1. 16 August 2005. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
- ^ Davis, Nick (20 September 2009). "Bahamas outlook clouds for Haitians". BBC News. London. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015.
- ^ "Ethnologue – Bahamas (18th ed.)".
- ^ "Carnegie Mellon releases data on Haitian Creole to hasten development of translation tools". e! Science News. 27 January 2010. Archived from the original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
Further reading
edit- Anglade, Pierre (1998). Inventaire Étymologique des Termes Créoles des Caraibes d'origine Africaine (in French). Editions L'Harmattan. ISBN 9782296352582.
- DeGraff, Michel (2001). "Morphology in Creole genesis: Linguistics and ideology" (PDF). In Kenstowicz, Michael (ed.). Ken Hale: A life in language. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. pp. 52–121. ISBN 978-0-262-61160-2. LCCN 00-061644. OCLC 44702224. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 July 2015.
- Lang, George (2004). "A Primer of Haitian Literature in Kreyòl ". Research in African Literatures. 35 (2): 128–140. doi:10.1353/ral.2004.0046. ISSN 1527-2044. JSTOR 3821349. S2CID 162026210.
External links
edit- "Indiana University Creole Institute".
- Haitian Creole basic vocabulary (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)
- Haitian Creole-English dictionary (PDF) Archived 16 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine