Haitian Creole

## Overview

**Haitian Creole** (/ˈheɪʃən ˈkriːoʊl/; Haitian Creole: ***kreyòl ayisyen),*** is a French-based creole language spoken by 10–12 million people worldwide, and the only language of most Haitians. It is a creole language based largely on 18th century French with influences from Portuguese, Spanish, English, Taíno, and West African languages. Haitian Creole emerged from contact between French settlers and African slaves during the Atlantic slave trade in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). Haitians are the largest creole-speaking community in the world.

The usage of and education in Haitian Creole—which is not mutually intelligible with French—has been contentious since at least the 19th century: where some Haitians saw French as a legacy of colonialism, Creole was maligned by francophone elites as a miseducated or poor person’s French. Until the late 20th century, Haitian presidents spoke only French to their fellow citizens, and until the 2000s, all instruction at Haitian elementary schools was in French, a foreign language to most of the students.

## History

### Early Development

Haitian Creole developed in the 17th and 18th centuries on the western third of Hispaniola in a setting that mixed native speakers of various Niger–Congo languages with French colonizers. 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. Its orthography was standardized in 1979. That same year Haitian Creole was elevated in status by the Act of 18 September 1979. 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. The only accent mark retained is the grave accent in ⟨è⟩ and ⟨ò⟩.

### As Official Language

The Constitution of 1987 upgraded Haitian Creole to a national language alongside French. 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.

## Sociolinguistics

### Role in Society

Although 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. 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: French is more used in public, especially in formal situation, whereas Haitian Creole is more used in a daily basis and is often heard in ordinary conversation.

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
>
>

### In Education

In most schools, French is still the preferred language for teaching. Generally speaking, Haitian Creole is more used in public schools, as that is where most children of ordinary families who often only speak Haitian Creole go to 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. The Bernard Reform of 1978 tried to introduce Haitian Creole as the teaching language in the first four years of primary school; however, the reform overall was not very successful. As a result, the use of Haitian Creole has grown but in a very limited way. After the earthquake in 2010, basic education became free and more accessible to the monolingual masses. The government is still trying to expand the use of Haitian Creole and improve the school system.

## Haitian Creole Excerpt from Wikipedia Article "Kreyol ayisyen"

Sou plan inivèsitè, etid kreyòl yo devlope anpil. Gen seksyon etid kreyòl nan plizyè depatman lengwistik linivèsite ewopeyen ak linivèsite nan Lamerik dinò. Nan linivèsite sa yo, kreyòl ayisyen se youn nan kreyòl atlantik yo lengwis yo plis etidye. Pati nan kreyòl ayisyen lengwis sa yo etidye pi plis se sentaks e teyori lengwistik yo plis itilize pou yo fè rechèch sa yo se teyori lengwistik ki rele gramè jenerativ. Chak ane, depi fen ane 1970 yo, genyen omwen yon tèz doktora sou yon aspè enpòtan nan yon lang kreyòl (ayisyen osnon yon lòt kreyòl) yon etidyan prezante nan yon linivèsite Ewòp osinon Lamerik dinò. Fòk nou pa bliye mansyonnen de michan revi sou kreyolistik: nan domèn kreyòl ki baze sou franse yo, genyen revi ki rele: *Études Créoles*. Se an Frans yo pibliye revi sa a e li parèt de fwa chak ane; nan domèn kreyòl ki baze sou angle yo, genyen revi ki rele: *Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages*. Se nan peyi Olann yo pibliye revi sa a e li parèt tou 2 fwa chak ane.

Depi kèk lane, kreyòl ayisyen rive entegre sistèm lekòl vil tankou Nouyòk, Miyami e Boston. Dapre kèk otè ki fè rechèch sou kesyon an, genyen omwen 30 000 elèv ayisyen ki enskri nan lekòl piblik vil Nouyòk la. Kreyòl ayisyen se katriyèm lang etranje yo pale e ansenyen nan sistèm lekòl piblik vil Nouyòk la, apre lang panyòl, lang ris ak lang chinwa. Nan tout nivo lekòl, keseswa nan nivo primè, osinon nan nivo segondè, gen klas kote yo ansenye lang kreyòl ayisyen ak matyè tankou matematik, syans, istwa an lang kreyòl ayisyen. Deplizanpli, gen anpil elèv ayisyen ki antre nan klas sa yo, espesyalman elèv ki fèk soti Ayiti, men pwofesè yo pa genyen ase michan tèks literè an kreyòl pou ansenyen timoun yo literati, lekti, kominikasyon, menm jan pwofesè ameriken yo genyen kantite tèks literè ann angle, lè y ap fè klas literati pou elèv ameriken. Otorite nan lekòl Nouyòk ta dwe fè yon gwo travay pou devlope michan tèks literè an kreyòl pou elèv ayisyen (yo ta kapab menm kòmanse tradui kèk bon liv ki genyen nan kantite literati ayisyen ki ekri an franse).