by Gloria Edmonson Nelson

Created on: January 22, 2010

The Haitian Creole language has been around since the 1700's, in fact, it evolved as a form of contact in order to trade because there was no other forms of communication. In 1729 there were 50,000 slaves born in St. Domingue who were referred to as "Kreyol" (Creole); while slaves born in Africa were called "bosal) or brute; but both groups were working on plantations. Between 1740 and 1791, there were one-half million slaves in St. Domingue alone, so there was definitely a form of communication needed at that time. Although it evolved in the 1700's, it has been one of Haiti's languages (along with French) since 1961. It is used in literature, newspaper, radio, and television.

Linguists say Haitian Creole evolved from a number of languages referred to as "pidgins" which is another name for Haitian Creoles. Although the language is based on French with influences from West African language, for example Fon, Ewe, and Wolof, etc., Haitian Creole is an autonomous system that has a life of its own; it is not French. It reflects the universal grammatical properties as well as the mental processes common to all languages: English, Chinese, French, Arabic, Swahili, Hindu, etc.

Haitian Creole is spoken by about 8.5 million people now in Haiti, and an additional 3.5 million people speak that llanguage in Canada, the United States, France, Dominican Republic, West Africa, Indian Ocean, South Pacific, Cuba, Bahamas and other Caribbean countries. There are many Creole languages: Guadelaupean Creole Cape Verdean Creole, and Jamaican Creole, etc. Haitian Creole is based on French while Jamaican Creole is based on English.

Haitian Creole is also spoken in the United States, especially in New York and Miami, as well as in Montreal, Canada. In fact, there are 30,000 Haitians enrolled in the New York City school system. It is the fourth non-English language spoken and taught in the New York City public school system after Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. There are also Haitian Creole courses taught in four American Universities.

The first text written in Haitian Creole was published by a swiss traveler in 1786. He had lived in St. Domingue between May 1782 and July 1783. According to the author, Hugues St. Fort (born in Port-au-Prince, earning his Doctorate in France); the text should be viewed with reservation because it is not a good sample of the Creole spoken in St. Domingue at that time. He alleges the writer only lived in that area for a year.

Although there have been several bilingual dictionaries in English and French-Haitian Creole, there has not been a Haitian Creole dictionary written yet, and there is a need. Linguists believe there are three dialects: Northern, Southern, and Center, and the Center represents the one spoken in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Although many Haitians are bi-dialectal.

For years Haitian Creole had been strictly an oral language used in informal situations and for daily communication. Bilingual Haitian speakers have often shifted to French or English depending on the level of formality of the topic. But Haitian Creole is the language spoken by most Creole speakers in the world. It is also the native language of all Haitians born and raised in Haiti.

REFERENCE:

Omniglot.com/writing/haitiancreole.htm (Omniglot - Writing Systems and Languages of the World)

Ahadonline.org/elibrary/creoleconnection/number20/ha itiancreole.htm ("What is Haitian Creole?" by author Hugues St. Fort)

Learn more about this author, Gloria Edmonson Nelson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.