Haitian Creole

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Haitian Creole
Créyol aïsien
Native to Haiti (Official),
Native speakers
7,700,000[1]
Creole language
Official status
Official language in
 Haiti
Language codes
ISO 639-1ht
ISO 639-2hat
ISO 639-3hat

Haitian Creole language (Créyol aïsien; pronounced [kɣejɔl ajisjɛ̃]), often called simply Creole or Créyol, is a language spoken in Haiti by about eight million people, which is about 80% of the entire population of some ten million, and via emigration, by about one million speakers residing in the Bahamas, Cuba, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Belize, Puerto Rico, and United States. The language is notable for being the most widely spoken creole language in the world.[2]

Haitian Creole is one of Haiti's two official languages, along with French. It is a creole based largely on 18th-century French with various other influences, most notably African languages (including some Arabic), as well as Spanish and Taíno - and increasingly English.

Partly due to efforts of Félix Morisseau-Leroy, since 1961 Haitian Creole has been recognized as an official language along with French, which had been the sole literary language of the country since its independence in 1804. The official status was maintained under the country's 1987 constitution. The use of Creole in literature has been small but is increasing. Morisseau was one of the first and most influential authors to write in Creole. Since the 1980s, many educators, writers and activists have written literature in Creole. Today numerous newspapers, as well as radio and television programs, are produced in Creole.

Phonology

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Where consonants appear in pairs, the one on the left is voiceless.

Consonant phonemes of Haitian Creole[3]
Bilabial Labio-
dental 		Dental/
Alveolar 		Post-
Alveolar 		Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ŋ
  1. ^ Raymond G. Gordon, Jr. (ed.). "Haitian Creole French". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2008-12-22. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ Indiana.edu
  3. ^ Bruce Lee Johnson and Gérard Alphonse-Férère (1972). "Haitian Creole: Surface phonology". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 2 (02): 35–39. doi:10.1017/S0025100300000475.
Plosive p   b t   d k   ɡ
Affricate tʃ   dʒ
Fricative f   v s   z ʃ   ʒ ɣ
Approximant l j w
  1. /iŋ/ is not originally a Haitian Creole phoneme, but appears in English loanwords (e.g. bèl filing "good feeling").
  2. The contrast between /ɣ/ and /w/ is lost before rounded vowels; the two phonemes merge as /w/ in that environment. Some orthographies of Haitian Creole follow the etymology of the word, using ‹r› for /w/ before a rounded vowel where this comes from an original /ɣ/, e.g. /ɡwo/ ('big', cf. French gros /ɡʁo/) is spelled ‹gro›. Other orthographies follow the modern pronunciation of the word and use ‹w› for /w/ in all cases, so that /ɡwo/ is spelled ‹gwo›.

Haitian Creole has ten vowels: seven oral vowels and three (or five) nasal variants.

Vowel Phonemes of Haitian Creole[1]
Front Central Back
Close i (ĩ) u (ũ)
Close-Mid e o
Open-mid ɛ   ɛ̃ ɔ   ɔ̃
Open a   ã

Orthographically, open-mid vowels carry a circumflex ‹ê› to distinguish them from close-mid vowels (e.g. ‹é› for /e/ and ‹ê› for /ɛ/). ‹n› indicates nasalization when following ‹a›, ‹e›, or ‹o›. However, if a vowel before ‹n› carries a grave accent or a circumflex, the vowel is oral (e.g. ‹on› = /ɔ̃/, but ‹òn› or ‹ôn› = /ɔn/).

Note: words that in French that already have a circumflez keep the circumflex. 

Tête = têt, prêt = prê etc.

The status of the nasal closed vowels in Haitian Creole has been disputed. Marcel D'Ans claims that these vowels cannot be phonemically nasal, while Robert A. Hall, Jr. and others argue that they are in fact phonemes.[2]

The high nasal vowels are quite rare, appearing in a few words such as vodoun ("voodoo") and houngan ("voodoo priest"). In most words spelled with ‹in› or ‹oun›, such as moun ("person"), the final ‹n› is pronounced as a consonant.

Lexicon

See also: Haitian Creole Lexicon

Most of the lexicon 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.

Sample

Creole IPA Origin English
annanna /ãnãna/ Taino "pineapple"
aïti /ayeetee/ Taino "Haiti(mountainous land)"
bagày /baɡaj/ Fr. bagage, "baggage" "thing"
bannàn /bãnãn/ Fr. banane, "banana" "Plantains"
bécàn /bekan/ Fr. bécane /bekan/ "bicycle"
Bon-Dié /bõdje/ Fr. Bon Dieu /bõdjø/ "Deity in Haitian Vodou" or "God" or "God!"/"Good Lord!"
déyiê /dɛjɛ/ Fr. derrière /dɛʁjɛʁ/ "behind"
diri /diɣi/ Fr. du riz /dy ʁi/ "rice"
fig /fiɡ/ Fr. figue /fiɡ/ "banana"
kiyèz, tchoc, poban /kijɛz, tʃɔk, pobã/   "hog banana" [nb 1]
clé /kle/ Fr. clé /kle/, "key" "wrench" or "key"
clé cola /kle kola/ Fr. clé /kle/, "key" + Eng. "cola" "bottle opener"
cònflèx /kõnfleks/ En. "corn flakes" "breakfast cereal"
caoutchou /kawutʃu/ Fr. caoutchouc, "rubber" "tire"
lacày /lakaj/ (?) Fr. la cahutte /la kayt/ "the hut" "house"
lalin /lalin/ Fr. la lune /la lyn/ "moon"
li /lee/ Taino "he/she/him/her"
macac /makak/ Fr. macaque /makak/ "monkey"
matant /matãt/ Fr. ma tante, "my aunt" "aunt", "aged woman"
moun /mun/ Fr. monde "people/person"
mwen /mwɛ̃/ Fr. moi /mwa/ "me","I","myself"
niméwo /nimewo/ Fr. numéro /nymeʁo/ "number"
étaz-ini /etazini/ Fr. États-Unis /etazyni/ "United States"
piman /pimã/ Fr. piment /pimã/ a very hot pepper
pàn /pãn/ Fr. pendre /pãdʁ/, "to hang" "clothesline"
poi /pwa/ Fr. pois /pwa/, "pea" "bean"
séyfing /seifiŋ/ En. surfing "sea-surfing"
chênèt /ʃenɛt/ Fr. (Antilles) la quénette "mamoncillo", "chenette", "guinip", "gap" [nb 2]
tonton /tõtõ/ fr. tonton "uncle", "aged man"
voizen /vwazɛ̃/ Fr. voisin /vwazɛ̃/ "neighbor"
zyé /zje/ Fr. yeux /jø/ (plural of "oeil") "eye"
zoizo /zwazo/ Fr. les oiseaux /wazo/ (frontal "z" kept with liaison) "bird"
  1. ^ A banana that is short and fat, not a plantain and not a conventional banana; regionally called "hog banana" or "sugar banana" in English.
  2. ^ The gap between a person's two front teeth.

Nouns derived from trade marks

Many trademarks have become common nouns in Haitian Creole (as happened in English with "aspirin" and "kleenex", for example).

New words from English

Haitian Creole speakers have adopted some English words. "Fe bac" means 'to move backwards' (the original word derived from French is "rékilé" from reculer). Another example is "napkin" being used as well as the original Creole word "tôchon" from torchon.

nèg and blan

Despite similar words in French (nègre = a black man; blanc = white person), the meanings they carry do not apply in Haiti. The term nèg is generally used for any man, regardless of skin color (i.e., like "guy" or "dude" in American English). Blan is generally used for white foreigner.

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, such as grimo, bren, roz, mawon, etc. However, such labels are considered offensive by some Haitians, because of their association with color discrimination and the Haitian class system.

Grammar

Haitian Creole grammar differs greatly from French and inflects much more simply: for example, verbs are not inflected for tense or person, and there is no grammatical gender — meaning that adjectives and articles are not inflected according to the noun. The primary word order (SVO) is the same as French, but the variations on the verbs and adjectives are minuscule compared to the complex rules employed by French.

Many grammatical features, particularly pluralization of nouns and indication of possession, are indicated by appending certain suffixes, like yo, to the main word. There has been a debate going on for some years as what should be used to connect the suffixes to the word: the most popular alternatives are a dash, an apostrophe or a space. It makes matters more complicated when the "suffix" itself is shortened, perhaps making only one letter (such as m’ or w’).

Although the lexicon is mostly French, the sentence structure is of that of the West African Fongbe language. This is because many of the enslaved peoples that were brought to Haiti came from the former kingdom of Dahomey [citation needed] (present day Benin).

French Fongbe Haitian Creole
Ma bécane (my bike) Keke che (keke = bike / che = my) Bécàn mwen (bekàn = bike mwen = my)
French Fongbe Haitian Creole
Mes bécanes (my bikes) Keke che le (my bikes) Bécàn mwen yo (my bikes)

Pronouns

There are six pronouns, one pronoun for each person/number combination. There is no difference between direct and indirect. Some are of French origin, others are not.

person/number Creole Short form French English
1/singular Mwen M’ Je, me, moi "I", "me"
2/singular Ou (*) W’ Tu, te, vous "thou", "you" (sing.)
3/singular Li L’ Il, elle, on "He", "she"
1/plural Nou N’ Nous "We", "us"
2/plural Nou or Ou (**)   Vous "You" (pl.)
3/plural Yo Y’ Ils, Elles "They", "them"

(*) sometimes ou is written as w - in the sample phrases, w indicates ou.
(**) depending on the situation.

Plural of nouns

If a noun is definite, it is pluralized by adding yo at the end. If it is indefinite, it has no plural marker, and its plurality is determined by context.

Haitian Creole French English
Liv yo Les livres The books
Machin yo Les machines The cars
Fi yo mété rob Les filles mettent les robes The girls put on dresses.

Possession

Possession is indicated by placing the possessor after the item possessed. This is similar to the French construction of chez moi or chez lui which are "my place" and "his place", respectively. Unlike in English, possession does not indicate definiteness ("my friend" as opposed to "a friend of mine"), and possessive constructions are often followed be a definite article.

Haitian Creole French English
Lâjan li Son argent "His/her money"
"Fami mwen" or "fami’m" Ma famille My family
Cày yo Leur maison / Leurs maisons "Their house" or "their houses"
"Papa ou" or "papa’w" Ton père Your father
Chat Pierre*-a Le chat de pierre Pierre's cat
Chèz Marie*-a La chaise de Marie Marie's chair
Zami papa Jean* L’ami du père de Jean Jean's father's friend
Papa voizen zami nou Le père du voisin de notre ami Our friend's neighbor's father
*Names are usually spelled like in French.

Indefinite article

The language has two indefinite articles on /õ/ and yon /jõ/, roughly corresponding to English "a/an" and French un/une. Yon is derived from the French il y a un, (lit. "there is a/an/one"). It is used only with singular nouns, and it is placed before the noun:

Haitian Creole French English
On couto Un couteau A knife
On cravat Une cravate A necktie

Definite article

There is also a definite article, roughly corresponding to English "the" and French le/la. It is placed after the noun, and the sound varies by the last sound of the noun itself. If the last sound is an (ã) oral consonant and is preceded by an oral vowel, it becomes la:

Haitian Creole French English
Cravat-la La cravate The tie
Liv-la Le livre The book
Cày-la La maison The house

If the last sound is an oral consonant and is preceded by a nasal vowel, it becomes lan:

Haitian Creole French English
Lamp-lan La lampe The lamp
Banc-lan La banque The bank

If the last sound is an oral vowel and is preceded by an oral consonant, it becomes a:

Haitian Creole French English
Couto-a Le couteau The knife
Péï-a Le pays The country

If the last sound is an oral vowel and is preceded by a nasal consonant, it becomes an:

Haitian Creole French English
Fami-an La Famille The family
Mi-an Le mur The wall

If the last sound is a nasal vowel, it becomes an:

Haitian Creole French English
Chien-an Le chien The dog
Pon-an Le pont The bridge

If the last sound is a nasal consonant, it becomes nan:

Haitian Creole French English
Machin-nan La voiture The car
Téléfòn-nan Le téléphone The telephone
Madam-nan / Fam-nan La dame / La femme The woman

"This" and "that"

There is a single word ça that corresponds to French ce/ceci or ça, and English "this" and "that". As in English, it may be used as a demonstrative, except that it is placed after the noun it qualifies. It is often followed by a or yo (in order to mark number): ça-a = This here / that there (ceci / cela)

Haitian Creole French English
Jaden ça bèl Ce jardin est bel This/that garden is beautiful.

As in English, it may also be used as a pronoun, replacing a noun:

Haitian Creole French English
Ça sé zami mwen C’est mon ami This/that is my friend
Ça sé chien frê mwen C’est le chien de mon frère This/that is my brother's dog

Verbs

Many 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 are indicated by the use of tense markers.

Haitian Creole French English
Li al travày lé maten Il va au travail le matin He/she goes to work in the morning.
Li dômi lé soi Il dorm le soir He/she sleeps in the evening.
Li li bib-la Il lit la bible He/she reads the Bible.
Mwen fê manjé Je faire cuire I make food. (I cook)
Nou toujoû étidié Nous étudions toujours We always study.

Copulas

Main article: Copula (linguistics) § Haitian Creole

The concept expressed in English by the verb "to be" is expressed in Haitian Creole by three words, sé, yé and sometimes é

The verb sé (pronounced "say") is used to link a subject with a predicate nominative:

Haitian Creole French English
Li sé frê mwen Il est mon frère he is my brother
Mwen sé on doctê Je suis un docteur I am a doctor
Ça sé on pié-mango C’est un manguier That is a mango tree
Nou sé zami Nous sommes amis We are friends

The subject ça or li can sometimes be omitted with sé:

Haitian Creole French English
Sé on bon idé C’est une bonne idée That is a good idea
Sé nouvo chémiz mwen C’est ma nouvelle chemise This is my new shirt

For the future tense, such as "I want to be", usually vin "to become" is used instead of sé.

Haitian Creole French English
Li pr’al vin bofrê’m Il va devenir mon beaufrère He will be my brother-in-law
Mwen vlé vin on doctê Je veux devenir un docteur I want to become a doctor
Ça pr’al vin on pié-mango Ça va devenir un manguier That will become a mango tree
Nou pr’al vin zami Nous allons devenir amis We will be friends

"Yé" also means "to be", but is placed exclusively at the end of the sentence, after the predicate and the subject (in that order):

Haitian Creole French English
"Aïsien mwen yé" = "Mwen sé aïsien" Je suis haïtien I am Haitian
Ki moun ça yé? Qui est-ce? Who is that?
Coman ou yé? Comment êtes-vous? How are you?

The verb "to be" is not overt when followed by an adjective, that is, Haitian Creole has stative verbs. So, malad means "sick" and "to be sick":

Haitian Creole French English
Mwen gen on zami malad J’ai un ami malade I have a sick friend.
Zanmi mwen malad. My friend is sick.

"to have"

The verb "to have" is genyen, often shortened to gen.

Haitian Creole French English
Mwen gen lâjan nan banc-lan. J’ai d’argent dans la banque. I have money in the bank.

"there is"

The verb genyen (or gen) also means "there is/are"

Haitian Creole French English
Gen an-pil Aïsien nan florid. Il y’a beaucoup haïtiens en floride. There are many Haitians in Florida.
Gen on moun là. Il y’a quelqu’un là. There is someone here or there.
Pa gen moun là. Il n’y a personne là. There is nobody here or there.
Mwen genyen match-la. J’ai gagné le match I won the game.

"to know"

There are three verbs which are often translated as "to know", but they mean different things.

Còn or conné means "to know" + a noun (cf. French connaître).

Haitian Creole French English
É-s’ké ou conné non li? Est-ce que tu connais son nom? Do you know his name?

Còn or conné also means "to know" + a fact (cf. French savoir).

Haitian Creole French English
M’pa conné côté li yé. Je ne sais pas où est-il I don't know where he is.

(note pa = negative)

The third word is always spelled còn. It means "to know how to" or "to have experience". This is similar to the "know" as used in the English phrase "know how to ride a bike": it denotes not only a knowledge of the actions, but also some experience with it.

Haitian Creole French English
Mwen còn fê manjé. Je sais comment faire cuire I know how to cook (lit. "I know how to make food")
É-s’ké ou còn al aïti? Est-ce que tu as été à haïti? Have you been to Haïti? (lit. "Do you know to go to Haiti?")
Li pa còn li françé. Il ne peut pas lire français He/she can't read French (lit. "He doesn't know how to read French.")

Another verb worth mentioning is fê. It comes from the French faire and is often translated as "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
Coman ou fê pâlé créyol? Comment as-tu appris parler créole? How did you learn to speak Haitian Creole?
Marie còn fê maï moulen. Marie sais comment faire maïs mouliné Marie knows how to make cornmeal.

"to be able to"

The verb capab (or shortened to ca, cap or cab) means "to be able to (do something)". It refers to both "capability" and "availability", very similar to the French "capable".

Haitian Creole French English
Mwen ca alé démen. Je peux aller demain I can go tomorrow.
Pét-êt m’ca fê ça démen. Peut-être je peux faire ça demain Maybe I can do that tomorrow.

Tense markers

There 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 pâlé créyol. Je parle créole I speak Creole

Note that when the basic form of action verbs is used without any verb markers, it is generally understood as referring to the past:

Haitian Creole English
mwen manjé I ate
ou manjé you ate
li manjé he/she ate
nou manjé we ate
yo manjé they ate

(Note that manjé means both "food" and "to eat" -- m’ap manjé bon manjé 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
té simple past
t’ap past progressive a combination of té and ap, "was doing"
ap present progressive With ap and à, the pronouns nearly always take the short form (m’ap, l’ap, n’ap, y’ap, etc.)
à future some limitations on use
pr’al near or definite future translates to "going to"
t’à conditional future a combination of té and à, "will do"

Simple past or past perfect:

mwen té manjé - "I ate" or "I had eaten"
ou té manjé- "you ate" or "you had eaten"
li té manjé - "he/she ate" or "he/she had eaten"
nou té manjé - "we ate" or "we had eaten"
yo té manjé - "they ate" or "they had eaten"

Past progressive:

mwen t’ap manjé - "I was eating"
ou t’ap manjé - "you were eating"
li t’ap manjé - "he/she was eating"
nou t’ap manjé - "we were eating"
yo t’ap manjé - "they were eating"

Present progressive:

m’ap manjé - "I am eating"
w’ap manjé - "you are eating"
l’ap manjé - "he/she is eating"
n’ap manjé - "we are eating"
y’ap manjé - "they are eating"

Note: For the present progressive ("I am eating now") it is customary, though not necessary, to add "right now":

M’ap manjé coun-yiê-a - "I am eating right now"

Also, those examples can mean "will eat" depending on the context of the sentence.

M’ap manjé apré m’priye - "I will eat after I pray" / Mwen p'ap di ça - "I will not say that"

Near or definite future:

Mwen pr’al manjé - "I am going to eat"
Ou pr’al manjé - "you are going to eat"
Li pr’al manjé - "he/she is going to eat"
Nou pr’al manjé - "we are going to eat"
Yo pr’al manjé - "they are going to eat"

Future:

N’à wé pi tâ - "See you later" (lit. "We will see (each other) later) from the old patois (Nous sommes à voire plus tard > > Nous à voire plus tard) meaning: we are to see later.

Other examples:

Mwen té wé zami ou yiê - "I saw your friend yesterday"
Nou té pâlé lontan - "We spoke for a long time"
Lê’l té gen uit an... - "When he/she was eight years old..."
M’à travày - "I will work"
M’pr’al travày - "I'm going to work"
N’à li’l démen - "We'll read it tomorrow"
Nou pr’al li’l démen - "We are going to read it tomorrow"
Mwen t’ap mâché é’m té wé on chien - "I was walking and I saw a dog"

Additional time-related markers:

fê’k - recent past ("just")
sôt - similar to fê’k

They are often used together:

Mwen fê’k sôt antré cày-la - "I just entered the house"

A verb mood marker is t’à, corresponding to English "would" and equivalent to the French conditional tense:

Yo t’à rémé jwé - "They would like to play"
Mwen t’à vini si’m té gen on machin - "I would come if I had a car"
Li t’à bliyé’w si ou pa’t là - "He/she would forget you if you weren't here"

Negating the verb

The word pa comes before a verb (and all tense markers) to negate it:

Rose pa vlé alé - "Rose doesn't want to go"
Rose pa’t vlé alé - "Rose didn't want to go"

Examples

Proverbs

  • Sac vid pa campé - You can't work without food. (Literally: An empty sack does not stand)
  • Pitit tig sé tig - Like father like son. (Literally: a young tiger is still a tiger).
  • Ac pasians w’à wé tété foûmi - Anything is possible. (Literally: With patience you will see the breast of the ant)
  • Bâ’y cou bliyé, pôté mâc sonjé – The giver of the blow forgets, the carrier of the scar remembers
  • Bèl dan pa di zami – Just because one smiles at you doesn't mean they're your friend
  • Bèl entêman pa di paradi – A beautiful funeral doesn't guarantee heaven
  • Ça’k rivé coucouloulou-a ca rivé cacalanga tou – What happens to the turkey can happen to the rooster too.
  • Créyol pâlé, créyol compràn – Speak plainly, do not deceive / Creole spoken is Creole understood
  • Fam poû youn tan, manman poû tout tan – Wife for one time, mother for all time
  • Li pâlé françé – He cannot be trusted, he's a trickster. (Literally: He speaks French)
  • Nèg di san fê, Bon Dié fê san di – People say without doing, God does without saying
  • Nèg rich sé milât, milât pov sé nèg – A rich negro is a mulatto, a poor mulatto is a negro
  • Pâlé françé pa di léspri ou – Speaking French doesn't mean you're smart.
  • Woch nan dlo pa conné doulê woch nan soléy – The rock in the water doesn't know the pain of the rock in the sun
  • Si ou bwé dlo nan vê, réspècté vê-a – If you drink water from a glass, respect the glass
  • Si travày té bon bagày, moun rich t’à pran’l lontan – If work were a good thing, the rich would've grabbed it a long time ago

Usage outside of Haiti

Haitian 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 an 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. North America's only Creole-language television network is HTN, based in Miami. The area also has more than half a dozen Creole-language AM radio stations.

There is controversy over whether to teach Creole in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.[citation needed] Some people [who?] argue Creole is a peasant language that is not fully developed for literary purposes; others [who?] argue it is important for children to learn a written form of their parents' native tongue.

Haitian language and culture is taught in many colleges in the United States as well as in the Bahamas. Indiana University has a Creole Institute [1] founded by Dr. Albert Valdman where Haitian Creole, among other facets of Haiti, are studied and researched; the University of Kansas, Lawrence has an Institute of Haitian studies, founded by Dr. Bryant Freeman. Additionally, the University of Massachusetts Boston, Florida International University, and University of Florida offer seminars and courses annually at their Haitian Creole Summer Institute. Tulane University, Brown University, Columbia University, and University of Miami are also offering classes in Haitian Creole. The University of Oregon and Duke University will soon be offering classes as well.

Haitian Creole is the second most spoken language in Cuba, where over 300,000 Haitian immigrants speak it. It is recognized as a 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.[3] The language is also spoken by over 150,000 Haitians (although estimates believe that there are over a million speakers due to a huge population of illegal aliens from Haiti[4]) who reside in the neighboring Dominican Republic [5], although the locals do not speak it.

Translation efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake

After the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010, international help badly needed translation tools for communicating in Haitian Creole. As an emergency measure, Carnegie Mellon University released data for its own research into the public domain.[6] Microsoft Research and Google Translate have implemented alpha version machine translators based on the Carnegie Mellon data.

In addition, several free apps have been published for use on the iPhone & iPod Touch, including learning flashcards by Byki and two medical dictionaries, one by Educa Vision and a second by Ultralingua, which includes an audio phrase book and a section on cultural anthropology.

Haiti is isolated from the rest of the world by a significant language barrier. Lexical information is incomplete. For example, the machine translators provided by Microsoft and Google are only in alpha mode and have not made it to beta testing. Very few non-Haitians know the language, and most Haitians do not understand another language, even French. The language barrier is a contributor to Haitian poverty and it has confounded earthquake relief work as well.

References

  1. ^ Gerard Alphonse Ferere (1977). "Neglected front rounded phonemes in Haitian Creole". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 7 (01): 23–27. doi:10.1017/S0025100300001584.
  2. ^ Gerard Alphonse Ferere (1983). "Nasalized vowels and semiconsonants in Haitian Creole". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 13 (02): 76–81. doi:10.1017/S0025100300002577.
  3. ^ Haiti in Cuba
  4. ^ Dr1.com: Illegal Haitians deported
  5. ^ Languages of Dominican Republic
  6. ^ Carnegie Mellon releases data on Haitian Creole to hasten development of translation tools

Further reading

  • Degraff, Michel (2001). "Morphology in Creole genesis: Linguistics and ideology". In Kenstowicz, Michael (ed.). Ken Hale: A life in language. Cambridge: MIT Press. pp. 52–121.
  • Degraff, Michel (2005). "Linguists' Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Creole Exceptionalism". Language in Society. 34 (4): 533–591.
  • Fattier, Dominique (1998). "Contribution à l'étude de la genèse d'un créole: L'Atlas linguistique d'Haïti, cartes et commentaires (Dissertation)". Language in Society. Université de Provence.
  • Turnbull, Wally R. (2000). Creole Made Easy, Light Messages. ISBN 0-9679937-1-7.

External links

Haitian Creole edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Haitian Creole test of Wiktionary at Wikimedia Incubator
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Haitian Creole
Wikiversity has learning resources about Haitian Creole
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