haitian creole language

Haitian Creole (Kreyl ayisyen) is a creole language based on the French language. It is spoken in Haiti by about 7.5 million people (as of 1998), which is nearly the whole population. Via immigration, several hundred thousand speakers live in other countries, including Canada, the United States and France, as well as many Caribbean nations. There are linguistic influences from several West African languages, namely from Wolof, and some Gbe languages, notably Fon and Ewe/Anlo-Ewe. There are two dialects: Fablas and Plateau Haitian Creole. Since 1961, Haitian Creole has been recognized as an official language. Its usage in literature is small but growing. Many speakers are bilingual and speak both Haitian Creole and French, but Creole has a lower social status than French in the minds of some. Many educators, writers and activists have emphasized pride and written literacy in Creole since the 1980s. There are newspapers, radio and television programs in this language. Miami-Dade County in Florida sends out paper communications in Haitian Creole in addition to English and Spanish. It is not to be confused with Haitian Vodoun Culture Language.

Simple sample phrases

(Text in square brackets is in the International Phonetic Alphabet.)

Hello - Salu salu (Fr. salut saly)
Good morning — Bonjou bʒu (Fr. bonjour bʒur)
Good evening — Bonswa bswa (Fr. bon soir) bswar
Goodbye — Na we nawe (or Nap we) napwe
Please — Silvouple silvuple / Souple suple (Fr. s'il vous plaît silvuple)
Thank you (very much) - Msi (ampil) (pil) (Fr. merci, mɛrsi)
How are you? — Kijan ou ye? kiʒuye
What's your name? — Kijan ou rele? kiʒurele
My name is... — M'rele... m̩rele
How's it going? — Sak pase? sakpase
General response to Sak pase: Map boule! mapbule (Fr. je boule ʒəbul)
Who's your daddy? — Kiys ki Papa'w? papaw
I love you — M renmen w m̩rɛ̃mɛ̃w
Give me a dollar — Ba'm youn dola bamjũdola

How much/how many? — Kombyen? kbjɛ̃ (Fr. combien kbjɛ̃)
How? — Kijan? kiʒ or Koman? kom (Fr. quel genre kɛlʒrə ; comment kɔm)
Who? — Ki moun? kimun (Fr. qui ki)
Which? — Ki ls?
Where? — (Ki) Kote? kikote / Ki bo? kibɔ (Fr. quelle côt kɛlkote, quel bord kɛlbɔr)
When? — Ki l? kilɛ (Fr. quelle heure kɛlr
Why? — Pouki(sa)? puki(sa) (Fr. pourquoi (a) purkwa(sa))

A sample of the vocabulary

Where the French source-word is not the same as the French translation, the source is noted in parentheses. In most such cases, the difference is because of Haitian having reanalyzed the definite article as part of the noun. Creole — French — English

zwazo zwazo — oiseau (<(les) oiseaux) (lez)wazo — bird
Ozetazini etazini — États-Unis (<(aux) États-Unis (oz)etazyni) — the United States
vwazen vwazɛ̃ — voisin vwazɛ̃ — neighbour
nimewo nimewo — numéro nymero — number
lalin lalin — (la) lune (la)lyn — moon
dèyè dɛjɛ — derrière dɛrjɛr — behind
zye zje — oeil (<(les) yeux (lez)j) — eye
Bondye bdje — Dieu (<(Bon) Dieu bdj) — God
makak makak — singe (makak) — monkey
kay kaj — maison — house
bekann bekan — bicyclette — bicycle
diri diri — riz (<(du) riz dyri) — rice
pwa pwa — pois pwa — bean

External links

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