Haitian Creole

Haitian Creole
kreyòl
Pronunciation	[kɣejɔl]
Native to	Haiti
Native speakers	9.6 million (2007)[1]
Language family	Indo-European[2][3] Italic[4] Romance[4] Western Romance Gallo-Romance Oïl French Creole Haitian Creole
Writing system	Latin (Haitian Creole alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	Haiti
Recognised minority language in	Cuba[5]
Regulated by	Akademi Kreyòl Ayisyen (“Haitian Creole Academy”)[6]
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ht
ISO 639-2	hat
ISO 639-3	hat
Glottolog	hait1244[7]
Linguasphere	51-AAC-cb
IETF	ht

Haitian Creole (/ˈheɪʃən ˈkriːoʊl/; Haitian Creole: kreyòl,^[8][9] pronounced: [kɣejɔl]) is a French-based creole language spoken by 9.6–12 million people worldwide,^[10] and the only language of more than 95% of Haitians.^[11][12] It is a creole language based largely on 18th-century French with influences from Portuguese, Spanish, Taíno, and West African languages.^[13] Haitian Creole emerged from contact between French settlers and African slaves during the Atlantic Slave Trade in the French colony of Saint‑Domingue (now the Republic of Haiti). Haitians are the largest creole-speaking community in the world.^[14]

Using and teaching in Haitian Creole—which is not mutually comprehensible with French—has been contentious since at least the 19th century: where Haitians saw French as a sign of colonialism, Kreyòl 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 subjects, and until the 2000s, all instruction at Haitian elementary schools was in French—a foreign language to at least 95% of the students.

Etymology

The word creole is of Latin origin via a Portuguese term that means, "person (especially a servant) raised in one's house".^[15] It first referred to Europeans born and raised in overseas colonies, but later was used to refer to the language as well.^[9]

History

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.^[16] In the early 1940s under President Élie Lescot, attempts were made to standardize the language. Lescot brought in two American linguistic experts, Frank Laubach and H. Ormonde McConnell, to develop a standardized Creole orthography. Although some regarded the orthography highly, it was generally not well received.^[17] Its orthography was standardized in 1979. That same year Haitian Creole was elevated in status by the Act of 18 September 1979.^[18] The Institut Pédagogique National established an official orthography for Kreyòl, and slight modifications were made over the next two decades. For example, the hyphen (-) is no longer used, nor is the apostrophe.^{[19]:131[20]:185–192} The only accent mark retained is the grave accent in ⟨è⟩ and ⟨ò⟩.^[20]:433 The Constitution of 1983 upgraded Haitian Creole to a national language alongside French.^[21] 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.^[22]:263[23] Even without government recognition, by the end of the 1800s, 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 authors of Haitian Creole work. Since the 1980s, many educators, writers, and activists have written literature in Haitian Creole. On 28 October 2004 Haitian newspaper Le Matin first published an entire edition in Haitian Creole in observance of the country's newly instated "Creole Day".^[24]:556

Origins

There are many theories on the formation of the Haitian Creole language.

John Singler suggests that Creole was probably formed between the time the French colony of Saint‑Domingue was founded in 1659 and 1740.^[25]:53 It was during this period that the colony moved from tobacco and cotton production to a mostly sugar-based economy, which created a favorable setting for the Creole language to form. At the time of tobacco and cotton production, the Haitian population was made up of colonists, the engagés (employed whites), people of color and slaves in relatively balanced proportions, with roughly equal numbers of people of color and engagés. Singler estimates the economy shifted into sugar production in 1690, and radically reconfigured the early Haitian people as "the big landowners drove out the small ones, while the number of slaves exploded".^[25]:53 Prior to this economic shift, engagés were favored over slaves as they were felt to be easier to control.^[26] However, the sugar crop required a much larger labor force, and larger numbers of slaves were brought in. As the colored slaves had decreasing contact with native French-speaking whites, the language would have begun to change.^[25]:53–57

Many African slaves in French ownership were from the Niger-Congo territory and particularly from Kwa (Gbe and Akan) and Bantu language-family areas.^[25]:53–57 Many were sent to French colonies. 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 the Gbe predominance in the French Caribbean. During the time Singler places the evolution of the language, the Gbe population was 50% of the imported slave population.^[25]:53–57

In contrast to the African languages, a type of classical French (français classique) and langues d'oïl (Norman, Poitevin, Saintongeais, Brittany, Picard) were spoken during the 17th and 18th centuries in Saint‑Domingue, as well as in the other French colonies of North America and French West Africa.^[9][27] Slaves who were seldom able to communicate with fellow slaves would try to learn French. With the constant importation of slaves, the language gradually became formalized and became a distinct tongue to that of the French. The language was also picked up by the whites and became used by all those born in what is now Haiti.^[9]

Although over 90% of the Haitian Creole vocabulary is of French origin, the two languages are mutually unintelligible.^[9][28] This is due to the fact that the two grammars are different. In addition, both Haitian Creole and French have experienced semantic change; words that had a single meaning in the 17th century have changed or have been replaced in both languages.^[9] 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 "what"; genre "manner"; vous "you", and héler "to call", but the verb héler has been replaced by appeler in 21st century French.^[9]

The Fon language, a modern subdivision of the Gbe language, is often used to compare grammatical structure between Haitian Creole and to relexify it with vocabulary from French:^[29]

French	Fon	Haitian Creole	English
la maison[30]	afe a	kay la	the house

Orthography

Haitian 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⟩.^[8]: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/.^[20]:433

Consonants Haitian orthography IPA Examples English approximation b b bagay bow ch ʃ cho shoe d d dous do f f fig festival g ɡ gòch gain h h hèn hotel j ʒ jedi measure k k kle sky l l liv clean m m machin mother n n nòt note ng ŋ bilding feeling p p pase spy r ɣ rezon between go and loch s s sis six t t tout to v v vyann vent z z zero zero Non-native consonants dj dʒ djaz jazz Semivowels w w wi we y j pye yes ui ɥi uit roughly like sweet

Vowels Haitian orthography IPA Examples English approximation a (or à before an n) ɡ abako pàn bra e e ale hey è ɛ fèt festival i i lide machine o o zwazo roughly like law (British English) ò ɔ deyò sort ou u nou you Nasal vowels an (when not followed by a vowel) ã anpil No English equivalent; nasalized [ɒ] en (when not followed by a vowel) ɛ̃ mwen No English equivalent; nasalized [ɛ] on (when not followed by a vowel) ɔ̃ tonton No English equivalent; nasalized [o] oun (when not followed by a vowel) i moun No English equivalent; nasalized [u]

• There are no silent letters in Haitian Creole.
• 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⟩.^[31] 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").

Haitian orthography debate

The first technical orthography for Haitian Creole was developed in 1940 by H. Ormonde McConnell. It was later revised with the help of Frank Laubach, resulting in the creation of what is known as the McConnell–Laubach orthography.^[20]:434

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.^[20]:436 Another criticism was of the broad use of the letters ⟨k⟩, ⟨w⟩, and ⟨y⟩, which Pressoir argued looked "too American".^{[20]:431–432} This criticism of the "American look" of the orthography was shared by many educated Haitians, who also criticized its association with Protestantism.^[20]: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.^[20]: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.^[20]: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 imperialist, ⟨c⟩ and ⟨ou⟩ to represent those sounds are the heritage of French colonialism.^[32]:191

French-based orthography

Prior to the standardization of Haitian Creole orthography in the late 20th century, spelling varied, but was based on subjecting spoken Haitian Creole to written French, a language whose spelling has not matched its pronunciation since at least the 16th century. 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 le maten,
• Lui aller travail le matin, or
• Li aller travail le matin.

Grammar

Haitian 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.^{[20]:185–192}

Although language's vocabulary has many words related to their French-language cognates, its sentence structure is like that of the West African Fon language.^[29]

Haitian Creole	Fon	French (17th c.)	English
bekann mwen bike my	keke che bike my	ma bécane my bike	my bike
bekann mwen yo bike my plural	keke che le bike my plural	mes bécanes my bikes	my bikes

Pronouns

There are six pronouns: first, second, and third person, each in both singular, and plural. Some are of French origin, others are not. There is no difference between direct and indirect objects. The short form of Haitian Creole pronouns are used only at the beginning of a sentence or before verbs that begin with a vowel.^[33]

Haitian Creole		Fon[25]:142	French	English
long form	short form[19]:131[34]
mwen	m	nyɛ̀	je	I
			j'
			me	me
			m'
			moi
ou[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]	w	hwɛ̀	tu	you (singular), thou (archaic)
			te
			t'
			toi
li[lower-alpha 3]	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[37]:94	you (plural)[lower-alpha 4]
yo[lower-alpha 5]	y	yé	ils	they
			elles
			les	them
			leur
			eux

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 autos	the cars
fi yo mete wob	les filles mettent des robes	the girls put on dresses

Possession

Possession is indicated by placing the possessor or possessive pronoun 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. In northern Haiti, a or an is placed before the possessive pronoun.

Unlike in English, 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
kay yo	leur maison	their house
	leurs maisons	their houses
papa ou	ton père	your father
papa w
chat Pierre 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

The 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

In Haitian Creole, there are five definite articles,^[38]:28 and they are placed after the nouns they modify. The final syllable of the preceding word determines which is used with which nouns.^[39]:20 If the last sound is an oral consonant and is preceded by an oral vowel, it becomes la:

Haitian Creole	French	English
kravat la	la cravate	the tie
liv la	le livre	the book
lakay 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
bank 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
kouto a	le couteau	the knife
peyi a	le pays	the country

If a word ends in "mi", "mou", "ni", "nou", or a nasal vowel, it becomes an:

Haitian Creole	French	English
fanmi an	la famille	the family
mi an	le mur	the wall
chyen an	le chien	the dog
pon an	le pont	the bridge

If the last sound is a nasal consonant, it becomes nan, but may also be lan:

Haitian Creole	French	English
machin nan	la voiture	the car
machin lan
telefonn nan	le téléphone	the telephone
telefonn lan
fanm nan	la femme	the woman
fanm lan

Demonstratives

There 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 chyen frè mwen	c'est le chien de mon frère	this is my brother's dog
		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, 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

The 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	il 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 sa or li can sometimes be omitted with se:

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 on 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
Koman ou ye?	lit. Comment êtes-vous?	How are you?

Haitian Creole has stative verbs, which means that the verb "to be" is not overt 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

The 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

The 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

The Haitian Creole word for "to know" and "to know how" is konnen, which is often shortened to konn.

Haitian Creole	French	English
Eske ou konnen non li?	Connais-tu 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")
Eske ou konn ale Ayiti?	As-tu été à 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

Fè 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

The 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

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 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"; 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")

Simple past or past perfect:

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

Present progressive:

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 pap 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

Future:

Haitian Creole	English
n a wè pi ta	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

The 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

Most 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.

Being a living language, 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.

Sample

Haitian Creole	IPA	origin	English
anasi	/anasi/	Akan: ananse	spider
annanna	/ãnãna/	French: anana (from Taíno: ananas)	pineapple
Ayiti	/ajiti/	Taíno: Ayiti, 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
bòkò	/boko/	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	/ʃõk/	Fula: chuk, lit. to pierce, to poke	poke
dekabes	/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
Etazini[40]:i, 63, 141	/etazini/	French: États-Unis	United States
fig	/fiɡ/	French: figue, lit. fig	banana
je	/ʒe/	French: yeux, lit. eyes	eye
kle	/kle/	French: clé, lit. key	key, wrench
kle kola	/kle kola/	French: clé, lit. key	bottle opener
		English: cola
kònflèks	/kõnfleks/	English: corn flakes	breakfast cereal
kawotchou	/kautʃu/	French: caoutchouc, lit. rubber	tire
lakay	/lakaj/	French: la cahutte, lit. the hut	house
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: mabasa	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
seyfing	/seifiŋ/	English: surfing	sea-surfing
tonton	/tõtõ/	French: tonton	uncle, aged man
vwazen	/vwazɛ̃/	French: voisin	neighbor
yo	/jo/	Fon: ye	they, them, their; plural marker
zonbi	/zõbi/	Kongo: nzumbi	soulless corpse, living dead, ghost
zwazo	/zwazo/	French: les oiseaux, lit. the birds	bird

Nouns derived from trademarks

Many trademarks have become been genericized in Haitian Creole as happened in English with "aspirin" and "kleenex":

Haitian Creole	generic trademark	English
kolgat (also pat dantifris)	Colgate	toothpaste
jilèt (also razwa)	Gillette	razor
pampèz (also kouchèt)	Pampers	diaper, nappy
kodak	Kodak	camera
frijidè	Frigidaire	refrigerator
dèlco	Delco	generator
iglou	Igloo	cooler
tèmòs	Thermos
chiklèt	Chiclets	chewing gum
magi	Maggi	bouillon cube
kitèks	Cutex	nail polish
djip	Jeep	SUV
douko	Duco	automobile paint
koteks	Kotex	sanitary napkin
ajax	Ajax	powder cleanser

Nèg and blan

Despite nèg and blan having 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 "person", regardless of skin color (like "guy" or "dude" in American English).^[41][42] The word blan generally means "foreigner" or "not from Haiti". Thus, a non-black Haitian man would be called nèg, while a black person from Cameroon could be referred to as blan.^[41]

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

Salutations

Proverbs and expressions

Proverbs play a central role in traditional Haitian culture and Haitian Creole speakers make frequent use of them as well as of other metaphors.^[43]

Proverbs

Haitian Creole	English
Men anpil, chay pa lou	Strength through unity[44] (lit. "With many hands, the burden is not heavy";[45] 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")[46]
Sak vid pa kanpe	No work gets done on an empty stomach (lit. "An empty bag does not stand up")[47]: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, pòte 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
Bel fanm pa di bon menaj	A beautiful wife does not guarantee a happy marriage
Dan konn mode 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 turkey can happen to the rooster too (lit. "What happens to the dumb guy can happen to the smart one too")[47]: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[47]:93
Nèg di san fè, Bondye fè san di	Man talks without doing, God does without talking[47]: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 pov 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[47]: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[48]
Ravèt pa janm gen rezon devan poul	Justice will always be on the side of the stronger[49] (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 (Said to ridicule 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")[50]

Expressions

Haitian 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")[51]
Kreyòl pale, Kreyòl konprann	Speak straightforwardly and honestly (lit. "Creole talks, Creole understands")[47]:29
Bouche nen ou pou bwè dlo santi	You have to accept a bad situation (lit. "Pinch your nose to drink smelly water")[47]: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!'"[47]: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 kon joj	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")[52]
Piti piti zwazo fè nich li	You will learn (lit. "Little by little the bird makes its nest")[47]:110

Usage outside of Haiti

United States and Canada

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 the first 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 HBN, based in Miami. The area also has more than half a dozen Creole-language AM radio stations.^[53]

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.^[54] Indiana University has a Creole Institute^[55] founded by 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 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, University of Miami, and Duke University^[56] also offer Haitian Creole classes, and Columbia University and NYU have jointly offered a course since 2015.^[57][58]

Cuba

Haitian Creole is the second most spoken language in Cuba, 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.^[5]

Dominican Republic

As of 2012, the language was also spoken by over 450,000 Haitians who reside in the neighboring Dominican Republic,^[59] although the locals do not speak it. However, some estimates suggest that there are over a million speakers due to a huge population of illegal aliens from Haiti.^[60]

Software

After 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.^[61] 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

• Antillean Creole
• Louisiana Creole
• Mauritian Creole
• Radio Haiti-Inter

References

Further reading

• DeGraff, Michel (2003). "Against Creole exceptionalism" (PDF). Linguistic Society of America 79 (2): 391–410. doi:10.1353/lan.2003.0114. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 July 2015. 
• DeGraff, Michel (2001). "Morphology in Creole genesis: Linguistics and ideology" (PDF). In Kenstowicz, Michael. 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 (Indiana University Press) 35 (2): 128–140. doi:10.1353/ral.2004.0046. ISSN 1527-2044. JSTOR 3821349. (registration required (help)). 

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 materials about Haitian Creole

• "Indiana University Creole Institute". 
• Haitian Creole basic vocabulary (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)

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