History gave Haitians French. Haitians gave themselves Creole...

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Reply to Msg 11970

History gave Haitians French.

Haitians gave themselves Creole and they colored French with some Creole flavor.

Change and variation in any language is normal.

There is nothing to complain about.

The following references from ERIC, Education Resources Information Center will serve as illustrations.

Reference # 1:
Research-Study: Images de la variation du Francais / Images of variation of French by
Veronique Castelloti & Didier de Robillard de l'Universite Francois Rabelais.

Page 399: French is sometimes used as a form of social camouflage, to look cool...

Page 400: Based on data and investigation, the researchers recognized not one form of French but several forms of French.

Considering French as a uniform, standard and boxed language would simply be pure fantasm.

Research funded by: La delegation generale a la langue francaise et aux langues de France (DGLFLF) or General Delegation to the French Language and the Languages of France.

Research published in 2001.

Reference # 2
Le changement linguistique, évolution, variation, et hétérogénéité.

Les actes du colloque de l'Universite de Neuchatel.

(Suisse, 2-4 Octobre, 2000).

Linguistic change: evolution, variation, heterogeneity.

Proceedings of the University of Neuchatel Colloquium.

(Switzerland, October 2-4, 2000).

Our conclusion:
Languages change.

They evolve.

They influence each other during exposure and interactions.

Not one language has one form around the world.

There is a linguistic phenomenon called pluralism:
• pluralism of French (French spoken in France is different from region to region, from Canada, from Martinique, from Haiti, from Trinidad;
• pluralism of English: English is different within US, from state to state, from North to South, from the East coast to the West coast of USA, from Great Britain, from South Africa; from Australia, etc.
• pluralism of Spanish: Spanish is different among the Hispanic countries: Spain, Argentina, Guatemala, Cuba, Columbia, Nicaragua, etc.

To learn more, go online and read:
- Linguistic Aspects of Australian Aboriginal English
- Variation in Contemporary Spanish: Linguistic Predictors of "Estar" in Four Cases of Language Contact
- Language Attitudes and Gender in China: Perceptions and Reported Use of Putonghua and Cantonese in the Southern Province of Guangdong
- Attitudes towards Non-Standard English in Singapore

So, my question to the statement: Haitians do no speak French is: which one?

Which French?

Is it French from the old ages full of latin and greek words?

Is it French from Canada, from Paris, from Martinique, Guadeloupe or from Belgium?

Is it french from Burkina Faso or from Haiti?

Of course, we have our own French.

French in Haiti is engaged in a tam-tam dance with many other languages: Creole, English, and Spanish.

Usually, we speak French to our classmates, to our school teachers.

We speak creole to our friends.

Our language with family is a real mixture.

We mix a little bit of French and Creole.

And if we have immigrant parents, they bring the american flavor or the hispanic taste (from Dominican Republic and South America) to our daily language.

With radio, TV, the internet, the explosion of mass media and multi-media, everyone has a chance now to learn any language.

I wish you will learn creole.

It's a great language, easy to learn, fun to speak, very poetic and romantic.

But it's not French.

Do not confuse French and Creole.

Languages influence people.

Languages influence each other and they are influenced.

They changed.

They evolved.

You can't stop a language from changing, from evolving.

There are so many factors influencing a language, we can't even count them all: not only we the people, but also our history, our origin, our environment, our geography, our climate changes, our social status, our economical status, our educational level, our beliefs, etc...

etc...

That's why there are many areas of language studies: General Linguistic, Psycho-Linguistic, Socio-Linguistic, Geo-Linguistic, Semiotic, Semantic, Syntax, Grammar, etc...

Each area looks at a language from a different perspective.

Each language is unique but can also have different forms.

Just like us, human beings, we are unique and different at the same time.

None of the experts came to the conclusion that the Haitian Creole is a: "Broken jargon, incomprehensible, limited, unreadable,..." Actually, Creole evolved.

Creole is now a language.

Anyone can learn Creole.

There are Creole CDs and books, newspapers and magazines, grammar and dictionary.

Enjoy your learning time! Creole is fun! APRANN KREYOL! OU KA APRANN! Your can take our Creole and color our language with some French.

Frenchise it! Have fun with it. That's what life is about.

Life is fun. Learning is fun. Learning to speak a new language is fun. Next time we speak French, don't say that we don't speak French.

Just say, which one are you speaking?

Yanick Jean-francois-landess, January 1 2009, 2:38 PM

Topic: Haitians do not speak french

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