| Also Known As: Haitian Creole French,Kreyol,Aiysyen
Description:
Haitian Creole language (kreyòl ayisyen), often called simply Creole or Kreyòl (pronounced [kɣejɔl]), is a language spoken in Haiti by about 7.0 million people (as of 2001), which is nearly the entire population, and via emigration, about 400,000 speakers who live in the Bahamas, Cuba, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, and United States. The language is notable for being the most widely spoken creole language in the world.
Haitian Creole is one of Haiti's two official languages, along with French. It is a creole based primarily on 18th Century French with various influences, most notably West African and Central African languages (including some Arabic), Taino, Portuguese, Spanish, and some English. African and French influence is strongest, as those were the two populations in contact during the development of Creole.
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 upheld under the country's 1987 constitution. The use of Creole in..... full article at Wikipedia |