What type of french is spoken in haiti

The official languages of Haiti are Haitian Creole and French. Other languages spoken in the country include Spanish and English.

Haiti and Canada are the only sovereign nations in the American region to have French as an official language. In Haiti, French is used in official documents, the education system, and in the media.

French is the standard written language in Haiti. Despite French being the administrative language in Haiti, only 5 percent of Haitians are fluent in the language. The few people who speak French in Haiti are the elite and well to do Haitians, mainly found in the urban centers. Haitian Creole is the most popular language in Haiti. The language is a blend of French, Taino, and some West African languages.

Haitian Creole is spoken throughout Haiti, although it differs by region. Haitian Creole is an official language alongside French, but it is not perceived as a prestigious language and is therefore rarely used in official matters. Furthermore, there are very few texts written in Haitian Creole. Haitian French lacked these informal qualities. Monolingual Creole speakers avoided formal situations where their inability to communicate in French would be a disadvantage or an embarrassment.

In an attempt to be accepted in formal or governmental circles, some monolingual Creole speakers used French-sounding phrases in their Creole speech, but these imitations were ultimately of little or no use. Middle-class bilinguals in Port-au-Prince suffered the greatest disadvantage because they frequently encountered situations in which the use of French would be appropriate, but their imperfect mastery of the language tended to betray their lower-class origins. It was in the middle class that the language issue was most pressing.

The use of French as a class marker made middle-class Haitians more rigid in their use of French on formal occasions than Haitians who were solidly upper class. The origins of Creole are still debated. Some scholars believe that it arose from a pidgin that developed between French colonists and African slaves in the colonies.

Others believe that Creole came to the colony of Saint-Domingue as a full-fledged language, having arisen from the French maritime-trade dialect. Whatever its origins, Creole is linguistically a separate language and not just a corrupted French dialect. Although the majority of Creole words have French origins, Creole's grammar is not similar to that of French, and the two languages are not mutually comprehensible.

There are regional and class variations in Creole. Regional variations include lexical items and sound shifts, but the grammatical structure is consistent throughout the country. Bilingual speakers tend to use French phonemes in their Creole speech. The tendency to use French sounds became common in the Port-au-Prince variant of Creole. By the s, the Port-au- Prince variant was becoming perceived as the standard form of the language. The use of French and Creole during the colonial and the independence periods set speech patterns for the next century.

No matter which indicators you pick, Haiti has an appalling record on education. One recent report rated it as the third worst place in the world, after Somalia and Eritrea, to go to school. It's estimated that about one-third of children never enrol at primary school, and only about one in 10 complete secondary school. Prof DeGraff is working with the Matenwa school to try to prove the case for mother tongue education, in studies with the children there, showing - for example - their progress in maths , when taught in Creole.

But if the weight of expert opinion supports mother tongue schooling, not all Haitians agree. Interestingly, those most opposed tend to come from the poorest backgrounds, who speak little or no French, and see school as the best place to correct that.

But the tough policy worked for her, as she now speaks two languages to a high standard. It can open many doors," she says. Theodule Jean-Baptiste, who is studying medicine, is also unconvinced. The belief is widely held in Haiti that Creole is somehow a primitive, inferior language - possibly because of its origins in the days of slavery. Creole is "fully expressive", as well as being rich in imagery and wisdom says Prof DeGraff.

More than 30 years ago, a law known as the Bernard Reform was introduced in Haiti, with the specific aim of boosting education in Creole - but critics say it has never been implemented. The Haitian Ministry of Education accepts that textbooks in Creole are in short supply, though it says Creole is already being used widely in classrooms, alongside French.

But the question of Creole or French as the language of instruction appears to be of less concern to the Ministry than the very different question - how to give students a good grounding in English or Spanish.