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Home > The Haitian People > Creole, Not French, Is Haiti's Official Language Creole, Not French, Is Haiti's Official Language "Creole is a language whose body is French but whose soul is African." (Aimé Césaire)
The CIA world fact book reports both French and Creole as official languages of Haiti but here is the real fact:
Creole is the language of Haiti, spoken 100% by all haitians across the territory.
From Wikipedia: "French is an official language of Haiti although it is mostly spoken by the upperclass and well educated whereas Haitian Creole is more widely used."
Where does the term "Creole" come from?
The term creole comes from a Portuguese word meaning "raised in the home." It first referred to Europeans born and raised in the overseas colonies. It was later used for languages that arose on the plantations that the Europeans established (source: creole, the national language of Haiti by Albert Valdman)
How Creole was formed
In a way, Creole resulted from African slaves' efforts to speak the French that they heard when they arrived in the colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti).
Slaves came from all over West Africa and spoke many different languages. On any one plantation, several African languages were spoken. Also at that time, most of the French people in Saint-Domingue spoke French dialects and everyday spoken French.
That type of French, called Popular (common people's) French, differed a lot from the French spoken by the ruling classes in France called Standard French. The slaves, seldom able to communicate with fellow slaves in a common African tongue, tried to learn Popular French.
Slaves who arrived later, especially field slaves who had little contact with French speakers, tried to learn the approximative variety of Popular French the other slaves spoke rather than Popular French itself.
Over time, this approximative form of French became more and more different from the French varieties and came to be recognized as a language in its own right--Creole. It is also interesting that it was picked up by the whites and became the language used by all those born in the colony. (source: creole, the national language of Haiti by Albert Valdman)
Note: creole, the national language of Haiti is one of the best articles I've ever read about the Creole language, take some time to read it and you will have a much batter understanding of the creole language.
The Creole Language Controversy
Here is a piece of an article, Creole Language in Haiti by Lanah Lherisson about the language controversy in Haiti
Haitian Creole is the native speech of almost all the inhabitants of the Haitian Republic.
The majority of people, if not all are speakers of Creole. It is the mother tongue of virtually the entire population; furthermore, it is the only language of 90 to 95 percent of the population. The rest are bilingual in both Standard French and Haitian Creole.
With an excess of speakers, one would not think that the language, Creole, would be seen as one that is inferior.
Popularly, they (Creoles) are thought to be inferior, haphazard, broken, bastardized versions of older, longer established languages.
In academic circles, especially in recent years, attempts have been made to remove the stigma so frequently attached to them by pointing out that there is no such thing as a primitive or inferior language.
The history of Creole has a severe impact on its speakers by labeling them as low class people. Because historically creole was spoken mainly by a group of people who had been denied educational opportunities, it became associated with the poor and laboring class, and often families would forbid their children from learning and speaking it, encouraging them instead to become proficient in the dominant European language alone." The view of Creole as a negative language is presently occurring.
Creole is viewed as a poor and uneducated language. We are then saying that Haiti is then an inferior country due to the fact that all Haitians have some knowledge of Creole. People may already think of Haiti as inferior by it being a third world country but to some raised there and still living there, their language is no more inferior than any other language.
Despite their rich cultural heritage Creoles have been devalued of prestige, in the same way that their speakers have been, for at least five hundred years.
Along with their language, monolingual speakers of Creole are repressed in several ways. They were repressed from getting an education and were made to feel intimidated if they did not know French. This repression was used as a way of keeping the Creole speakers oppressed and confined. Therefore language is used as a form of power:
Haiti’s poor, who for the most part only speak Creole, often have difficulty excelling in school because school’s are conducted in French.
Creole is near and dear to every Haitian’s heart. It is an integral part of Haitian culture and heritage.
The Creole language in Haiti is a very controversial issue. While some people think that the excessive use of Creole, now in schools is ruining the country, others think that it is beneficial.
Read full article here: Creole Language in Haiti by Lanah Lherisson
I am very interested in hearing your opinion about this topic, Creole Vs French. be sure to post your comments about this topic.
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 Nathacha's comment about "Creole, Not French, Is Haiti's Official Language"
rectification I think when you said "Haiti Languages" Creole (official) should come first, cause all Haitians speak and understand creole but not all haitians speak and understand french if they don't go to school.
Orleen's comment about "Creole, Not French, Is Haiti's Official Language" Didn't know ... and here I thought that Creole was created so that the slave masters could not understand what the slaves would talk about amongst themselves... Thanks, now I know.
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Vilbrun Meronvil's comment about "Creole, Not French, Is Haiti's Official Language" my opinion Je deplore la creolisation actuelle du systeme educatif haitien. Haiti est trop juste, trop pauvre pour faire cavalier seul.On devrait au contraire commencer a penser a l'officialisation de l' anglais a cote du francais dans les ecoles en haiti. Quand le pays vit le jour en 1804, iln'y avait pas eu d' autre choix que d' adopter le francais car on dependa encore de la France ds bien d' aspects de notre vie. mais maintenant tout a change;on respire grace aux Etats unis, d'autant plus que la France demeures tres hostile a nous Jusqu'au jour.Alors Pourquoi creole?,Pourquoi pas Anglais?
Vilbrun Meronvil's comment about "Creole, Not French, Is Haiti's Official Language" my opinion Je deplore la creolisation actuelle du systeme educatif haitien. Haiti est trop juste, trop pauvre pour faire cavalier seul.On devrait au contraire commencer a penser a l'officialisation de l' anglais a cote du francais dans les ecoles en haiti. Quand le pays vit le jour en 1804, iln'y avait pas eu d' autre choix que d' adopter le francais car on dependa encore de la France ds bien d' aspects de notre vie. mais maintenant tout a change;on respire grace aux Etats unis, d'autant plus que la France demeures tres hostile a nous Jusqu'au jour.Alors Pourquoi creole?,Pourquoi pas Anglais?
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