Haitian Creole

Haitian Creole

Haitian Creole is a creole language based on the French language. It is spoken in Haiti by about 7.5 million people (in 1998), which is nearly the whole population. Some hundred thousand speakers live in other countries.

There are linguistic influences from several West African languages, namely from Wolof, Fon and Ewe. There are two dialects: Fablas and Plateau Haitian Creole.

Since 1961 Haitian Creole has the status as official language. Its usage in literature is small but growing. Many speakers are bilingual and speak both Haitian Creole and French, but Creole has a lower social status than French. There are newspapers, radio and tv programs in this language.

It is not to be confused with Haitian Vodoun Culture Language.