| Antillean Creole | ||
|---|---|---|
| Kreyol, Kwéyòl, Patwa | ||
| Spoken in | Dominica, French Antilles (Guadeloupe, Martinique), Saint Lucia | |
| Total speakers | 1,205,585[1] | |
| Language family | Creole language
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | ||
| ISO 639-3 | gcf,acf | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Antillean Creole is a French-lexified creole language spoken primarily in the Lesser Antilles. Its grammar and vocabulary also include elements of Carib and African languages. Antillean Creole is related to Haitian Creole, but has a number of distinctive features. The language was formerly more widely spoken in the Lesser Antilles, but it has mostly vanished from Tobago and the number of speakers is declining in Grenada. While the islands of Dominica and Saint Lucia are officially English-speaking, there are efforts in both countries to preserve the use of Antillean Creole and in recent decades, it has gone from being seen as a sign of lower socio-economic status to a mark of national pride.
Since the 1970s there has also been a literary revival in French islands, with writers such as Edouard Glissant and Raphaël Confiant among others.
Dominican speakers of Antillean Creole call the language Kwéyòl.[2] Antillean Creole is spoken, to varying degrees, in Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Barthélemy (St. Barts), Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago. Antillean Creole has approximately 1 million speakers.
It is a de facto mean of communication for migrant populations between neighbouring English and French-speaking islands.
Examples
- Good morning-Bonjou /bonzu/.
- Please-Souplé /su plɛ/.
- Thank you-Mèsi /mɛsi/.
- Excuse me-eskizé mwen.
- Rain is falling-Lapli ka tonbé (Lapli ap tonbe(Haitian)).
- Today is a nice/beautiful day-Jodi-a sé an/yon bel jou Jodi-a bel.
- How are you/how are you keeping-Ka ou fè? (Guadeloupe) / Sa ou fè (Martinique) (Sa k ap fet (Haitian)).
- Anne is my sister/mother-Ann sé sè /manman (an) mwen
- Andy is my brother/father/husband-Andy sé fwè/papa/mari (an) mwen
- He is going to the beach-I ka alé bodlanmè-a/laplaj
Text Sample
Below is a sample of St. Lucian Creole French taken from a folktale.[3]
Pwenmyé ki pasé sé Konpè Kochon. I di, "Konpè Lapen, sa ou ka fè la?"
Konpè Lapen di'y, "Dé ti twou yanm ng'a (=mwen ka) fouyé bay ich mwen pou mwen bay ich mwen manjé."
Konpè Kochon di, "Mé, Konpè, ou kouyon, wi! Ou vlé di mwen sa kay fè yanm?"
An English translation from the same source:
First to pass was Konpè Kochon (Mister Pig). He said, "Konpè Lapen (Mister Rabbit), what are you doing there?"
Konpè Lapen told him, "I am digging a few holes to plant yams to feed my children."
Konpè Kochon said, "But, Konpè, you're too foolish! You mean to tell me you can grow yams there?"
References
- ^ [1] [2]. Ethnologue considers Guadeloupean Creole French (spoken in Guadeloupe and Martinique) and Saint Lucian Creole French (spoken in Dominica and Saint Lucia) as two separate languages, with the respective ISO 639-3 codes: gcf and acf.
- ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Languages of Dominica. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, SIL International, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.
- ^ Konpè Lapen mandé on favè = Konpè Lapen asks a favor: a Saint Lucian folk tale. 1985. Vieux-Fort, Saint Lucia: SIL. 10 p.
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