A French-based creole and the most widely spoken creole language in the world — Haiti's co-official language alongside French, spoken by virtually all 12 million Haitians.
Where it’s spoken
Haitian Creole (Kreyòl Ayisyen) is spoken by about 12 million people — virtually all Haitians and the largest Haitian diaspora in the United States (about 1.5 million), the Dominican Republic, Canada (especially Quebec), France, the Bahamas, and the French Caribbean. It is the dominant first language of Haiti, while French is used in government and education.
What it sounds like
Haitian Creole has seven oral vowels and three nasal vowels. Its consonant system is similar to French but simplified. The language is non-tonal. Word order is rigid Subject-Verb-Object, and verbs are uninflected — tense and aspect are marked by particles before the verb (te for past, ap for progressive, va or ava for future).
How it’s written
Haitian Creole uses a phonemic Latin orthography developed in 1979 (the IPN orthography) and made official in 1980. Long debated against earlier French-influenced spellings, the modern orthography uses k instead of c/qu, w instead of ou, and nasal vowels marked with n following the vowel.
History
Haitian Creole emerged in the 17th–18th centuries among enslaved Africans on French Saint-Domingue colonial plantations. After the 1804 Haitian Revolution, French remained the language of the elite. The 1987 constitution made Creole co-official.
Find more languages by letter
Haitian Creole starts with H and ends with E. Browse other languages along the same letter.
Languages that contain a letter from "Haitian Creole":