Kreyol Ayisyen

From OLPC
Revision as of 05:09, 26 February 2008 by 75.25.130.215 (talk) (Pootle Kreyòl project; name in Kreyòl)
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is a stub. You can help the OLPC project by expanding it.

Kreyòl Ayisyen is called Haitian Creole French, Haitian Creole, or just Creole in English, Créole Haïtien in French, and Kreyòl or Ayisyen in Kreyòl. It is the main language of Haiti, although standard French is used for many purposes. Most textbooks in Haiti are in French.

A creole is usually the descendant of a bilingual or multilingual pidgin, which is usually a mixture of words from the source languages with minimal, irregular grammar. Creoles consistently develop regular and very similar grammars in the second or third generation of speakers removed from the influence of source language speakers.

According to sources cited at Ethnologue, Kreyol Aiysyen (sic) shows influences from Wolof, Fon, and Éwé. In 1961 it was granted legal and educational status in Haiti. It has a growing literature, including poetry, but lower social status than Standard French.

There is a Kreyòl localization project on Pootle.