Haitian French (french: français haïtien,

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; ht, kreyòl ayisyen, links=no, ; french: créole haïtien, links=no, ), commonly referred to as simply ''Creole'', or ''Kreyòl'' in the Creole language, is a French-based creole language spoken by 10–12million people wor ...

: ''fransè ayisyen'') is the variety of

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

spoken in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...

. Haitian French is close to standard French. It should be distinguished from

Phonology

The

phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-wes ...

consonant // is pronounced [], but it is often silent in the syllable coda when occurring before a consonant or prosodic break (''faire'' is pronounced [ː]). The nasal vowels are not pronounced as in French of France, // → [], // → [], // → [], and // → []. The typical vowel shifts make it sound very much like other regional accents of the French West Indies, French Caribbean and the Francophone countries of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. The perceivable difference between Haitian French and the French spoken in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

lies in the Haitian speaker's intonation, where a subtle creole-based tone carrying the French on top is found. Importantly, these differences are not enough to create a misunderstanding between a native

ian speaker and a speaker of Haitian French. In Haiti, the French spoken in Paris is very influential, so much so that a growing number of

Haitians Haitians (French: , ht, Ayisyen) are the citizens of Haiti and the descendants in the diaspora through direct parentage. An ethnonational group, Haitians generally comprise the modern descendants of self-liberated Africans in the Caribbean terr ...

would rather speak it as precisely as possible and pursue this by listening to

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

and matching the somewhat conservative style of speech heard on that station. In the educated groups, French is spoken more closely to the Parisian accent. It is within this group that a major portion of enrollment is provided for the private schools and universities. Even in this group however, a native accent of the language usually occurs in everyone's speech.

References

External links

Muska Group: Native Haitian French & Haitian Creole Advertisements (Film & Radio)

Accents: A Manual for Actors, Volume 1

Haiti French vs. Paris French (A linguistic comparison)

Listen to French accents across the world (Videos)
{{Gallo-Romance languages and dialects Languages of Haiti French dialects French language in the Americas

Phonology

See also

References

Further reading

External links