Haitian Creole language : Ask Biography

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Haitian Creole language ('Kreyòl ayisyen'; -htkɣejɔl ajisjɛ̃pron), often called simply Creole or Kreyòl, is a language spoken in Haiti by about twelve million people, which includes all Haitians in Haiti and via emigration, by about two to three million speakers residing in the Bahamas, Cuba, Canada, France, Cayman Islands, French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Belize, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Ivory Coast, Venezuela, and United States.

Haitian Creole is one of Haiti's two official languages, along with French. It is a creole based largely on 18th to 21st-century French, some African languages, as well as Arabic, Spanish, Taíno, and English.

Partly due to efforts of Félix Morisseau-Leroy, since 1961 Haitian Creole has been recognized as an official language along with French, which had been the sole literary language of the country since its independence in 1804. Its orthography was standardized in 1979. The official status was maintained under the country's 1987 constitution. The use of Haitian Creole in literature has been small but is increasing. Morisseau was one of the first and most influential authors to write in Haitian Creole. Since the 1980s, many educators, writers and activists have written literature in Haitian Creole. Today numerous newspapers, as well as radio and television programs, are produced in Haitian Creole.

As required by the 1979, the Institut Pédagogique National established an official orthography for Kreyòl, and slight modifications were made over the next two decades. For example, the hyphen (-) is no longer used, nor is the apostrophe. The only accent accepted is the grave accent (à, è, or ò).