The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.
SIL code: HAT
ISO 639-2: cpf
| Population | 7,410,000 in Haiti (1998). Population total all countries 7,800,000. |
| Region | Throughout the country. Also spoken in Bahamas, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Puerto Rico, USA. |
| Dialects | FABLAS, PLATEAU HAITIAN CREOLE. |
| Classification | Creole, French based. |
| Comments | Linguistic influences from Wolof (Benjamin 1956), Fon,and Ewe (C. Lefebvre) of West Africa. Bilingualism in French. Mother tongue of the entire population; the only language of 95% of the population (Nida 1972). Strong, with strong basilect. In 1961 it was granted legal and educational status in Haiti. A growing literature, including poetry. Lower social status than Standard French. National language. Dictionary. Grammar. SVO; prepositions; articles after noun heads. Faublas-Pressoir orthography is standard since 1979. Newspapers, radio programs, TV. Bible 1985. |
| Dominican Republic |
|
