Haitian Creole
Haitian Creole (Kreyòl) is a creole language based on the French language. It is spoken in Haiti by about 7.5 million people (as of 1998), which is nearly the whole population. Several hundred thousand speakers live in other countries, including Canada, the United States and France, as well as many Caribbean nations.
There are linguistic influences from several West African languages, namely from Wolof, and some Gbe languages, notably Fon and Ewe/Anlo-Ewe. There are two dialects: Fablas and Plateau Haitian Creole.
Since 1961, Haitian Creole has been recognized as an official language. Its usage in literature is small but growing. Many speakers are bilingual and speak both Haitian Creole and French, but Creole has a lower social status than French in the minds of some. Many educators, writers and activists have emphasized pride and written literacy in Creole since the 1980s. There are newspapers, radio and television programs in this language.
It is not to be confused with
