| Antillean Creole | ||
|---|---|---|
| Kreyol, Kwéyòl, Patwa | ||
| Spoken in | Dominica, French Antilles (Guadeloupe, Martinique), Saint Lucia | |
| Total speakers | 1,205,585[1] | |
| Language family | Creole language
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | ||
| ISO 639-3 | gcf,acf | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Antillean Creole is a French-lexified
creole
language spoken primarily in the Lesser Antilles. Its grammar and
vocabulary also include elements of Carib and African
languages. Antillean Creole is related to Haitian Creole, but has a number of
distinctive features. The language was formerly more widely spoken
in the Lesser
Antilles, but it has mostly vanished from Tobago and the number of speakers is declining
in Grenada. While the
islands of Dominica and Saint Lucia are
officially English-speaking, there are efforts in both countries to
preserve the use of Antillean Creole and in recent decades, it has
gone from being seen as a sign of lower socio-economic status to a
mark of national pride.
Since the 1970s there has also been a literary revival in French
islands, with writers such as Edouard Glissant
and Raphaël Confiant among others.
Dominican speakers of Antillean Creole call the language
Kwéyòl.[2]
Antillean Creole is spoken, to varying degrees, in Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Barthélemy
(St. Barts), Saint
Lucia, Saint Vincent, Trinidad
and Tobago. Antillean Creole has approximately 1 million
speakers.
It is a de facto mean of communication for migrant populations
between neighbouring English and French-speaking islands.
Below is a sample of St. Lucian Creole French taken from a folktale.[3]
Pwenmyé ki pasé sé Konpè Kochon. I di, "Konpè Lapen, sa ou ka fè la?"
Konpè Lapen di'y, "Dé ti twou yanm ng'a (=mwen ka) fouyé bay ich mwen pou mwen bay ich mwen manjé."
Konpè Kochon di, "Mé, Konpè, ou kouyon, wi! Ou vlé di mwen sa kay fè yanm?"
An English translation from the same source:
First to pass was Konpè Kochon (Mister Pig). He said, "Konpè Lapen (Mister Rabbit), what are you doing there?"
Konpè Lapen told him, "I am digging a few holes to plant yams to feed my children."
Konpè Kochon said, "But, Konpè, you're too foolish! You mean to tell me you can grow yams there?"
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Singular |
Plural |
Antillean Creole
   | Languages of Dominica - Ethnologue report for Dominica |
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