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<h4 class="entry-title">Kreyol: Another Perspective on Orphanhood</h4>
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<div id="gmail-attachment_20130" style="width:423px" class="gmail-wp-caption gmail-alignleft"><img class="gmail-wp-image-20130" src="https://haitiantimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Feed-300x283.jpg" alt="" width="413" height="393"><p class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Photo by: Feed the Children </p></div>
<p>By David S. Willig</p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The author of “</span><a href="https://haitiantimes.com/2018/07/02/kreyol-the-orphan-that-wouldnt-go-away/"><span style="font-weight:400">Kreyol, The Orphan That Wouldn’t Go Away</span></a><span style="font-weight:400">,” Dr. Reynard Altema, raises some excellent points about the status of French and the local vernacular in Haiti.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Looking at the issue from the outside can give an added perspective to the thesis that a </span><span style="font-weight:400">language policy is something that can favor the well-being and development of a country.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Indeed, it is hard to argue that education does not play a significant role in such development. </span><span style="font-weight:400">Education depends on language as the medium of transmission for knowledge.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Likewise, the rule of law supports development, and the law, whether communicated orally by </span><span style="font-weight:400">elders
or written down in law books, also depends on language as the vehicle
of transmission, but also the vessel for preservation to know what the
law is, whether written or oral.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">It is wrong to consider disdain toward Kreyol as an “inferior” means of </span><span style="font-weight:400">communication if a prominent university instructor is writing a mathematics textbook in that </span><span style="font-weight:400">language.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">At the same time, it probably does no good to denigrate the use of the French language as </span><span style="font-weight:400">“wallowing in the muck of a vile patois, spoken by ruffians and slaves.” After all, English, now </span><span style="font-weight:400">the
most widely-used language around the world is also the product of a
subjugated people, formed from Norman French, a common root for Kreyol,
according to the theory developed by the brilliant Haitian diplomat and
linguist, Jules Faine, in his seminal work, Philologie Créole.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Perhaps there is some merit to the
belief that being fluent in French is a worthy distinction. Such a
belief, of course, ought not to be founded on the basis that only a
superior intellect can accomplish such a feat. Rather, it should be
founded on the idea that French can open up possibilities for Haiti, and
for Haitians, that Kreyol alone will not do.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">French and Kreyol go hand in hand, whether that Kreyol arose in Haiti, Mauritius, Louisiana or </span><span style="font-weight:400">the French West Indies. Haiti is not the only country where more than one language is </span><span style="font-weight:400">spoken. Consider the challenges faced by the denizens of the Netherlands Antilles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The vernacular of Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire is Papiamento, a creole language based largely </span><span style="font-weight:400">on Portuguese and Spanish. Their formal language of instruction, Dutch, does not have with </span><span style="font-weight:400">Papiamento the relationship that French has to Kreyol. Yet, the Dutch Antilleans take great </span><span style="font-weight:400">pride in using their vernacular as a jumping-off point to learn Spanish and Portuguese, two </span><span style="font-weight:400">languages with wider application.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The realpolitik, pragmatic solution
of teaching French, and teaching in French, even from, indeed especially
from, a Kreyolophone viewpoint should be encouraged. French still has a
place in the world, and some argue that place is actually growing.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">For example, young people in Africa are increasingly opting for fluency and education in </span><span style="font-weight:400">“official languages” of the continent, which include French, English, Portuguese and even </span><span style="font-weight:400">Spanish in the case of Equatorial Guinea. Many tribal and ethnic languages are in danger of </span><span style="font-weight:400">disappearing, some without a trace in the case of unwritten languages.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Haitians will not have to make that cultural sacrifice to get along in the world of the 21st </span><span style="font-weight:400">century. A friend of this author once joyfully announced, “Kreyol is cool.” And it is; it is </span><span style="font-weight:400">comfortable, and redolent of family and friends. Unlike the “Bamileke” languages of </span><span style="font-weight:400">Cameroon, Kreyol provides a direct link to French, as well as a connection to worldwide </span><span style="font-weight:400">Créolophonie.</span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight:400">David S. Willig is a Miami-based attorney qualified in Florida and in France (Bar of Paris)</span></i></p></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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