'Haitian' or 'Haitian Creole'?

[Ronald Kephart]

For what it's worth, Yves Dejean calls it "kreyòl" in his nifty little 
book /Ann etidiye lang nou an /[Let's study our language] (Demen Miyò, 
1995). Which is entirely in Kreyòl, by the way.  But it is really a 
difficult issue, this business of what to call a language.  I think (and 
I may be wrong) that people in the Seychelles call their French Creole 
"Seselwa."  On Carriacou where I work, people call their French Creole 
either "Patwa" or "Broken French."  They also call their English Creole 
"Broken English."  What to do....  I have a paper in progress titled 
Taking the "Broken" out of "Broken English."  Belizeans on the other 
hand have taken to calling their (English) Creole "Kriol."

Ron


On 1/12/11 7:47 AM, Damien Hall wrote:
> Apologies for cross-postings. This message has just appeared on the 
> LINGUIST List:
>
> http://linguistlist.org/issues/22/22-188.html
>
> Damien
>
> =================
>
> Date: 11-Jan-2011
> From: Hyppolite Pierre <hpierre at irsp.org>
> Subject: Language Name: Haitian instead of Haitian Creole
>
>
> My name is Hyppolite Pierre and I am Haitian-American. I am very
> interested in the debate about the way we call the language. In fact, I
> absolutely refuse to call the language "Haitian Creole" and instead, I
> simply call it "Haitian", which I believe is the appropriate term.
>
> Could you point me to any other scholarly material where linguists like
> yourselves use the term "Haitian" as well?
>
> I am glad that there is a growing body of scholars and intellectuals who
> see and understand the danger in calling the language "Haitian
> Creole", but would like to know of any other links, scholarly materials,
> and intellectuals who also call the language "Haitian".
>
> I know among others, that Jean Price-Mars, Pradel Pompilus and
> also Maximilien Laroche preferred the term "Haitian". I also know that
> Roger Savain and Michel Rolph Trouillot have done the same. Are
> there any others?
>
> This is a very serious and "live" debate that can benefit Haiti, and I
> would love to know more about it.
>
> Very best to you,
> Hyppolite Pierre