Haitian Creole Lexicon

Haitian Creole is a French based creole spoken in the Republic of Haiti, located on the western third of the island known as Hispaniola (Kiskeya, to Haitians) in the West Indies. The façon de parler is a result of the gradual change of the French dialect of Franco-European colonists by African and Créole slaves (African slaves native to the island). This change includes the speaking of French vocabulary in an African (Fon) syntax.

As well as the addition of a pluralization marker like the Fongbe word le.

This practice of using a pluralizing marker can also be found in Jamaican (English) Patois.

The word Dem a corruption of Them is used just like the Creole the word Yo meaning Them is.

The gradual abbreviation of the early French patois also included the shortening of certain French phrases into Tense markers such as:

M'ape manje / M'ap manje - I'm eating (Which comes from the Old Phrase: Je suis après manger, Creolized as Moi après manger, Then: Mouen apé manjé, also appearing as: M’ape manje, M’ap manje or Mwen ap manje ) (Ape comes from the phrase: être après and ap is its more common and even further abbreviated form)

In addition to the African syntax and the use of tense and pluralizing markers, a practice of West African languages, Haitian Creole also has a considerable amount of lexical Items from many languages most notably from various West African languages, Old and Norman French, Taino, Spanish and Portuguese amongst others (English, Arab etc.). These entered Creole through interaction between various people who spoke these languages from colonial times to modern time.

Numbers

Time and Date

Verbs

People

Feelings

Religion

Nature

Animals

Plants

Weather

Geological features

Creole words of African origin

• Acra n. a malanga fritter
• Anasi // From Asante – Ananse // n. a spider (The French derived term is, zarenyen)
• Boco // From Fongbe – Bokono // n. a sorcerer (The French derived term is, sósié)
• Chouc // From Fulani – Chuk // v. to pierce, to poke / n. a poke (The French derived term is, piké)
• Chouc-chouc // From Fulani – Chuk // v. to have [...]
• Mambo // From Kikongo – Mambu + Fongbe – Nanbo // n. a Vaudou priestess
• Marasa // From Kikongo – Mabasa // n. twins (The French derived term is, joumo)
• Ouanga n. a Vaudou charm or relic
• Oungan // From Fongbe // n. a Vaudou priest
• Ounsi // From Fongbe // n. a Vaudouisant
• Yo // From Fongbe – Ye // pron. They(‘re), them, their (Yo is also placed after a noun for pluralization purposes, from example: Liv – Book / Liv yo – Books. The French derived term, zot, is used in some parts of Haiti)
• Zombi //From Kikongo – Nzumbi // n. a ghost, a soulless corpse or living dead

Creole words of Old French origin

• Ap // OFr. Être après // - present tense marker (the more common and abbreviated from of the word, apé)
• Apé // OFr. Être après // - present tense marker
• Gouiyé // Norman Fr. Griller – to slide, to slip // v. to gyrate (one’s waist), to have [...]
• Pral // OFr. Être après aller // adj. To be going to / - future tense marker
• Rélé / Yélé / Élé // OFr. Héler // v. to call, to yell
• T’ap // OFr. Avoir esté après // - Imperfect tense marker
• Té // OFr. Avoir esté // - Past tense marker

Creole words of Taino origin

• Anacaona // Ana kaona – Gold flower // n. a very beautiful woman
• Anana n. a pineapple (Became part of standard French)
• Ayiti n. Haiti
• Babaco // Barbakoa – A Taino roasting process // n. a feast
• Bohio // Bohio – Home, house // n. Haiti
• Caco // Buticaco or Heiticaco // n. a bumpkin, someone from the countryside
• Calalou n. okra, also a soup that includes okra and crab among other ingredients,known as gumbo in Louisiana
• Canari n. a clay jug
• Colibri n. a humming bird (Became part of standard French, it is also called, zoizo ouanga or ouanga négès)
• Coucouy // Kokuyo // n. a firefly
• Counouc // Konuko // n. a shack
• Kiskéya // Ki sike a – Spirit of the big mountain // n. Hispaniola
• Lambi n. conch, a conch shell
• Mabi n. a type of drink
• Mabouya // Mabuya – a Ghost, evil spirit // n. a lizard
• Samba n. a musician or poet

Creole words of Portuguese origin

• Ba // Dar – to give // v. to give
• Cachimbo n. a pipe used for smoking tobacco
• Mantèg // Manteiga // n. lard, butter (The French derived term for butter is, bé / beu)
• Pikini // Pequenino // n. a child (The more common French derived terms are, pitit & ti moun)
• Tchipé / Tchupé // Chupar – to suck // v. to suck one’s teeth (at)

Creole words of Spanish origin

• Abladó // Hablador // n. a speaker (person), someone who talks a lot
• Bosal // Bozal // adj. to be savage (The French derived term is, sovaj)
• Sapat // Zapatos or zapatillas // n. slippers
• Tchacleta // Chancleta // n. a certain type of sandal

In Haitian creole the Spanish suffix -ador (pronounced in Creole as adó) is sometimes placed in combination with a French verb to describe someone who performs a certain action.

• Babiadó / Babyadó // Fr. Babiller + Sp. –ador // n. a constant complainer
• Bliadó // Fr. Blier + Sp. -ador // n. a forgetful person
• ''Couchadó // Fr. Coucher + Sp. –ador // n. a sleepyhead, one who sleeps a lot

External links

• Haitain Creole materials from the Institute of Haitian Studies at the University of Kansas - Complete pdf versions of books created by Bryant C. Freeman, PhD, as well as the accompanying mp3 audio supplements.
• Microsoft Translator supporting Haitian Creole. Since Carnegie Mellon began to make the data on Haitian Creole publicly available (see external link below), a team at Microsoft Research used it to help develop an experimental, web-based system for translating between English and Haitian Creole.
• Public release of Haitian Creole language data by Carnegie Mellon. In response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, scientists at Carnegie Mellon University's Language Technologies Institute (LTI) publicly released spoken and textual data they've compiled on Haitian Creole so that translation tools desperately needed by doctors, nurses and other relief workers on the earthquake-ravaged island could be rapidly developed.
• HMBC - A website entirely in Haitian creole
• Ann pale kreyòl - "Let's speak creole" (Haitian Creole complete course)

• Haitian Creole - English, English - Haitian Creole Dictionary
• Creole Language and Culture - OpenCourseWare from the University of Notre Dame
• UN Declaration of Human Rights in Haitian Creole
• Haitian Kréyòl grammar
• What is Haitian Creole? (By Hugues St.Fort)
• Haitian Creole English Dictionary from Webster's Online Dictionary - The Rosetta Edition
• Projects in Haitian Creole