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Home , Dominican Spanish, Haitian Creole, Hispaniola, Royal Spanish Academy, Voseo

KREÑÒL: A NEW IN THE ?

Lady Carolina Tavárez Varela

Abstract Scholars from a wide range of disciplines have approached the Hispaniola to study its historical and cultural richness. However, they have not yet addressed the linguistic barriers that impact the economic and social interactions between both countries. This study investigates language interactions of Creole and speakers in the border city of Anse-à-Pitres, . The study looks at 20 hours of recorded natural speech between Dominican Spanish and speakers interacting at a market. It was revealed that these speakers used, among other mechanics, a newly emerging pidgin language. This paper explores the meaning that is constructed in this emerging language, which for the purposes of this research, will be called Kreñòl.

I. Introduction THE ISLAND of Hispaniola, currently divided French and Haitian Creole are the major between the nations of Haiti and the of Haiti, while in the Dominican , was the first in the "New Republic, Dominican Spanish is spoken. World" where the Spanish formed a colony.1 Scholars of various educational branches have As such, it served as a logistical base for the carried out investigative work on the island; conquest of most of the . these studies focus on the history and cultural diversity that the island has to offer. However, many of them have not had the opportunity to 1 Nilsa Baez & República Dominicana: Historia, study the relationship between the languages civilllización y cultura.

© Lady Carolina Tavarez-Varela, 2014. Originally published in Explorations: The UC Davis Undergraduate Research Journal, Vol. 16 (2014). http://Explorations.UCDavis.edu © The Regents of the University of California.

spoken in both countries and how the language barrier between them affects the economy or the social relations between these countries. This study seeks to explain some of these socio-economic relations happening on the island. The study took place, for more than a year, in one of four country binational markets, better known as "La puerta de la confraternidad” or “The door of fellowship," in the border towns of Anse-à-Pitres (Haiti) and Pedernales (DR). It was revealed that the (b) speakers at this market used, among other (a) The author; (b) APL Students, December 2012. mechanics, a newly emerging pidgin language. Most of their parents were participants for this study. This paper explores the meaning that is constructed in this emerging language, which These vendors use a new language, pidgin-like, for the purposes of this research, will be called which I call Kreñòl. According to the Kreñòl. dictionary of the ,2 I also had the opportunity to visit the pidgin (pronounced [pĭj'ən]) is a language largest market on the island,, located between characterized by combining syntax, phonetics the border towns of Ounamente and Dajabon and morphologicals of one language with for an entire day. The importance of that visit another’s lexical units. was that I heard the same pidgin language I define the Kreñòl as a linguistic being spoken among vendors. This indicates encounter between the two civilizations, the that the expansion of Kreñòl not only occurs Haitian and Dominican. This means that when in the southwest of the country, but rather it is confronted by the need to sell their products a phenomenon that spreads among sellers and communicate with the buyer and/or from both countries in all binational markets. sellers, inhabitants of the island use a simpler This study is focused on more than 10 hours of way to communicate. They use this mixture, natural conversations by Haitian vendors in or pidgin, because they know little about the the market. I focused on Claudine and other’s language of business; in the case of the Rasamel. These participants come from , it is Spanish. The Dominicans, on the different generations. Claudine is older than other hand, do not care to speak Creole or see Rasamel, has 10 children. Rasamel, on the the need to learn and so, always speak in other hand, provides the youthful example of Spanish. Many of them claim that as the the study. He is very charismatic and sociable. market is on the Dominican side of the island, For him to use this linguistic phenomenon is they do not have the need to learn Creole. For not only a source of employment, but also a them, Haitians should, and must, be able to simple and easy way to communicate with communicate if they wish to sell productively. Dominican counterparts. Yet Dominicans understand Kreñòl, the new mixture of languages. In this analysis I have examined the explanations made by bilingual participants of Haitian kreyòl (Creole) and Dominican español (Spanish) when they combine both languages

(a) 2 Centro virtual Cervantes: Pidgin

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to create Kreñòl. Kreñòl contains the same features of their cultures are still present today number of letters in which the original names in the language. of the languages of these countries are written The market in which I conducted my (a ratio of 3:3) because I see a change of the research for more than one year was called La same ratio and/or average when speakers puerta de la confraternidad (the gate of combined both languagues to create a new fellowship, known as “La Puerta”). In word. However, pronunciation and other addition to this market, I had the opportunity effects proved that Creole is used more than to visit the largest market of the island in Spanish; such details will be explained later. Dajabón, where I also noticed the influence of Figure 1 explains how the word Kreñòl Kreñòl. At La Puerta, customers come from evolved. This is a new word, never before both countries, but over 80% are Dominican. written. I was inspired by the original names of Dominican Spanish is strongly influenced the most used languages in the island, by the Yoruba language. Similarly, the Dominican (español) Spanish and kreyòl Dominican dialect uses several indigenisms, (Creole) ayisyen. Moreover, as there is a 50% despite having a completely extinct indigenous contribution by each language, so far, I used population. The African influence is evidenced the same number of letters to explain and in the words, speech, accent, colloquialisms name Kreñòl. and intonations. According to historians,3 the arrivals from Guinea in West , along with the Congo, were forced to learn and neutralize Castilian forms. People in the are the descendants of runaway slaves, and therefore their Spanish tends to be more of a .

 Dominican Phonetics: o Dominican Spanish is spoken with a lisp and does not distinguish between the sound that represents the letters "c" (before "i" and "e"), "z" and "s". The three letters represent the phoneme /s/. For example, in Dominican Spanish, the "cazar" (hunt) and "casar" (marry) sound the same. Figure 1. Derivation of the word Kreñòl: three o Yeísmo: In the Dominican Republic, letters from Haitian Creole and three letters the sound represented by "" has from Dominican Spanish. become the lateral /ʎ/ a sound like the

sound represented by "y" (and). This is carried out in phoneme sounds [j] or II. The History of Language in the Region [dʒ]. Haiti is heavily influenced by African culture. o Lambdaization: very common Among the most prominent heritage cultures phenomenon in the lower classes, we find represented in the country, we find the where the implosive Kongo, Igbo and Yoruba. Members of these

African tribes arrived in Haiti as slaves, and 3 Ina Fandrich: Yorúbá

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changes (at the end of a syllable or differentiation between the educated and word) for /l/. Example "New yol" or cultured. Despite a difference, Dominican "niu yol" (for ), "coltar" or Spanish has specific characteristics as yeismo, "coitai" (to cut) the lisp and the complete lack of voseo4. In the binational markets, several languages • There are three different are spoken: Spanish, Creole, and English, as geographical of well as the pidgin dialect of Kreñòl variation. pronunciation that are Southern, Since markets are on the Dominican side of the northern (Cibao), and Santo island, Haitian vendors have to know some Domingo, which is in the center of Spanish. There is a correlation between the the south and east (the ability to use the language of business pronunciation in the east is more (Dominican Spanish) and income. neutral). Also, there is the tendency to shorten words and put  Haitian Phonetics: them together. Haitian Creole, despite having originated from the French, has grammar that is very 1. In the North region, use of "i" between different and much simpler, mainly in the the words predominates, (caminar = following points: "caminai") [walking] (madre, mal, mar • Verbs are not conjugated according to = "mai, mai, mai" are pronounced all time or person. the same) [mother, evil, sea] and there • It lacks , that is, the are expressions that are no longer used do not agree in gender with in the Spanish of , but in one way the noun they qualify to. or another have survived in DR as • Use of person suffixes to indicate (Aguaita = "listen"), (es a menester? = possession of nouns. "it is required"). • Use of auxiliary modifiers to indicate all 2. In the South region, the "" between tenses. words predominates and it is also draged or strongest pronounced where The Creole uses a basic order of constituents it stands (walking = "caminarrr"), (let's of type (SVO), as well go to the people = Vamono parr as French. pueblo). Less often you can hear a Many grammatical features, particularly change in the "o" for "u" (vamonos = pluralization of nouns and possession, are "vámunu") [let’s go]. indicated by adding certain suffixes 3. In , (Capital City), (postpositions), like me, to the main word. there is "l" (walking = "caminal") and It is an issue which punctuation should be words become much shorter with the used to connect the suffixes to the Word; deletion of the "s" in some cases the most popular alternatives are the (vamos a ver = "vamoavé") [we’ll see]. script, the apostrophe, or even a space. The case complicates when the "suffix" Despite regional differences in dialects

(geolects), Dominican Spanish also has 4 (Spanish pronunciation: [bo se.o]) is the sociolects, different dialects between social ˈ use of vos as a second person singular , classes. The syntax and of including its conjugational verb forms in many Dominican Spanish have a dialects of Spanish. In dialects that have it, it is African influence; phonics are African, with a used either instead of tú, or alongside it.

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contracts, even being able to return a machin yo o machin-yo (carros) [cars] single letter (like m or w). Nouns There are six pronouns, one for each Haitian Creole nouns have no gender. combination of number and person. There The plural of a noun is indicated by adding is no difference between direct and the particle yo after the noun (yo also work indirect. Some pronouns have an obvious as a plural definite ). French origin, others do not. liv yo o liv-yo (libros) [books]

Table 1: Pronouns in Haitien Creole, French, and Spanish

Haitien Creole Person/number French Spanish Plain Form Short Form 1/singular mwen m o m‘ o ‘m je, moi, me 'yo, mí, me' 2/singular ou (*) tu, te, vous 'tú, te, usted' 3/singular li l‘ il, elle, lui, le, se 'él, ella, le, lo, se', etc. 1/plural nou n‘ nous 'nosotros, nos' 2/plural ou o nou (**) vous 'vosotros, os, ustedes' 3/plural yo y‘ ils, elles, eux 'ellos, ellas, los, les', etc. Notes: (*) sometimes ou can be written as w. The w indicates ou. (**) depending on the situation learn Creole, much less Kreñòl. They believe Record: lexicogrammatical features that Haitians are the ones that should learn According to Haitian sellers interviewed at the Spanish and use Kreñòl to sell as they are in market, when a Haitian seller uses Kreñòl their territory. Kreñòl is used among primary instead of only Spanish or Creole, he or she is school students with whom I have worked. For able to he sell more and Dominicans customers them, speaking this way is fun and funny. And can understand him or her better. Kreñòl is many times when I did not understand in not Patuá, as Patuá is a variation of French Creole, they spoke Kreñòl and I quickly from 1789. When a Haitian speaks Patuá to a understood. Also, some Dominican students Dominican, the Dominican simply does not also use Kreñòl when talking to Haitians, and understand. The Patuá is a mixture of in many cases as a fun way to refer to sixteenth century English, 1789 French and marketers. several dialects spoken among the slaves. This implies and even gives some validation to the Code Switching: according Roca and Colombi, hypothesis that Kreñòl is a trend and/or code switching is the rapid alternation between possible new linguistic variation implemented English and Spanish within an argument and during business between the two nations. even within the same sentence. It is a regular I must emphasize that Kreñòl use is most language behavior that has systematic common among Haitian vendors and their functions and obeys defined linguistic children. Many Dominicans do not care to principles (102). There is code switching

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among participants in this study (in this case completed only the third year of primary of Dominican Spanish into Creole and vice school. She can read and write very little. versa), so they exchanged words or phrases in For Claudine, it became common and normal both languages in the same sentence when the to have me with her on Mondays and Fridays word created in Kreñòl is not understood. in the market taking notes. She always helped Although there is no written form of Kreñòl, me and answered my questions with (that I am aware of), what is being studied in enthusiasm. Claudine, in this study, represents this research is mainly verbal, but there are an older generation of the island, which is rules about when, how and why to use the forced to learn a pidgin dialect if they want to phrases and words created by participants. sell at a market to Dominican customers. Participants who use this phenomenon use words that resemble Dominican Spanish. For Rasamel: Born in a village in Banane, Haiti. His example, the host language at the market is father is Haitian and his mother Dominican. Spanish, so it is important for children and He lived most of his life in Haiti until the age parents to study and learn Spanish. But the of 16, and then traveled with his mother to pronunciation has a tone or sounds like Villa Consuelo, DR—the birthplace of his Creole, when they use Kreñòl, since most of mother. In Haiti, he never had the need to the spearkers are Haitians. speak Spanish, as his mother speaks fluent Creole. He completed his studies in a small III. The Informants: Claudine and Rasamel5 primary school in Haiti, and when he reached Of all the participants, I selected these two for DR, started high school but did not finish due the thesis because Claudine and Rasamel to lack of income and his limited Spanish represent two different generations coming vocabulary. Rasamel is the fifth child of ten. together to use Kreñòl. From an early stage, he became independent from his family and several times returned to Claudine: Born in Port au Prince. She is the Haiti by the route of Pedernales. In this way, mother of ten children: six girls and four boys. he became familiar with the market and started She and her husband moved to Anse-a-pitres, selling ice cream in the area. Rasamel says that where their last three children were born, the fluency he eventually developed in Spanish more than ten years ago,. Her two eldest sons was thanks to the continuing influence he was help her to sell in the market, and speak exposed to in Anse-a-pitres and Pedernales. Spanish more fluently than Claudine and her For him to switch from one language to husband. Although Claudine does not know another is extremely easy and necessary. He much Spanish, she manages very well in the says, "even though I may not know the words market when selling her products. Almost very well, I can always predict whether I need always, she takes her children with her for to mix or pronounce the word in Spanish.” extra help, and admits to using Creole words that sound like Spanish to succeed. Her i. Vocabulary: words (examples) educational level is very basic, having Claudine’s natural talk- example #1: In this passage, I describe the reaction of one of the vendors at the achievement of another vendor who was not in the same section as her. 5 For security and privacy issues, I have changed the original names of the participants and replaced “siempr sale usted con eso; tod que dis ese them with pseudonyms. papeluch es por dicir nu; yo no pued crer un

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cose tan inverosímil. Me da dolín de cabeza soy de Bani, estreyo, asociación nacial pensalo. Si es ciert su triunf, amodecí no bonsua, pase ke hay mucha de la vaina, pued durar much si otre man ma poderos no D-Repite, repite, repite lo coj baje su protección y plesi...mejo vende H- ¿dime a ve maniático? ¿tu ta ahí? el sipón y fulá, ale ale” D- dale dale, ¡¿dime a ver como he, como he?! Point 1: The participant has removed H- asociación nacional bonsua, hay mucha many final , a phenomenon that is cosa que ta pasando en Bani entero. Yo kiero far from the well-known approaches to pa defendelte. En Haití también hay gente Spanish produced by French and Haitian. media errrarcodiga, errrarcodiga he ke tan Only the conversion of /a/, /o/ final [e] andando, hay mucho ciclone k tan pasando, (sewn

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H- yo soy Rasamel ke canta, to lo tipo saben señore viejo k eta dulmiendo, rrrrevantate el quien soy yo y mi amora, mi amores y toito numero uno pal kalorai llego pa come elata saben ke soy yo. (Sonido de trompeta) canta: pol pipa” “bicocho chokolata chokolata con leche con D-mira ahí ahora todito te vamo a compra la fresa de sabora oriyinal carabelita fantacia palet rrosa numero pal kalora, niña niño señora

Table 2: Kreñòl Words Heard at La Puerta Phrase/sound: dominicanism Creole Kreñòl New/not known Pol pipa (eating a lot of Oriyinal (orijinal la, the Elada Rrrrrevantate* icecream) participant pronunces G (combination of helado and krèm like a Y) glase.—icecream-- Rasamel changes de ending of lado for - lada making the creole sound glase {glas}) Toito (all) Bonsua (bon aswè, Yo le sabe –I know yonarrrice means good evening, (in creole is mwen konnen. The but Rasamel uses it as participant uses the end of creole the name of the {-ne} mixinf it with Spanish –yo organization he lo sé) represents) Curando (having a good time Bicocha errrarcodiga with friends, relaxing) (gato equivalent to cake in Creole, wheras in spanish is biscocho. Rasamel only adds an {a} at the end of the Word, like Claudine did also. Priva (a person who thinks and Suava (suave –smoot- in Spanish estrrrreyo believes is superior to others) and mou in creole. –ou makes the same sound as –ua at the beginning of the word) Vaina (in dominican spanish it Chokolata (chocolate in spanish means a lot of things. In this and chokola in creole. More than case it referrs to the problems 50% of the Word is in creole, but occuring in both country’s to make it sound like in Spanish politics) he adds –ta instead of –te) Carabelita (fake) Detalla (detay-details- in creole. Again he adds an {a} at the end, living more than 75% in Spanish) Kalora (calor/ chalè. –Hot- More tan 95% is in spanish, but the end has an {a})

*words that I do not know the meaning of, but for the sound they make when spoken by Rasamel, I have denoted as Kreñòl, for neither in Creole nor French there is so much emphasis on the {r}.

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iii. Other examples: of English. Likewise, both Claudine and Rasamel use an informal, Dominican Spanish 1. Change of the word: “thanks” influenced by the way they talk in Pedernales. • Domincan Spanish: gracia 7 Their Spanish is not academic, nor is their • Haitian Creole: Mèsi Creole. Education levels of both participants • Patuá: Mesi are low, so the French influence is minimal in • Kreñòl: Grasi their speech. For the examples mentioned above, we can 2. Change of the word(s): “how many” see that all their Spanish and Kreñòl are heavily influenced by their native language of • Dominican Spanish: ¿Cuánto? Creole. They do not seek to develop complete • Haitian Creole: Konbyen? or fixed sentences, but use short and to the • Patuá: Konbé? point sentences, as if they were using a pidgin. • Kreñòl: Cuánbye? Both use some colloquial Spanish words, not only with their children but also in the work IV. The Spanish of Claudine and Rasamel area. Such words are: pal, toito, ostra ve, among Whether Chicano English is a dialect in the others. This practice of Creole shows that is subject to debate, as many see while participants work on the Dominican side it simply as a Spanish accented English while of the island, they still have speech features of others propose that Chicano English is a their maternal village, with which they express dialect of English equally valid as African- their identity. American English (AAVE)8. There is a similar question for Haitians in Dominican VI. Claudine, Rasamel and their Reason for Republic, whose speech is often criticized Code Switching and Use of Kreñòl when they use Spanish. But for hundreds of Haitians, speaking this way is not a luxury but The speech of the informants may vary rather a necessity. As we saw in the case of depending on the person and the place where Rasamel, he tries to sound as Dominican as they are. With a monolingual person in possible and uses dominicanisms throughout Dominican Spanish, informants use the little his conversation to prove that he can speak Spanish they know and quite a bit of Kreñòl, like the rest of his Dominican friends. Words especially in their workplace. On the other like: toito, carabelita, priva, among others, are hand, when both are in their country of origin, only useful in some way by Dominican home or with family, they use only Creole and speakers. This characterizes the Dominican a little Kreñòl among their children. None of Spanish slang (for details refer to the the informants use French, as their education Dominican phonetic section). levels are very limited and they do not have the need to use it. Claudine says that although

her children do not know much, they are V. The Creole of Claudine and Rasamel always using this combination of Creole and Glenn Martínez’s study demonstrates that , Spanish between them, especially when they Chicanos use a Spanish that has the influence play or attend school. Both Claudine and Rasamel claim that this combination of 7 In Dominican Spanish, an aspiration exists with languages was implemented in this area of the an S at the end of words country (Pedernales and Anse-a-pitres), since 8 Glenn Martínez: Mexican Americans and in Port au Prince it is not necessary to speak Languagues

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Spanish and in Villa Consuelo only Spanish is years. Paca, for example, is only 6 years old necessary. The interesting thing about both and does not really understand the political cases is to know which language the problems between Spanish and English within informants choose when speaking to another the U.S. bilingual in the workplace. In the case of the informants in Haiti, they I'm intrigued to know: Why choose a are proud of their French names and ensure certain language? Why combine it in a certain that you do pronounce their name correctly. way? Ana Celia Zentella’s study of bilinguals in Both Rasamel and Claudine made me repeat a block of , Growing up their name several times until I said it Bilingual, , focusing on a group of Puerto Rican correctly. Also, they changed my name from girls. Chapter 5 explains that the girls Carolina to Kawolin, the equivalent of Creole. sometimes use the dominant language of the Not only did they do that, but also in both recipient and change if the recipient changes. classrooms students called me "pwofesè They use the "follow the leader" process when Kawolin" (teacher Carolina). responding in Spanish if someone speaks to Haitians are very aware of the political them in Spanish or switch to English if the problems between the two countries. During other does the same. With both of my Haitian my first trip the community, they did not trust informants, the same thing occured. When my "good intentions," as they could not expect they heard me speak in Creole, they quickly anything good from a Dominican. However, followed me and were glad to see a Dominican they saw my work they changed their speaking their language. But as soon as they attitudes. Also, I tried to adapt myself to their perceived my linguistic limitations they began culture, language and traditions. Soon, I to speak in Spanish. Similarly I used phrases adopted the name Kawolin and showed great and words in French, Creole and/or and they interest in their work and education. I think also did the same. From there we ended up this attitude helped me to move forward with using Kreñòl in every conversation. the project. Haitian participants knew that to survive financially, they had to speak Spanish VII. Pronunciation of Onomastic and Kreñòl. But that did not cause them to let Glenn Martinez explains that in the case of their cultures go. Despite speaking the Chicanos, pronouncing the Spanish names of language of the trade, each participant kept names, places, food, etc., is very common their accent and pronunciations from Creole, when speaking English. Thus, they use as in the case of Chicanos. Spanish , with no intention of According to Martinez, the structural changing to Spanish. Using framework of Chicano English is based on the demonstrates that Chicanos fully assimilate use of the language that has the most resistance to the dominant culture of the prominent words, those in a higher position United States, which according Martinez is in the structural hierarchy of the sentence. seen as a policy. However, this behavior is Another definition used to identify the perceived as irritating, especially by English predominant language is to count the number monolinguals who oppose bilingualism. of words in each language, with the language Zentella, on the other hand, indicates that the with most words being defined as the Puerto Rican girls she studied preferred the predominant language. With Kreñòl, I cannot English pronunciation of their names. ensure this to be the case; in Example 1 and in However, this attitude may change over the the conversation with Rasamel, there are more words in Dominican Spanish than in Creole.

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However, the pronunciation is more like there is a great influence of Creole and Kreñol Creole than in Spanish. in the border areas. Kreñol is a linguistic boom because it is VII. Syntactic Hierarchy in Code Switching increasing. I believe it can continue to Linguists around the world have completed influence the income of many Haitian vendors studies about code switching and grammar and as it did to my participants. I firmly believe have determined that bilinguals follow certain that the younger generation, as in the case of grammatical rules when they switch codes. Rasamel, will continue to see the importance Zentella states,"Spanish and English bilinguals of knowing Spanish, and will study it more as don’t favor change between a pronoun and an it is the language of trade. I also believe that if auxiliary [verb], or between an auxiliary and Kreñol expands further into Haiti, it could an , or omit the ‘a’ person or indirect become a pidgin, and even Creole. What objects" (116). For example, participants don’t remains for us is to continue with broader, and prefer to say "yo like carrots" and "me gusta to more complex research to get to the core of cook." In her study, the author determined this new combination of languages, which that participants follow the syntactic hierarchy could end up being the next language of the in terms of code switching from English and island. Spanish. Zentella says that similar to data of Poplack and Lipski, her data indicate similar IX. Acknowledgments constituent barriers where bilinguals switch First of all, I am grateful to The Almighty God codes in the sentence, the noun, and the object for establishing me to complete this thesis. of the noun phrase. At the same time, I would like to express My future research will focus on these the deepest appreciation to my family, the UC aspects. I want to know why they change in Davis McNair Scholar Program’s staff, Dr. certain cases and not in others, and to develop Colombi, my mentors, the UC Davis Blum a table of possible pronouns and verbs to Center PATA grant, Foundation Jesucristo por determine the possible linguistic future of this los Niños y sus Familias, the Anse-à-Pitres phenomenon. community, the APL team, the UC Davis Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship, the UC VIII. Conclusion: What is the future of Kreñol? Davis Cross Cultural Center and the UC Davis This phenomenon has many aspects that need Women’s Resource & Research Center for to be investigated. A conclusion cannot be their patience, advice, and moral and financial reached on whether or not it is a new pidgin or support. perhaps, language. To reach a solid conclusion, it is necessary to go to different places in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic and see how deep the roots of Kreñol are. My research has led me to believe that as Creole ended up being the of Haiti, rendering French a secondary and elite language, Kreñol could do the same. It does not look as though the same possibility holds for the Dominican Republic, although

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