Publishing note: This article is an adaptation of the video “What is Creole” on the Armchair Linguist YouTube Channel. Enjoy!
What is a creole language? In my career as a Haitian Creole interpreter, I spend lots of time explaining all 3 elements of that title. In one of my very first videos, I talked about what interpreting is and what being an interpreter involves. And now, on the occasion of Creole Heritage month, I’d like to explain the question I probably get the most:
Oh, Creole…What is that?
The first question I typically get.
Part of the problem is that the word “creole” can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. People in places all around the world refer to their own language as “Creole” or “Krio” or “kreyòl” or “krioulu”…despite the fact that some of them have completely different vocabularies. And some people use “creole” to refer not just to language but to an entire culture, including music, food and historical traditions.
It doesn’t help that some languages that are categorized as “creoles” by linguists are often called something else by the people who speak them: Jamaican Patois, Hawaiian Pidgin, etc.
So, in an effort to clarify things, we’re gonna have to go back to the basics…
Languages, Dialects and Accents
Now you already know that a language is a system of speech used and understood by a community, composed of a bunch of words (vocabulary) and a bunch of rules for how to put those words together (grammar) to produce meaningful communication.
[note that I’ll be focusing on spoken languages, for simplicity]
And you probably know that a dialect, is a particular variety of a language that’s associated with a region, community or social group. And one dialect of a language differs from other dialects in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary or any combination thereof.
The word accent is pretty vague, but linguists tend to use it to refer to a characteristic pronunciation. So, the particular pronunciation associated with a dialect would be the accent. Of course, people also use “accent” to mean a “foreign” accent, which would involve anything that marks a person’s speech as non-native.
But there are 2 things people are often surprised to learn:
- Everyone speaks a dialect
- The difference between a dialect and a language is almost entirely vibes-based
People are often surprised because the word “dialect” can sometimes be used negatively, as opposed to “language” which is official and good.
But in reality, just like you can’t be in the United States without being in one of the States, you can’t really speak a “language” without speaking a “dialect”.
I once had a conversation with a friend of mine where he pressed me on the fact that there has to be a quantifiable distinction between languages and dialects. He had trouble believing that what’s a language and what’s a dialect comes down to a story we’ve collectively agreed upon, rather than actual differences.
But as Yiddish scholar Max Weinreich famously said, “a language is a dialect with an army and a navy”. In other words, oftentimes, what we consider to be a “real” language, comes down to political and historical factors, rather than linguistic ones.
Another time I plan to get into that topic, but for now we have to move on to a special category of languages known as “creoles”
What is a Creole
So, as I said earlier, the word “creole” means different things to different people. Originally, it’s a term that arose out of the unusual circumstances of colonization. The English word ‘creole’ comes from the French word ‘créole’ which comes from the Spanish word ‘criollo’ which comes from the Portuguese word ‘crioulo’. And as an adjective and as a noun, it was used super broadly, mostly by Europeans, to refer to stuff associated with the colonies as opposed to stuff associated with “back home” in Europe.
So, throughout the colonial time period, you see “creole” being used to mean:
- A person of European descent born or raised or living in the colonies
- Also, confusingly, a person of African descent born or raised in the colonies
- A person of mixed race decent in the colonies
- Or anything to do with the specific blending of European and African cultural traditions that happened in the colonies, including music, food and most relevant to our conversation today: Language
Like I mentioned earlier, I’m an interpreter. So, I spend a lot of time thinking about how people communicate when they don’t speak the same language. Historically, one situation that can develop is known as a “contact language”.
Creoles vs. Pidgins
There are lots of different types of contact language but the two most important ones for our conversation are pidgins and creoles.
The hilariously named “pidgin” originally comes from the pronunciation of the word “business” in Chinese Pidgin English. It was used to refer to a simplified form of contact language between the English and Chinese speakers in turn of the century China and it later was used to refer to other similar systems that have arisen in other areas where a bunch of people who spoke different languages needed to communicate.
And as mentioned before, “creole language” or “creole” originally referred to special contact languages that arose in European colonies.
The main difference between the two is that a “true pidgin” is not the native language of any of the speakers, nobody speaks a “true pidgin” as a first language.
On the other hand, creoles are native languages. People grow up speaking creoles as their mother tongue.
However, as anyone who’s tried to change their nickname knows, once people get used to using a certain term, it can be almost impossible to stop that inertia.
So, when a pidgin expands in complexity and becomes so widespread that later generations begin using it as their native language, often the name “Pidgin” sticks. That’s how we end up with languages like “Hawaiian Pidgin” and “Nigerian Pidgin” which are, confusingly, creole languages
Now the specifics of how exactly creoles form and whether they all have a pidgin stage is a highly controversial subject among Creolists and I fully look forward to making a video exploring the beef between the Creole Exceptionalists and the Uniformitarians. But rather than focusing now on how creoles form, let’s look at creoles’ form.
What are Creoles like?
So, the most well-known Creoles developed in European colonies, under the conditions of slavery. The languages of those colonizers served as what’s referred to as the “superstrate” or “lexifier” language, providing the majority of the vocabulary of the Creole. And the native African languages of the slaves became “substrate” languages, providing a relatively small percentage of words and possibly having an influence on the development of certain grammatical features, but once again that’s a subject of debate.
So, we categorize creoles based on which European language provided the vocabulary. There are English-based creoles like Jamaican Patwa, Portuguese-based creoles like Kabuverdianu and the most well-known are the French-based ones which include Haitian Creole, probably the most widespread creole language.
So, if you look at the following sentences:
-M ap ba w manje
-Mi a gi yu som fuud
-M sta da-u cumida
You can see some similarities:
- The word order- creoles tend to be Subject-Verb-Object, regardless of the word order of the lexifier language
- They use particles or short words before the verb to provide tense and aspect information, rather than using verb endings, like the lexifier languages tend to
- The way pronouns function tends to be distinctly similar
I won’t go into all the details, but suffice it to say that there are enough similarities between creoles that trying to figure out why that’s the case is an entire field of study, in and of itself.
So, is Creole like French?
This is the follow-up question I usually get is whether Haitian Creole is basically just French. And that question applies to all the languages we’ve talked about. How different are creoles from their respective colonial lexifiers?
Well, most of these languages formed in the 1600 and 1700s. And since that time, each country has had a unique historical trajectory that has had an influence on the development of the language.
- Has the country officially gained independence from the colonizer? How long ago?
- Do they have access to higher education in the colonizing country?
- Is there a stable, free basic education system?
- Is education provided in the creole or only in the respective European language?
- Is there a body of literature in the creole?
The bigger a presence the colonial language has and has had historically, the more of an influence it has on the development, use and current status of the creole. Significant historical influence will cause the creole to become more like the superstrate language in a process known as “de-creolization”.
And in almost all cases, in countries where creoles are spoken, the individual language habits of the speakers exist on a spectrum.
On one end, there’s a form of the creole that is least similar to the colonial language in grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. This is known as the basilect form. On the other extreme, there’s a form that’s heavily influenced by the superstrate language. This is known as the acrolect. And where a speaker falls on that spectrum is highly individualized.
Let’s look at an example to illustrate.
Guadeloupe and Haiti are two regions where a French-based Creole is spoken and where French is an official language. However, Haiti gained its independence after a historic and brutal revolution (and centuries of political and economic retaliation from France and allies), after which relations with France have been…strained at best. So, while all Haitians understand some degree of French due to exposure and similarities between the languages, generally only those with a good education have a high level of French fluency. And in a country where free education isn’t a thing and many don’t have the opportunity to finish school, French influence is stronger in the upper and middle classes of society.
Meanwhile, for basically it’s entire colonial history Guadeloupe has been a part of France. First as a colony then as an oversees department, modern Guadeloupeans have the right to free education and as French citizens, can travel freely to mainland France, including to attend university.
And while Guadeloupeans have certainly faced discrimination and had struggles, the French language and French culture have continually played a big role in daily life and as a result, Guadeloupean Creole shows a higher degree of influence from French.
Stay tuned for a future deep-dive on the specific differences between different French-based Creoles.
Oh, so are you from Louisiana?
Due to an intensive and prolific foreign exchange program known as slavery, there are literally dozens if not hundreds of creole languages. So, it’s understandable that not everyone will be aware of which ones exist. Let’s talk about the geographic distribution of Creoles based on European languages.
French-based Creoles are found in places like Haiti and the Lesser Antilles in Carribean, the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean and Louisiana in North America.
English-based Creoles can be found in the Caribbean, South America, North America, Asia, Polynesia–basically everywhere you can imagine…
Portuguese-based Creoles are found in the Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao in the southern Caribbean, the former Portuguese colonies of Africa and even parts of India!.
And you can find Spanish-based Creoles like Palenquero and Chavacano spoken in South America and the Philippines, respectively.
To sum up, Creole languages are spread across the globe and while their very existence is in some ways a testament to a heart-breaking past, they also reflect vibrant, fascinating cultures. Whether rooted in French, English, Portuguese, Dutch or Spanish, each Creole tells a different story about its region and the people who speak it. Looking into these languages helps us see how communities adapt and evolve, and how history leaves its mark on the words we use every day.
It’s a reminder that language is always changing and endlessly interesting.
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