26296: Mercure: (ask) Studies of Kreyol Grammar (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: mercure1@verizon.net

Dear List,


I am now near to completing a little study of Haitian Creole grammar: a simple 
reference grammar with copious examples, detailing the tense system, uses of 
the infinitive, the gerund, purpose and result clauses, a phenomenon I call 
"reiteration to show subordination," &c. &c.

Before I began this, I looked into what was out there. I did not get the 
impression that there were any grammars of HC that combined accuracy, 
readability, and completeness.

I will now list the bibliography I have accumulated. I have not actually looked 
at many of these books, because copies exist only in distant libraries, or are 
only available for purchase. It would have been an expensive and time-consuming 
process to consult all of these works, and so I had to reply on informal (but 
generally negative) evaluations from individual linguists I knew.

The only book I was able to find that seemed to be on target was Valdman's Ann 
Pale Kreyol. This was thoroughly admirable, and in my own book I have done no 
more than build on his excellent foundation, expanding in areas space and the 
aims of an introductory textbook prohibited.


If anyone on the list is able to contradict the negative impression I recieved 
of the literature out there, and could support this by emailing me. oh let us 
say, the recommended grammarian's explanation of the function of TE when 
prefixed to a non-modal verb (e.g., m' te rive lakay le li rele m.), that would 
be quite good. (hint: if they say it makes the verb a perfect or a pluperfect, 
they miss the point. That describes what happens when we translate into 
English, but not of what TE always does to a non-modal verb).

The grammars I have seen or been told of are as follows:

I was unable to find a copy of Jean TARGETE, Advanced grammar of Haitian 
Creole,ort-au-Prince, Editions Fardin,1972.  I did see Valdman's, Le créole: 
structure, statut et origine,  Paris: Klincksick, 1978. This was splendid, but 
concentrated on the larger field of french Creoles., There are several books 
written by Pradel Pompilus in the 1970's or early 80's, which I found.

I was also unable to access a copy of Vedrine's Grame Keyol.

I am also aware of, though I have not seen,  discussions  of HC syntax by 
Chomskian linguists:  Claire Lefebvre et al. La syntaxe de l'haïtien (Ann 
Arbor: Karoma), 1982, and Michel DeGRaff. He lists his recent articles on his 
WEB page.


this morning to I browsed the website of the Haitian book center, and found a 
number of works which may render my efforts superfluous. "Comment ecrire le 
crole haitien" by Yves Dejean; "Elements de Grammaire Creole" by Robert 
Damoiseau, "Haitian Creole in Ten Steps" by Robert Savain, "La Langue Creole 
d'Haiti" by Gerard Montes, :"Le Creole Haitien" by Dominique Fatier, "Spoken 
Creole for Intermediate Learners" by Marc Prou.

Do none of these people present the material thoroughly and well? I don't 
reject this as a possibility. On the other hand, there are quite as many 
dictionaries available which do not come within telescope range of Freeman's. 
It may be a similar situation.

My completed Grammar will be only about 30 pages long and should be done in a 
usable version by the end of October. I will be posting this online in PDF 
format without charge.

On my own behalf, I will say that it is a very direct and unpretentious little 
work, adopting a "nuts and bolts" approach. I am myself quite pleased with it, 
since it has enabled me to read through all the texts in Hall's collection, 
correctly parsing every construction, identifying the rare errors in 
transcriptionas well as the impossible corruptions, and, (for me most 
satisfyingly,) making clear the apalling errors in the translation of the 
Gospel of Luke into Creole. (Yes, the infamous TE construction. Lordy!)

At this point however, any advice about works that are worth the (sometimes 
considerable) trouble of consulting will be warmly appreciated. The explanation 
of the TE construction will be the my touchstone for the recommended works.

thanks to any who write in,


Jacob Rabinowitz