1172: Re: a1160: On the spelling of Ayiti: Poincy replies (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "[iso-8859-1] Jean Poincy" <caineve@yahoo.fr>

I already did so on the list in 1997. I guess you
missed it or were not a member yet. That was in the
course of a discussion on the Ayitian language if I
recall. At any rate I will be glad to do it again.

"Haiti", as spelled, is a phonetical distortion to
suit the French language when the natives' sound could
not be reproduced by the Europeans to render the word
correctly.

Things have changed:

1)the new country has adopted its aboriginal name,
although with variant spellings from time to time.

2)the country now has a language of its own; its
official native language in which the country name is
spelled Ayiti.

Why keeping the French spelling version to continue to
suit the French language rather than shaping the
identity of the language?

If the French took the liberty to change what's not
theirs to purposely diminishing it why can't the
Ayitian authority reverse it to elevate it when the
language has finally gained status in becoming an
official language of the land?

It would be just to keep the Ayitian language
spelling, Ayiti, when using foreign languages like
English or French. The same way France, Cuba, Iran
Canada and many others remain unchanged in both
English and French. The same way "Haiti" is the same
in both English and French.

Moreover, when Ayitians are saying Ayiti, you don't
hear any H sound and there was no such when the
Europeans heard the natives pronounced the word. If
the old and current natives made/make no use of H, why
keeping what was created by others to facilate
themselves? That's an identity problem among Ayitian
linguists. It's just alienation.

Myself, on a true defense of Ayiti, I vow to write
Ayiti, Ayitian (English) and Ayitien (French) in
anything that I am using my pencil on to write about
Ayiti. It is my choice not to alter the spelling
correspondingly to the language in use. I prefer doing
what I am doing now, explaining why if asked.

Why should Ayitians allow such a distortion to stand?
There is no rationale, no linguistic rationale if I
may say, except that's the way it has been ever since
the French decided it that way. You know how Ayitians
are with the French language.



Ayiti has lived, lives and live
Mozeb






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