#1004: Thesis on Kreyol : Winkler paper

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: E Vedrine <evedrine@hotmail.com>


[ "NATIVE SPEAKER ATTITUDES ABOUT HAITIAN KREYOL AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR 
THE STUDY OF POST-CREOLE CONTINUA"

by Elizabeth WINKLER

(M.A Thesis).  93 p.


A thesis presented to the Graduate Faculty of the College of Arts and 
Sciences of Ohio University. 1989

ABSTRACT: - "The purpose of this study is to show that the attitudes of 
speakers of Haitian Kreyòl have affected the typical decreolization process 
as described by David DeCamp in his 1971 article, 'Toward a generative of a 
post-creole continuum'.

A creole usually originates in a situation where the prestige language upon 
which it is based is used in some domains and the creole in others. In 
countries like Jamaica and Belize, a post-creole continuum exists and the 
speakers have the ability to speak several varieties, from basilect to 
acrolect. Haitians, however, are 94% monolingual, in Kreyòl, which is 
mutually intelligible with Haitian French. Since the majority of Haitians 
have no access to programs where they can acquire French, Kreyòl continues 
to serve as the language of their religion, and the market. At issue, then, 
is the status of Kreyòl in the eyes of the people and the government of 
Haiti.

Native Kreyòl-speaking subjects were surveyed and interviewed in Haiti 
concerning their attitudes about their language and about its status 
compared to that of Haitian French. Haitian speakers express respect for 
Kreyòl when asked about the value of it, and the survey results show that 
they also would prefer to see it established as the official language. 
Implications are drawn concerning the future status of Kreyòl in the schools 
and society, as well as for the study of post-creole continua in similar 
societies world-wide …" (E. Winkler, pp. 3)]

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