Sociolinguistic challenges and new perspectives on determining French speakers in Creole communities

The case of Haiti

Bibliographic Data

ID4179818
AuthorsDavid Tézil (Department of Modern Languages and Classics , 8059 The University of Alabama , 200 B.B. Comer Hall , Tuscaloosa , USA, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume2024
Issue288
Pages177-207
Publication date2024-07-26
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of the Sociology of Language (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0165-2516 • E-ISSN: 1613-3668
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ijsl-2023-0108
OpenAlexW4401379823
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited20

This study examines the sociolinguistic challenges and explores new perspectives on the evaluation of French competency in creole-speaking communities, particularly in Haiti. Due to the absence of an effective and adaptable French proficiency test in the country, the percentage of Francophones often varies between 5 % and 10 %, and as high as 42 %. This inconsistency may be the result of the assumption that schooling is an effective metric of French proficiency. In this study, I argue that while schooling creates some French speakers, it is not necessarily indicative of French proficiency for all Haitians. In other words, not all Haitians enrolled in schools can count as French speakers. I make three propositions to improve the accuracy of the proportion of French speakers in Haiti: (1) combining schooling with some proficiency instrument to determine French speakers; (2) using an adaptable proficiency test that is based on the salient features that distinguish French from Haitian Creole (Kreyòl); (3) controlling for sociolinguistic varieties such as Frenchified Kreyòl or Kreyòl swa to prevent the miscategorization of monolingual Kreyòl speakers as French speakers

Creole language · Linguistics · Sociolinguistics · Sociology · Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy

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