 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2014) |
| Dominican Creole | |
|---|---|
| kwéyòl, patwa | |
| Native to | Dominica |
Native speakers | (43,000 cited 1998) [1] |
French Creole
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Dominica |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| Linguasphere | 51-AAC-ccg |
| IETF | cpf-DM |
Dominican Creole French is a French-based creole, which is a widely spoken language in Dominica. [3] It can be considered a distinct dialect of Antillean Creole.
It is a sub-variety of Antillean Creole, which is spoken in other islands of the Lesser Antilles and is very closely related to the varieties spoken in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Lucia, Grenada and parts of Trinidad and Tobago. The intelligibility rate with speakers of other varieties of Antillean Creole is almost 100%. Its syntactic, grammatical and lexical features are virtually identical to that of Martinican Creole, though, like its Saint Lucian counterpart, it includes more English loanwords than the Martinican variety. People who speak Haitian Creole can also understand Dominican Creole French, even though there are a number of distinctive features; they are mutually intelligible.
Like the other French-based creole languages in the Caribbean, Dominican French Creole is primarily French-derived vocabulary, with African and Carib influences to its syntax.[ citation needed ] In addition, many expressions reflect the presence of an English Creole and Spanish influences are also very much present in the language.[ citation needed ]
In 1635, the French seized Guadeloupe and Martinique and began establishing sugar colonies. Dominica, for its part, had not been colonized because all attempts to colonize it had failed. Before 1690, lumberjacks (English and French) had traveled to Dominica for its forest resources. Subsequently, French from Martinique and Guadeloupe and their slaves settled in Dominica by establishing small farms of coffee, cotton, wood, and tobacco. Creole thus develops among the slaves, Dominican Creole thus comes from the mixture of the Creoles from Guadeloupe and Martinique, and then it is enriched further with Amerindian and English words. From now on, the Creole would stay until the present. Despite the future transfer of the island to the English and the addition of English words, the Creole remains strongly French in Dominica and despite what is said, is his place in the center of the Dominicans culture. The underdevelopment of the road system in Dominica hindered for a long time the development of English, the official language of the country, in isolated villages, where Creole remained the only spoken language. [4]
| English | Creole | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| I | Mon, Mwen, An | The three forms are perfectly synonymous. |
| You (singular) | Ou/Vou | |
| He/she | I | Creole has a neutral pronoun that can be synonymous with "him" or "her". |
| He | Misyé | Example: Misyé pa djè ni tan (he hardly has much time). |
| She (unmarried girl) | Manmzèl | Example: Manmzèl pa djè enmen jwé (she does not like playing much). |
| We | Nou | |
| You (plural) | Zòt, Zò | This is not a "you" of familiarity. "Zò" is used in Guadeloupe. |
| They | Yo | Example: Yo ka jwé (they play). |
| Créole | IPA Transcription | Standard pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| g | g | hard "G", as in good. |
| h | h | Pronounced like "H" in ham. |
| i | i | Pronounced like "ee" as in see. |
| j | ʒ | Pronounced as French J. |
| k | k | Replaces hard "C", "Qu". Sounds like "K" in kick. |
| w | w | "W" replaces "R" in some words derived from French, but in Creole, they are two different letters. |
| s | s | Replaces the soft "C" and is pronounced like "S" in soft. |
| y | j | Pronounced like "Yuh", as in yuck. |
| z | z | Replaces "S" when used between vowels. Pronounced like "Z", as in zebra. |
| an | ɑ̃ | nasalized sound used in French. Does not exist in English. |
| àn | an | Pronounced as a not nasalized sound with an emphasis on the "N" or "ane" in English. |
| ann | ɑ̃n | A nasalized French "an" with a long "n" sound. |
| anm | ɑ̃m | A nasalized French "an" with a long "m" sound. Pronounced like "ahmm". [5] |
| ay | aj | Pronounced like "eye" in English. |
| in | in | Never nasalized. |
| en | ɛ̃ | Always nasalized. |
| enn | ɛ̃n | Pronounced like "en" in garden. |
| on | ɔ̃ | Sound does not exist in English. It is a nasal on, like the one used in French. |
| onm | ɔ̃m | Nasal sound + M. |
| onn | ɔ̃n | Nasal sound + N. |
| ch | ʃ | Pronounced like "Sh" in English. |
| a | a | Pronounced like a short "a", like in cat. |
| b | b | Pronounced like B in English. |
| f | f | Pronounced as F in English. |
| d | d | Pronounced as D in English, like in dog. |
| m | m | Pronounced as M in English, like man. |
| n | n | Pronounced as N in English, like never. |
| ò | ɔ | Pronounced as "or" as in more. |
| r | w, ɤ, ɹ | Often replaced by W in beginnings of words, but pronounced as racquet. |
| p | p | Pronounced as in pea |
| t | t | Pronounced as in tea |
| v | v | Pronounced as in volcano |
Definite articles comes after the noun in Creole, unlike in French where they always precede the noun. "La" follows nouns that end with a consonant or "y". When a noun ends with a vowel, it is followed by "a" only.
| Nonm-la | The Man |
| Fanm-la | The Woman |
| Payay-la | the Papaya |
| Lawi-a | The Street |
| Zaboka-a | The Avocado |
| 0 | Nòt/Zéwo |
| 1 | yon |
| 2 | dé |
| 3 | twa |
| 4 | kat |
| 5 | senk |
| 6 | sis |
| 7 | sèt |
| 8 | wit |
| 9 | nèf |
| 10 | dis |
| 11 | wonz |
| 12 | douz |
| 13 | twèz |
| 14 | katòz |
| 15 | kinz\tjenz |
| 16 | Sèz |
| 17 | disèt |
| 18 | dizwit |
| 19 | diznèf |
| 20 | ven |
| 21 | ventéyon |
| 22 | venndé |
| 23 | venntwa |
| 24 | vennkat |
| 25 | vennsenk |
| 26 | vennsis |
| 27 | vennsèt |
| 28 | venntwit |
| 29 | ventnèf |
| 30 | twant |
| 31 | twantéyon |
| 32 | twantdé |
| 33 | twantwa |
| 34 | twantkat |
| 35 | twantsenk |
| 36 | twantsis |
| 37 | twantsèt |
| 38 | twantwit |
| 39 | twantnèf |
| 40 | kawant |
| 41 | kawantéyon |
| 42 | kawantdé |
| 43 | kawantwa |
| 44 | kawantkat |
| 45 | kawantsenk |
| 46 | kawantsis |
| 47 | kawantsèt |
| 48 | kawantwit |
| 49 | kawantnèf |
| 50 | senkant |
| 51 | senkantéyon |
| 52 | senkantdé |
| 53 | senkantwa |
| 54 | senkantkat |
| 55 | senkantsenk |
| 56 | senkantsis |
| 57 | senkantsèt |
| 58 | senkantwit |
| 59 | senkantnèf |
| 60 | swasant |
| 61 | swasantéyon |
| 62 | swasantdé |
| 63 | swasantwa |
| 64 | swasantkat |
| 65 | swasantsenk |
| 66 | swasantsis |
| 67 | swasantsèt |
| 68 | swasantwit |
| 69 | swasantnèf |
| 70 | swasantdis |
| 71 | swasantwonz |
| 72 | swasantdouz |
| 73 | swasanttwèz |
| 74 | swasantkatòz |
| 75 | swasantkenz |
| 76 | swasantsèz |
| 77 | swasantdisèt |
| 78 | swasantdizwit |
| 79 | swasantdiznèf |
| 80 | katwèven |
| 81 | katwèventéyon |
| 82 | katwèvendé |
| 83 | katwèventwa |
| 84 | katwèvenkat |
| 85 | katwèvensenk |
| 86 | katwèvensis |
| 87 | katwèvensèt |
| 88 | katwèvenwit |
| 89 | katwèvennèf |
| 90 | katwèvendis |
| 91 | katwèvenwonz |
| 92 | katwèvendouz |
| 93 | katwèventwèz |
| 94 | katwèvenkatòz |
| 95 | katwèvenkenz |
| 96 | katwèvensèz |
| 97 | katwèvendisèt |
| 98 | katwèvendizwit |
| 99 | katwèvendiznèf |
| 100 | san |
| 200 | dé san |
| 300 | twa san |
| 400 | kat san |
| 500 | senk san |
| 600 | sis san |
| 700 | sèt san |
| 800 | wit san |
| 900 | nèf san |
| 1 000 | mil |
| 2 000 | dé mil |
| 3 000 | twa mil |
| 4 000 | kat mil |
| 5 000 | senk mil |
| 6 000 | sis mil |
| 7 000 | sèt mil |
| 8 000 | sit mil |
| 9 000 | nèf mil |
| 10 000 | di mil |
| 100 000 | san mil |
| 200 000 | dé san mil |
| 300 000 | twa san mil |
| 400 000 | kat san mil |
| 500 000 | senk san mil |
| 600 000 | sis san mil |
| 700 000 | sèt san mil |
| 800 00 | wit san mil |
| 900 000 | nèf san mil |
All the other numbers are formed like this: Number + [yènm]
Patois is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, patois can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or slang, which are vocabulary-based forms of cant.
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The music of Guadeloupe encompasses a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an important symbol of identity for Guadeloupe and Martinique. Zouk's origins are in the folk music of Guadeloupe and Martinique, especially Guadeloupan gwo ka and Martinican chouval bwa, and the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition.
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The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east.
The French West Indies or French Antilles are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean:
The music of the Lesser Antilles encompasses the music of this chain of small islands making up the eastern and southern portion of the West Indies. Lesser Antillean music is part of the broader category of Caribbean music; much of the folk and popular music is also a part of the Afro-American musical complex, being a mixture of African, European and indigenous American elements. The Lesser Antilles' musical cultures are largely based on the music of African slaves brought by European traders and colonizers. The African musical elements are a hybrid of instruments and styles from numerous West African tribes, while the European slaveholders added their own musics into the mix, as did immigrants from India. In many ways, the Lesser Antilles can be musically divided based on which nation colonized them.
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Antillean Creole is a French-based creole that is primarily spoken in the Lesser Antilles. Its grammar and vocabulary include elements of French, Carib, English, and African languages.
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