Since 1983, October 28 has been celebrated as International Creole Day. This language is spoken by around 25 million people worldwide. Although Creole is most closely associated with the Republic of Haiti, it is spoken on every continent.
Creole is spoken in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Grenada, and Trinidad & Tobago in the Caribbean; in French Guiana in South America; by the oldest speakers in New Orleans in the USA; on Réunion Island, Mauritius, Rodrigues, and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean; and in Wallis & Futuna in the Pacific Ocean. However, due to migration (for example, around 3 million Haitians or people of Haitian origin live outside their native island), Creole is present on every continent. When we say “Creole,” we think first and foremost of Haiti.
Indeed, Creole is the official language of the Republic of Haiti, alongside French. With over 10 million inhabitants, Haiti is the country where the language is most widely spoken. Most of the population speaks Creole, while French is spoken by only 10%. Haitian Creole is somewhat similar to Martinican and Guadeloupean Creole.
The Creole of the French-speaking islands of the Lesser Antilles (especially Martinique) is also very similar to that of Saint Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, and Trinidad & Tobago. These islands, which were once French colonies during a period of strong immigration from Martinique (Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago in particular), have a Creole with a French lexical base. Their proximity to the French-speaking Antilles has helped perpetuate the language in the region.
However, we cannot speak of a single “Antillean Creole,” as small differences in vocabulary mean that sentences do not have the same phrasing. Thus, we distinguish Haitian Creole, Martinican Creole, Guadeloupean Creole, Saint Lucian Creole, Trinidadian Creole, Grenadian Creole, and Dominican Creole.
For example, in Martinique, to say “I love you,” one says mwen inminw’, while in Guadeloupe it is mwen inmin vou. Guianese Creole is also somewhat similar to the Creole spoken in the West Indies. In the English-speaking islands, Creole is the most widely spoken language, even more than English.
In the Indian Ocean, Creole also has a French lexical base, but it is in no way similar to the Creole spoken in the West Indies.
It is also spoken on islands colonized by the French. Ninety percent of the population of Mauritius, Rodrigues, and the Seychelles speaks Creole. However, apart from the Seychelles, where it is an official language alongside French and English, Creole is not a language of administration. French is used on Réunion Island, and English on the other islands. Finally, in Wallis and Futuna, an Overseas Territory (T.O.M.), Creole is spoken by the population but is not an administrative language.
