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]
Kwéyòl pronouns
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.
"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
Articles
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
Numbers
Cardinal
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
1 000 000 = yon milyon
1 000 000 000 = yon milya
1 234 = yon mil + dé san + twantkat
30 153 = twant mil + san + senkantwa
412 489 = (kat san douz) mil + kat san + katwèvennèf
12 356 734 = (douz) milyon + (twa san+senkantsis) mil + sèt san+twantkat
Ordinal
1st = pwémyè
2nd = dézyènm
3rd = twazyènm
4th = katriyènm
5th = senkyènm
6th = sizyènm (Notice the second "s" in "sis" is pronounced as a "z")
7th = sètyènm
8th = wityènm
9th = nèvyènm (Notice the "f" in "nèf" is pronounced as a "v")
All the other numbers are formed like this: Number + [yènm]
^Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Circum-Caribbean French". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
