Professor Ines Vano Garcia

ELL 101

November/27/2018

Language Attitudes of Haitian Creole speakers as perceived by Dominicans

Haitian Creole also known as (kreyòl ayisyen) comes from 18th century French with influences from Spanish, Taino, Portuguese, English, and West African languages. Haitian Creole was made by African slaves when they came into contact with French settlers during the Atlantic slave trade. This slave trade took place In the French colony of Saint-Domingue now known as Haiti. Haitian Creole is spoken by 10-12 million people internationally. Haitian Creole is the most popular language in Haiti more than 8.5 million Haitians are fluent but every region has its own different touches to it.  Haitian creole is in many different countries including Canada, the USA, France, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, the Bahamas and other Caribbean countries. Haitian Creole is the second most spoken language in Cuba after Spanish, there is even a creole radio station in Havana Cuba. Over 300,000 Haitian immigrants  speak Haitian creole in Cuba. It is a minority language in Cuba and a significant number of Cubans speak it fluently as a second language. Most of these Cubans that speak Haitian Creole have never been to Haiti and do not have any Haitian ancestry, but learned it in their neighborhood.

In Dominican Republic Haitians are not really welcome. I found an article on the website of CNN by Mariano Castillo called “Faces of a divided island.” According to the article hundreds of thousands of Dominicans with Haitian decent have been stripped of their citizenship and forced to prove they were born in the Dominican Republic. There are also undocumented immigrants that are forced to register with the government.  Castillo stated that “The more common situation, I learned through dozens of interviews, is that children of immigrants are not recorded in the civil registry at birth.” that was because most immigrants were scared that if they were found then they would be deported.

I also found another article on seeker by Julia Wilde called “Why Dominican Republic hates Haiti.” the Article mentions how in Santiago there was a crowd of people burning a Haitian flag which was a symbolic act to protest against the “invasion” of Haitian migration into the country. They also had anti-Haitian graffiti throughout the capital city of Santo Domingo.

In the Commisceo Global there was a page titled “Dominican Republic Guide Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette.” It states the upper class are descended from the European settlers and have lighter skin than the lower class who are darker skinned and descended from African slaves or Haitians. Status is defined by family background not by wealth and there is little social mobility

I feel like in Dominican Republic the social factor that associated with the attitudes to the language is the fact that Dominicans just don’t like anything about Haitians in general. Dominicans are racist towered the Haitians.

In conclusion I feel like a lot of people are judged on the way that they talk. For example, sometimes people think that they can tell what type of education someone else has had by the way that they talk but in reality, people can have many different dialects. When I am around my mom, I wouldn’t use slang with her I would only talk in Spanish. Someone listening in might think we don’t know English.

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October -23-2018

ELL- 101

Professor Ines Vano Garcia

Linguistic Landscape

The linguistic landscape that I took a picture of was around the gym that I go to. Its above of a furniture store the English letters are all capitalized and in bold. And then there is another language under it both languages are in white and the background is in some type of blueish color. The address is right under that as well as a phone number to contact the store. It is a multilingual sign since it has more than one language it is also an authorized sign put up by shop management.

I feel like the sign shows that there are more English-speaking people in the neighborhood since the English is way bigger then the words in the other language and its first. Also, that there are people in the neighborhood that speak that other language because if they really wanted to the sign could have just been left with just English. instead they didn’t they put the other language too, so it shows that there are people that would benefit from having the other language on the sign.

The neighborhood that the picture was taken in was Steinway in Queens its actually really popular. there are a lot of stores around there about 4 different gyms, supermarkets a few nail salons, clothing stores, two different train stations to get there and two different busses get you there as well. English is really the most common language there but if you walk a few blocks down you will find a lot more stores with that type of language in the front  like delis, hookah lounges and restaurants.

was my description of my picture good?

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I grew up in a hispanic household that ment all i would hear at home is spanish. My parents new that if i learned spanish at home i could also learn english in school with no problem. When i was younger i had a more colombian accent because i had picked it up from the way my parents talked. During high school i picked up a more dominican accent because i would always be around dominicans. I use a lot of there slang too like how i am always saying “ cono ” and that is a really big dominican thing. I work in a supermarket and if i talk spanish to a customer sometimes they do ask me if i am dominican.

When i talk i feel like people would say it is more of a stigmatized form i dont really use big words. I am always talking with friends and family and it’s more regular with them i don’t have to watch what i say and i don’t have to think before i speak. I feel like the way i talk really differs depending on who i am talking with if i know the person i am more laid back. For example when i am at work i am really serious with the customers because i don’t know them.

My language is perceived in different ways just because if i am talking to my sister and she gets me annoyed i will give her attitude. Or if i am talking to my dad and he says something dumb or funny i will laugh or look at him funny. In both occasions i could say the same thing for example like “ stop talking to me.” For my sister it would be in a mean way and for my dad it would be more like me laughing. I guess this is because it just depends who i am talking to and what we are talking about.

I have never really been put in a position where someone had a bad attitude towards my language just because  i don’t really go around talking to random people i guess. When i am outside i manly only talk english and you really can’t tell if i talk spanish unless i say it i have actually been asked a few times if i am Filipino because of my eyes. I guess when i am at work spanish people tend to come to my line because they know it will be easier to communicate with me instead of my co worker that doesn’t speak any type of spanish. Another thing can be spanish speaking customers tend to feel more comfortable asking me a question about something even though they speak english and they can ask any other cashier.

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