ebook: Mr. Missionary, I Have a Question (Part 3)
Chapter 2. Creole, Columbus, and the Citadel
In this book, Howard Culbertson answers
questions that were asked in church services across the United States during a home-assignment
year. Originally published for the Nazarene Missions International mission book series,
this publication from what is now The Foundry carried ISBN 0-8341-1151-9.
- Don't they speak Portuguese in Haiti?
- The Church of the Nazarene has churches in several
Portuguese-speaking countries. These include the Azores,
Brazil, Mozambique,
Portugal, and Cape Verde.
At the time this book was written, French was Haiti's official language, although only about 10
percent of the population spoke it. Haitian Creole—the language spoken by virtually everyone—was
widely regarded as the country's real national language. Today, both Haitian Creole and French are
official languages. Haitians are separated linguistically from their neighbors, the Dominicans, on
the eastern part of the island. Spanish is the language of the Dominican
Republic.
- Are there similarities between Italian, French, and Haitian Creole?
- Both French and Italian are Romance languages, having developed from Latin. They share
many grammatical features and word roots.
Haitian Creole, on the other hand, developed differently from the Romance languages. Much of
its vocabulary came from French as it was spoken during the 16th and 17th centuries; however,
Haitian Creole grammar differs substantially from French and Italian grammar.
- If Haiti and the Dominican Republic are on the same island, why don't they speak the same
language?
- When Christopher Columbus arrived at the island of
Hispaniola in 1492, he claimed all of it for Spain. Later, the French managed to gain control of
the western third of the island, and French became the official language in the part of Hispaniola that
became Haiti. On the eastern two-thirds of the island, the population remained under Spanish
control long enough for the Spanish language to become firmly established. Two different
languages are spoken on the island today because, for more than 200 years, Hispaniola was
divided between two colonial powers that spoke different languages.
- Is Creole a hard language to learn?
- Like any language, Haitian Creole takes time and a great deal of practice to learn. This means
repeating words, phrases, and sentences until
they can be spoken automatically.
Except for some accented letters, Haitian Creole uses the same basic alphabet as English. Its
grammar is relatively simple compared with that of some other languages, and its sounds are not
particularly difficult for English speakers to reproduce. [ Haitian Creole song
]
- Don't you get mixed up with all the different languages you know?
- The human brain is a marvelous computer. Knowing several
languages is a lot less confusing than one might think. For the most part, once the Italian, French,
or Haitian Creole track has been taken, the train stays on that track. Once in a while
some word from another language may pop out suddenly. But that only makes your speech sound
a little more exotic. Actually, the more languages one knows, the easier it seems to be to acquire
another one. [ PDF on language
learning ]
We were the third Nazarene missionary family to transfer
from Italy to a French-speaking country. Roy and Nina Fuller were the first. They left Italy in
1977 to pioneer the work for our church in French-speaking Quebec. Russell and Donna Lovett
left Italy in 1981 to direct the work in France, which had begun in 1979.
- Where did Haitian Creole come from?
- At the time this book was written, Haitian Creole had been widely used as a written language
for about 40 years, although earlier written examples also existed. Its development is complex.
Its vocabulary draws largely from French, with influences from West African languages as well
as English, Spanish, and Indigenous Caribbean languages.
French colonists brought enslaved Africans to Haiti from many different peoples and language
groups. As these uprooted Africans communicated with one another and with French colonists,
Haitian Creole gradually developed into a full language. It drew much of its vocabulary from
French while also reflecting West African and other linguistic influences.
Despite efforts through the years to upgrade the status of
Haitian Creole, some members of the Haitian elite regarded it as a second-class language. At the
time this book was written, communication was limited between the French-speaking elite and
the largely unschooled, Haitian Creole-speaking rural population.
Almost all church services were conducted in Haitian Creole, while only the more formal services
and ceremonies used French. The New Testament had first appeared in Haitian Creole in 1960.
Previously, the Scriptures available to most Haitians were in French. A Haitian Creole translation
of the Old Testament had been completed and was awaiting publication. [ Bible story
summary in Haitian
Creole ]
- Is Haitian Creole the same Creole as is sometimes spoken in Louisiana?
- No. Louisiana Creole and Haitian Creole are distinct languages, although both draw much of
their vocabulary from French. Cajun French, also spoken in Louisiana, is another distinct language
variety.
- Are the Haitians a musical people?
- American visitors to Haiti invariably go home talking
about the way Haitian Nazarenes like to sing. Some hymns and songs have Creole words; others
have French lyrics. There is a lot of hand-clapping, particularly when songs are sung in Haitian
Creole. Haitians often sing loudly and in four-part harmony. Many
local churches have excellent choirs that sing either a cappella or accompanied by
everything from trumpets, accordions, and guitars to percussion instruments.
- The photographs I've seen of Haiti show mostly Black people. Are there any Indigenous people there?
- The Indigenous population of perhaps 500,000 declined catastrophically
in a few short years after the arrival of the European colonists. Diseases like smallpox, which the
Europeans brought, killed thousands. More succumbed to the brutal and inhumane
treatment by the Europeans who enslaved them. Within less than 100 years after the arrival of
Christopher Columbus, Indigenous communities had been devastated.
European colonists then brought enslaved Africans to the island. Although Haiti no longer has a
large, distinct Indigenous population, many Haitians have Indigenous ancestry. Haitians also have
varied African and European ancestry.
- How large is the country of Haiti?
- The country of Haiti covers approximately 10,700 square miles.
That's equivalent to a tract of land 200 miles long and 50 miles wide.
- What was the population of Haiti when this book was written?
- At the time this book was written, approximately 6 million people lived in Haiti. Nearly 1 million
of them lived in the jostling, colorful capital city, Port-au-Prince. Haiti's total population was about
the same as that of the Los Angeles metropolitan area or the country of Bolivia.
- What is the temperature in Haiti?
- Haiti is in the tropics. Throughout most of the country, the temperature rarely falls below 70
degrees Fahrenheit. It also rarely rises above 95 degrees. So, Haiti does not have the same
seasonal changes as countries in the temperate zone. It does, however, have alternating wet and
dry seasons. The dry season that comes while it is wintertime farther north is cooler than the wet
seasons.
Some high mountain peaks in Haiti have been known to experience frost. Most of the country,
however, grows flowers and vegetable gardens
throughout the year.
- Since Haiti is tropical, is it humid there?
- Haiti doesn't have any real rainforests like the Amazon
Basin in South America. In fact, many areas of Haiti are almost desert-like with stands of cactus.
Some places do get as much as 80 inches of rain a year, but even then, the rain comes mainly at
night, with the sun shining during the day. In Italy, we often experienced days and days of
drizzle. Not in Haiti. So, we have experienced fewer problems with humidity in Haiti
than in Italy's Mediterranean climate.
- In pictures, Haiti looks like a beautiful country; is it?
- Haiti has some marvelous tourist sights. It has been
featured more than once in magazines like National Geographic. I look out of our
bedroom window across trees covered with red blossoms. In the distance is a rugged mountain
range where streams flow through rocky gorges.
Lapping at Haiti's sandy beaches is the emerald Caribbean
Sea—a snorkeler's and scuba diver's delight. In Haiti's cities, weather-beaten gingerbread
buildings jostle for space along narrow streets. Downtown Port-au-Prince has the famous Iron
Market, a shopping area more vitally alive, more crowded, and more clamoring than the deck of a
sinking commuter ferry.
As you travel through the countryside, you continually meet
one of Haiti's most picturesque sights: women balancing heavy loads on their heads as they
gracefully tread its roads and mountain trails from dawn until late at night. In the countryside the
air whispers of ripe pineapple and mango, freshly ground spices, salt-tinged sea air, and
frangipani blossoms.
- Have you ever been to the Citadel?
- The Citadel is a little-known marvel of the Western
Hemisphere. It was built by King Henri Christophe not long after the withdrawal of the French
army. Fearing the possible return of their old masters, the ex-slaves built an imposing fortress in
the mountains above the colonial capital of Cap-Haïtien. The French did not attempt to return. So
the fort was never used in battle.
At the time this book was written, we had seen it only in photographs and hoped to visit it before
the book was published. It was about a five-hour drive north of the capital city.
- What is the money in Haiti called?
- Haiti's money is called the gourde (pronounced
"gourd"). At the time this book was written, the official exchange rate was fixed at five gourdes
to one United States dollar. That made one Haitian gourde worth 20 U.S. cents.
. . . [ read more ]
Page:
←
Prev | Preface |
1. Hawaii, Hoes,
and Holiness |
2. Creole, Christopher Columbus, and the
Citadel |
3. Regional Directors, Demons, and the
Dominican Republic |
4. Mangoes, Malnutrition, and Modernization
|
5. Rice Christians, Churches, and Caravan
|
6. Missionaries, Mail, and Men |
Epilogue |
Next →
|
Regional Directors, Demons, and the Dominican Republic
 | Have we grown so rapidly in Haiti because it is such a
poor country? . . . Do we have trouble getting the Haitians to give up their voodoo practices? . . .
Can you take baths in the water? . . . [ more ] |
-- Howard Culbertson, hculbert@snu.edu
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