THE DEPRECIATION OF HAITIAN CREOLE AND HAITIAN CODE SWITCHING

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of Haitian code-switching as a diglossic country and Haitian Creole depreciation as the native language of Haiti. The history of the Haitian Creole language developed by enslaved west African in the plantation of the Island, during the slave rebellion for the revolution after several attempts conspiring for their freedom. After the embarkation of the French Colony in the Island to settle from 1659 till 1804, French has become the language of dominance, it was the language of the plantations’ masters. These two languages have remained the official languages of Haiti in which Haitian people Code-switch when using either French or Haitian Creole. However Creole has become the language of depreciation, in another term a marginalized language.  In this study a qualitative and descriptive analysis have been carried out through social medias such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and You-Tube to collect data on Haitian code-switching by observing one of the Haitian Ex-presidents Mr. Joseph Michel Martelly who is also a famous singer. Some video links will be provided to observe the code-switching of the president Michel Martelly in different situations such as debates with his opponent Mme Mirlande Hyppolite Manigat in 2011 before he won the election, interviews with national and international journalists about political and artistic movement and his performance on stage as a singer.