The article "Haitian Creole at the Dawn of Independence" by Albert Valdman discusses the linguistic context during the period surrounding Haitian independence.
A novel titled Master of the Crossroads features dialogues meant to represent Creole spoken at that time, illustrating linguistic forms.
Notable Creole linguistic descriptions come from Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain. She places Haitian Creole's origin in social interactions involving African slaves in Tortuga, interacting with French-speaking captors.
The genesis of Creole was complex, involving multiple social groups rather than a simple one-to-one interaction.
Saint-Domingue was a relatively late colony in the Caribbean, preceded by earlier colonizations like Saint-Kitts.
An important manuscript from the 1750s-1760s contains a Creole adaptation of the Passion of Jesus Christ, reflecting linguistic features of Lesser Antilles Creole (LAC).
This manuscript demonstrates early syntactical structures and reflects the cultural intertwining of French and African languages.
The manuscript displays features of both LAC and the present-day Standard Haitian Creole (SHC), such as different future tense markers and possessive constructions.
Written representations of Creole began appearing in the late colonial period, reflecting the language as an established vernacular.
Early Creole texts from Saint-Domingue reveal differences in language varieties.
These texts have limited genres and largely consist of travelers' accounts and poetic works.
Examples from SDC (Standard Domingue Creole) showcase unique structural features that exist alongside the emergence of SHC.
The article articulates the hierarchical relationship between French and Creole. French served as the language of power while Creole was the vernacular of the enslaved population.
Creole served as a symbol of cultural identity, creating a distinct linguistic boundary between colonizers and the enslaved.
The linguistic situation in Saint-Domingue was characterized by diglossia, where French was the high language and Creole was the low language.
Most inhabitants were monolingual in Creole, privileging social dynamics.
While generally, African languages did not survive in the independence context, they still played significant roles in the processes of seasoning and cultural transmission among slaves.
The unique traditions of African language use continued among early enslaved populations and gradually transitioned into Haitian Creole.
Valdman summarizes the complexities involved in the linguistic evolution of Haitian Creole, suggesting that much historical data reflects a blend of both African linguistic elements and the evolving forms of French.
Continued analysis of syntactical and grammatical structures present in both SDC and contemporary Haitian Creole reveals deeper roots of influence and adaptation post-independence.