Hayti; or, The black republic.

by Sir Spenser St. John

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

There are two languages spoken in Hayti, French and Creole. French is the language of public life and of literature, whilst Creole is the language of home and of the people. President Geffrard, among other eccentricities, used to extol the Creole as the softest and most expressive of languages, and his countrymen are unanimously of his opinion; but no Frenchman can accept as a language this uncouth jargon of corrupt French in an African form.

No doubt, African languages, like those of other savages, are very simple in their construction, and the negroes imported into Hayti learned French words and affixed them to the forms of their own dialects. Mr. J. J. Thomas of Trinidad has published a very painstaking grammar of the Creole language as spoken in that island. I gather from it that this patois is much the same as that spoken in Hayti; but in our colony it holds the position of the Saxon in the Norman period, and interpreters are required in our law-courts to explain the language of the people. It shows also that in the French colonies of Martinique and Guadaloupe, as in our French-speaking colonies, wherever the negroes attempt to speak French, they do so in the same way that the Creole is spoken in Hayti. I may add that the patois of the inhabitants of the interior is so corrupt and African, that those who can converse freely with the negroes of the coast are often puzzled when they visit the mountains, and require an interpreter.

As this Creole language is spoken by about a million and a half of people in the different islands of the West Indies, it merits the attention which Mr. Thomas has bestowed upon it; and I would refer those curious on the subject to this elaborate work, in which everything possible is done to raise the status of a patois which remains still, in my opinion, but an uncouth jargon.

There is naturally no Creole literature, but there are many songs and proverbs, some of which may serve to show the kind of language spoken by the Haytians.

The only songs which I can quote are written by persons familiar with the French language, and therefore do not sufficiently represent the pure Creole. The proverbs, however, are genuine, and are therefore the reflex of popular ideas.

Moreau de St. Méry, who lived in Hayti during the latter part of last century, quotes a song written about the year 1750, which, though often reprinted, I will insert here, with a translation made by a Creole some years later. St. Méry has all Geffrard’s admiration for the Creole language, and thinks that the inarticulate sounds, which cannot be rendered on paper, are the most admirable part of the language of the Haytians, and perhaps it may be so:—

Creole.	French.
Lisette quitté la plaine,	Lisette tu fuis la plaine,
Mon perdi bonheur à moué,	Mon bonheur s’est envolé,
Gié à moin semblé fontaine,	Mes pleurs en doubles fontaines
Dipi mon pas miré toué.	Sur tous tes pas out coulé.
La jour quand mon coupé canne,	Le jour moissonnant la canne
Mon songé zamour à moué,	Je rêve à tes doux appas,
La nuit quand mon dans cabane	Un songe dans ma cabane
Dans dromi mon quimbé toué.	La nuit te met dans mes bras.
Si to allé à la ville	Tu trouveras à la ville
Ta trouvé geine candio,	Plus d’un jeune freluquet,
Qui gagné pour trompé fille	Leur bouche avec art distille
Bouche doux passé sirop.	Un miel doux mais plein d’apprêt.
To va crér yo bin sincère	Tu croiras leur cœur sincère,
Pendant quior yo coquin ho,	Leur cœur ne veut que tromper:
C’est serpent qui contrefaire	Le serpent sait contrefaire
Crié rat, pour tromper yo.	Le rat qu’il veut dévorer.
Dipi mon perdi Lisette,	Mes pas loin de ma Lisette
Mon pas souchié Calenda,	S’éloignent du Calenda,
Mon quitté bram bram sonnette,	Et ma ceinture à sonnette
Mon pas batte bamboula.	Languit sur mon bamboula.
Quand mon contré lant’ négresse	Mon œil de toute autre belle
Mon pas gagné gié pour li,	N’aperçoit plus le souris,
Mon pas souchié travail pièce	Le travail en vain m’appelle
Tout qui chose à moin mourri.	Mes sens sont anéantis.
Mon maigre tant com ’guon souche,	Je péris comme la souche,
Jambe à moin tant comme roseau,	Ma jambe n’est qu’un roseau,
Mangé na pas doux dans bouche,	Nul mets ne plaît à ma bouche,
Tafia même c’est comme dyo.	La liqueur se change en eau.
Quand mon songé toué Lisette,	Quand je songe à toi, Lisette,
Dyo toujours dans gié moin,	Mes yeux s’inondent de pleurs,
Magner moin vini trop bête	Ma raison, lente et distraite,
A force chagrin magné moin.	Cède en tout à mes douleurs.
Liset’ mon tardé nouvelle,	Mais est-il bien vrai, ma belle,
To compté bintôt tourné,	Dans pen tu dois revenir:
Vini donc toujours fidèle,	Ah! reviens toujours fidèle,
Miré bon, passé tandé.	Croire est moins doux que sentir.
N’a pas tardé davantage,	Ne tarde pas d’avantage,
To fair moin assez chagrin,	C’est pour moi trop de chagrin,
Mon tant com ’zozo dans cage,	Viens retirer de sa cage
Quand yo fair li mouri faim.	L’oiseau consumé de faim.

It will readily be remarked that every word is a corruption of a French one, and as no standard of spelling can exist in what may be called an unwritten language, every writer has a distinct system of representing Creole sounds. The seductive beauty of this language can only be for the initiated, as the beauty of the native women is rarely remarked except by those who have made a long voyage, and have almost forgotten what beauty is. The versified translation of the song does not give an exact idea of the construction of the Creole sentence, I may therefore insert one verse with an interlined literal translation:—

Lisette, quitté la plaine,