French Guianese Creole (Kriyòl; also called variously Guianan Creole, Guianese Creole in English and Créole guyanais in French) is a French-based creole language spoken in French Guiana and by French Guianese abroad, including in neighboring Suriname and Brazil. It resembles Antillean Creole, but there are some lexical and grammatical differences between them. Antilleans can generally understand French Guianese Creole, though there may be some instances of confusion. The differences consist of more French and Brazilian Portuguese influences (due to the proximity of Brazil and Portuguese presence in the country for several years). There are also words of Amerindian and African origin. There are French Guianese communities in Suriname and Brazil who continue to speak the language.
It should not be confused with the Guyanese Creole language, based on English, spoken in nearby Guyana.
History French Guianese Creole was a language spoken between slaves and settlers. But the conditions of French Guianese Creole's constitution were quite different from the Creole of the West Indies, on the one hand because of the conflicts between French, English, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish, and French dialects such as the Caen have greatly influenced French Guianese Creole, which has made it significantly different from the Creoles of Martinique, Haiti, St. Lucia and Guadeloupe.
There are, therefore, in French Guianese Creole many words in common with the Creoles of the West Indies. However, a number of words differentiate them significantly.
In addition, in French Guiana, the letter 'r' is mostly preserved in onset position, whereas in the West Indies the pronunciation of 'r' tends rather to approximate the semi-vowel /w/. VocabularyPronunciation in FrenchIn French Guianese CreoleMeaning in Englishricesleep Possessive determiners are placed before the noun: In FrenchIn French Guianese CreoleIn Englishmy housetheir children/his wife
Orthography and phonology French Guianese Creole is largely written using the French alphabet, with only a few exceptions. 'Q' and 'X' are replaced by 'k' and 'z' respectively. 'C' is not used apart from in the digraph, ch, where it stands for (the word for horse is chouval, similar to French's cheval). Otherwise, it is replaced by 'k' when it stands for (Standard French's comment (how) is written kouman) and 's', when it stands for . Silent 'h' is never written, unlike in Standard French, where it remains for etymological reasons. The diphthong 'OU' is replaced by 'w' when it stands for . The diphthong 'OI' is replaced by 'we', but by 'o' in the words "mo" and "to".
Examples
French Guianese Creole (IPA) Metropolitan French EnglishBonswè BonsoirGood evening Souplé S'il vous plaît Please Mèsi Merci Thank you Mo Moi, me, je Me, I To Toi, te, tu You I, L, Li Lui, le, laHe, She, Him, Her, It Roun Un, une One Eskizé mo Excusez-moi Excuse me, pardon me Lapli ka tonbé Il pleutIt's raining Jod-la a roun bèl jou Aujourd'hui, il fait beau Today is a beautiful day A kouman to fika? (Comment) ça va? How are you? Mari a mo manman Marie est ma mère Marie is my mother Rodolf a to frè Rodolphe est ton frère Rudolph is your brother I ka alé laplaj Il va à la plage He's going to the beach Mo pa mélé Je m'en moque I don't care
References