Ethnolinguistic Situation and Language Policy in Haiti

Abstract

The article presents the dynamics of the language situation in the Republic of Haiti and its characteristics at the present stage, as well as an analysis of the language policy and language legislation in the country. The paper also analyses the functioning of languages in the spheres of communication regulated by the state and in interpersonal communication such as in the family, at home, etc., is also analysed. The main attention is paid to the use of languages in the educational system, which is one of the most important spheres of commu-nication both for the transfer of knowledge and culture from generation to generation and for the formation of the language competence of the younger generation of the country. The Republic of Haiti is an example of a language situation in a former colony, where after two hundred years of independence French, the language of the colonizers, still domi-nates in the educational system at the expense of Haitian Creole, which is spoken by 90% of the population.