Okay, it’s been, what, ten weeks? I’ve found better and better resources to learn kreyòl ayisyen, and while I am in no way fluent, I was able to have a conversation with my tutor last week. Now, I did write out the narrative in English so I had a good idea of what I’d be talking about, but I translated on the fly from my English text to kreyòl, sometimes stumbling, sometimes mixing up sounds. (I don’t know what the confusion is called, but I would try to say something like “etidye” and it would come out “editye,” which are two different words and meanings.)
I’m having trouble with size-comparisons such as “he is taller than I” and the like. And I’m still having trouble with the “ki” questions and the use of the reflexive pronoun in sentences such as “ki moun ki vle manje?” (who wants to eat?). But I’m picking up the vocabulary and a general sense of the present indicative tense. (Future/past/present are a bit fuzzy.)
But . . .
Let us speak of numbers in kreyòl.
I do understand that there is a logic to it and that the numbering system borrows a lot from French. I get that. But still . . . could there not have been a moment in the past when people realized that it wasn’t necessary to number 70-79 and 90-99 as “60+10…19” and “80+10…19”? Even 80 itself isn’t “eighty” but “four-twenties” while 40 is not “two-twenties.”
Le sigh . . . language is something that is fashioned from daily & long-term use, and with so much of the French structure in place, it’s reasonable to understand that a lot of French influences remain such as in the way numbers are, well, numbered.
Oh, and one more thing: the way to spell out the numbers seems to be in flux. “8” is either “uit” or “wit” based upon the sound. (“Uit” is more like a “youEET” and “wit” is kinda like “weet.”) The number pattern is kinda like this: “starting” number like “twenty” (ven) or “thirty” (trant), then starting number + “and one” (eyen) to make 21 (venntyen), 31 (trannteyen), and so on. But then a modified form of the starting number for the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 “vennde, venntwa, vennkat, vennsenk, vennsis, vennsèt), then back to the “nt” sound for 8 and 9 “venntuit/venntwit” and “venntnèf.” Tranntwa isn’t this pattern because it’s “thirty” (trannt) and “three” (twa).
But this isn’t fixed, as I see, depending upon the source, an instance when the “nt” shows up elsewhere.
And as I’m progressing in my reading/speaking using the materials that are (waves vaguely) “out there,” I’m seeing some interesting pronunciation differences as people who are teaching the first lessons are now getting into the more complex structures. One thing I’m seeing is a much more “French” sounding pronunciation, which is okay, but it doesn’t sound the same as the native speakers I listen to on Haitian media, especially TV stations with “real” Haitians (not the upper-class media representatives). I’m hearing a way more French-sounding “è,” for example. Or a shift of the “ò” to an open “o” sound. The accents in kreyòl ayisyen are about sound and not tone or pitch, so there’s a difference between the “e” and “è” and the “o” and “ò,” kinda like the sound of “gate” vs. “get” or “go” and “off.” So “bonswa” (good afternoon) and “bòn nuit” (good night) are different sounds.
It’s not terrible, and I am assuming that people are letting their nativish-accents come out, but I’m trying to learn kreyòl based upon what I’m told in the books I study. So I’ll work on perfecting that accent.
(Still to come: the plosive nature of speaking kreyòl. Your entire mouth, tongue cheeks, lips, and even eyes are part of speaking. It’s energetic and even a bit exaggerated as a native speaker. That’s what I’m looking for in my learning.)