French Guiana Creole

language
name=French Guiana Creole
nativename=Guyanais, Patwa
states=French Guiana
speakers=
familycolor=Creole
fam1=Creole language
fam2=French Creole
fam3=Antillean Creoles
iso2=
iso3=gcr

French Guiana Creole is a French-lexified creole language spoken in French Guiana, and to a lesser degree, in Suriname and Guyana. It resembles Antillean Creole, but there are some lexical and grammatical differences between them. Antilleans can generally understand French Guiana Creole, though the notable differences between the créole of French Guiana and the créoles of the Caribbean may cause some instances of confusion. The diffences 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 Guianese communities in Suriname and Guyana who continue to speak French Guiana Creole.

It should not be confused with the Guyanese Creole language, based on English, spoken in neighbouring Guyana.

Orthography and phonology

French Guiana 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 diagraph, ch, where it stands for IPA|/ʃ/ (the word for horse is chouval, similar to Standard French's 'cheval.') Otherwise, it is replaced by 'k' when it stands for IPA|/k/ (Standard French's 'comment' (why) is written 'kouman) and 's', when it stands for IPA|/s/. Silent 'h' is never written, unlike in Standard French, where it remains for etymological purposes.

French Guiana creole does not have many of the characteristic sounds of Standard French. The letter 'j' (IPA|/ʒ) is pronounced IPA|/z/ instead. There is no IPA|/y/ sound either. This sound is pronounced as IPA|/i:/ and written as 'i.' Thus, the word 'usé' in standard French is written as 'isé.' The diagraph IPA|/wɑ/ is pronounced as IPA|/ɔ/: 'moi' (me) is pronounced as IPA|/mɔ/. One should also note that French Guiana Creole is a non-rhotic language with no nasal vowels, and thus all R sounds and nasals are dropped from borrowings from other languages: bonjour, pronounced IPA|/bɔ̃ʒuːʁ/ in standard French, is rendered IPA|/bonzu/.

Examples