View source for French-based creole languages

{{short description|Family of creole languages for which French is the lexifier}}
{{French language}}
[[File:RootedNeighborNetCreole.jpg|thumb|500px|Treemap of French-based creoles.]]
A '''French creole''', or '''French-based creole language''', is a [[creole language|creole]] for which [[French language|French]] is the [[lexifier]]. Most often this lexifier is not modern French but rather a 17th- or 18th-century [[Koiné language|koiné]] of French from Paris, the French Atlantic harbors, and the nascent French colonies. This article also contains information on French [[pidgin]] languages, contact languages that lack native speakers.

These contact languages are not to be confused with creolized varieties of French outside of Europe that date to colonial times, such as [[Acadian French|Acadian]], [[Louisiana French|Louisiana]], [[New England French|New England]] or [[Quebec French]]. 

There are over 15.5 million speakers of some form of French-based creole languages. [[Haitian Creole]] is the most spoken creole language in the world, with over 12 million speakers.

== History ==
Throughout the 17th century, French Creoles became established as a unique ethnicity originating from the mix of French, Indian, and African cultures. These French Creoles held a distinct ethno-cultural identity, a shared antique language, '''Creole French''', and their civilization owed its existence to the overseas expansion of the French Empire.<ref name="carlbrasseauxglennconrad">{{cite book |title=The Road to Louisiana: The Saint-Domingue Refugees, 1792-1809|author=Carl A. Brasseaux, Glenn R. Conrad|year=1992|publisher=Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana|location=New Orleans|pages=4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 15, 21, 22, 33, 38, 108, 109, 110, 143, 173, 174, 235, 241, 242, 243, 252, 253, 254, 268 }}</ref> 

In the eighteenth century, Creole French was the first and native language of many different peoples including those of European origin in the [[West Indies]].<ref name="byrneholm">{{cite book |title=Atlantic Meets Pacific: A Global View of Pidginization and Creolization ; Elected Papers from the Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics|author1=Francis Byrne|author2=John A. Holm|year=1993|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|location=United States of America|pages=394}}</ref> French-based creole languages today are spoken natively by millions of people worldwide, primarily in the [[Americas]] and on archipelagos throughout the Indian Ocean.

==Classification==

===Americas===
* Varieties with [[progressive aspect]] marker ''ape'', derived from ''après''<ref name="ape">with variants ''ap'' and ''pe'', from the [[Koiné language|koiné]] French [[progressive aspect]] marker ''àprè'' <après> [[Henri Wittmann]]. 1995, "Grammaire comparée des variétés coloniales du français populaire de Paris du 17<sup>e</sup> siècle et origines du français québécois", in Fournier, Robert, & Wittmann, Henri, ''Le français des Amériques'', Trois-Rivières: Presses universitaires de Trois-Rivières, pp. 281–334.[http://www.nou-la.org/ling/1995a-fda.pdf]</ref>
**[[Haitian Creole]] (''Kreyòl ayisyen'', locally called Creole) is a language spoken primarily in [[Haiti]]: the largest French-derived language in the world, with an estimated total of 12&nbsp;million fluent speakers. It is also the most-spoken creole language in the world and is based largely on 17th-century French with influences from Portuguese, Spanish, English, [[Taíno language|Taíno]], and [[West Africa]]n languages.<ref name="Bonenfant2011">{{cite journal|last=Bonenfant |first=Jacques L. |title=History of Haitian-Creole: From Pidgin to Lingua Franca and English Influence on the Language |url=http://fmuniv.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/History_of_haitian_review_of_higher_education.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150323163405/http://fmuniv.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/History_of_haitian_review_of_higher_education.pdf |journal=Review of Higher Education and Self-Learning |volume=3 |issue=11 |date=2011 |archive-date=23 March 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is an official language in Haiti.
** [[Louisiana Creole]] (''Kréyol la Lwizyàn'',{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} locally called ''Kourí-Viní'' and Creole), the [[Louisiana]] creole language.
** [[Saint Lucian Creole]] (''Kwéyòl'', locally called ''Patwa'' and/or Creole) is the [[Saint Lucia|Saint Lucian]] creole language of [[Saint Lucia]].
** [[Antillean Creole|Martinican Creole]] (''Kreyòl'', Martinique Creole) is the creole language of [[Martinique]].
* Varieties with [[progressive aspect]] marker ''ka''<ref name="ka">from the [[Karipúna Creole French|Karipúna]] substratum ([[Henri Wittmann]]. 1995, "Grammaire comparée des variétés coloniales du français populaire de Paris du 17<sup>e</sup> siècle et origines du français québécois", in Fournier, Robert & Wittmann, Henri, ''Le français des Amériques'', Trois-Rivières: Presses universitaires de Trois-Rivières, pp. 281–334.[http://www.nou-la.org/ling/1995a-fda.pdf]</ref>
** [[Antillean Creole]], spoken in the [[Lesser Antilles]], particularly in [[Guadeloupe]] and [[Dominica]]. Although all of the creoles spoken on these islands are considered to be the same language, there are noticeable differences between the dialects of each island. Notably, the Creole spoken in the Eastern (windward) part of the island [[Saint Barthélemy#Demographics|Saint-Barthélemy]] is spoken exclusively by a white population of European descent, imported into the island from [[Saint Kitts]] in 1648.
** [[French Guianese Creole]] is a language spoken in [[French Guiana]], and to a lesser degree in [[Suriname]] and [[Guyana]]. It is closely related to [[Antillean Creole]], but there are some noteworthy differences between the two.
** [[Karipúna French Creole]], spoken in Brazil, mostly in the state of [[Amapá]]. It was developed by Amerindians, with possible influences from immigrants from neighboring [[French Guiana]] and French territories of the Caribbean and with a recent lexical [[adstratum]] from Portuguese.
*** [[Lanc-Patuá creole|Lanc-Patuá]], spoken more widely in the state of [[Amapá]], is a variety of the former, possibly the same language.

===Indian Ocean===
*Varieties with [[progressive aspect]] marker ''ape''<ref name="ape"/> – subsumed under a common classification as [[Bourbonnais Creole]]s
**[[Mauritian Creole]], spoken in [[Mauritius]] (locally ''Kreol'')
**[[Agalega creole]], spoken in [[Agaléga Islands]]
**[[Chagossian creole]], spoken by the former population of the [[Chagos Archipelago]]
**[[Réunion Creole]], spoken in [[Réunion]]
**[[Rodriguan creole]], spoken on the island of [[Rodrigues]]
**[[Seychellois Creole]], spoken everywhere in the Seychelles and locally known as Kreol seselwa. It is the national language and shares official status with English and French.

===Pacific===
*[[Tayo Creole|Tayo]], spoken in [[New Caledonia]]

=== Asia ===
*[[Tây Bồi Pidgin French]], formerly spoken in [[Indochina]]

==See also==
*[[Michif]]
*[[Chiac]]
*[[Camfranglais]], a macaronic language of [[Cameroon]]
*[[Middle English creole hypothesis]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

{{French Creoles}}
{{French dialects by continent}}
{{Romance languages}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:French-based pidgins and creoles| ]]