French Guianese Creole

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French Guiana, where French Guianese Creole originates.

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 to a lesser degree, in 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/.

Vocabulary	Pronunciation in French	In French Guianese Creole	Meaning in English
			rice
			sleep

Possessive determiners are placed before the noun:

In French	In French Guianese Creole	In English
		my house
		their 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

File:Kréyol Gwiyanè.png

French Guianese Creole phrases making the shape of French Guiana

French Guianese Creole (IPA)	Metropolitan French	English
Bonswè	Bonsoir	Good 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, la	He, She, Him, Her, It
Roun	Un, une	One
Eskizé mo	Excusez-moi	Excuse me, pardon me
Lapli ka tonbé	Il pleut	It'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