Haitian Creole - Structure, Variation, Status, Origin - Albert Valdman
The Phonological System
Haitian Creole - Structure, Variation, Status, Origin - Albert Valdman
Albert Valdman [+]
Indiana University
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Albert Valdman is director of the Creole Institute at Indiana University and is a leading international specialist in French-based creoles. He is the author of one of the major works in the field, Le Créole: Structure, statut et origine (1978) and basic reference works for Louisiana Creole and Haitian Creole, in particular, the Haitian Creole-English Bilingual Dictionary (2007).
Description
Chapter 2 opens with a discussion of the notion of phonemic distinction. The consonant and vowel systems of HC are presented in comparison with the corresponding systems of French and English. The description of each of the two phonological subsystems of the language is tripartite: inventory of phonemes, articulatory details, and distributional features. For the vowels, special sections are devoted to the treatment of the nasal vowels and the front rounded vowels.