Embarrassing Anecdotes and Recovery: Language Attitudes and the Consequences of Haiti's Language Policy

ABSTRACT Only 5% of the Haitian population is fully bilingual in French and Kreyòl. On the contrary, 95% of the population is monolingual in the native language, Kreyòl. The purpose of this research is to examine the attitudes of Haitian high school students toward Kreyòl and French, particularly as official languages, and investigate the effects of Haiti's language policy on these youths’ language use. An attitudinal questionnaire was used to capture participants’ language attitudes toward French and Kreyòl. Findings revealed that Haitian youths show more positive attitudes toward Kreyòl as an official language and more ambivalent attitudes toward French. Some participants also stated that the lack of French proficiency, particularly speaking ability, has led to embarrassing incidents and therefore offered some suggestions for language policy reform.