| Language policy can be either overt or covert. Expressed policies (overt) are easily identified and examined, while those that remain unarticulated (covert) represent a more serious challenge for the sociolinguist attempting to delineate and label them. Both types of language policy, however, reflect and affect language attitudes and usage in a given social environment. In the Haitian context, covert policies have predominated since colonial times. This study identifies and describes those policies and explores their relationship to language attitudes and practices which have characterized the Haitian experience since the nation's days as a colony of France.;This study centers on the following hypotheses: first, that the vast majority of language planning and policy both within Haiti and among Haitians abroad has always been covert, that is to say unstated; second, that whereas language policies have traditionally been determined by the mulatto elite of Haiti, an increasingly affluent diaspora comprised of both blacks and mulattoes now determines language policy within the 'transnational' Haiti to a far greater degree than ever before; third, that although Creole often continues to function as the intimate language of Haitians living abroad, it is English which serves as their primary language of education, commerce, and social interaction with non-Haitians, while through the diaspora's influence, English continues to play an ever greater role in similar aspects of life within the traditional borders of Haiti; and fourth, that it is unspoken language policy originating in the private sector which will influence stated governmental language policy in the future. Archival research combined with ethnographic interviews and extensive surveys of websites and chat forums provides data. |
