The 'real' Haitian creole

Language can be examined as a rich resource for understanding the ways in which speakers represent themselves, how they represent others, and how they are represented by others. In this paper we explore a set of language beliefs in conjunction with language practices of Kreydl speakeis. We are interested in how metalinguistic telms used by Haitians regarding varieties of spoken Kreydl manifest themselves in debates regarding which orthography best repreients the language. This is followed by an analysis of competing orthographies in teims of how tt "y rnit" the language looi and which sounds are.given graphirepresentation. We view the pro..r, of Jreiting an orthography for Kreydl not is u n"utril activity which simply reduces an oral language to witten form, but as an important symbolic vehicle for'representing its speak"ers In terms of national and international identity. We propose thai conteste-d orthographies be viewed as sites of contested identities iather ittun ur neutral academic or fnguistic arguments without political, social or educational consequences. We suggest that the debates regarding the sounds of Kreydl as well as how those sounds should be written are about different representations of its speakers. These different arguments and the