| Refleksyon Sou Jounen Kreyòl 2000 Emmanuel W. Védrine oktòb 2000 |
Gen plizyè fason nou ka entèprete Jounen sa a oubyen kòmante sou senbolis li: kreyòl lang liberasyon, kreyòl sèl lang ki konekte tout Ayisyen, kreyòl kòm lang ki Lega kilti ayisyèn, kreyòl se lang nou pi alèz ladan, kreyòl sèl lang nou fè lanmou ladan pi byen, kreyòl lang zansèt nou yo, kreyòl antre sou entènet la nèt, se kreyòl ki towo a sou tè Desalin. Men kòm Ayisyen ki konsyan de pwoblèm ak reyalite Ayiti, pa gen anyen m pral fete. Ou fete se lè reyèlman kè w kontan, y ap pale de byen pou peyi w kote w pase, lè w di ou se Ayisyen moun pa gen sèt min nan fon men yo souri ba ou. Reflechi! Se plis pou mwen yon Jounen Refleksyon, non sèlman sou lang natifnatal nou an men sou tout kilti ki gen "kreyòl" kòm non de batèm. Nan tout rechèch k ap fèt sou kreyòl, se Ayiti tout chèrchè mansyone nan tèt lis la epoutan se la yo pi meprize kilti ak lang kreyòl la. Swedizan entelektyèl / lengwis nou yo (kòm mwen mansyone nan yon entèvyou ak SICRAD ) pa pwodui yon pyèlyèm an kreyòl, apa Yves Dejean ki fè yon gwo diferans jodi a. Mesye yo chita ap ekri bèl koze sou kreyòl nan lang Voltè / Chekspi pou yo ba yo grad "gran chèrchè" epitou, depi yo rive nan yon nivo akademik elve, anpil kategorikman elwaye yo de kominote ayisyèn nan. Reflechi! Donk fò n reflechi sou mantalite sa a, kritike l pou n eseye chanje l. E nou kapab kesyone tou: men ki liv / atik / metòd yo ekri an kreyòl pou ede lang sa a bouje? Ki dokiman yo pwodui / eseye met deyò pou bay ide sou eradikasyon to analfabèt Ayiti? Ki ide yo bay pou montre sa k pa konn fè rechèch (men ki montre yon voulwa nan avansman lang kreyòl la) pou ta ede yo? Kisa yo fè ak tèz / liv yo fin ekri yo? Eske yo menm panse voye kèk kopi nan kèk sant rechèch ki kenbe dokiman sou Ayiti? Panse voye kèk nan Bibliyotèk Nasyonal Ayiti? Reflechi! Jounen Jodi a, n ap travèse tou kon kriz "dokimantasyon" kote menm dokiman kreyòl (si w ta bezwen fè bonjan rechèch) ou pa menm bezwen pèdi tan al Ayiti (sof si w pral entèvyoure moun pou ranmase yon "corpus" oral [ki fèt deja, plis pa chèrchè etranje nan plizyè domèn]. Fò ou ta pran avyon al Lafrans ak lòt peyi ewopeyen epi al nan kèk bonjan inivèsite Ameriken ak nan "Library of Congress" pou jwenn yon seri dosye (pa sèlman sou kreyòl, men sou Ayiti an jeneral). Reflechi! Pou Jounen espesyal sa a, m ta di konpatriyòt mwen yo (patikilyèman sa k nan domèn rechèch kreyòl, sa k rele tèt yo kreyolis, jounalis, ekriven, sa k ap fè yon bagay kèlkonk ki an rapò ak kreyòl) pou yo reflechi, analize pwoblèm yo, pa ret fè vye politik chen manje chen / youn ap kraze lòt, men antre nan ou menm, pran konsyans de reyalite peyi nou. Sa ou ka fè a, pa atann okenn glwa an retou / lajan k ap soti nan yon òganizasyon kèlkonk pou ede w men jis fè sa ou wè ki nesesè (menmsi se ak lajan k sot nan pòch ou). Se yon lòt altènatif tou (nan tout domèn) pou n rive chanje vizaj Ayiti: chak Ayisyen eseye fè yon bagay nan domèn li (san nou pa bezwenn tounen pwatann nan ret tann akonplisman pwomès swedizan lidè x / y. Zwazo ki gen plim pa chante. Donk se souwè / refleksyon pa m pou Jounen espesyal sa a. Kòm chèrchè / lengwis / kreyolis / edikatè / direktè plizyè pwojè rechèch / dwayen Albert VALDMAN ap toujou rete nan tèt plizyè moun yon "ewo estraòdinè", non sèlman pou travay ekselan /san souf li sou yon dal lang kreyòl, sou varyasyon fransè (ki pale tout kote sou latè) men pandan 40 ane rechèch li nan Indiana University (gouvènman fransè voye anbasè François Bujon de l'Estang vin dekore l ak pi gran onè akademic peyi Lafrans bay, "Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques" [26 okt., 2000] ) li se youn nan chèrchè ki chanje konplètman vizaj inivèsite sa a. Donk menmsi nou ta fin ekri youn, de, twa liv / atik / yon grenn tèz sou kreyòl (byenke se yon kontribisyon kanmenm), pa panse travay la dwe kanpe la epi pou n ap tann moun vin bat bravo pou nou, ban nou yon plak; sa ka fè n vin parese kou chen plenn (kòmsi nou akonpli misyon nou, nou mèt kanpe la). Se kontinye travay la jouk nou pa debou ankò epi pa janm pran chans glorifye travay nou ta fè (sa se travay kritik pou di sa yo panse). Travay chèrchè / atis la se "kontinye pwodui nan nivo maksimòm" nan domèn li epi an menm tan, pase travay lòt moun an revi / envestige travay lòt moun (vin ak kritik konstriktif, pa kritik pou kraze moun si yon moun sa a pa nan gwoup / menm asosyasyon ak ou). Reflechi! Finalman, gen bèl travay tou k ap fèt nan domèn lòt kreyòl (Guadloup, Lagiyàn, Matinik, Sechèl, Senlisi pa ekz). Ann ba yo lebra, ankouraje yo. Nou se yon sèl pèp ki gen yon istwa an komen. Nou ka panse a estrateji pou n kolabore / patisipe nan rechèch / devlopman kreyòl lòt kote sa yo (ki pale apeprè menm kreyòl a baz leksik fransè) e nan echanj kiltirèl. Reflechi! (E. W. Vedrine)
by E. W. VEDRINE There are many ways we can interpret this Day or comment on its symbolism: Kreyol, the language of liberation, Kreyol the only language that connects every Haitian, Kreyol as the Legba (1) of the Haitian Culture, Kreyol the language of our ancestors, Kreyol is on the net once for all, Kreyol is the king on Dessalines’ land. But as a conscious Haitian of Haiti’s problems and of the Haitian Reality, there nothing that I am going to celebrate. People celebrate when they are really happy, when they say good things about their country wherever they go, when they say they are Haitians others have a happy face smiling at them. Think! It’s more a Day of reflection, not only on our native language but about all cultures that have “creole” as their primary language. In all research that are being conducted on Haitian Creole (Kreyol), it’s Haiti that most researchers mention on top of their list; nonetheless that’s where they look down the most on the Kreyol culture and language. The so-called our intellectuals / linguists (as I’ve mentioned in an interview with SICRAD) don’t produce anything in Kreyol, apart from Yves Dejean (2) who has made a big difference today. These guys sit down to write beautiful things on Kreyol in Voltaire’s or Shakespeare’s in the search of the title of “great researchers” and, once they reach a high academic level, many of tem categorically distance themselves from the Haitian Community. Think! So, we must think about this mentality, criticize it in order to try to change it. And we can also ask: But what books / article / manuals have they written in Kreyol to help this language moving forward?What documents have they produced / tried to publish to educate about the eradication of illiteracy in Haiti? What ideas have they given to help those who can’t conduct research (showing a willingness in the advancement of the Kreyol language)? What have they done with theses /dissertations / books after writing them? Do they even think of sending some copies to research centers that hold documents on Haiti? Think of sending some to the National Library in Haiti? Think! Today, we are also going through a crisis of “documentation” where even the Kreyol documents (if one were in the need of conducting real research) you’d not even need to waste time going to Haiti (unless if that person were going to interview people in order to build an “oral corpus” [that has been already done, more by foreign researchers in many areas]. One would have to take an airplane to go to France and to other European countries and then travel to some good American Universities and go to "Library of Congress" to find a series of documents (not only on Kreyol, but also on Haiti in general). Think! For this special Day, I tell my countrymen (particularly those in the area of research on Kreyol, those who call themselves creolists [in the sense of people who write in Kreyol], journalists, writers, those who are doing somehow something related to Kreyol) to think, analyze the problems, don’t focus on doing “bad politics” or politics of dogs eating dogs / one putting down the other, but get into yourself (to think), be conscious of the reality of our country. The things that you can do, don’t expect any glory in return or money coming from some organizations somehow to help you but just do what you think if necessary (even if you have to spend your own money). That is another alternative also (in all domains) trying to change the face of Haiti where each Haitian does something in his own domain (without waiting and keep on waiting forever for promises to be performed by so-called leader x / y. Birds with feathers don’t sing (as the Kreyol saying puts it). So, that’s my hope and my own reflection for this special Day. As researcher / linguist / creolist / educator / director of many research project / dean Albert VALDMAN will always remain in the mind of many people a “super hero”, not only for this excellent and tireless works on many creole languages, his research on the variation of French (spoken everywhere in the world) but also for his forty years of research at Indiana University. The French government send his ambassador François Bujon de l'Estang to decorate him with the highest academic honor that France would give, "Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques" (Oct. 26, 2000]). He is one of the researchers who has changed completely the face of this university. So, even if you would finish writing one, two, three books / articles / a thesis on Kreyol (which is also a contribution anyhow), don’t think the work should stop there and to wait for people to say bravo to you, give you a plaque; that can make you become as lazy as a pregnant bitch (as if we’ve accomplished our mission and then we stop there). We must continue the work until we no longer alive and we should never take the chance to glorify the work we would do (that is the task of critics to say what they think). The work of researchers / artists is to “continue producing at the maximum level” in their domains and at the same time, review the works of others or investigate their works (come up with constructive critics, not critics to put down someone if that person is not part of the group / the same association that you are a member of. Think! Finally, there are great works that are being done in the area of other creole languages (e.g, in Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Seychelles, Saint Lucia...). Let’s work together with them, and encourage them. We are one people with a common history. We can think about strategies to work together and participate in research for the development of the creole language in these other places (the same French-based creole) and in cultural exchange. Think!(E. W. Vedrine)
E. W. VEDRINE CREOLE PROJECT, Inc.
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