Kwéyòl

Saint Lucia changed hands between Britain and France fourteen times, and the language that stuck was the French-based creole the enslaved population spoke, which survived English becoming official and is still the first language of a large share of the island. It is close to the creoles of Dominica, Martinique and Guadeloupe, and speakers can understand each other across those islands. It has been written since the 1980s with an agreed orthography, has a dictionary and a Bible translation, and is used on radio and increasingly in schools after generations in which children were discouraged from speaking it.

What's there

• The French vocabulary - on an island where English is official.
• Cross-island intelligibility - with Dominica, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
• Creole Month - October, with radio and events in the language.
• The written form - dictionary, Bible and school materials since the 1980s.

When to go

Year-round. October is Creole Heritage Month with a full programme culminating in Jounen Kwéyòl at the end of it, which is the most concentrated exposure. Radio stations broadcast in Kwéyòl daily.

Practical notes

Visitors who assume it is broken French or broken English tend to give offence; it is neither. French speakers understand almost none of it at speed. Older Saint Lucians were punished at school for speaking it, which is why the revival matters and why attitudes to it are not neutral.

Nearby

Heard across the island; strongest in the rural south and east.