From Trujillo to the terremoto: the effect of language ideologies on the language attitudes and behaviors of the rural youth of the northern Dominican border

Abstract

Our work examines the residual effects of three quarters of a century of anti-Haitian propaganda on the language attitudes and ideologies of contemporary children in the northern Dominican Republic. Focused on interviews with 90 Dominican fronterizo children and adolescents, many of whom are descendants of Haitians themselves, our findings reveal that their attitudes towards Haitian Creole mirror broader negative assessments of its speakers. In their reluctance to learn Creole (or French, which they associate almost exclusively with Haiti), these rural Dominicans choose linguistic isolation. Thus, although the number of Haitian immigrants in the northern border region has dramatically increased since the earthquake, the burden of intercultural communication will likely remain on them.