Oh man! This is officially the most interesting question I have ever had on this blog :)
Although Haitian Creole is a full-fledged language, it is impossible to count how many words there are in this language. Here are the reasons why:
1. The Haitian Creole language has not had a comprehensive word-word definition dictionary yet. There are many Haitian Creole dictionaries including language translation dictionaries, but none that are complete.
2. For a Haitian Creole word-definition dictionary to be comprehensive, it would have to also include regional word variations, and no one has tapped into that branch yet. What is the Haitian northerner's way of saying "manmit" for example? How many different ways can you say the word "ede" for example?
3. Do we count "gerizon" and "lagerizon" as two words? How about other words in that category: "delivrans" and "ladelivrans", "lwa" and "lalwa", or "kilbit" and "lakilbit"?
4. Language used voodoo worship may be widely unknown except for a small group of people. For example, is it "andjenikon" or "andyenikon" or "oundjenikon"? How many variations are there? Do they all count as one word? How about katabou (conga rhythm), it might be known under a different name in other regions in Haiti. We need to know the many variations of terms that are used in this category.
5. We do not yet have standards for many medical terms in Creole yet.
6. Also based on our fast changing world, there are many new terms that become part of the Haitian Creole language every year or so, some are derived from other languages and other are conceived and named after the event that they represent.
There are many more reasons. I think when we have our first comprehensive word-word definition dictionary, we'll have an idea :)
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words
Although Haitian Creole is a full-fledged language, it is impossible to count how many words there are in this language. Here are the reasons why:
1. The Haitian Creole language has not had a comprehensive word-word definition dictionary yet. There are many Haitian Creole dictionaries including language translation dictionaries, but none that are complete.
2. For a Haitian Creole word-definition dictionary to be comprehensive, it would have to also include regional word variations, and no one has tapped into that branch yet. What is the Haitian northerner's way of saying "manmit" for example? How many different ways can you say the word "ede" for example?
3. Do we count "gerizon" and "lagerizon" as two words? How about other words in that category: "delivrans" and "ladelivrans", "lwa" and "lalwa", or "kilbit" and "lakilbit"?
4. Language used voodoo worship may be widely unknown except for a small group of people. For example, is it "andjenikon" or "andyenikon" or "oundjenikon"? How many variations are there? Do they all count as one word? How about katabou (conga rhythm), it might be known under a different name in other regions in Haiti. We need to know the many variations of terms that are used in this category.
5. We do not yet have standards for many medical terms in Creole yet.
6. Also based on our fast changing world, there are many new terms that become part of the Haitian Creole language every year or so, some are derived from other languages and other are conceived and named after the event that they represent.
There are many more reasons. I think when we have our first comprehensive word-word definition dictionary, we'll have an idea :)
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words
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