Here are the Basics
Haitian Creole has two types of vowels: nasal and non-nasal
There are a total of four nasal vowels and seven non-nasal vowels.
Use this lesson to familiarize yourself with them, but don't stress too much about memorizing what is a nasal vowel and what is not. Rather, focus on how to pronounce them
How Nasal Vowels Work
- Air comes out of your nose when you pronounce a nasal vowel.
Go ahead and try pronounce the nasal vowels shown in the list below. You will notice that air does come out of your nose as you pronounce them correctly.
To hear how the nasal vowels sound like, please play this video
1. an - sounds like /un/ in dunk
2. en - sounds like /en/ in bent
3. on - sounds like /on/ in won't
4. oun - sounds like /oon/ in moon
How Non-nasal Vowels Work
- Air does not come out of your nose when you pronounce a non-nasal vowel.
If you try to pronounce a non-nasal vowel correctly, you will notice that it doesn't cause air to come out of your nose.
To hear how the non-nasal vowels sound like, please play this video
1. a - sounds like /a/ apple
2. e - sounds like /i/ in It
3. รจ - sounds like /e/ in get
4. i - sounds like /ee/ in feet
Ui is a half-vowel. It sounds like Yoowee
Why You Should Focus on Pronunciation
The reason is because this helps you speak Haitian Creole naturally. They are more than just vowels, they are words that you will be using on a regular basis when speaking Creole.
For instance, the nasal vowel a can also mean the or through depending on what you are talking about. Clearly, these are words you will be using often!