Saint Lucian Creole

Saint Lucian Creole (Kwéyòl [kwejɔl]) is a French-based creole language that is widely spoken in Saint Lucia. It is the vernacular language of the country and is spoken alongside the official language of English. It is important that Kwéyòl is recognised as a language on its own merits as it possesses a clear grammatical structure, syntax, vocabulary and punctuation.

Kwéyòl is a variety of Antillean Creole, and like other varieties spoken in the Caribbean, it combines the syntax of African language origins and a Latin-based vocabulary as shared by the French. Many of the words found in Kwéyòl are comparative to similar sounding words found in other Romance languages such as 'parlere' in Italian. Like its similar Dominican counterpart, some words are derived from the English, French and African languages. There has also been a recorded syntactical influence of the Carib language.

It remains in widespread use in Saint Lucia across the island. Though it is not an official language, the government and media houses present information in Kwéyòl alongside English.