Balboa French Creole is a Creole

Creole language

A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...

 language used in Balboa Island in the city of Newport Beach, California

Newport Beach, California

Newport Beach, incorporated in 1906, is a city in Orange County, California, south of downtown Santa Ana. The population was 85,186 at the 2010 census.The city's median family income and property values consistently place high in national rankings...

. It originated from a blending of French spoken by French families on the island with English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, and German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, all which are spoken by some members of the Balboa Island community. Balboa Creole French differs highly from Standard French and is incomprehensible to the majority of French speakers. People from Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

or the French Caribbean can sometimes understand the Creole, but it remains unintelligible to the masses. Some major differences are its subjects which are Jah or Mwa, Tu, Vous, Tu'z All, Nos, Il, Elle Ilz, Ellez, and Dem. In a census published in 2009, it was revealed only 20 people on the island can still speak the language.

Characteristics

The structure of Balboa Creole French is exactly the same as French in placing adjectives, however as some words are different it is never necessary to conjugate adjectives in masculine form such as Beau or Vieux when placed in front of words starting with an H, or that are already masculine. Some vocabulary words are also very different and can be traced to German and Spanish origins. Balboa Creole French is also entirely phonetic, similar to Kreyol from Guadeloupe or Martinique. Imperfect and Past Composition concepts are not followed in Balboa French Creole, as only Past Composition exists. It is possible to use Imperfect by adding the suffix "zait" or "zez" at the end depending if it is personal or not.




Standard French: Hail Mary


Je vous salue, Marie pleine de grâces ;


Le Seigneur est avec vous.


Vous êtes bénie entre toutes les femmes


Et Jésus, le fruit de vos entrailles, est béni.


Sainte Marie, Mère de Dieu,


Priez pour nous, pauvres pécheurs,


Maintenant, et à l'heure de notre mort.


Amen.




Balboa Creole French: Hail Mary


Mwa vous salute, Marie plain do grace


Le saynor est avek vous


Vous sey buena entra toutes ellez


Et Jesus, le fruit do vos entrayle, est buena.


Santa Marie, Maier da Dyiu


Preez po nos, pove pecheurs,


Maynawn, ey a l'urr de notre more.


Amen