Langues et musique populaire : étude des choix et représentations linguistiques des acteurs du Konpa dans la diaspora haïtienne à partir d'entrevues semi-dirigées

Abstract

Konpa, Haiti's popular music of choice, reflects the country's multilingual reality, being sung frequently in several different languages, including French and Creole. Building on this observation, this study examines the linguistic attitudes of Konpa industry participants and their views on the language choices in Konpa songs. Based on semi-structured interviews conducted with eight individuals highly involved in the Konpa scene in Montreal and Miami, the findings reveal a largely unfavourable perception of French, Haiti’s co-official language mainly spoken by the country’s elite. In contrast, Creole, the mother tongue of most Haitians, is revealed to be not only the preferred language in the participants' Konpa songs but to also be considered to resonate deeply with the identity of both diaspora musicians and the broader Haitian community. Konpa thus reflects Haitian reality, especially its linguistic conflicts, which have been prevalent for more than two centuries.