Three languages are
used in Cuba; Spanish Creole and ‘Lucumi’. Spanish,
one of the romance languages, is the official
language of socialist Cuba and mother tongue of 90%
of the population.
Though the official language is Spanish the
socialist regime does not prone a one language
policy. Parliamentary debates are conducted in
Spanish and there is no law concerning the
linguistic policy in the constitution or in the
‘Gaceta official de la Republica de Cuba’. The Cuban
Spanish is similar to that used in the Latin
America. However, the Creole language has influenced
and by the same time enriched its vocabulary
colouring it by idiomatic expressions. Loan words
of Indian, African and Amerindian origin are also
present in the Cuban Spanish. The African slaves
have contributed to develop the Cuban Spanish. They
gave it the intonation and accent that make today’s
the Cuban speech.
‘Lucumi’ is a Yoruboid language of the Niger-Congo
family. It is a secret language spoken in religious
ceremonies only by the Santeria. This community is
of African slave descent namely the Yoruba people
who have blended their native religious practices,
values, beliefs and traditions to Catholicism.
‘Lucumi’ unlike the Creole language is a dead
language; people don’t use it in the community to
interact. Creole is the first and second language of
the Haitian Creole community or their descendants
that migrated to Cuba fleeing Haitian revolution
respectively. Most of them live in Guantanamo,
Matanzas and City of Havana provinces. Creole
language is a pidgin and the second most spoken
language in Cuba. Developed out of necessity and for
commercial purposes, the Europeans, indigenous
people, as well as slaves communicated in Creole. A
blending of the three continents namely Africa,
Europe is present in the Creole language.
Within the Cuban population more than 400, 000
(statistics made in 2001) speak fluently Creole
while others understand and speak only rudimentary
Creole. Classes in Creole are conducted in the
provinces of Guantanamo, Matazas and the city of
Havana where an important Haitian resident community
and their descendants dwell. Creole is spoken in the
Antilles Islands (Greater and Lesser Antilles) as
well as in the Islands of the Indian Ocean namely;
Seychelles, Reunion and Mauritius too.
