Abstract: The islands of Grenada and Carriacou are two of the three inhabited islands that make up the nation of Grenada. An English-lexifier creole language is spoken on both islands, but previous research has focused on the speech of Carriacou, with very little having been done on Grenadian English-lexifier Creole. The research that has been conducted has focused solely on the English-lexifier creole of one island or another with little or no reference to each other. Separate names have also been used in the literature to refer to the creole(s) of these two islands. This gives the impression that there are potentially separate and distinct English-lexifier creole languages spoken in Grenada and Carriacou.
This paper addresses the issue of whether there are two separate creoles spoken in these islands, or one. This is done through a comparison of the markers used of some of the grammatical features of the creole(s) of Grenada and Carriacou. The markers that were chosen for comparison were those that would most likely be frequently used and therefore would potentially have a greater effect on intelligibility. Those features compared are some of the markers of the verbal system (both active and stative verbs), relative clause markers, serial verbs and other multiple verb constructions, infinitive markers, some aspects of question structure, quotation formulas, prepositional relationships, the pronominal system, articles and demonstrative pronouns, plural marking of nouns, and negation. This, of course, is not a comprehensive comparison of grammars, but it does show that there is little difference between the creole(s) of the residents of these two islands. The main differences lie in frequency and distribution of use of shared markers. Where there are shared markers, that is, where two markers are part of the repertoire of residents of both islands, residents of one island tend to use a particular marker more frequently than another, and vice-versa for the other island.
About the Author
DAVID J. HOLBROOK, a former member of SIL International, has done language research among the creole languages of the Eastern and Southern Caribbean for over a decade. He has an MA in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Arlington, and received his PhD in Linguistics at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago in 2006.
Abstract: Complementary to theorising the creolisation process is the documentation of this process by reconstruction of stages in the historical development of the language(s) involved. However, textual reconstruction of linguistic history in the Caribbean must take into account conflicting impulses of representation. This paper explores the question of whether some index of precision may be derived for evaluating textual evidence of Creole language change.
A dialectic of what narratologists term legibility and of accuracy governs the precision with which Creole speech is represented in written texts. Accuracy is essentially a function of writer profile in relation to general text profile, while legibility is mainly a function of audience profile (or write perceptions of audience) in relation to text profile. The play between accuracy and legibility influences coverage of Creole—in nature, extent and dimensions of coverage. Moreover, evolving language attitudes which affect writer and/or audience profiles influence boundary maintenance (between codes) in written text and, so, further impact on representation. While these factors by no means negate the value of textual material for linguistic history, they constrain the precision with which evidence of Creole structure can be derived from scribal evidence.
About the Author
BARBARA LALLA is Professor of Language and Literature in the Department of Liberal Arts at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. Her research areas are Caribbean language history, medieval studies, and literary discourse. She is also committed to her creative writing. Professor Lalla is former President of the SCL.
Abstract: Allsopp begins his legendary (1976) Afrogenesis article by noting that African linguistic influence in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries in the New World (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Curaçao) has long been studied and recognised, but that this has been much less the case in the anglophone and francophone Caribbean (the creoles of Suriname are an exception). He then critiques the contemporaneously more popular hypothesis that the anglophone and francophone varieties were relexified versions of a simplified Portuguese pidgin. He closes his paper with lexicosemantic and grammatical evidence that Caribbean creoles, regardless of lexical base, show remarkable parallels with each other and with sub-Saharan languages. He argues that this evidence, along with evidence of similar parallels in proverbs, shows that the African linguistic substrate played a significant role in the formation and development of Caribbean creoles.
ALLSOPP, S.R. Richard. The Afrogenesis of Caribbean Creole Proverbs (OP No.34, July 2006).
Abstract: In this paper, Professor Allsopp extends his (1976) argument for the Afrogenesis of Caribbean creoles by considering the evidence of proverbs in more detail. Pointing to striking similarities between proverbs from more than twenty-two sub-Saharan African languages and more than a dozen Caribbean creoles (anglophone and francophone), he argues that these similarities reveal that the creole speakers have retained—through calquing or systemic transfer—the underlying conceptualisation of their African ancestors. These similarities also challenge the assumption of Bickerton’s bioprogramme hypothesis and francophone superstratists that African substrates played little or no role in the development of Caribbean creoles. In closing, Allsopp suggests that scholars should pay more attention to paremiography and paremiology, the collection and study of proverbs, since the latter encapsulate the thinking of our forebears, and preserve the morphology, semantics and idiomaticity of earlier times. He also proposes that the Society for Caribbean Linguistics reach out to teachers and the masses in every Caribbean territory more than we have thus far, supporting and seeking support from them in our study of words, proverbs, and other aspects of language.
About the Author
S.R. RICHARD ALLSOPP, Honorary Professor of Linguistics at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, is one of the most distinguished and longest serving scholars in Linguistics in the English-official Caribbean. His 1958 Master’s thesis and his 1962 PhD thesis, both University of London, examined pronouns and tense-aspect systems respectively in his native Guyanese Creole, utilising fieldwork strategies, vernacular data, and quantitative analyses that are generally acknowledged to have been ahead of their time. Professor Allsopp is perhaps best known for his monumental Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage (Oxford University Press, 1996, later UWI Press, 2003, with a French and Spanish supplement edited by his wife Jeannette Allsopp, also on staff at The UWI, Cave Hill). But he has written noteworthy articles on other aspects of Caribbean creoles over the years, on subjects ranging from suprasegmentals to Afrogenesis, and his more recent book-length publication, A Book of Afric Caribbean Proverbs (Arawak Publications, 2004) is also destined to become a classic. He received the Degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) from The UWI, Cave Hill in 2003. Professor Allsopp is a founding member of the Society for Caribbean Linguistics, its second president, and an Honorary member of the Society since 1994.
Abstract: The present paper examines the incremental advances that have been made in the recognition of vernacular languages and attempts to address the rights of the speakers of these language varieties within the mainstream education system. In particular, the paper describes the Ministry of Education Youth and Culture (MOEYC) approved Bilingual Education Project (BEP) currently being piloted in Jamaica. The BEP challenges accepted notions of language attitudes toward speakers of vernacular languages and the learning and teaching of literacy skills at the primary school level.
About the Authors
HUBERT DEVONISH is Professor of Linguistics and Coordinator for the Jamaican Language Unit at The University of the West Indies, Mona. Professor Devonish works in the area of creole vernacular languages and language rights. He is also the Chief Researcher of the Bilingual Education Project, Jamaica. His publications include: Talking Rhythm, Stressing Tone: Prominence in Anglo-West African Creole Languages, Talking in Tones: A Study of Tone in Afro-European Creole Languages, and Language and Liberation: Creole Language Politics in the Caribbean. Professor Devonish is a former president of the SCL.
KAREN CARPENTER is a Psychologist and Researcher at The University of the West Indies, Mona in the Jamaican Language Unit. She lectures in Research Methods and Psychology and has worked at all levels of the education system, both locally and internationally, for close to 30 years. Her areas of interest include phenomenological studies of children’s language learning, children’s conceptions of success, language awareness, the internationalisation of higher education and mixed methods studies in HIV/AIDS research. Dr. Carpenter is an active researcher in the bilingual education of primary school children.