This page contains Answers to Frequently Asked Questions on the Caribbean and on linguistics, and also provides links to fun pages. Scroll down for the FAQs and links, or choose from the menu below.
Q1. What are the countries of the Caribbean (a.k.a. the West Indies, and the Antilles)? A. Of the 51 countries or separate political entities of the Americas, 29 (or 56%) belong to the Caribbean, in both the archipelago and on the American mainland, or rimlands, to use Richard Allsopp's term. They are arranged below on the basis of official language.
List A.1 - Countries of the Caribbean
Dutch-official (3) (N = Netherlands)
Aruba
the Netherlands Antilles: Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Maarten and Statia (N)
Suriname
English-official (19) (BWI = British West Indies)
Anguilla (BWI)
Antigua & Barbuda
The Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bermuda
British Virgin Islands, or BVI (BWI)
Cayman Islands (BWI)
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Jamaica
Montserrat (BWI)
St. Kitts-Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent & the Grenadines
Trinidad & Tobago
Turks & Caicos Islands (BWI)
U.S. Virgin Islands, or USVI (USA)
French-official (4) (F = France)
Haiti/Haïti
French Guiana/Guyane Française (F)
Guadeloupe (F)
Martinique (F)
Spanish-official (3)
Cuba
Dominican Republic/República Dominicana (D.R.)
Puerto Rico (USA).
Figure 1
Scroll down to see the Amerindian names and modern pronunciations of the names of each territory, and see here for other countries of the Greater Caribbean.
Q2. What is the political status of these territories? A. The majority are independent (including four republics — Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, and Trinidad & Tobago), 5 are colonies of Great Britain (BWI), 5 belong to the Netherlands (N), and 3 are overseas departments (départements d'outre-mer) of France (F).
Q3. Are Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador considered part of the Caribbean? A. Yes, they are part of the continental or Greater Caribbean. They are traditionally seen as part of Latin America (to which the insular Hispanic territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic also belong).
These eight Spanish-speaking countries are not traditionally included in the above listing (A.1) of Caribbean countries. List A.1 includes the physical islands of the archipelago (regardless of language affiliation), and the four "linguistic islands" (English, French and Dutch) in an Iberian "sea." (Latin America should really be called Iberian America, since although French is also a Latin language, French Guiana is not included in Latin America.) The four non-Iberian continental "islands" are Belize in Central America, and Guyana, Suriname and Guyane (French Guiana) in South America. (Note that Spanish is also spoken in English-official Belize.)
South and Central America are often thought to be synonymous with Latin America, but they are not. Trinidad, for example, is geologically part of both the Caribbean and South America, but ceased to belong to Latin America upon British takeover in 1797–1802.
The Association of Caribbean States (ACS-AEC) includes as member states most territories whose shores are washed by the Caribbean Sea. Included also are El Salvador on the Pacific side of Central America, and France because of its three overseas Départements ("departments") in the Caribbean and South America. (The USA is not included, although southern Florida — especially Miami — has strong cultural connections with the anglophone, francophone, hispanophone and créolophone Caribbean, and Georgia and the Carolinas share strong historical and sociolinguistic ties with the English-speaking Caribbean, and Louisiana with the French-speaking Caribbean.)
Bermuda is not part of the Caribbean due to its location in the Atlantic, but is sometimes included in a listing of Caribbean countries because of common historical links with the Caribbean islands.
Pre-Colombian Amerindians, including those who gave their name to the region, no doubt had their own worldview and way of organising their world.
PART B
GEOGRAPHY
Q4. Which are the Greater Antilles and which are the Lesser Antilles? A. The Greater Antilles comprise Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles comprise the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands, and Trinidad & Tobago. Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos to the north, and the ABC Islands to the south do not belong to any of these groupings.
Q5. Which are the Leeward Islands and which are the Windward Islands? A. The Windward Islands comprise Grenada, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Martinique, and also Barbados. The Leeward Islands comprise Dominica (which was sometimes grouped with the Windwards), Guadeloupe and her dependencies (St. Martin, Marie-Galante and St.Barths), Montserrat, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Kitts-Nevis, Anguilla, the SSS Islands, and the Virgin Islands. The terms Windward and Leeward are also political terms.
The term Eastern Caribbean often refers to the nine-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) which share a common currency, the EC dollar (Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and also Anguilla, and the BVI).
and
Q6. Which are the ABC Islands and the SSS Islands? A. The ABC Islands of the Southern Caribbean comprise Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. The latter two belong to the Netherlands Antilles (Aruba is independent), as do the SSS Islands — Saba, Statia (Sint Eustatius), and Sint Maarten/Saint Martin — which are further to the north.
Q7. Is it 'on' Antigua or 'in' Antigua? A. 'In Antigua', or 'on the island of Antigua', never 'on Antigua'. Similarly, one would say 'in Europe' or 'on the continent of Europe', but never 'on Europe'. It so happens that the country of (the Commonwealth of) Dominica, and the country of (the Commonwealth of) Australia to take another example, occupy the whole of their respective islands, whereas the country of Canada occupies part of the land mass of North America. Therefore, the capital of Roseau is in Dominica, the capital Canberra is in Australia, and the capital of Ottawa is in Canada. The same holds for other islands that are not (independent) countries, but places that you live in not on. Prepositions are small but powerful words.
Q9. What are the names of the nationalities of the peoples of the Caribbean (in English), and how are they pronounced? See table below. (See table also for some of the reputedly original indigenous (Amerindian) names of CARIBbean territories. Linguistic origins are specified where possible. Go to Montray Kréyol for an article in French on indigenous names in the Caribbean, "Du nom indigène des îles de l’archipel des Antilles," by Thierry L'Etang).
Select Phonemic Guide (with reference to one variety of English, i.e., Trinidadian):
Consonants:
/j/ as in 'yes'
/ŋ/ as in 'sing'
/ʃ/ as in 'ship'
Vowels:
/a/ as in 'bat'
/ɑ/ as in 'bath'
/e/ as in 'bait'
/i/ as in 'bean'
/ɪ/ as in 'bit'
/ɒ/ as in 'bottle'
/ɜ/ as in 'burn'
/ʌ/ as in 'but'
TERRITORY
NAME OF INHABITANTS
ORIGINAL NAME OF TERRITORY
MEANING OF ORIGINAL NAME
Anguilla
Anguillans /aŋˡgwɪlʌnz/
Malliouhana or Malliohana (Arawak)
Snakelike or Arrow-Shaped Sea Serpent
Antigua (see Barbuda)
Antiguans /anˡtigʌnz/
Waladli or Wadadli (Carib), also Yarmuaqui (Arawak, for Canoe Island)
Land of Fish Oil
Aruba
Arubans
probably Arawakan
if Arawak, Oibubai (Guide), if Carib, Ora (Shell) + Oubao (Island)
The Bahamas
Bahamians /bəˡhemiʌnz/
could be a Lucayan name
not known
Barbados
Barbadians /bɑˡbediʌnz/* or /bɑrˡbediʌnz/, often shortened to Bajans
not known
not known
Barbuda (see Antigua)
Barbudans /bɑˡbjudʌnz/* or /bɑrˡbjudʌnz/
Wa'omoni (Redonda's name was Ocanamanrou)
not known
Belize
Belizeans
not known
not known
Bermuda
Bermudans /bɜˡmjudʌnz/* or /bɜrˡmjudʌnz/
not known
not known
Bonaire (NA)
Bonaireans
possibly Bonay (Arawak)
Low Country
British Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islanders
not known, various islands
not known
Carriacou (see Grenada)
Carriacouans
Carriacou
Land of Many Reefs
Cayman Islands
Cayman Islanders
Caymanas
Marine Crocodile
Cuba
Cubans / cubanos
Cubanacan (Taino)
Centre Place
Curaçao (NA)
Curaçaoans
also Caiquetio, name of people
name of people
Dominica
DomiNIcans/dɒmɪˡnikʌnz/
Wai'tukubuli (Carib)
Tall is her Body
Dominican Republic/República Dominicana
DoMINicans / dominicanos/doˡmɪnɪkʌnz/
Quisqueya
Mountainous Land
French Guiana
French Guianese/guyanais
Guiana
Land of Many Waters
Grenada (see Carriacou)
Grenadians/grɪˡnediʌnz/
Camerhogue or Camerhogne
not known
The Grenadines (see St. Vincent)
various islands
various islands
not known
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupeans / guadeloupéens
Karukera/Kalaoucera
Island of Beautiful Waters
Guyana
Guyanese
Guiana
Land of Many Waters
Haiti/Haïti
Haitians /ˈheʃʌnz/ / haïtiens
Ayiti or Quisqueya
Mountainous Land
Jamaica
Jamaicans
Xaymaca (Arawak)
Land of Wood and Water
Martinique
Martiniquans / martiniquais
Madinina
Island of Flowers
Montserrat
Montserratians /mɒntsɪˈraʃʌnz/
Alliouagana
Land of the Prickly Bush
Nevis (see St. Kitts)
Nevisians /niˈvɪʃʌnz/
Oualie
Land of Beautiful Water
Puerto Rico
Puerto Ricans / puertoriqueños / puertorriquenos
Boriken or Borinquen
Land of the Mighty Lord
Saba (NA)
Sabans /ˈsebʌnz/
Siba (Arawak) or Amonhana (Arawak)
Rock (Arawak), not known
St.-Barthélemey (FWI)
unsure
Ouanalao (Arawak)
not known
Sint Eustatius or Statia (NA)
Statians /ˈsteʃʌnz/
Aloi (Arawak)
Cashew Tree
St. Kitts (see Nevis)
Kittians/kɪˈtɪʃʌnz/
Liamugua or Liamuiga
Fertile Land
St. Lucia
St. Lucians /sentˈluʃʌnz/, often shortened to Lucians
Hewanorra (Arawak) or Iyanola
Land of the Iguana
St.-Martin/Sint Maarten (FWI/NA)
unsure
Oualichi (Arawak)
not known
St. Vincent (see the Grenadines)
Vincentians, (sometimes Vincelonians). The former is pronounced /vɪnˈsɛntʃʌnz/
Hairoun (Carib)
Island of the Blessed
Suriname
Surinamese
Surinen
name of people
Tobago (see Trinidad)
Tobagonians /təbeˡgoniʌn/ — Trinbagonians for both. (Note that the Concise Oxford (10th ed., rev ed., 2002) pronunciation /təˡbeɪgʌn/ for Tobagonian is an error. Tobagan is an archaic version of Tobagonian.)
Trinidadians /trɪnɪˡdadiʌnz/, often shortened to Trinis — Trinbagonians for both (see below)
Kairi or Iere
Island, or Land of the Hummingbird
Turks & Caicos Islands
Turks & Caicos Islanders
Turks — from Turk's Head cactus, and Caicos — Cayo hico (Lucayan name)
String of Islands
U.S. Virgin Islands
U.S. Virgin Islanders
not known, various islands
not known
Table 1
Here are some general pronunciation rules. Tobago is pronounced like 'sago', 'plumbago' and 'winnebago'. Here's a limerick of interest:
There was an old man of Tobago,
Who lived on rice, gruel and sago
Till, much to his bliss,
His physician said this —
"To a leg, sir, of mutton you may go."
(Edward Lear's Limericks 1812—1888)
Like the 'a' in Tobago, the second 'a' in Barbados and the first 'a' in Grenada are pronounced /e/, as in 'bay' and 'neigh'. The second 'a' in Bahamas is pronounced /ɑ/ as in 'father', but /e/ in Bahamian (the 'a' in Trinidad /a/, as in 'bat', remains the same in Trinidad and Trinidadian, though some Trinidadians are known to say /trɪnɪˡdediʌnz/, like TriniDAYdians).
The last syllable in Haitian, St. Lucian, Vincentian, Kittitian, Montserratian and Nevisian is pronounced /ʃʌn/.
* In terms of numbers of Caribbean nations, most speak non-rhotic varieties of English — Trinidad & Tobago, the Windward Islands, and most of the Leeward Islands. (Rhotic — from the Greek letter 'rho', transliterated as 'r' in English — refers to varieties of English that pronounce the /r/ at the end of a syllable, or after a vowel.) However, in terms of actual numbers of speakers, it can be said that the majority of Caribbean speakers of English speak semi-rhotic or fully rhotic dialects of English, since most come from Jamaica (2.3 million people), Antigua, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, and Guyana.
Q10. Do Caribbean people call themselves "Caribbeans" ? A. No, they don't. It is an archaic or obsolete use of the word in modern Caribbean English. As a proper noun, the word "Caribbean" is reserved for the geographic region of the Caribbean. It is used as an adjective for both people and things Caribbean, hence 'a Caribbean woman' and 'Caribbean people'. It would sound decidedly odd to Caribbean ears to say "I'm a Caribbean living in the Caribbean" or "We are Caribbeans living in the Caribbean." 'Caribbean' is never used as a noun by Caribbean people in the Caribbean to describe or refer to themselves, and is in fact considered strange, and/or viewed negatively as non-standard usage. Similarly, one would say 'an Englishman' and 'English people', but never 'an English' or 'Englishes' (for people, although the latter is a neologism used in reference to varieties of English). Anglophone Caribbean people call themselves 'West Indians' or 'Caribbean people'; francophone Caribbean people call themselves 'antillais'; hispanophone Caribbean people call themselves 'caribeños', and Dutch-speaking Caribbean people call themselves 'Caraïbisch' or 'Antillean' in English (this is subject to correction!). We have many names. Gilberto Freyre had a great deal to say on naming oneself and being named.
Q11. Is it 'CaRIBbean' or 'CaribBEan'? A. Both. Anglophone Caribbean people say either one or the other or both, sometimes both in one sentence. The British tend to say /karɪˡbiʌn/ 'CaribBEan', and Americans tend to say /kəˡrɪbiʌn/ 'CaRIBbean'.
PART D
LANGUAGES
Q12. How many living languages are there in the world today?A. According to the Ethnologue.com, there are approximantely 6,912 living languages in the world today. See the Ethnologue Introduction, and the problem of language identification. See also the LSA article How Many Languages Are There in the World? and other interesting FAQs on language and language-related topics.
Q13. How many languages are spoken in the Caribbean today? A. According to the Ethnologue.com, there are at least 59 living languages spoken in the Caribbean today, including 4 endangered or nearly extinct languages.
Figure 2
Most of these 59 languages are not spoken in the insular Caribbean, but in the continental Caribbean, which here includes Central American Belize and the three South American Guyanas, but not the rest of the greater Caribbean: Colombia, Venezeula, and the five Caribbean Central American countries. Including these countries would add 155 indigenous Amerindian (of diverse families), 4 creole languages, 2 immigrant languages, and 5 sign languages to the number below.
The 59 languages include:
22 indigenous Amerindian languages (10 Carib, including Carib, 7 Arawak, 2 Tupi, 3 Mayan), all spoken in the continental Caribbean
5 European languages,
21 creole languages (15 English-lexicon, 4 French-lexicon, 1 Iberian-lexicon, and 1 Dutch-lexicon, on the verge of extinction), mostly in the insular Caribbean,
4 immigrant languages that came with their speakers during the mid-19th century, post-emancipation,
4 sign languages, and 3 unclassified languages.
Creole languages include Haitian Kreyol, St. Lucian Kwéyòl, Papiamentu, Antiguan Creole, Belize Kriol, Jamaican Creole/Patois, Guyanese Creolese, Vincentian Creole, and Berbice Dutch (on the verge of extinction). The post-emancipation languages are Bhojpuri, Javanese, Hakka, and Yoruba. (See below for other languages that were spoken in the West Indies in the past.)
Q14. What is an 'endangered language'? A. Check out the SIL pages, as well as our Links page for more info.
Q15. How many languages were spoken in the Caribbean in times past? A. There were several Amerindian, European, African, Asian and Caribbean creole languages, many of which are no longer spoken in the region.
Some have disappeared altogether, such as Taino, Island Carib (an Arawakan language), Yao, and other indigenous Amerindian languages. Arawak languages related to Taino and Island Carib continue to be spoken in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua (Garífuna or Black Carib), Venezuela (Paraujano), and Colombia (Wayuu).
Other languages have also disappeared, including colonial European languages such as Danish; African languages such as Twi, Ewe-Fon, Hausa and Kikongo; creole languages such as Negerhollands and Skepi Dutch Creole; and more recent immigrant languages such as Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Mandarin, Cantonese, Portuguese, German, and Arabic. Of the latter group, Portuguese and Arabic are disappearing slowly but surely, and Bhojpuri, to a lesser extent. These languages are mostly obsolescent, as the majority of their remaining speakers are bilingual and fluent speakers of their country's official and national and vernacular languages.
Q16. Which Caribbean language has the majority of speakers? A. Spanish, with over 22 million speakers, mostly in the Greater Antilles, followed by French and French Creole (over 8 million speakers of mostly French Creole), English and English Creole (over 6 million speakers, mostly in the Lesser Antilles), and Dutch (about half a million speakers).
Figure 3
Spanish is spoken mainly in four (4) territories, including Belize, and also in the ABC islands off Venezuela. The ABC islands are home to Papiamentu, an Iberian creole (mainly Portuguese vocabulary, with more and more influence from Spanish).
English is spoken in at least twenty (20) territories, including Puerto Rico and St. Martin/Sint Maarten. Four English-lexicon creoles are spoken in Dutch-official Suriname.
French-lexicon creoles (called Patois especially in the anglophone, and also the francophone, territories) are spoken in seven insular territories and four continental territories. The former include Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, St. Lucia and Trinidad, all former French territories (except for Trinidad which, though not politically colonised by France, was socioculturally influenced by the French and French Creoles). The four continental territories include French Guiana, Brazil, the USA (Louisiana) and Venezuela (through contact with Trinidadians and St. Lucians). Guyana also has a fair number of French Creole-speaking communities of St. Lucian origin.
Q17. How many creole languages are spoken in the Caribbean today? A. There are almost as many creole languages as there are islands and territories, and possibly more, depending on the definition and delineation of different dialects of the creoles. There are, however, no creole languages to be found in the insular Hispanic Caribbean, only Palenquero in the continental Caribbean, namely Colombia. The following chart shows the number of creole languages of the Caribbean, insular and continental (including Karipúna/Galibi and Amapá French Creole of Brazil, and Venezuelan French Creole), according to the Ethnologue.com.
Figure 4
Q18. Do all English, French and Dutch-speaking Caribbean people speak a creole as a mother tongue? A. No, this is a stereotype. There are significant Caribbean-born minorities that do not speak a creole language as a mother tongue and/or second language, though members of these groups may be either a) quite proficient in the variety of their territory according to the situation and context, or b) passive bilinguals. The vast majority of West Indians in anglophone, francophone and Dutch-speaking islands do speak the creole language of their territory as a mother tongue, and these Creole speakers may or may not be fluent in the official language of their territory.
Most Caribbean varieties of English are as old as Early Modern English, the period in the history of English (1500-1700) when Modern English began to undergo standardisation. These varieties of English belong more to the 'inner circle' than the 'outer circle' by Crystal's definition (Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language), but the situation is probably much more complex than this. Up to the 1960s, since anglophone Caribbean territories began to gain independence from 1962 onward, most varieties of Caribbean English were identified with British English, because of politics, and despite linguistic differences (some conservative, some progressing in different directions). They have been distinct from modern British English for a long time, some as long as American English has been distinct from British English, others not quite as old. (Antiguan and Barbadian English, in fact, contributed to the development of some varieites of southern U.S. English.) Over four decades later, it is clear that these varieties of English in the Caribbean are separate standards, differing from each other and from non-Caribbean varieties mainly at the levels of phonology and lexicon. At the orthographic level, Commonwealth spelling is still preferred.
Linguistic situations of the Caribbean are, like most language situations around the world, quite complex. It is difficult to say who is monolingual, bilingual, monodialectal, bidialectal, etc., in strict terms. There are also issues of non-standard varieties of English co-existing with English-lexicon creoles and standard varieties of English. While English-lexicon creoles and standard dialects of English may seem to be quite different from each other (in aspects of phonology and grammar), both varieties share a great deal with non-standard dialects of English! In referring to English, many substitute "Standard" or "the Standard," but English is far more than just one standardised variety.
A term such as Guyanese English refers to the English (usually standard) of that territory, not the creole language.
Q20. What are the origins of Caribbean creole languages? A. See below for a discussion on creoles. (More to come on the history of language contact in the Caribbean.)
Q21. What is the working language of the SCL? A. English by default, because the majority of our members are native anglophones or fluent in English. All of our publications (so far) are in English. However, any one of the official Caribbean languages (Dutch, English, French, Haitian, Papiamentu and Spanish) is an official SCL language. Several papers have been presented in French at SCL conferences.
Q22. What is linguistics? A. Language can be studied from a physical or biological perspective, as well as from social perspectives. Linguistics is the study of language in general, as opposed to the study of particular languages. It is the scientific or objective analysis of the nature, structure, function and usage of human language. Linguistics describes how languages actually work, how they vary and change, how they are born (or created) and die, and how they may be revived.
Linguistics bridges the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. Part of the wider fields of semiotics and cognitive science, linguistics has several multidisciplinary theoretical sub-fields, such as phonetics, phonology, morpho-syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics and applied linguistics.
This foundation discipline contributes to several other fields such as literature, education (including language arts and language teaching), communication, psychology, history, law, sociology, anthropology, ethnology, mathematics, computing, biology, physics, medicine, and neurology.
For careers in languages, see the CILT, and MLA websites.
Q25. What is the difference between studying languages and studying linguistics? A. As one person put it, learning a language is like learning to drive a car, and studying linguistics is like learning to become a mechanic. Everyone can learn how to drive a car, but not everyone needs to become a mechanic, although having some knowledge of how a car works is valuable indeed.
VS.
A person, including a linguist, who learns and speaks many languages is also called a polyglot. A linguist who does linguistic research studies the structure of languages, not necessarily with a view to speaking them.
Q26. How many languages do linguists speak? A. At least one — their mother tongue. Linguists don't learn languages (they do that also, but not as a profession); linguists mostly learn about languages.
Mark Mandel quotes Lynne Murphy: "Asking a linguist (language scientist) how many languages he speaks is like asking a doctor how many diseases she has" (Dr. Lynne Murphy of the University of Sussex). To express this aphorism otherwise, we might say: "Asking a linguist (language scientist) how many languages s/he speaks is like asking a car mechanic how many cars he has."
Q27. Where can I find phonetics fonts online? A. Check out our cool Phon with Funetix page for lots of phonetics links.
PART B
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
Q28. What is the difference between a 'language' and a 'dialect'? A. A remark traditionally attributed to Weinreich is that "a language is a dialect with an army and a navy."
+= LANGUAGE
In Western thinking, this means that if the speakers of a linguistic variety have the power to govern themselves politically, then their variety is considered a 'language', whereas the linguistic variety of those speakers who do not have such power is considered a 'dialect'.
In linguistic terms, a dialect is a variation or sub-division of a language, which can therefore comprise many dialects, depending on social, geographical and other divisions. See the Ethnologue Introduction, and the problem of language identification, and the criteria they use for what constitutes a "language" and what features define a "dialect."
Q29. What is a 'standard' variety or dialect of a language? A standardarised variety of a language is the dialect of a language that has been chosen (either naturally over time, or consciously, or both) to be used as the representative dialect of a given language. Part of the standardisation process includes codification, namely establishing and/or normalising the spelling system (orthography), agreeing on acceptable grammatical norms, and selecting vocabulary appropriate to various domains. Standard varieties often combine features of several dialects, and are usually considered to be neutral and unmarked, compared to other dialects of the same languages. The term 'dialect' is usually reserved for non-standard varieties of a language, referring to and encompassing societal and regional differences in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, although 'dialect' simply means variety of a language.
The standard dialect is usually the native variety and domain of those speakers who have greater political and socio-economic leverage in their society, and therefore greater access to power-based decisions such as the choice of the language of government, education, etc. It is often the variety that commands the most respect, both by native and non-native speakers of that dialect. Like any variety of a language, standard dialects have various registers, including formal and informal, though very often the formal register has come to be the one most closely associated with the standard variety, as this variety is most used in formal domains.
Q30. What is a 'vernacular language'? A vernacular language is that variety of a language natively spoken by a community or group of people. It now usually refers to the language of the home, and is sometimes contrasted with the literary language of a people, if the two are different, and if the two co-exist.
Q31. What is a 'dialect' and what is Dialect? A. A dialect is a variety or subset of a language. Uppercase Dialect /dajaˈlɛk/ is the proper name given to many English-lexicon creoles in the Caribbean. The term (whether capitalised or not) is often used disparagingly, not only in the anglophone Caribbean, but throughout the English-speaking world.
Lowercase dialect refers to language varieties that usually differ from each other at the levels of accent (phonology) and vocabulary (lexicon), with relatively minor differences at the level of grammar (morphosyntax). Speakers of different dialects of the same language usually understand each other, though sometimes they need time and effort to do so (depending on how different the dialects and accents are from each other, and depending on language attitudes, among other factors). All languages comprise dialects which differ from each other at the levels of accent and vocabulary, and which may be sociolinguistically defined on regional, ethnic, gender and socio-economic bases. Socially-based dialects are also referred to as sociolects or social dialects.
Speaking of accents.... See the LSA article Why Do Some People Have an Accent? and other interesting FAQs on language and language-related topics.
Q32. What are 'pidgins' and 'creoles'? A. See SCL member and SCL past president Don Winford's article Languages in Contact.
Of significance is SCL member Michel DeGraff's paper against "creole exceptionalism", the common view that creoles are typologically unusual and aberrant. One might well ask the following question. Much of early historical linguistics (cf. the comparative method) was based on the study of systematic phonological relationships and correspondences between and among different languages (see Grimm's Law and Werner's Law). For example, philologist Sir William Jones posited a relationship between Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and Farsi based on common phonological patterns seen in specific words. If these languages were seen to have common ancestors based on phonology and lexicon, then is French Creole a Romance language? They share the same vocabulary. Is English Creole Germanic? Don't these languages rightfully belong in the Indo-European family tree?
Q33. What is a 'patois' and what is Patois? A. Lowercase 'patois' originated in France, a common noun referring to a geographical (rural) variety of French often marginalised and considered socio-economically inferior to standard French. Uppercase Patois is a proper noun, used as the name of a specific language, such as Patois, or French-lexicon Creole spoken in the Anglophone territories of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, and Trinidad, and the Francophone territories of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. The name is accepted in the Anglophone territories, but less so in the Francophone territories, where the term créole (or kwéyòl) is preferred. The latter term is becoming more and more popular in Dominica and St. Lucia, as the term 'patois' is believed to have negative origins. There is also Jamaican Patois/Patwa, or Jamaican English-lexicon Creole. The territories that use the name Patois for their varieties of French-lexicon Creole were either colonised by or greatly influenced by French settlers. It is not clear how Jamaicans came to adopt and apply the name to Jamaican Creole, which is an English-lexicon creole.
Q34. Are creoles and dialects one and the same? A. No, a creole is thought to be a type of language, and a dialect is a subset or a variety of a language. All languages, including creole types, have dialects.
Q35. What is the difference between 'creole' and Creole? A. Lowercase 'creole' is a common noun (and also adjective) used to refer to the language 'type' in general (whether as a sociohistorical reference to its genesis or as a typological term, if such is possible), and uppercase Creole is a proper noun, used as the name of a specific language; thus, "In the study of creole languages…" or "This is a characteristic feature of many creoles" but "In Haitian Creole…" or "In Haiti, Creole is…."
Note that uppercase Creole also refers to people, so French Creoles in Trinidad are Trinidadians of mainly French descent (although the term has erroneously been extended to other European Creoles as well; in a similar vein, 'coolie' has also moved away from its original meaning, that of 'labourer' and been misapplied to Indians, sometimes Chinese, and their descendants around the world). Some Indo-West Indians use the term Creole to refer to persons of African descent. Creole as a term for people refers to their ethnic origins. In most territories, the term is not used as a cover term for speakers of creole languages (so "Creoles" are not normally people who speak a creole, except in Belize and some other places, cf. this page which erroneously refers to "The Creole community of Trinidad and Tobago"). The feature that is common to these two usages ("French Creoles" and a Creole as "someone of African descent") is the etymon "born in the 'New' World" (supposedly originally from Portuguese).
Q36. Isn't English-lexicon Creole (Dialect/Patwa) simply broken English or bad English? A. No, 'bad' English (or French or Dutch or Portuguese) does not equal 'good' Creole, and vice-versa. Try asking a non-native speaker to communicate effectively in Creole. Nor is it 'broken' English. People can speak a foreign language 'brokenly', but cannot speak their mother tongue 'brokenly' since nobody has a 'broken' brain. People speak their mother tongue fluently. (Note that semilingualism is a controversial topic.) To speak of someone speaking only a 'broken' language and no other suggests linguistic (and other) incompetence or ignorance or brain damage on the part of the creole language speaker. Further, creoles are also associated with low socio-economic status. Whereas relatively less money and power might put some limits on an individual's educational opportunities and advancement, and access to the language of education and power, socio-economic status is not an indicator of intelligence or lack thereof. Language attitudes are important. If they are not corrected, non-creole speakers (or even creole speakers) might look down on creoles and their speakers as poor and unintelligent. Money (and therefore power of varying types) 'talks', and makes some languages look better than others.
MONEY+POWER
While English-lexified creoles and English do share a great deal of vocabulary, making English-lexicon creole languages lexically dependent on English (from both a historical and modern-day perspective), they are actually semantically and grammatically independent of each other (to quote Ian Robertson, Islands-in-Between Conference, St. Lucia 2002). This means that they have their own structures, systems and accents, and fulfil or can fulfil all the functions that any language does. Creoles have normally occupied informal contexts, but can occupy any context, once they are allowed to, once the need arises, and once proper language planning and development are in place. Papiamentu and Haitian are 'creole' languages, co-existing with 'non-creole' languages, namely Dutch and French, respectively, and they are increasingly used in a variety of formal domains.
Consider the history of the English language, for example. Once the language of both kings and peasants, it faced serious status issues in the eleventh century, after the Norman Conquest (it was viewed negatively by the conquerors) and again during the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, during the Renaissance (it was viewed negatively by English speakers themselves). English was often negatively compared to Latin and French (even up to recently), and some felt that English did not have the expressive power of French, or the scientific authority of Latin. As David Crystal put it, some (during the Renaissance) felt that English was "not an appropriate vehicle for the expression of the new learning…. It was a language fit for the street, not for the library" (Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language 2003: 60). Now English is the world's lingua franca (and has 'borrowed' or appropriated heavily from both Latin and French, inter alia), and is used in all spheres of communication. It's all about power, position and money (not necessarily in that order). Since creoles have not usually been the language of rulers and conquerors, they and their speakers also face negative attitudes and low social (socio-economic) status, but they are not bound to their history, and things can change and are changing for the good of their speakers.
Some think that creoles are 'just' a mixture of other languages. By that criterion, English is also 'just' a creole. English derives a huge percentage of its vocabulary from Latin and French (which is a Latin/Romance language), and has contributions from many others. Negative attitudes towards creole languages have come about because of their speakers' socially turbulent history. Their more recent development causes some to see them as Johnny-come-lately languages, and as somehow less respectable that the older languages that gave them their vocabulary. Their lack of respectability has more to do with the lower socio-economic status of their speakers, and the fact that these languages are now coming into their own as written languages, many only recently gaining standard orthographies, dictionaries, and other forms of standardisation and codification.
PART C
MORE ABOUT 'CREOLE' LANGUAGES
Q37. Can creoles be written? Aren't creoles 'just' oral languages? A. Any language can be written, and creoles are languages, or speech varieties. Several creole languages have their own standardised writing systems. Languages are, in fact, primarily oral — no one is born with a pen in their hands (or mouths!), just a tongue with which to use his/her mother tongue.
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Q38. Where can I find out more about Caribbean creoles? A. Check out our Links page for more information on courses on Caribbean creoles, research groups and more. (For more on the world's other creole languages, see the Ethnologue.com.)
Q39. Where can I learn a Caribbean creole language in the Caribbean? A. GEREC in Martinique offers courses in French Creole.
The UWI campuses of Mona (Jamaica) and St. Augustine (T&T) both offer French-Lexicon Creole in their Linguistics degree programmes (course code — L280, taught mainly by créolophones to mainly non-créolophone students). Mona offers mainly Guadeloupean Creole, and St. Augustine offers mainly St. Lucian Creole, since it is linguistically closer to Trinidadian French Creole (Patois or Twinidadyen) which is still spoken by mainly elderly people in certain mostly rural villages. Many issues are explored in these courses, including standardisation and the accompanying process of codification. St. Lucian French Creole orthography has been informally adopted for Trinidadian, which was the first Atlantic French Creole-speaking territory to produce a grammar of the language (John Jacob Thomas, 1869).
With the exception of Jamaican Creole, English-lexicon creoles are not formally taught in the English-speaking Caribbean. Jamaican Creole was taught to Peace Corps volunteers in Jamaica, and is to be taught in Puerto Rico at the Universidad de Puerto Rico.
Papiamentu is taught in the ABC islands. See (Fundashon pa Planifikashon di Idioma).
Q40. But why would anyone want to learn a creole language? A. Why would anyone want to learn any language that is not their own? Regular and frequent (actual or anticipated) contact with speakers of other languages, as well as a strong motivation and desire, are important factors in learning a second language. Motivation can stem from perceived economic opportunities (although many people do not see creole languages as providers of lucrative opportunities for economic advancement), or simply an interest in society, culture and history. Bilingualism is actually the norm for most citizens of the world, except perhaps in the non-indigenous Americas (countries such as Belize, Curaçao and Suriname, inter ali, are exceptions). Being or becoming bilingual is important for communication (nurturing a healthy respect for others), and for personal development, including at the neurolinguistic and social levels. See SIL's Linguistic Creed.
Q41. Why don't creole language speakers just learn standard English or French, for example? A. One might have asked this in the days of the Greek and Roman Empires — why didn't everyone learn Greek or Latin? Yes, in all societies, it may be important to master the language of power in order to function in spheres of education, government and so on. But mastering another language and culture does not require the abandonment of one's mother tongue and culture. There is richness in diversity, and languages are tied up with culture, history and society. To abandon a language is very often to abandon a culture and a society.
Q42. What about education in creole languages for mother tongue speakers? A. Some work is going on in Curaçao, San Andrés (Colombia), and Jamaica. With the exception of Jamaica and Haiti, and in very general terms, the territories which possess a creole language with no lexical relationship to their official language (e.g., Papiamentu in the Dutch-official Netherlands Antilles, Islander Creole English in Spanish-official San Andrés, and Creole French (Kwéyòl or Patois) in English-official St. Lucia) are making more progress in the educational arena than in territories where the creole language and the official language share the bulk of vocubulary (e.g., Creole French and French in the French Caribbean, and Creole English and English in the English-official Caribbean).
For a good overview of the linguistic rights of individuals and communities, see the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights, especially Section II, Articles 23 to 30. The Declaration is downloadable here as a pdf file.
Q43. Where can I find out about books, dictionaries, newspapers and other written literature in Caribbean creoles? A. Most of the written material produced in the Caribbean (novels, poetry, news, theses and dissertations, official government documents, etc.) is produced in the official languages of the respective territories, for historical and social reasons. Many novels include some writing in creole languages, but none has been written solely in a creole, or translated completely into a creole language, with the exception of Papiamentu and Haitian. To some extent, this reflects the sociolinguistic situation and make-up of the region.
More and more literature is being produced in some Caribbean creoles. This includes the Bible, which has been or is being translated into several Caribbean languages, at least the New Testament. There are both written projects and oral Scripture projects in progress (see the Hosanna project re: the latter).
For St. Lucian Creole, see the Folk Research Centre. An Tjè Nou in St. Lucia also publishes a variety of materials. See also the St. Lucian Creole website.
Several materials have been produced in Papiamentu. See (Fundashon pa Planifikashon di Idioma).
Q44. What about online material? A. Check out our Links page for a Sranan dictionary, sample Jamaican texts, etc.
Q45. What about voice recordings and music in Caribbean creoles? A. For music in French-lexicon Creole, see Dominica's World Creole Music Festival. Of interest is the official website of the Government of St. Lucia with the Kwéyòl Radio News Edition. There are audio recordings of the works of Louise Bennet (Jamaica) and Paul Keens-Douglas (T&T) in the creoles of those countries. See also the Jesus Film Project for online viewing of the film in Aukan, Haitian, Papiamentu, Saramaccan, Sranan Tongo, and Garífuna (Black Carib), Surinamese Javanese and Caribbean Hindi/Sarnami Hindoestani (Bhojpuri). The latter three are not creoles but Caribbean languages. The language called Western Caribbean "Creole" English listed here is mostly Jamaican ('standard') English, with some Creole speech.
PART D
MORE ABOUT OTHER CARIBBEAN LANGUAGES
Q46. Is it possible for foreigners to go learn English, French, Spanish, or Dutch (as foreign/second languages) in their respective Caribbean territories? A. For EFL, check out the programmes at UWI, St. Augustine.
The three campuses of the UAG, serving the French Caribbean, offer FLE (Français Langue Etrangère).
Q47. What about sign languages in the Caribbean? A. Jamaica has its own indigenous sign language, one of the world's 114 deaf sign languages. Many other English-speaking territories use American Sign Language (ASL).
Q48. What linguistics research is being done in the Caribbean? A. There are many research projects being carried out at both the individual and institutional levels. See UWI, St. Augustine's research foci, for example. (More to come.)
Q49. Is there any work being done on language and speech pathology in the Caribbean? A. Yes. (More to come.)
Q50. Why don't you construct this whole website in a creole language? A. One day, one day, congoté.
Alleyne, Mervyn C. Comparative Afro-American: An Historical-Comparative Study of English-based Afro-American Dialects of the New World. Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma, 1980.
McCrum, Robert, William Cran and Robert MacNeil. The Story of English. 3rd Rev. ed. London: Penguin Books, 2002.
Breton, R.P. Raymond. 1999. Dictionnaire caraïbe-français. Auxerre, 1665. Reprint. Introduced and annotated by CELIA and GEREC, with CD-ROM by M. Thouvenot. Paris: Editions Karthala with IRD.
Use the Yahoo! Search Engine below to search for anything under the Caribbean sun.
Please pardon our dust — this page is (still):
Thanks to Lise Winer, Keith Laurence, Nicole Roberts, Mervyn Alleyne, Michèle Stewart, Rocky Meade, and Sonya Moze for comments and contributions. All other comments and contributions welcome.
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