FOllowing a comment from Triniobserver, I decided to do a small thing about creole languages. In the Caribbean, we mostly think of creole as the language spoken in Haiti. Personally I think people give it recognition as A LANGUAGE. Well surprise! It's the same with English speakers, we have our own language. Readers can go here for a fairly comprehensive explanation of what is creole, and see that in fact there are many such languages around the world. In summary, creole is a language developed to facilitate communication between speakers of different languages e.g. slaves. Sometimes there is a parent language, in our case English. Things are kept simple so they can understand one another. As subsequent generations come along, the language structures become standardised and voila!
Clicking one of the links regarding Ebonics in the U.S. I found that that situation had some similarity to ours in that some people would like to have Ebonics recgnised as its own language and not just a dialect, where it can be used, similar to the suggestion from Merle Hodge, as a tool in teaching standard english where users can be taught to recognise the equivalents in both languages. But proponents of Ebonics experience the same "fight down" attitudes that we in the Caribbean sustain as we keep telling ourselves we speak broken english, or as Triniobserver put it "a perversion" of english.
I'll say it again: I love my language! so very expressive, full of subtleties, words and expressions drawn together from various other languages. It's part of what makes a Trini a Trini. What do you think?
...just a few thoughts while I'm away from home.
About Me
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- Trinidadian in America. Just enjoying doing my thing here, meeting new people, learning new things, living the life!
11 comments:
those amalgamations of languages happen all over the world. swahili is a blending of african bantu languages and arabic. pigeon english in papua new guinea is a blending of english and local tribal languages. this sort of thing fascinates me..really
and yah i know my trini accent is not authentic. i know any trini would hear it and spot the differences immediately. i was getting pestered endlessly by certain people to do such apost. notice i did not repeat it....
ok, so bring on your audio post ;)
Lime is that some sort of challenge? Are you trying to see if I sound like a fresh water yankee? LOL
I think the diffenence here is that Caribbean people get "accused" of simply speaking bad english, not recognising that this is what happens when you get such a blend of people.
Great post! I really enjoy being able to switch between "trini" and "yardie". We need to teach our children that their use of creole isn't "stupid" or "duncy". I'm sure the people you've interacted with in the US appreciate your unique way of saying things.
Its not at all stupid, in fact some creoles become official languages e.g. in Curacao.
Many of my friends have become used tomy speaking but sometimes i forget and use some phrase they couldnt possibly understand. Everyone knows how to lime tho hehe
thanks for the comment
you know, the judgement doesn't end with creole. i am born and bred in pennsylvania, but i grew up in the pennsylavania dutch subculture. my parents were very particular to not allowus to use the slang or accent. they didnt want us viewed as dumb dutchies. sadly, that attitude is so prevalent the the dialect is a dying one. you really can't find people younger than my parents who can speak it and wo aren't amish.
Its unfortunate that we have formed such prejudices regarding what is considered to be the "language of upward mobility" and in so doing tend to neglect our heritage.
http://www.allyuh.com/story.php?title=Trini-Creole
Dre, thanks fuh de plug, checking out the site now, look interesting
Language and accents are so funny huh? I saw an interesting show on PBS called "Do You Speak American?" Was fascinating to see the variety of differences in the U.S. alone, and from where they originated.
I myself am a girl raised in Pennsylvania by New Jersey parents who dated a Trini for nine years and lived there for a couple. Then I moved to Brooklyn for 8 years, and am now marrying an Aussie and moving to Australia! I can tell you that my accent is so mixed up. I still use Trini terms/phrases and the accent comes out (when I moved back from Trinidad even my mother had problems understanding me!), now some Aussie ones are creeping in. Sometimes I'll sound like I'm from Brooklyn. And it's funny because I'll often stop and try to figure out if what I'm saying is "foreign" to who I'm speaking with. I mix my own self up!
What a timeline! hehe Good one though. And I know exactly how it is to stop and search for words to make sure people understand, fortunately I have some Brits around me who often understand things.
thanks for the comment
tantiejean I agree with you completely. I was born and bred in London, England but am also half Trini and half Jamaican. Not being taught Trini creole or Patois, I have always felt that I was missing out on something. Most West Indians unfortunately do not value our language as they don't think it's a good way of speaking, personally I had to teach myself the two languages, something that my children won't have to do. It's all about taking pride in our language, after all, a language reflects the people and expresses our culture...
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