A Short Discription of Trinidad English

806007430

Hassan Basarally

LANG 6000

Name: Hassan Basarally ID: 806007430 Course: LING 6000- Advanced Academic Writing Assignment: Examine the data presented in ten (10) consecutive pages of the Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago (ed. Lise Winer, Montreal: McGillQueen’s University Press, 2009). Use the data to develop a comprehensive description of the most significant aspects of the language of Trinidad and Tobago. You may also use the Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage (ed. Richard Allsopp, Oxford: Oxford UP, 1996). Due: 22/12/09 Lecturer: Dr. J. S. Ferreira Semester: 1 Academic Year: 2009/2010 Faculty: Humanities and Education Department: Liberal Arts University: The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

1

806007430

Hassan Basarally

LANG 6000

Abstract Creoles were seen as corrupted languages that required little investigation and description. However, there are millions of Creole speakers worldwide and the field of Creole linguistics is relatively new. There is a small corpus of linguistic data on Trinidad and Tobago English Creole (TTEC) despite it being the first language of the majority of the country. Through an analysis of the lexicon of TTEC found in two dictionaries of Creole English, the significant aspects of the language were identified. The results showed that TTEC was a complex linguistic system, like many other languages, and was unique in its use of functional shift, phonology of vowels and consonants, inflectional system and lexical sources. The ways in which lexicon reflect the characteristics of TTEC mentioned provided insight into how the language developed its word stock and corpus.

2

806007430

Hassan Basarally

LANG 6000

Outline Topic: Examine the data presented in ten (10) consecutive pages of the Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago (ed. Lise Winer, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009). Use the data to develop a comprehensive description of the most significant aspects of the language of Trinidad and Tobago. You may also use the Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage (ed. Richard Allsopp, Oxford: Oxford UP,

1996).

Narrowed Topic: A comprehensive description of the most significant aspects of the language of Trinidad and Tobago using the letter ‘P’ in both dictionaries. Thesis Statement: Trinidad and Tobago English Creole has distinct morpho-syntactic, phonological and lexical features. The most significant aspects of the language are seen in functional shift, the extent of inflection, distinct vowels and consonants and a variety of lexical sources. Topic Functional Shift

Topic Sentence Individual lexical items can function in different word classes.

Vowels and Consonants

Trinidad and Tobago English Creole have consonant cluster reduction in the word final position and distinct phonological features which creates distinct pronunciation.

Inflection

Trinidad and Tobago English Creole is an analytic language and makes little to no use of inflectional morphology.

Lexical Sources

Trinidad and Tobago’s history of language contact has resulted in words of different lexical sources. Many of

3

806007430

Hassan Basarally

LANG 6000

these language sources are unrelated and retain their morpho-syntactic features.

4

806007430

Hassan Basarally

LANG 6000

Creole languages are spoken by millions of speakers, in different geographical areas around the globe. The significant aspects of a language entail its history, word stock, and morpho-syntactic processes. This is particularly relevant to Trinidad and Tobago English Creole (TTEC) as it describes the sociolinguistic history of the language. TTEC has distinct morphosyntactic, phonological and lexical features. The most significant aspects of the language are seen in functional shift, the extent of inflection, distinct vowels and consonants and a variety of lexical sources. Pidgins are reduced languages formed from extended contact between two speech communities with no language in common. The term reduced refers to the simplified structure and limited vocabulary, as the pidgin’s purpose is limited to functionality, for example trade, and not prolonged communication. Simultaneously, pidgins are stable in meaning and grammar through tertiary hybridization in which more than two groups use the pidgin. When the superstrate become less important an expanded pidgin is formed. A major theory is that Creoles are formed from pidgins that have been learnt as a first language by a generation of speakers. The pidgin is expanded to meet more functions and consists of a superstrate and substrate. Creoles are classified according to lexifier or lexical source, location, socio-historical developments, function, and structural features. The lexical source refers to the superstrate language or the speakers with more power; however a Creole also has influence from other substrate languages. Therefore, the words are from the socially dominant language while other features are form the less dominant or substrate language. In terms of lexifier or superstrate, there are English lexicon creoles like Trinidad and Tobago English Creole , French ones like Mauritian, Dutch lexicon creoles e.g. Afrikaans in South Africa, Portuguese ones e.g. Forro in

5

806007430

Hassan Basarally

LANG 6000

Sao Tome and Spanish lexicon creoles like Chavacano in the Philippines and Malaysia (Schiffman). Generally, Creoles developed in areas which has easy access to the sea, that is why Creoles can be divided into Pacific Creoles e.g. Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea, Indian Ocean Creoles e.g. Mauritian in Mauritius and Atlantic Creoles e.g. Belizean Kriol in Belize. Most Creoles developed after European colonial expansion but not all Creoles have a European lexifier. There exists Arabic based Creole languages e.g. Nubi, Ngbandi based ones e.g. Sango and Chinese based Creole languages e.g. Singdarin. Trinidad and Tobago English Creole is an Atlantic Creole and possesses both features similar to other Creoles and unique to the language. Individual lexical items can function in different word classes. Due to the analytic nature of the language functional shift occurs. In analytic languages almost every word consists of a single morpheme (Comrie, 43). A functional shift is when a single word can occur in different word categories without being marked or inflection added. This feature occurs in Trinidad and Tobago English Creole and other English Creoles in the Caribbean. Nouns and adjectives function as verbs, which can be seen in parang, which is used both as a noun and verb to describe the Christmas songs in Trinidad Spanish dialect and the act of serenading respectively (“Parang”).Verbs and adjectives function as a noun, as in paranging (“Paranging”). And verbs and nouns act as adjectives, for example, pan is a noun that can mean a container or a musical instrument and can be used as an adjective; of or pertaining to the pan or steel band (“Pan”). Trinidad and Tobago English Creole has consonant cluster reduction in the word final position and distinct phonological features which creates distinct pronunciation. The main reason for this is ease of articulation. According to Allsopp, the phonemes (ə, , ð and ŋ) are replaced by (, t/f, d and n) respectively (xlv). TTEC is an analytic language and makes little to no use

6

806007430

Hassan Basarally

LANG 6000

of inflectional morphology. This characteristic is a direct result of the reduction of word final consonant clusters. Aceto states that the “past tense allomorphs /-d/, /-t/ and /- d/ are generally absent in Creole varieties in English, but it is difficult to be certain if they always were” (487). Though the past tense allomorphs and other inflectional endings may not be apparent, Trinidad and Tobago English Creole utilises different methods to achieve the same end. These characteristics are seen in the two main constitutes of a sentence: the noun phrase and verb phrase. Holm states that the unmarked verb is present in most Atlantic Creoles (175). These indicated by word order. This would entail the possessor of the item occurring before the item itself in a sentence. This is seen in the sentence: That is Natasha bag. The position of the possessor directly before the item possessed has the same function as the Standard English possessive marker /s/. External markers are used for plurality. One of Trinidad and Tobago English Creole’s most recognisable features is its method of pluralisation. Unlike the superstrate, English, the language does not employ ‘-s’ and ‘-es’ in the word final position. Instead a free morpheme ‘dem’ and ‘an dem’. Hence, the plural of panman would be panman an dem. The use of /an/ is an example of the absence of /-d/ as mentioned by Aceto. This feature is also a result of the reduction of the final consonant cluster (Allsopp, xlvii). Trinidad and Tobago English Creole sometimes uses the Standard English plurals as singular nouns. Examples are pants and peas which can be preceded by the article a. Noun formation process in Trinidad and Tobago English Creole addition of another free noun to make compound nouns or noun phrases. Nouns that are added include ‘man’, ‘broom’, ‘woman’ and ‘lady’. A fast bowler is a paceman (“Paceman”). The is also ‘pan man’ and ‘pan woman’ which

7

806007430

Hassan Basarally

LANG 6000

means a person who plays a pan in a steelband (“Pan beater”). There is ‘phulourie balls’, an Indian delicacy (“Pholourie”). The distinct phonological features of Trinidad and Tobago English Creole created variation in the spelling, the phonetic representation of words have not been standardised. An aspect of TTEC is that sometimes the phoneme /a/ replaces // according to Winer (xxii). This causes variation in spelling as seen in pandit and pundit, a Hindu religious and ritual leader (“Pandit”). The consonant cluster reduction results in the absence of tensed endings in pronunciation. Differences in spelling conventions are also noticeable in the word final part of lexical items. For example, saga which is a description of trendy dressing is spelt saga and sagah (“Saga”). Trinidad and Tobago’s history of language contact has resulted in words of different lexical sources. Many of these language sources are unrelated and retain some original morphosyntactic features. Like other languages, Trinidad and Tobago English Creole borrows words from other sources. These borrowings are also described as “regionalisms produced by the ecology, history and culture of the area (Allsopp, l). The country has had influences from regions of Asia, Africa, Europe, India, and teh Middle East. Native speakers of languages from these reasons came to Trinidad and Tobago via enslavement, indentureship and immigration. The nonEuropean languages formed a substrate dominated by African influences. There are instances of completed borrowings. Examples are ‘paisa’ which is Bhojpuri for money (“Paisa”) and ‘patchoi’ which is Cantonese and Hakka Chinese for white vegetable (“Patchoi”). In addition many loan words have been altered for ease of articulation. An example of this is ‘palet’, a frozen, milky block on a stick, which comes from the Belizean Spanish ‘paleta’. Again the reduction is in the word final position.

8

806007430

Hassan Basarally

LANG 6000

Trinidad and Tobago English Creole maintains the morphological features of some borrowed words and applies analogy to some nouns. The use of analogy of Standard English can be seen in words like panmanship, pannist and panology. Standard English suffixes were added to a word native to Trinidad and Tobago. Simultaneously, some load words have maintained the source language’s morphological structure. This is seen in palito which maintains the Spanish diminutive marker –ito to mean small drink of rum (“Palito”). Another example is the banana variety chiquito (“Chiquito banana/fig”) and papito; a romantic term of address for a man (“Papito”). From Bhojpuri, the prefix –par is used to address for great grandparents, it is used together with the Bhojpuri loanwords for such relatives. For example, parnana is ones father’s mother’s father (“Par-”). Similarly the Spanish masculine and feminine indicators are maintained in the word for parang singer. The female is parandera and the male is parandero (“Parandero”). There is a lexical choice made to maintain the masculine –o and feminine –a as TTEC adds – man and –lady to other nouns to indicate gender. The significant aspects of Trinidad and Tobago English Creole are its use of functional shift, analytic nature of not using inflection, distinct phonology and spelling and lexical stock. While some of these features are present in other Creoles, many such as TTEC’s lexical sources and alternatives to inflection are unique to the language. This serves to highlight the need for greater description of emerging varieties of English which Creoles are part of.

9

806007430

Hassan Basarally

LANG 6000

Works Cited Aceto, Michael. “Eastern Caribbean English-derived Language Varieties: Phonology.” A Handbook of Varieties of English: A Multimedia Reference Tool. Berlin; New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 2004. Googlebooks.com. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. Allsopp, Richard. Introduction. Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage. ed. Richard Allsopp, Oxford: Oxford UP, 1996. i-lxxviii. Print. “Chiquito.” The Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. 2009. Print. Comrie, Bernard. Language Universals and Linguistic Typology. 2nd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1989. Print. “Pace man.” Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage. 1996. Print. “Paisa.” Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage. 1996. Print. “Patchoi.” Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage. 1996. Print. “Palowri balls.” Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage. 1996. Print. “Palito.” The Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. 2009. Print. “Pan.” Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage. 1996. Print. “Pan beater.” Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage. 1996. Print. “Pandit.” The Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. 2009. Print. “Panmanship.” The Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. 2009. Print. “Pannist.” The Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. 2009. Print. “Panology.” The Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. 2009. Print. “Papito.” The Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. 2009. Print. “Parandero.” The Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. 2009. Print. “Paranging.” The Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. 2009. Print. Schiffman, Harold. Pidgin and Creole Languages. U of Pennsylvania. 1997. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. “Saga.” Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage. 1996. Print.

10

806007430

Hassan Basarally

LANG 6000

Winer, Lise. Introduction. The Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. ed. Lise Winer. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009. i-xxiv. Print

11