Download or read book Languages of the West Indies written by Douglas MacRae Taylor and published by Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press. This book was released on 1977 with total page 722 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Based upon more than forty years of linguistic and ethnographic research, Douglas Taylor's work presents the languages of the Caribbean in all their variegated richness. Focusing as it does on language contact and linguistic change in the Caribbean from pre-Conquest times to the present, it brings the perspectives of linguistics, anthropology, and history to bear on a crucial area of the New World experience. The author concentrates first on the Amerindian languages of the Caribbean (Nepuyo, Shebayo, Yao, Taino, Arawak and Island-Carib). He provides the fullest account ever given of the linguistic situation and the history of these languages. Second, he turns to the so-called creole languages of the region, languages commonly associated with the enslaved Africans whose descendants make up the majority of the Caribbean population. He shows the derivations of the various language systems and the borrowings each language makes from another. Today, as Taylor demonstrates, these languages vie with standard dialects of European tongues in much of the Caribbean. In Haiti alone, probably more than five million persons speak a creole as their first language. By choosing these two important and radically contrastive dimensions for description and analysis, Taylor provides the reader with a broad, yet remarkably particular, overview of the phenomena of language and language change. Creole languages are spoken by millions of contemporary speakers; but the language of the Island-Carib has disappeared from the insular Caribbean. Thus, the idiom that once provided all the inhabitants of the lesser islands with their principal medium of communication has now been almost completely supplanted. The principal languages of much of the region today are the outgrowth of lengthy and complex encounters among speakers of many different tongues, speakers who were themselves descended from newcomers whose own native languages were not or are no longer spoken in the region. As Taylor points out in his introductory comments, language, as the primary means of perpetuating culture, profoundly reflects and informs the culture itself. Its presence is a living representation of the way of life of people; its disappearance or destruction usually signals the replacement of our cultural system by another. In sum, Taylor has provided original and crucial evidence that the origin and character of the Caribbean creole languages must be sought in cultural history of the Caribbean creole-speaking peoples. He adopts the view that the early stage of the language reflected a lexicon, largely of Portuguese origin, that had been shaped in West Africa and subsequently reshaped in other regions under the influence of other languages. To this "reflexication" hypothesis, as it is called, he joins a necessary grammatical hypothesis."-- Book Jacket.

Download or read book Language Contact in the Danish West Indies Giving Jack His Jacket written by Robin Sabino and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2012-05-07 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Language Contact in the Danish West Indies: Giving Jack His Jacket, Robin Sabino draws on fieldwork with a last speaker and research from a range of disciplines laying bare the crucial roles of community and resistance in creole genesis.

Download or read book Language Contact in the Danish West Indies Giving Jack His Jacket written by Robin Sabino and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2012-07-05 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Language Contact in the Danish West Indies: Giving Jack His Jacket lays bare crucial roles played by community and resistance in the refashioning of heritage languages. Robin Sabino draws on her community relationships, her fieldwork with a last speaker, and research from a range of disciplines, to advance a revisionist history that elucidates the African linguistic resources used to create community in a land those who were transhipped did not choose and from which they could not return. In parallel fashion, the narrative locates the partial appropriation of creole features by the colony’s Euro-Caribbean community in the emergence of local identity. It also traces the replacement of Dutch and Virgin Islands Dutch Creole with their English counterparts. Includes more than 300 unique sound records of the last native speaker.

Download or read book Language Race and the Global Jamaican written by Hubert Devonish and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-06-23 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the racial and socio-linguistic dynamics of Jamaica, a majority black nation where the dominant ideology continues to look to white countries as models, yet which continues to defy the odds. The authors trace the history of how a nation of less than three million people has come to be at the centre of cultural, racial and linguistic influence globally; producing a culture than has transformed the way that the world listens to music, and a dialect that has formed the lingua franca for a generation of young people. The book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of Caribbean linguistics, Africana studies, diaspora studies, sociology of language and sociolinguistics more broadly.

Download or read book Languages and Ghost Languages of the West Indies written by Douglas MacRae Taylor and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 3 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Language and its Importance in the Caribbean written by Herbert Reichl and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2003-04-08 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 1998 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: very good, University of Salzburg (Anglistics/ American Studies), course: Caribbean Prose and Poetry, language: English, abstract: Almost every inhabitant of the European continent has sometimes dreamed of the Caribbean or the West Indies as a possibible holiday destination. It is quite common in Europe to think in images of the West Indies. In peoples’ minds, the Caribbean equals white beaches, palm trees or drinking Piña Coladas in the shadow of a tree with big leaves. The common image, though, also has another side: for most Europeans, the “islands in the sun” also mean poverty, a bad economic situation, underdevelopment and backwardness in many respects. Almost nobody over here knows that most of these islands have had a history, wars, and conflicts with other nations, especially with the colonising ones. What should not be neglected here is that all these factors of the islands’ history have had an influence on the development of their languages both written and spoken. In this paper, I would like to deal with some of these factors and their influence on the language of the Caribbean people and their literature. On the one hand, I chose the topic “Language” for my final paper since my own interest within the English language lies within the field of linguistics, on the other hand because never before have I been in contact with the Caribbean variety of English which, in my opinion, deserves much more attention and research in the near future from a linguistic point of view. “Language And Its Importance In The Caribbean”-a title of a paper which might suggest that the topic is only treated from a linguistic point of view. Generally speaking, this paper tries to introduce a few of the varieties and dialects spoken in this area of the world, but also focuses on the importance of language in the daily lives of the Caribbean people and in their literature. Furthermore, I try to show the importance of language in literature by giving some references to certain books. At the beginning of this paper, I would like to deal with a topic which is basic for the understanding of language in the West Indies. The following chapter deals with the variety of “Creole English”.

Download or read book Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage written by Richard Allsopp and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 782 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This remarkable new dictionary represents the first attempt in some four centuries to record the state of development of English as used across the entire Caribbean region.

Download or read book Playing with Languages written by Amy L. Paugh and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2012-09-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over several generations villagers of Dominica have been shifting from Patwa, an Afro-French creole, to English, the official language. Despite government efforts at Patwa revitalization and cultural heritage tourism, rural caregivers and teachers prohibit children from speaking Patwa in their presence. Drawing on detailed ethnographic fieldwork and analysis of video-recorded social interaction in naturalistic home, school, village and urban settings, the study explores this paradox and examines the role of children and their social worlds. It offers much-needed insights into the study of language socialization, language shift and Caribbean children’s agency and social lives, contributing to the burgeoning interdisciplinary study of children’s cultures. Further, it demonstrates the critical role played by children in the transmission and transformation of linguistic practices, which ultimately may determine the fate of a language.

Download or read book Language Culture and Caribbean Identity written by Jeannette Allsopp and published by University of West Indies Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely and insightful publication, thought-provoking and highly educational, is dedicated to the memory of outstanding Caribbean linguist, Richard Allsopp. The contributors, many of them leading authorities on language variation in the Caribbean, explore various aspects of language, culture and identity in the region, focusing on themes that engaged Allsopp in his lifetime: Creole linguistics, Caribbean lexicography, language in folklore and religion, literature, music and dance, and language issues in Caribbean schools."This landmark tribute to the Caribbean's pioneering lexicographer brings together contributions that span the encyclopaedic interests that Richard Allsopp would have pursued in his journey through Caribbean English usage. The volume is at once provocative and informative - an excellent read for both the specialist linguistic scholar and the curious layman." --Lawrence D. Carrington, Emeritus Professor of Creole Linguistics, University of the West Indies"This anthology offers a refreshing and novel look at the linguistic and cultural practices of Caribbean societies, from the perspective of leading Caribbean scholars. Its coverage ranges from linguistic analysis, to lexicography, to folklore and religion, the arts and literature, and issues of language policy in education. Every contribution provides fresh insights, and together they constitute a treasure trove of new scholarship that celebrates the great legacy of the Caribbeanist par excellence, Richard Allsopp. The book will be compulsory reading for all students of the Caribbean." --Donald Winford, Professor of Linguistics, Ohio State University, and Editor, Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages

Download or read book New Languages for Old in the West Indies written by Douglas MacRae Taylor and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Language in Exile written by Barbara Lalla and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2009-03-15 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An important addition to studies of the genesis and life of Jamaican Creole as well as other New World creoles such as Gulla. Highlighting the nature of the nonstandard varieties of British English dialects to which the African slaves were exposed, this work presents a refreshingly cogent view of Jamaican Creole features." --SECOL Review "The history of Jamaican Creole comes to life through this book. Scholars will analyze its texts, follow the leads it opens up, and argue about refining its interpretations for a long time to come." --Journal of Pidgin & Creole Languages "The authors are to be congratulated on this substantial contribution to our understanding of how Jamaican Creole developed. Its value lies not only in the linguistic insights of the authors but also in the rich trove of texts that they have made accessible." --English World-Wide "Provides valuable historical and demographic data and sheds light on the origins and development of Jamaican Creole. Lalla and D'Costa offer interesting insights into Creole genesis, not only through their careful mapping of the migrations from Europe and Africa, which constructed the Jamaican society but also through extensive documentation of early texts. . . . Highly valuable to linguists, historians, anthropologists, psychologists, and anyone interested in the Caribbean or in the history of mankind." --New West Indian Guide

Download or read book The Survival of People and Languages Schooners Goats and Cassava in St Barth lemy French West Indies written by Julianne Maher and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Survival of People and Languages: Schooners, Goats and Cassava in St. Barthelemy, French West Indies, Julianne Maher examines the enigmatic linguistic complexity of the island of St. Barthélemy in the French Caribbean, analyzes its four language varieties and traces the social history which caused its fragmentation.

Download or read book Language and Liberation written by Hubert Devonish and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Studies in Caribbean Language written by Lawrence D. Carrington and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Caribbean African Languages written by Morgan Dalphinis and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Language in the British Isles written by David Britain and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-08-23 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The British Isles are home to a vast range of different spoken and signed languages and dialects. Language continues to evolve rapidly, in its diversity, in the number and the backgrounds of its speakers, and in the repercussions it has had for political and educational affairs. This book provides a comprehensive survey of the dominant languages and dialects used in the British Isles. Topics covered include the history of English; the relationship between Standard and Non-Standard Englishes; the major non-standard varieties spoken on the islands; and the history of multilingualism; and the educational and planning implications of linguistic diversity in the British Isles. Among the many dialects and languages surveyed by the volume are British Black English, Celtic languages, Chinese, Indian, European migrant languages, British Sign Language, and Anglo-Romani. Clear and accessible in its approach, it will be welcomed by students in sociolinguistics, English language, and dialectology, as well as anyone interested more generally in language within British society.

Download or read book West Indies Languages Writing written by Pearlette Louisy and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: