Interesting as always, I really appreciate the research put in behind this and Chaufa.
On the instruction of Kweyol in schools, I concede that the economic benefit is potentially low but wholeheartedly refute the idea that there is no cultural benefit.
1) Kweyol, or Patois as we call it in Trinidad, is not just a language created for touristic purposes but a living cultural practice - see Paramin's Kwech/Creche Mas. I'd suggest you to understand a bit better the history of this language as it was spoken by both slaves and just as often the free coloured or latin creoles by the time it reached the south.
2) Kweyol is spoken in Dominica, St Lucia, Northern Trinidad, Guiria in Venezuela and the French Antilles, and was until recently the lingua franca on the migrant farmers in the southern Caribbean. The Venezuelan peons for example learned Patois before English in the Cacao plantations.
3) Kweyol is not just broken French, like Papiamento & Haitian Creole it is a language which borrows >80% of its vocabulary from French but with its own gramatical rules distinct from French. However, there is a level of mutual intelligibility with French & other French creoles: Seychellois, Reunionais etc. Kweyol speakers will have an easier time picking up French in later life.
4) The argument of "Oh but we already suck at english" is a poor one. There is ample research to suggest that bilingual children go on to out perform their monolingual peers and Kweyol tutelage does not have to subtract from English. We need better language skills in the region, not just English and getting children to become educated in another language early is the best way.
Anyway, all that to say, you sound like my Granny telling people its "farmer talk". Culture on our islands is rich, and I'd hate to see that be lost to our own negligence and ignorance.
Thanks for reading and I'm happy you enjoy our work. I gave a hot and cold take on Creole's inclusion more to play devil's advocate, but to your points...
The Caribbean is prone to preserving traditions simply for the sake of it. This isn't just logistically questionable sometimes but culturally stagnating. Take for example, Barbados, which pushed for World Heritage designation for Bridgetown and has essentially frozen its capital into a disadvantageous colonial British layout that is not conducive to modern commercial development for the island and has seen the slow degradation of the city's character as businesses move away from it. The government did acknowledge the cultural importance of this layout, but did not consider how it impeded progress to maintain it in the modern era. I do not refute the significance of Creole and how it came to be but there does need to be a discussion on if it should be included on a curriculum that is already showing signs of being long in the tooth.
Creole's existence has not formed any true common link across the islands. In fact the various dialects have aided in a kind of Balkanization that has resulted in the phrase "the Caribbean is a single region, separated by a common language", pointing to the fact that we often find it hard to understand each other despite all speaking English etc. In a region that is pushing for integration and struggling to attain common ground to do so, how exactly is throwing yet another language into the mix going to help?
If we are going to do this anyway for the sake of the "multilingual benefits" you mentioned, why not the language of our largest neighbors in Latin America? Outside of Martinique and Guadeloupe, to what end are we aiming to preserve a language based in French, the source nation with which we have very little commercial or cultural exchange with anymore? Does the novelty of saying we share some ties with the Seychelles really justify holding onto Creole in this manner?
The Caribbean is no longer a giant plantation. And we have to decide if the celebration of that emancipation means moving more firmly into the 21st century and adopting the standards to better ensure we aren't further eroded into irrelevance with every new wave of globalization. Feel free to preserve what you perceive to be culturally relevant in museums and even those little novelty villages like Paramin, but to potentially freeze your entire population in the process may be a shortsighted move that further exacerbates an ongoing problem - our cultural identities promote insularity to some degree, ironically this could be by colonial design. Using granny's logic "You're not farmers anymore, why are you still speaking like it?"
I do believe in preserving parts of our history for future generations, but a greater and more nuanced discussion of what should be preserved and how, is required. Enshrining a language by brute force could have long lasting consequences for a region as small and as sensitive as our own.
interesting points and I respectfully disagree. Kweyol can be just as much a part of the future as the past. However, I will accept perhaps a bias on my part as it is part my own heritage in question here.
Highly recommend a visit to the "little novelty village" if you get the chance, far more dynamic than you'd think!
Interesting as always, I really appreciate the research put in behind this and Chaufa.
On the instruction of Kweyol in schools, I concede that the economic benefit is potentially low but wholeheartedly refute the idea that there is no cultural benefit.
1) Kweyol, or Patois as we call it in Trinidad, is not just a language created for touristic purposes but a living cultural practice - see Paramin's Kwech/Creche Mas. I'd suggest you to understand a bit better the history of this language as it was spoken by both slaves and just as often the free coloured or latin creoles by the time it reached the south.
2) Kweyol is spoken in Dominica, St Lucia, Northern Trinidad, Guiria in Venezuela and the French Antilles, and was until recently the lingua franca on the migrant farmers in the southern Caribbean. The Venezuelan peons for example learned Patois before English in the Cacao plantations.
3) Kweyol is not just broken French, like Papiamento & Haitian Creole it is a language which borrows >80% of its vocabulary from French but with its own gramatical rules distinct from French. However, there is a level of mutual intelligibility with French & other French creoles: Seychellois, Reunionais etc. Kweyol speakers will have an easier time picking up French in later life.
4) The argument of "Oh but we already suck at english" is a poor one. There is ample research to suggest that bilingual children go on to out perform their monolingual peers and Kweyol tutelage does not have to subtract from English. We need better language skills in the region, not just English and getting children to become educated in another language early is the best way.
Anyway, all that to say, you sound like my Granny telling people its "farmer talk". Culture on our islands is rich, and I'd hate to see that be lost to our own negligence and ignorance.
All the best and great work.
Hey Benito,
Thanks for reading and I'm happy you enjoy our work. I gave a hot and cold take on Creole's inclusion more to play devil's advocate, but to your points...
The Caribbean is prone to preserving traditions simply for the sake of it. This isn't just logistically questionable sometimes but culturally stagnating. Take for example, Barbados, which pushed for World Heritage designation for Bridgetown and has essentially frozen its capital into a disadvantageous colonial British layout that is not conducive to modern commercial development for the island and has seen the slow degradation of the city's character as businesses move away from it. The government did acknowledge the cultural importance of this layout, but did not consider how it impeded progress to maintain it in the modern era. I do not refute the significance of Creole and how it came to be but there does need to be a discussion on if it should be included on a curriculum that is already showing signs of being long in the tooth.
Creole's existence has not formed any true common link across the islands. In fact the various dialects have aided in a kind of Balkanization that has resulted in the phrase "the Caribbean is a single region, separated by a common language", pointing to the fact that we often find it hard to understand each other despite all speaking English etc. In a region that is pushing for integration and struggling to attain common ground to do so, how exactly is throwing yet another language into the mix going to help?
If we are going to do this anyway for the sake of the "multilingual benefits" you mentioned, why not the language of our largest neighbors in Latin America? Outside of Martinique and Guadeloupe, to what end are we aiming to preserve a language based in French, the source nation with which we have very little commercial or cultural exchange with anymore? Does the novelty of saying we share some ties with the Seychelles really justify holding onto Creole in this manner?
The Caribbean is no longer a giant plantation. And we have to decide if the celebration of that emancipation means moving more firmly into the 21st century and adopting the standards to better ensure we aren't further eroded into irrelevance with every new wave of globalization. Feel free to preserve what you perceive to be culturally relevant in museums and even those little novelty villages like Paramin, but to potentially freeze your entire population in the process may be a shortsighted move that further exacerbates an ongoing problem - our cultural identities promote insularity to some degree, ironically this could be by colonial design. Using granny's logic "You're not farmers anymore, why are you still speaking like it?"
I do believe in preserving parts of our history for future generations, but a greater and more nuanced discussion of what should be preserved and how, is required. Enshrining a language by brute force could have long lasting consequences for a region as small and as sensitive as our own.
Thanks Shem,
interesting points and I respectfully disagree. Kweyol can be just as much a part of the future as the past. However, I will accept perhaps a bias on my part as it is part my own heritage in question here.
Highly recommend a visit to the "little novelty village" if you get the chance, far more dynamic than you'd think!
Looking forward to more hot & cold takes.
Plita!
I think a visit to Paramin is in order on my trip to Trinidad. It may sway me just a little. Thank you for your comments.