Belizean Creole, also called
Belizean Kriol,
Kriol or
Belizean, is closely related to
Miskito Coastal Creole,
Rio Abajo Creole,
Colón Creole, and
San Andrés and Providencia Creole.
Kriol was historically spoken by the
Belizean Creoles, of mixed African and British ancestry. However, Kriol has about 350,000 speakers, between
Belize (70% of the population, where it is the
lingua franca) and in the Belizean
diaspora, mostly in the
United States. Most
East Indians,
Garifunas,
Mestizos,
Mayas, and other ethnic groups speak Kriol as at least a second language. Fluency in Kriol is said to be the mark of a "true Belizean".
Linguistic Biography
Belizean Creole is a
creole language deriving mainly from English with little influence from
Spanish. Its
substrate languages are the Native American language Mískito, and West African languages which were brought into the country by slaves. The
pidgin that emerged due to the contact of English landowners and their West African slaves to ensure basic communication was extended over the years.
Jamaicans were also brought to the colony, further adding to the vocabulary, and eventually it became the mother tongue of the slaves' children born in Belize.
This
creolization occurred around 1680-1700, when the British were firmly settled in the Caribbean. It was not, however, the Belizean Creole known today, but the so-called Mískito Coast Creole which developed into the Belizean Creole, or Kriol, over the years.
Today, Belizean Creole is the native language of the majority of the country's inhabitants. Many of them speak standard English as well, and a rapid process of
decreolization is going on. As such, a
creole continuum exists and speakers are able to
code-switch among various
mesolect registers between the most
basilect to the
acrolect (i.e Standard American English) varieties. It should be noted that the acrolect, much like the basilect, is rarely heard.
Phonology
Kriol is significantly similar to many
Caribbean English dialects as far as phonology and spelling is concerned. Many of its words and structures are especially similar to English, on which it is based both lexically and phonologically.
Phonologically, Belizean Creole is a perfect example of creole languages in the Caribbean and, partly, everywhere else. Like them, it uses a high amount of nasalized vowels, palatalizes non-labial stops and prenasalizes voiced stops. Moreover, pidgins have a general tendency to simplify the phonology of a language in order to ensure successful communication. Many creoles keep this tendency after creolization. Belizean Creole is no exception in this point. Unlike most creoles, Kriol has a standardized orthography.
1. Like most creole languages, Kriol has a tendency to an open syllabic structure, meaning there are a lot of words ending in vowels. This feature is strengthened by its tendency to delete consonants at the end of words, especially when the preceding vowel is unstressed.
2. Nasalization is phonemic in Belizean Creole, caused by the deletion of final nasal consonants. The nasal feature is kept, even if the consonant has been dropped.
3. Many Kriol speakers tend to palatalize the velar consonants
/g/ and
/k/. Sometimes they also palatalize alveolar consonants, such as
/t/,
/d/, and
/n/.
4. Like all other creoles, Kriol also has a tendency to reduce consonant clusters no matter where they occur. Final consonant clusters are almost always reduced by dropping the second consonant. Initial and medial occurrences are reduced much less consistently.
5. When
/r/ occurs finally, it is always deleted. When it occurs in the middle of a word, it is often deleted leaving a residual vowel length.
6. Although its
superstrate language, English, makes extensive use of dental fricatives (
/θ/ /ğ/), Belizean Kriol does not use them. It rather employs the alveolars
/t/ and
/d/. However, due to the ongoing process of decreolization, some speakers include such dental fricatives in their speech.
7. Unstressed initial vowels are often deleted in Kriol. Sometimes this can lead to a glottal stop instead.
8. Vowels tend to be alternated for the ones used in English, f.i.
/bwai/ or
/bwoi/ (
boy) becomes
/boi/,
/angri/ (
angry) becomes
/ængri/ and so on.
Consonants
Kriol uses three voiced plosives (
/b/ /d/ /g/) and three voiceless plosives(
/p/ /t/ /k/). The voiceless stops can also be
aspirated. However, aspiration is not a constant feature, therefore the aspirated and non-aspirated forms are
allophonic. The language employs three nasal consonants, (
/m/ /n/ /ŋ/). It makes extensive use of fricatives and, both unvoiced (
/f/ /s/ /ʂ/) and voiced (
/v/ /z/ /ʐ/. Its two liquids,
/l/ and
/r/, are articulated alveo-palatally. The tongue is more lax here than in American English, its position is more similar to British English. Kriol's glides
/w/,
/j/, and
/h/ are used extensively. Glottal stops occur rarely and inconsistently.
Vowels
Belizean Creole makes use of eleven vowels; nine monophthongs, three
diphthongs and
schwa [ə]. The most frequently occurring diphthong,
/ai/ is used in all regional varieties. Both
/au/ and
/oi/ can occur, but they are new additions and are viewed as a sign of decreolization. The same is perceived of four of the less productive monophthongs.
Morphology
Tense
The present tense verb is not marked overtly in Kriol. It also does not indicate number or person. As an unmarked verb, it can refer both to present and to past. Equally, it is not necessary to mark past tense overtly. The English past tense marker |
d| indicates acrolectal speech. However, there is the possibility to mark preterite tense by putting the tense marker |
mi| before the verb. Overt marking is rare, however, if the sentence includes a semantic temporal marker, such as "yestudeh" (yesterday) or "laas season" (last season).
The future tense is indicated by employing the preverbial marker |
wah| or |
ah|. Unlike the marking of past tense, this marking is not optional.
Aspect
The Progressive Aspect
The preverbial marker |
di| expresses the progressive aspect in both past and present tense. However, if the past is not marked overtly (lexically or by using |
mi|), an unambiguous understanding is only possible in connection to context. |
di| is always mandatory. In past progressive, it is possible to achieve an unambiguous meaning by combining |
mi| + |
di| + verb.
Progressive action in the future can be expressed by using |
bi| in conjunction with |
wɑ| . The correct combination here would be |
wɑ| + |
bi| + verb.
The Habitual Aspect
Belizean Creole does not have a habitual aspect in its own right. Many other creoles have a general tendency to merge the habitual with completive, progressive or future, Kriol however, does not clearly merge it with anything. Thus, we can only assume that the habitual is expressed through context and not through morphological marking.
The Completive Aspect
The completive aspect is expressed either without marking, that is, by context only, or by the use of a completive preverbial markers, such as //mi//, //don// or //finish//.
Mood and Voice
Conditional
The conditional mood is expressed through the conditional verbs //wuda//, //mi-wa//, and //mia//. The short version //da// is employed only in the present tense, past tense requires the longer forms.
Passive Voice
There is no overt lexical marking of active and passive in Belizean Creole. It is only the emphasis of a sentence which can clarify the meaning, together with context. Emphasis can be strengthened by adding emphatic markers, or through repetition and redundancy.
Verb Usage
Special Verbs
There are four forms of "be" in Belizean Creole: //de//, //di//, and the absence of a marker. The equative form //di// is used as a copula (when the complement of the verb is either a noun or a noun phrase). //de// is the locative form which is used when the verb's complement is a prepositional phrase. No overt marking is used when the complement is an adjective. //di//, finally, is used in the progressive aspect.
The verb "to go" is irregular in Belizean Creole, especially when set in the future progressive. It does not use the progressive marker //di// but is exchanged by the morpheme and //gwein//. In past tense, this is similar: instead of employing //mi//, it uses the lexical item //gaan//.
A verb which is used extensively in each conversation is //mek//. It can be used like a modal in casual requests, in threats and intentional statements, and, of course, like the standard verb "to make".
Noun Usage
Plural Formation
Plurals are usually formed in Kriol by inserting the obligatory postnomial marker //de//. Variations of this marker are //den// and //dem//. As decreolization is processing, the standard English plural ending //-s// occurs far more frequently. Sometimes, the //de// is added to this form, f.i. in "shoes de" - shoes.
The absence of a plural marker occurs rarely.
Loan Words
Many Spanish, Maya, and Garifuna words refer to popular produce and food items:
- panaades
- garnaches
- tamales
- hudut
- wangla
- janny kake (Actually an English loan - from johnny, or journey, cake)
- reyeno
Pronouns
Subject Pronouns
The subject pronouns are used in the same way as they are in English.
I - I (occasionally
me in negations)
yu' - you (sing.)
(h)î - he, it (she in basilect)
hî - he (Mesolectal variation)
shî - she (Mesolectal variation)
de(m)/
de(n) - they or those
wai/
fiwee/
waines - our; ours
dende - those/literally "them there"
unu /
alayu' - you (pl.)
wi /
wee - we
alawee - we (pl.)
Object Pronouns
mee - me; I
mi/
my/
mines - my, mine, mines
yu - you (sing.)
ih/shi'' - he/she
hee/shee'' - exclamated he/she
ah - him, her
deh/dem/den - them
unu /
alayu' - you (pl.)
wi/
wee - us
Syntax
Syntactic Ordering
The construction of sentences in Belizean Creole is very similar to that in English. It uses a Subject-Verb-Object order (SVO). All declarative and most interrogative sentences follow this pattern, the interrogatives with a changed emphasis. The construction of the phrases follows in many ways Standard English.
Locatives
Locatives are more frequently used in Belizean Creole and much more productive than in Standard English. The general locative is expressed by the morpheme //dah// ("at" or "to"). It is possible to use //to// or //pon// (on) instead. This is either an indication of emphasis or of decreolization. Another morpheme which is more specific than //dah// is //inna// (into). It is used in contexts where //dah// is not strong enough.
Together with the verb "look", however, //dah// is not used and denoted as incorrect. To express "to look at", it is wrong to say "look dah". The correct version would be "look pon" or "look-at".
Noun + Pronoun
In a noun phrase, Belizean Creole can employ a structure of both noun and pronoun to create emphasis. The ordering then is noun + pronoun + verb (f.i. "mista filip kno di ansa" - Mr Philip knows the answer).
Adjectives
Adjectives are employed predicatively and attributively. They can be intensified either by the postposed adverb modifier //bad//, by iteration, or by the use of the adverb modifier //onli//. Iteration is here the usual way. Comparatives and superlatives are constructed according to morphosyntactic rules. A comparative is made by adding //-ah// to the stem ("taal" - "taala" - tall). The morpheme //den// is employed to form comparative statements, f.i. "hî tɑlɑ dan shee" - He is taller than her. Superlatives are created b adding //-es// to the stem. In all cases, the use of the definite article //di// is obligatory. The copula is present if the superlative is used predicatively. An example could be: "She dah di taales" - She is the tallest.
Adverbs
Adverbs are used much like they are in Standard English. In almost all cases, they do not differ from adjectives in form, but in function. There are, however a few exceptions, such as "properli" (properly), "e:li" (early) or "po:li" (poorly). Adverbs can be intensified by reduplication.
Conjunctions
Most Kriol conjunctions are very similar to English and employed in the same way. The main difference is that Belizean Creole allows double negation, so that some conjunctions are used differently. Some examples for Belizean conjunctions are: "an" (and), "but" (but), "if" (if), "o:" (or) etc.
Negation
Negation is expressed by placing //no// before the verb phrase. This marker immediately precedes any employed tense markers. The morpheme //neva// can also be employed to express the habitual aspect. //neva// means
did not
Interrogatives
The question words found in Kriol are:
why - why
who - who
fi-who - for who, whose
weh;
wat;
wah - what/where
weh - what/where (past tense)
which - which
dat - that
Questions usually take the same form in Belizean Creole as they do in Standard English: question word + subject + verb. The "do-support" does not occur here either. The rising intonation at the end of the sentence may increase even more if no question word is necessary. Thus, most declarative sentences can become interrogative with the right intonation. "Which" has various translations in Belizean Creole. If the speaker means "which", he uses //which//, but he can also use //which one// for "which one".
"Examples"
- My name is...: (mesolect) My naym dah... or (basilect) I naym...
- What time is it? How much yu clock?
- I don’t know: I noh know or Me noh know
- What is it?: (Dah) Weh dis? or "Weh dat?"
- Where am I?: Weh I deh?
- I don't understand : I (or me) noh andastan
- I don't speak ...: I noh speak
- Where's the bathroom?: Weh di batroom deh?
- What is your name?: (mesolect) Wat dah yu naym? (basilect) How yu naym?" ;Weh yu naym?
See also
External links
A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language. As with biological families, the evidence of relationship is observable shared characteristics.
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ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. It consists of 136 two-letter codes used to identify the world's major languages. These codes are a useful international shorthand for indicating languages.
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ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. The three-letter codes given for each language in this part of the standard are referred to as "Alpha-3" codes. There are 464 language codes in the list.
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ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. It extends the ISO 639-2 alpha-3 codes with an aim to cover all known natural languages. The standard was published by ISO on 5 February 2007[1].
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Mískito Coast Creole or Nicaragua Creole English is a language spoken in Nicaragua based on English. Its approximately 30,000 speakers are found along the Mosquito Coast of the Caribbean Sea.
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Rio Abajo Creole is a linguistic variety spoken in Rio Abajo in Panama City, the capital of Panama. Rio Abajo Creole is no language of its own, but similar to varieties such as Limón Coastal Creole. The number of speakers of Rio Abajo Creole is below 100,000.
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Colón Creole is a language spoken in Panama. Colón Creole is similar to varieties such as Limón Coastal Creole, Mískito Coastal Creole, and Belizean Creole (Kriol). The number of speakers of Colón Creole is below 300,000 [1] .
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San Andrés-Providencia Creole is a Creole language spoken in the San Andrés and Providencia department of Colombia. San Andrés-Providencia Creole does not have the status of an official language.
See also
- Bajan
- Bermudian English
- Jamaican English
..... Click the link for more information. Belizean Creole or Kriol are Creole descendants of African slaves who were brought primarily from Jamaica and Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast to cut down mahogany trees. Many Irish and Scottish slave owners would either marry or engage in sexual relations with female slaves,
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Motto
Sub Umbra Floreo (Latin)
"You'd Better Belize It"
Anthem
"Land of the Free"
Royal anthem
"God Save the Queen"
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A lingua franca (Italian literally meaning Frankish language, see etymology below) is any language widely used beyond the population of its native speakers. The de facto status of lingua franca
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The term diaspora (in Ancient Greek, διασπορά – "a scattering or sowing of seeds") refers to any people or ethnic population who are forced or induced to leave their traditional homelands, the dispersal of such people,
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Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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East India may refer to
- the eastern region of India
- the Indies
- any of various East India Companies historically operating in the Indies:
..... Click the link for more information. Garífuna refers to both the people and language of the Garínagu. In their own language, Garífuna is the singular and Garinagu is the plural form. The Garífuna live along the Caribbean Coast in Belize, Guatemala (Livingston), Nicaragua and Honduras on the mainland, and
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Mestizo (Portuguese: Mestiço; French: Métis; Late Latin: Mixticius; Latin: Mixtus, meaning "to mix") is a "Spanish term" that was used in the Spanish Empire to designate people of mixed European (Spanish) and Amerindian ancestry living in the region of
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Maya may refer to:
People and languages
- The Maya, Native American peoples of southern Mexico and northern Central America
..... Click the link for more information. A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable language that originates seemingly as a "new" language, sometimes with features that are not inherited from any apparent source, without however qualifying in any appreciable way as a mixed language.
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Spanish, Castilian}}}
Writing system: Latin (Spanish variant)
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: —
ISO 639-3: —
Spanish (
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In linguistics, a substratum (lat. sub: under + stratum: layer → lower layer) is a language which influences another one while that second language supplants it. The term is also used of substrate interference, i.e.
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pidgin is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups who do not share a common language, in situations such as trade. Pidgins are not the native language of any speech community, but are instead learned as second languages.
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Motto"Out of many, one people"
Anthem"Jamaica, Land We Love"
Royal anthem"God Save the Queen"
Capital(and largest city) Kingston
..... Click the link for more information. A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable language that originates seemingly as a "new" language, sometimes with features that are not inherited from any apparent source, without however qualifying in any appreciable way as a mixed language.
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Decreolization is a hypothetical phenomenon whereby over time a creole language reconverges with one of the standard languages from which it originally derived. First proposed by Keith Whinnom at the 1968 Mona conference, the concept has come under fire in recent years from such
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post-creole continuum (or creole continuum) may arise. It is a process wherein a creole language will decreolize and become closer in phonology, morphology, and syntax to the standard of the dominant language but to different degrees depending on a speaker's status and
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Code-switching is a term in linguistics referring to describe using more than one variety of language. Often codeswitching refers to using more than one variety of language in a single situation (often within a single sentence or even word.
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A mesolect is term referring to a register or range of registers of spoken language whose character falls somewhere between the prestige of the acrolect and the informality of the basilect.
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In linguistics, a basilect is a dialect of speech that has diverged considerably from an acrolect, or standard, "educated", variety of the language. A basilect and the acrolect in which it originated may eventually reach mutual unintelligibility.
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An acrolect is a register of a spoken language that is considered formal and high-style.
In the early 1970s Derek Bickerton proposed the words acrolect, mesolect, and basilect
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Caribbean (Dutch: Cariben or Caraïben, or more commonly Antillen; French: Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Spanish: Caribe
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