Language in the USA Part 4 pps

140 patricia nichols A. When Christmas come, I had gone to my Aunt May house. Then my aunt say have to beat my little sister cause she had, she had broke a glass with the cocoa in um. When Christmas came, I went to my Aunt May’s house. Then my aunt said that she had to beat my little sister because she [the sister] had broken a glass with cocoa in it. B. And then we had gone up to we other cousin house name Neecie. And then we had see, then we, then that night we had gone up to Jerome. Then when we come from there, the dog had come and bite my little sister, and my little sister say, “Owww, Ooooo.” And then we went up to our other cousin’s house named Neecie. And then we saw, then we, then that night we went up to Jerome’s. Then when we came from there, the dog came and bit my little sister, and my little sister said, “Owww, Ooooo.” C. And then ee say, “Unnnn.” And then she said, “Unnnn.” D. And then she, and then after that – Monday – we, I had gone to my aunt house fuh see my baby sister. And then we had gone and play. And then I had ride her bicycle. And she bicycle had broke. And then she, and then after that – Monday – we, I went to my aunt’s house in order to see my baby sister. And then we went and played. And then I rode her bicycle. And her bicycle broke. E. And Neecie say, “Oh, Rhetta, see what you done do: broke that girl bicycle!” And Neecie said, “Oh, Rhetta, see what you have done: broken that girl’s bicycle!” F. I say, “I ain’t do um. You do um cause you want me fuh tote you!” I said, “I didn’t do it. You did it because you wanted me to tote [carry] you [on the back of the bicycle].” An older woman in her eighties uses similar features in an excerpt from a narrative about a drowning in the Waccamaw: G. And my father and my sister right here over there drown out there in the Waccamaw Bay. They was coming from Georgetown in a row boat. And a boat been coming from this side, name the Abig boat. And ee was foggy, and they couldn’t see. And when the boat strike the little boat, my brother, he jump on this big boat fuh let the people know what happen. And And my [god] father and my sister right here over there drowned out there in the Waccamaw Bay. They were coming from Georgetown in a rowboat. And a boat was coming from this side, named the A big boat. And it was foggy, and they couldn’t see. And when the boat struck the little boat, my brother – he jumped on this big boat in order to let the people know what had Creole languages: forging new identities 141 then they had to go a long ways before they turn round. And when they turn round, my sister and my godfather-dem was done sweep away. happened. And then they had to go a long way before they turned around. And when they turned around, my sister and my godfather and all the other people had already been swept away. H. And my daddy stand up in Waccamaw River with ee pipe in ee mouth Withhispipe in ee mouth, he was so tall! And my daddy stood up in the Waccamaw River with his pipe in his mouth Withhispipe in his mouth, he was so tall! These two short narratives exhibit several grammatical constructions that can be identified as creole in origin: (1) ee and um as distinguishing subject/possessive it from object it (A, F, G, H) (2) no tense marking inflections for simple past on many verbs (A, B, C, G, H) (3) done marking completed action for past perfect verbs (E) (4) fuh introducing a clause of purpose or reason, or one expressing uncer- tain/unaccomplished events (D, F, G) (5) no possessive marking for nouns (A, B, E) (6) no copula (be-verb) for some clauses containing predicate nomina- tives, adjectives, or locatives (no examples) The child has begun to use had as a past-tense marker, which she clearly distin- guishes from the present-tense have. She also uses an African vocabulary item, tote, which has passed into general American English to describe a bag used to carry something: tote bag. A Gullah feature that neither speaker uses – but which can still be heard among the very young and very old – is a marker for reiterative or habitual aspect: duh, as in “Gregg duh hide.” This particular example of duh was used to describe a playmate who was ducking down behind an automobile repeatedly, his head disappearing and reappearing over the top of the vehicle. Children and adults of the Waccamaw Neck can be heard codeswitching between Gullah and a regional variety of AAVE, depending on the social sit- uation. Similar switching between language varieties probably occurred at earlier stages and probably accounts for the grammatical “mix” that can be found in Gullah and other creoles, as waves of different language speakers entered the community over time. For creole development generally, Myers-Scotton (1997, 2001) makes a convincing case that codeswitching between varieties results in the process of “turnover,” whereby the grammatical structures used by one gen- eration are at least partially replaced by another set of grammatical structures in subsequent generations – as the proportions of incoming speakers shift the 142 patricia nichols balance between native languages in a dynamic creole society. Such a “turnover” process may have occurred more than once for Gullah, as speakers from different areas of West and Central Africa joined Carolina speech communities. Hawaiian Creole Recent socio-historical research on the other UScreole with an English vocabulary reveals how important different waves of speakers can be to the development and eventual shape of a stable creole language. Hawaiian Creole (still called Pidgin by the islanders themselves) is unique among creoles in that documentation exists for how it has changed with successive language contact between different groups of speakers. The development of Hawaiian Creole can be divided into six phases, beginning with the initial phase of contact between native Hawaiians and small numbers of European American missionaries (1778–1829) and ending with the present phase that began in 1950 when large numbers of mainland European Americans became island residents (Roberts 1998). For language contact, the second through fifth phases are important. The second phase(whaling era of 1830– 59) included Chinese and more European Americans than the previous one. The third phase (plantation era of 1860–99) included massive numbers of Chinese, Portuguese, and Japanese laborers. The fourth phase (beginning of territorial era from 1900–19) included large numbers of children born to Chinese and to Portuguese laborers. The fifth phase (middle and end of territorial era from 1920 to 1949) included many native-born descendants of Chinese, Portuguese, and Japanese immigrants. A number of Filipinos also entered the islands during the fourth and fifth phases, but most of these were bachelors or men who had left their wives and families in the Philippines. Hawaiian Pidgin was the initial contact language to emerge in the islands. This pidgin with a native Hawaiian vocabulary emerged between 1790 and 1820 between native Hawaiians and Europeans of different language backgrounds who visited the islands (Roberts 1995). During the subsequent whaling period, sailors used Hawaiian Pidgin as a trade language, as did early immigrants to the sugar plantations. Linguists have argued at length about the relationship between this early pidgin with its Hawaiian vocabulary and the subsequent one that emerged nearly a century later with an English vocabulary. When English speakers became a presence in the islands during the mid and late 1800s, many native Hawaiians appear to have first learned English as a foreign language under the tutelage of the missionaries, while continuing to use Pidgin Hawaiian for trade with seamen stopping in the islands. The Hawaiian Pidgin English that preceded Hawaiian Creole did not begin to emerge until the period of massive immigration of plan- tation laborers accompanying European American commercial influence. By the late nineteenth century, this pidgin with an English vocabulary was being widely used as a plantation language (Roberts 1998), owing in large measure to Creole languages: forging new identities 143 overwhelming numbers of immigrants: by 1890 immigrants and their descen- dants outnumbered the native Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian population, and by 1934 indigenous Hawaiians represented less than 10 percent of the total popula- tion (Reinecke 1969). One factor that seems very important for development of the creole was the increasing use of English as a medium of instruction for school children. During the decade 1878–88, English began to replace the native Hawaiian language as a medium of instruction in the public schools of Hawai‘i (Siegel 2000). English was the preferred language of education for the large population of Portuguese immigrants, many of whom served as overseers on island plantations, and they actively demanded its use in the schools. Because a massive increase in the num- bers of children born to Portuguese and Chinese immigrants occurred after 1890, many island-born children thus heard English in the classroom from their teachers and learned Pidgin English on the playground from other children. Island-born children of immigrant parents tended to be bilingual for the first generation, using a home language with parents and the pidgin with their peers. The English of the schools would have represented yet a third language, one that had stiff competition from the other two. Subsequent generations of Chinese and Portuguese children used the creole as their primary language. Japanese immigrants did not come to the islands in large numbers until 1888, and thus their island-born children did not have an initial impact on the common language that evolved (Reinecke 1969). Japanese island-born children, moreover, tended to be more loyal to their home language than did immigrant children of other ethnic groups (Roberts 1998). The Portuguese seem to have been a significant social link between planta- tion owners or managers and the plantation laborers, acting as they often did in the role of plantation overseers. Sharing cultural and religious ties with the European Americans, Portuguese children were the largest immigrant group in the schools for the quarter of a century when the creole was stabilizing at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth phase (Siegel 2000). A 1939 study offers a tabulation of “errors” made by children according to eth- nic group (Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, and Japanese) and notes specific structures – which we would now recognize as creole grammatical structures – that characterize the speech of children from different ethnic groups (M. E. Smith, cited in Roberts 1998). The frequency of these “errors” for each ethnic group can be linked to the substratum languages spoken at home (Siegel 2000). Portuguese and Chinese immigrant speech of the plantation phase had a strong influence on the grammatical structures of Hawaiian Creole during its formative stages. The text below appears in a contemporary literary quarterly published by Hawaiian writers (Lum 1990: 72–73). Translation is provided by Kent Sakoda and his colleagues (Diana Eades, Teri Menacker, Ermile Hargrove, and Suzie Jacobs): 144 patricia nichols A. Anyway, I no can tell if da Bag Man is happy or sad or piss off or anyting l’dat cause he get one moosetash and skinny kine beard wit only little bit strands, stay hide his mout. But his eyes, da Bag Man’s eyes, stay always busy . . . looking, lookin, looking. Anyway, I can’t tell if the Bag Man is happy or sad or pissed off or anything like that because he has a mustache and a thin kind of beard with just a few strands hiding his mouth. But his eyes, the Bag Man’s eyes are always busy looking, looking, looking. B. I look back at him, and to me, he ack like he little bit shame. We stay da only small kids sitting down at da tables, me and Russo, but da Bag Man ack like he no like know us. I look back at him, and it seems to me that he’s acting like he’s a little embarrassed. Me and Russell, we’re the only little kids sitting at the tables, but the Bag Man acts like he doesn’t want to know us. C. Had one nudda guy in one tee-shirt was sitting at da table next to us waswatching da Bag Man too. He was eating one plate lunch and afterwards, he wen take his plate ovah to da Bag Man. Still had little bit everyting on top, even had bar-ba-que meat left. There was another guy in a tee-shirt who was sitting at the table next to us and he was watching the Bag Man too. He was eating a plate lunch and after he was done, he took his plate over to the Bag Man. There was still a little bit of everything on it, it even had some teriyaki meat. D. “Bra,” da guy tell, “you like help me finish? I stay full awready.” “Hey man,” the guy says, “do you wanna help me finish this? I’m stuffed.” E. Da Bag Man no tell nutting, only nod his head and take da plate. I thought he would eat um real fast gobble um up, you know. But was funny, he went put um down and go to da counter fo get one napkin and make um nice by his place dafork on tap da napkin. Even he took da plate out of da box, made um j’like one real restaurant. I wanted fo give him sometin too, but I only had my cup wit little bit ice left. I awready went drink up all da Coke and was chewing da ice. Da Bag Man was looking at me now, not at me but at my cup. I nevah know what fo do The Bag Man didn’t say a word, just nodded his head and took the plate. I thought he’d eat it real fast, gobble it up, you know. But the funny thing was that he put it down and went to the counter to get a napkin and set it up nicely at his place with the fork on the napkin. He even took the plate out of its container, made it just like a real restaurant. I wanted to give him something too, but I only had my cup with a little bit of ice left. I had already drunk all of the Coke and was chewing on the ice. The Bag Man was looking at me now, not at me but at my cup. I didn’t know what to do though, because it would be Creole languages: forging new identities 145 cause j’like I selfish if I keep my cup but, nevah have nutting inside awready, so shame eh, if you give somebody someting but stay empty. But I nevah know what fo do cause I had to go awready. I thought I could jes leave da cup on da table or be like da tee-shirt guy and tell, “Brah, hea.” like I was selfish if I kept my cup although it already had nothing in it, so it’s embarrassing isn’t it, if you give someone something but it’s empty. I didn’t know what to do because I had to go then. I thought I could just leave the cup on the table or be like the tee-shirt guy and say, “Hey man, here.” Several grammatical constructions can be identified as characteristic of Hawai’ian Creole: (1) the article da, used to mark a noun phrase with known referent (A, B, C, D, E) (2) the pre-verbal stay (stei), used to mark non-punctual aspect (B, D, E) (3) the pre-verbal bin (been) or wen (went) used to mark simple past (C, E) (4) no tense marking inflections for past on many verbs (A, B, D, E) (5) the verb have/had used to mark existentials [there is/there are] (C) (6) no copula (be-verb) for some clauses containing predicate nomina- tives, adjectives, or locatives (no examples) (7) fo introducing a clause of purpose/reason or a clause expressing uncertain/unaccomplished events (E) Because Hawaiian Creole is relatively young and relatively well-documented, it is a rich source of material for better understanding creole languages. Today it is reported to be spoken in its most basilectal or conservative form on the islands of Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i (figure 8-3). Both it and Gullah, whose development has not been as well documented over time, meet the typological criteria for creoles proposed in a recent analysis of the creole prototype: (1) little or no use of inflectional affixes; (2) little or no use of tone for word contrasts or grammatical meaning; (3) use of regular derivational affixes (McWhorter 1998). Louisiana Creole Louisiana Creole arose from the early language contact between French colo- nialists and the African slaves they imported during the period between 1699 and 1750, approximately the same time period in which Gullah was developing in South Carolina. The numbers of Africans in Louisiana during the colonial period, however, never approached the numbers in South Carolina. Moreover, Africans and Europeans were more equal in number after the early period, when Europeans were outnumbered by two to one. Only 20,000 settlers, evenly divided between 146 patricia nichols Figure 8-3 Hawaiian Islands whites and blacks, inhabited the territory by the end of the eighteenth century (Valdman et al. 1998). The ratio was tipped in favor of African Louisianans in certain areas, with a two to one ratio in New Orleans and a three to one ratio in Coup´ee. Today the creole survives in four focal areas of southern Louisiana: (1) the Bayou Teche region, which includes Breaux Bridge and St. Martinville; (2) Pointe Coup´ee Parish between the Atchafalaya and Mississippi Rivers north of Baton Rouge; (3) the German Coast along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans; and (4) Bayou Lacombe and Bayou Liberty in St. Tammany Parish between Lake Pontchartrain and the Pearl River (figure 8-4). Complicating any description of the creole in Louisiana are the three distinct language varieties with French vocabulary that have been spoken there (Louisiana Creole, Cajun French, and Colonial French), as well as the strong presence of English since the mid-nineteenth century. There is little information available about language contact between speakers of indigenous (Indian) languages over time or about their possible contributions to the creole. The brief period of Spanish rule (1763–1800) appears to have had little effect on the languages spoken, except for the fact that the Spanish government welcomed the displaced Acadians from Nova Scotia (speakers of Cajun French), and simultaneously doubled the number of African slaves in the colony. The arrival of the Cajuns tipped the population balance from a majority of Afro Louisianans to a more equal balance of whites and blacks in the overall population (Marshall 1997). Then after Louisiana became aUSterritory in 1803, large numbers of English-speaking immigrants began arriving. The existing language varieties today can be ranked according to the Creole languages: forging new identities 147 Figure 8-4 Southern Louisiana following hierarchy: English as dominant, Standard French next (promoted in recent years by the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana), then Cajun French, and finally Louisiana Creole (Valdman 1997). The colonial French spoken by the original settlers and their descendants has virtually disappeared (Klingler 1992), and all Louisiana Creole speakers use at least one additional language variety outside the home (Valdman et al. 1998). Many speakers are multilingual, able to use Louisiana Creole and some variety of French, along with English. It is this pervasive multilingualism over the centuries that provided conditions for the original emergence and continued maintenance of the creole. Initially, African and Caribbean slaves from many different backgrounds were brought to work the farms and plantations along the rivers, with those from the Senegambia region predominating in the early stages. By the second generation some variety of French was being used as a common language. As slaves continued to arrive in the colony from the Caribbean, West Africa, and Central Africa, the newcomers learned the common language from other slaves. In those areas where Africans and their descendants once outnumbered the French colonialists, a creole with a French vocabulary evolved. After 1800, South Carolina planters sometimes moved their entire plantations to Louisiana (Hall 1992), often taking over estab- lished French plantations along the rivers and buying French-speaking slaves to join their South Carolina slaves. Louisiana blacks would have learned English from fellow slaves in such settings, well before their masters did so (Klingler 1992). In addition, many poor white immigrants in creole-speaking areas like the German Coast, Pointe Coup´ee, and St. Martin parishes worked side by side with 148 patricia nichols slaves on the plantations (Marshall 1997). Especially along the German Coast, such immigrants heard more Louisiana Creole than any other language variety and learned it as the common language. Whites today may constitute as much as 25 percent of all Louisiana Creole speakers. The shift toward English as a common language was given a strong push in the 1860s when Louisiana united with other states of the Confederacy in the doomed effort to sustain slavery as alegal institution and promoted English to the state’s language of government, commerce, and education. Throughout its history Louisiana Creole has shown much variation, with the variety spoken in the New Orleans area probably having widespread influence throughout the early years. The variety spoken in the Teche area reflects the influence of Cajun French because of the social interaction between blacks and whites there (Klingler 2000). The example below from Pointe Coup´ee parish (Valdman and Klingler 1997: 111) reflects the influence of English: je te k˜ɔ n˜ε pr˜a˜ε bari, They used to take a barrel ave εk˜ε but lapo, e with a piece of skin, and je te ˜ε ʃofe lapo they used to heat the skin pu li vini stiff. until it became stiff. k˜alivini stiff, When it had become stiff, then je bang li. then they banged on it. mo p˜as se de zaf ε I think these are things je m˜ εn˜ε isi d˜a slavery that were brought over here [from Africa] with slavery. Grammatical characteristics of this creole include the following (as noted in Valdman and Klinger’s overview 1997): (1) no gender distinction for the definite article, la: ʃ ˜ ε la trape l˜ ɔ d ε lap˜ ε la (The dog picked up the scent of the rabbit) Note: French, unlike English, marks all nouns, adjectives, and articles as either masculine or feminine; like other creoles, Louisiana Creole does not make these gender distinctions. (2) the definite article la and the plural marker je placed after the noun: mo sukuje dibwa je (I shook the trees) (3) the indefinite article ˜ ε precedes the noun: ˜ ε tas kafe (a cup of coffee) (4) adjectives usually placed after nouns, showing no gender distinctions (5) no tense or aspect-marking inflections on the verbs Note:InFrench, tense markers indicating time and aspect markers indicat- ing on-going/habitual or completed action consist of a combination of verb inflections and function words. In the creole, only the separate function words are used. Creole languages: forging new identities 149 (6) the pre-verbal ape (also ap or e) used to mark progressive: maprep˜ ɔ n (I’m answering) (7) the pre-verbal te used to mark anteriority: je te ka lir ave ekri (They could read and write) (8) the pre-verbal va, ale, and sa used to mark future: nu va fe la rek˜ ɔ l, mw˜ ε e twa (We’ll do the harvest, you and I) no p ale g ˜ ε ˜ ε bal (We won’t have a dance) mo swat mo sa la.(Ihope to be there) (9) the pre-verbal se used as a conditional marker: mo se k˜ ɥ t˜ ɥ k ɥ n ε sa (I would like to know that) (10) no copula (be-verb) for some clauses containing predicate adjectives or locatives: li f ε b (She/he is weak) je de ɔ r (They’re outside) mo swaf (I’m thirsty) (11) the copula det (or ε t) used with verbs of obligation, with passives, and with imperatives: le piti sipoze ε td ɥ r (The children are supposed to be outside) sa ε d ε tfe(That has to be done) d ε tlaasiz ε r (Be there at six o’clock!) Louisiana Creole is the only French-vocabulary creole to have the det copula. Acts of identity How best to sum up what these uniquely American languages have to teach us? They demonstrate the creative powers of human beings in desperate times and the power of language to strengthen social bonds over time. The formation of these creole languages, as well as their use today, is an example of “acts of identity” (described by Le Page and Tabouret-Keller 1985 for a similar colonial setting). In a new land, peoples speaking many different languages came together to forge new lives and new identities. In South Carolina, use of Gullah correlates with an ethnic identity as a special kind of African American and forms the most important part of that identity. In Louisiana, the correlation between Louisiana Creole and African American identity has also been strong, even though some European Americans also speak it in their homes. Today, in Louisiana, African Americans most fluent in speaking the creole are most apt to identify themselves as “Creole” (Dubois and Melan¸con 2000). In Hawai‘i, the correlation with ethnic identity disappears because Hawaiian Creole actually has helped form a new Hawaiian identity for descendants of native Hawaiians, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and those who came later. All three creoles have united groups of people whose ancestors would not have spoken to each other in their native lands. Carrying reminders of shared experiences in this land, these [...]... spider yi-is.chasing e´ h *Na’ashj´ ’ii na’az´s´ binoolch´ el e ıı spider gopher bi-is.chasing The man is chasing the boy.’ The boy is getting chased by the man.’ The boy is chasing the dog.’ The dog is getting chased by the boy.’ The dog is chasing the gopher.’ The gopher is getting chased by the dog.’ The gopher is chasing the spider.’ The spider is getting chased by the gopher.’ In the above examples,... report that there are humans, animals, or any other things, the report must include a characterization of the objects with different existential verbs (sitting, standing, lying) We cannot just express something being there, but we must specify that it is sitting, standing, or lying (Mithun 1996: 144 ) 23 Tunica position ‘sitting,’ ‘lying,’ ‘standing’ (Haas 1 941 , cited in Mithun 1996: 144 ) In the examples... examples below, the underlined parts tell us about the position of the object a tasaku ʔ un´ a a b tasaku kalʔ ur´ a c tasaku ʔ ur´ ‘There is the dog (in a sitting position).’ ‘There is the dog (in a standing position).’ ‘There is the dog (in a lying position).’ How about the most typical position of the following? Fill in the blank with ʔun´ , a a a ka’lʔur´ , or ʔur´ Native American languages d e... meaningful parts (qayar-pali-yug-a-qa) combine to carry the meaning, ‘I want to make a big kayak for him.’ From an ethnolinguistic viewpoint (a viewpoint that attends to the links between a culture and its language) , the kinds of information encoded in words can identify categories that speakers of that language find salient in their perception of persons, things, and events, and in their social interactions... order The language of Tohono O’odham, the people of the desert,’ is spoken in southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico The majority of the tribe’s approximately 20,000 people live in Arizona One estimate says that there are about 10,000 speakers They have language classes in public schools, and in the community they have a radio program in the language The Tohono O’odham Nation is one of the first... (Mithun 1996: 144 ) These suffixes are given below in 24 Approximately half of the 6,000 Omaha people live on the reservation in Nebraska and it was estimated in the 1980s that about half the population spoke the language There are two groups of Ponca people: the Northern Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, with about 900 members in the late 1980s, and only a few elders speaking the language; and the Ponca Tribe... on their 130-acre reservation in Louisiana These two groups together have about 43 0 people but no speakers Other languages demonstrating sex-based distinctions include Chinook (approximately 1,200 people live in Oregon and Washington, but they have never been recognized as an Indian tribe by the Bureau of Indian Affairs; there are no speakers), Quileute (about 8 74 people live around the mouth of the. .. for singular animate agent in motion or plural for animate singular patient10 in standing position for animate singular patient in motion for animate plural patient in motion for animate singular patient in sitting position for animate plural patient in sitting position The following sentences show how these are actually used (Dorsey 1890, cited in Mithun 1996: 144 ) 9 10 The term agent refers to the. .. suffixes that indicate specific meanings You may have theorized that the [a]-ending indicates a word representing some kind of animal, insect, plant, human, or anything “alive.” This characterization is technically called the “animate,” and the words in Group B are “inanimate.” Thus, at this point, you can state that the Kickapoo people separate things into two categories – “animate” (indicated by the suffix... ‘(we/y’all/they) speak’ b him hihim ‘(I/you/he/she) walk’ ‘(we/y’all/they) walk’ c dagkon dadagkon ‘(I/you/he/she) wipe (something)’ ‘(we/y’all/they) wipe (something)’ Reduplication here indicates how many are doing the action The Cree, an Algonquian language- speaking people, reside mostly in Canada, but also in the foothills of the Bearpaw Mountains in Montana According to the 1990 census, there were . features in an excerpt from a narrative about a drowning in the Waccamaw: G. And my father and my sister right here over there drown out there in the Waccamaw Bay. They was coming from Georgetown in. classification a. Hastiin ashkii yinool ch´e´el. man boy yi-is.chasing The man is chasing the boy.’ b. Ashkii hastiin binool ch´e´el. boy man bi-is.chasing The boy is getting chased by the man.’ c of the 4, 766 people who identified themselves as Pomo in the 1990 census, there are perhaps only a few speakers in different rancherias (reservations). Let’s examine their kinship words. 4 4.