(...part 2, by Dian P. Cahyaningsih)
CREOLE LANGUAGE
Pidgin language may develop into Creole language. Creole languages are pidgins that have acquired native speakers. As the result, the vocabulary will be expanded, the range of syntax possibility will be wider. It is used for all purposes in a full range of social situations. The examples of creoles, such as:
1. Tok Pisin
Tok pisin is a pidgin which has developed into creole language. It has official status in New Guinea and it is used on the radio, newspaper, and school there.
2. Sranan
Sranan is spoken by several tens of thousands of native speakers in coastal areas of Surinam
3. Djuka
The development of Djuka, can be seen from the following diagram:
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| The development of Djuka |
Related to variety of language, in a particular place, English is regarded as a world language that has high prestige. This issue can be seen in the Sierra Leone. In Free Twon, the capital, it is possible to distinguish between four different linguistic varieties which have some connection with English:
1. British English
2. Sierra Leone English (spoken mainly by middle-class Sierra Leonians and containing certain features due to the influence of African languages)
3. West African Pidgin English (used as a lingua franca)
4. Krio (English creole with about 30,000 native speakers living in and around Freetown. The language has probably developed from an English creole spoken by slaves returned from Jamaica and from Britain and is not directly connected with west African Pidgin)
The four versions of the same sentences which illustrate some of the similarities and differences involved:
• British English /aɪm goʊɪŋ tə wɜ:k/
• Sierra Leone English /aɪm goin to wɔk/
• West African Pidgin /a di go wɔk/
• Krio /a de go wok/
The similarities between the four varieties lead to the conclusion on the part of most Sierra Leonians that the three lower prestige forms represent unsuccessful attempts to imitate the higher prestige British English.
LANGUAGE SPOKEN IN JAMAICA
In formerly British West Indies, the position is still similar, but the problems are more severe, as what can be seen in Jamaica. Some linguistics states that language spoken in Jamaica is Jamaican English, while the others prefer to give it the status of a separate language which is called Jamaican Creole.
In Jamaica, the Standard English is the official language and it is spoken by the people at the top of social scale, educated Jamaicans, and people of British origin. However, English-based Creole is only spoken by the people at the end of social class, especially in the case of peasants in isolated rural area.
Jamaican Creole is an English-lexified Creole language with West African influences which is spoken primarily in Jamaica and the Jamaican Diaspora. Different with Jamaicain English which is usually in the form of written, Jamaican Creole is generally found in spoken form. It is because, Jamaican Creole do not have standardized spelling, and has only recently been taught in some schools. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaican_English)
- Basilect
The least prestigious (most creole) variety
- Acrolect
The standard (or high prestige) variety
- Mesolects
In-between versions
The following are the examples of several types of Jamaican Creole
"im ah wok oba deh suh" (basilect)
"im workin ova deh suh" (low mesolect)
"(H)e (h)is workin' over dere" (high mesolect)
"He is working over there" (acrolect)
A social dialects continuum ranging from Standard English to “deepest” Jamaican Creole. This means that all language varieties in Jamaica have become heteronomous with respect to Standard English. In fact, the social-dialect continuum itself may have arisen in the first place as a result of the influence of high-prestige English on low-status Creole (the stronger the influence, the more “decrelolization” will take place) can simply use political frontier to make a (linguistically arbitrary) decision as to which varieties were dialects of which language, in Jamaica no equivalent social frontier exist. As the consequence, most people consider the language of all Jamaicans is English.
However, several problems arise because of that. First of all, there is a very widespread view in Jamaica that the Jamaicans speak very interior types of English. Secondly, it means that the children are taught to read and write in Standard English. As the result of that, English is considered to be their language. because of many differences between English and many types of clear, it makes many of the children never succeed in learning to read ad write English with any degree of proficiency and the failure rate of Jamaican children taking British O-level and similar English examination is very high compared with their performance in other subject
Based on the problems mentioned previously, there is a solution which is offered fro a purely linguistic point of view. It is called as Norwegian type of approach. In Norwegian types of approach, a new standard Jamaican Creole (or English) could be developed that would reflect much more closely the nature of the language spoken by Jamaicans. However, there are still several obstacles appear when applying this solution. First, since English is considered as the statusful language which is also very useful as lingua France, many West Indian might feel insulted by suggestion that they do not speak English. It is because varieties near the (social) top of Jamaican dialect continuum are much more like English than Creole. The second reason is that because it is the characteristic of social attitudes to the language that they tend to be shared even by those who suffer from most from those attitudes.
According to Trudgill (1983: 188), considered from a more theoretical linguistic point of view, there are a number of similarities Creole languages share with one another regardless of geographical location. The following verb forms will show the illustration.
} Jamaica Creole : /wa de go hapm nou/ “What’s going to happen now?”
} Sranan : /mi de kom/ “I’m coming”
} Gullah : /de də njam forə/ “They were eating fodder”
} Krio : /a de go wok/ “I’m going to work”
The above sentences, all demonstrate what can be called progressive or continuous aspect. They concern not single short-lived action, but actions taking place over a relatively longer period time (be + verb-ing). The similarities than can be noticed from all of the Creole above such as:
1. All these Creole are able to mark continuous aspect without marking tense
2. All the creoles show continuous aspect, not by an inflection of the verb, but by particle
3. The actual form of this particle is almost identical in each case: de, de, də, de
These similarities can also be seen in French-based Creoles which also have the same verb structure such as, pronoun + continuous-aspect particle + verb. It can be clearly seen in the examples below
} Louisisana FC : /mo ape travaj/ “I am working”
} Haitian FC : /yo ape mãze/ “they are eating”
} Mauritius FC : /kito ape fer/ “what are you doing?”
From the sentences above, it can be seen the form of the particle is identical /ape/ (historically related to French après). French itself does not have the distinction between I ate it and I was eating it that English does.
Portuguese Creoles also have the same construction. It can be seen in St Thomas Portuguese Creole, as follows:
/e ka nda/ “He is going”
That sentence also has the verb structure: Pronoun + particle + verb
According to Trudgill (1983: 190), the reason of similarities (both structure and form) between these languages is that because of the joint creation of sailors, traders, and indigenous peoples in trading or other similar context. Besides, t is also true that pidgin grow up in the circumstances where the transmission of information is very difficult and where it may be very useful to make language as simple and efficient to be the instrument of communication as possible. Therefore, it is used the principles of simplification which includes the loss of redundant features and the omission of irregularities. One of the examples can be seen from the grammatical structure. In the formation of past tense in French Creole, adding particle “te” before the verb appears to be much easier than the corresponding French rule. The clear illustration can be seen in the examples below.
} Louisiana Creole: /mo te pe kupe/ ‘I was cutting’
} Haitian Creole: /yo te bwe/ ‘they drank’
Besides, the second solution can be used, namely relexification theory. This theory claims that first widespread European-based pidgin was Portuguese Pidgin (during 15th century) along the West African coast. Portuguese then spread it to their other trading posts and colonies in Africa and Asia (traders from other countries began to learn it). When French and English trades entered the trade, relexification of this Portuguese Pidgin took place. The grammar of the language remained the same, but the words were changed. Words derived from Portuguese were gradually replaced by words from English, French, or some other dominant European language. The evidence of this theory can be seen as follows:
1. Some Portuguese words still remain in many non-Portuguese Pidgins and Creoles
Examples:
} savvy à from Portuguese sabe (he knows)
} piccaninny à from Portuguese pequenino (little)
2. A large number of word found in Creole language can be traced back to West African Language
Examples:
/njam/ (eat) which is found in Jamaican Creole, Gullah and Sranan and others, probably derived from /njami/, which means ‘to eat’ in Fulani, a language spoken in today in Guinea, Gambia, Senegal ,and Mali
3. There are a number of grammatical similarities
Examples:
} Louisisana FC : /mo ape travaj/ “I am working”
} Haitian FC : /yo ape mãze/ “they are eating”
} Mauritius FC : /kito ape fer/ “what are you doing?”
4. Many of the African West Languages, like the Creoles, indicate aspect and tense by means of preposed particle
Examples:
} Louisiana France Creole: /mo to kupe/ ‘I (past) cut’
} St Thomas Portuguese Creole: /e ta nda/ ‘he (past) go’
} Yoruba: /mo ti wa/ ‘I (past) come’
Conclusion:
1. The language geography is the branch of human geography that studies the geographic distribution of language or its constituent elements.
2. A language innovation is a new word, a new pronunciation, a new usage of a language that occurs at a particular place and can be spread from a particular place into other places that near to the previous place.
3. There are two factors of linguistic innovations diffusion: 1) Distance and 2) Barrier.
4. Linguistic areas refer to areas where several languages are spoken which have a number of features in common as the result of the diffusion of innovations across language boundaries, although they are not very closed related.
5. Lingua franca is a language used for communication between people whose first languages differ.
6. Pidgin language is a lingua franca which has no native speakers. It is derived from a ‘normal’ language through simplification, such as: most often reduction in vocabulary and grammar, and elimination of complexities and irregularities.
7. Creole languages are pidgins that have acquired native speakers.
8. There are two languages exist in Jamaica such as, Jamaican English and Jamaican Creole. The Jamaican Creole is classified into three, namely Basilect, Acrolect, and Mesolects, which differ in term of their prestige. Considered from a more theoretical linguistic point of view, there are a number of similarities Creole languages share with one another regardless of geographical location, whether they are in the form of structure and form. Therefore, to make language as simple and efficient to be the instrument of communication as possible it is used the principles of simplification and relexification.
References
Holmes, Janet. 1997. An Introduction to Sociolinguistic. United Kingdom: Longman group.
Trudgill, Peter. 1983. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. Middlesex: Penguin Books.
