General Linguistics

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    Sowing Social Synonyms: The Influence of Age, Ethnicity and Social Networks on Lexical Choice for Flora Items in Northern Trinidad
    (2024-05-24) Phillip, Ariana; Ragoonanan, Rhianna; Seepaul, Chelsea
    Because Trinidad and Tobago is such a culturally and thus linguistically diverse nation, there are many articles about the sociolinguistic situation of the country, with a focus on Trinidadian English Creole and Trinidadian French Creole (Patois). There are also some studies on how social variables like age and education affect citizens’ use of these languages. However, the studies that focus on Trinidadian Bhojpuri (Hindustani) generally have not considered the intersection between lexical variation and choice (except for those by Regis, for Dougla-Trinidadians), and language attitudes and context. To fill this gap, using French Creole, Bhojpuri, English and English Creole terms, this study focuses on variation in lexical choices for four flora items in Northern Trinidad in relation to age and ethnicity. An online questionnaire was distributed to 60 residents of this region, who were instructed to pass it on to two other residents, resulting in the collection of only 100 responses, rather than 180. The data were used to discover trends in their lexical choices, by analysing their responses from the perspective of their ages and ethnicities, together with the frameworks of audience design and social network theory. Generally, it was discovered that the Indo-Trinidadians who responded to the questionnaire, tend to use Bhojpuri variants, such as baigan and bandhania, while Afro-Trinidadians in the group use French Creole-origin ones, like chadon beni. That being said, some terms like baigan, chadon beni, and zaboca appear to be popular among the population sample regardless of ethnicity, suggesting that they are now fully ingrained in Trinidadian English Creole lexicon. The moribundity of Patois and Bhojpuri was also confirmed, because of English dominance, especially due to the increasing prevalence of social media among the younger generations. Hence, further studies should be conducted to examine the influence of social media on lexical choice in Trinidad, specifically between English and English Creole terms.