General Linguistics

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Browsing General Linguistics by Subject "French Creole"

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    A Synchronic and Diachronic Analysis of French Creole Tense, Mood, and Aspect Markers in Trinidad and Tobago, and other Selected Caribbean Territories
    (2023-05-14) Lewis, Mackala
    Some French Creoles within the Caribbean, like many other Creoles within the region, are relatively under-researched, and as such, can sometimes be viewed as only being one language with little variation or few differences despite being spoken in several territories. In Trinidad and Tobago, the French Creole spoken is considered to be an endangered variety, although there are currently attempts being made to document and ultimately revive the language by individuals like Nnamdi Hodge and Jo-Anne Ferreira (Belle). Despite there being literature available where the focus is a comparative analysis of French Creoles, Trinidadian French Creole (TFC) is hardly ever included in these comparisons, and the Tense, Mood, and Aspect Markers of TFC have hardly ever been investigated with a brief mention in a relatively recent two volume atlas by le Dû and Brun-Trigaud (Hazaël-Massieux). In 1869, John Jacob Thomas published the first ever book on the grammar of TFC, and, by extension, was the first ever grammar where a French Creole was the focus. This book was written when French Creole was the lingua franca of Trinidad, and thus, it is necessary to investigate whether any changes have taken place from then to the present-day. Data were collected from current TFC speakers, where it was determined that the TMA markers have remained largely the same. When looking at Haitian Creole and St Lucian French Creole, Valdman and Carrington’s works were used as a point of comparison, respectively. In observing the TMA markers that exist in TFC as compared to Haitian Creole (Kreyòl) and St Lucian French Creole (Kwéyòl), it was discovered that the TMA markers of TFC and St Lucian Kwéyòl share greater similarity, which is part of the basis of their classification as Lesser Antillean French Creoles.
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    A description of the copular clause in Trinidadian French Creole based on Higgins (1979)
    (UWI, 2016-05-10) Bisnath, Felicia
    This study describes the copular clause in the variety of Trinidadian French Creole (TFC) spoken in Paramin using Higgins’ (1979) taxonomy of copular clauses. Higgins’ taxonomy identifies four classes based on syntactic and semantic criteria. Such documentation is important since TFC is an endangered heritage language with a 146-year-old grammar that does not treat with copular clauses comprehensively and cohesively. The study aimed to determine the distribution of the equative, attributive and locative copulas attested in Creole languages and to determine the semantic properties of the clauses studied. This was done with the help of two native speaker consultants and one non-native speaker in a methodology that involved reverse translation elicitation, creation of a novel testing schedule to determine the semantic properties of the clauses under study based on English tests proposed by Higgins (1979), Mikkelsen (2011)and Niimura (2007), and construction and introspection elicitation. The schedule included the following tests: subject-complement inversion, vini-replacement, alternation with sé-clefts and embedding under a propositional verb without a copula. The study found four forms occupying the position of the copula, /se/, /sete/, ø and /te/, but posits two copular forms. /se/ is the equative copula with the variant /sete/ found with NP predicate complements in all of Higgins’ classes and ø the locative and attributive forms found in the predicational class only. /te/ is analysed as the pre-verbal anterior marker, and /sete/ as a bimorphemic combination of /se/ and /te/. Additionally, the study found that predicational, identificational, and specificational clauses can be identified based on their responses to the four tests used in the study. Predicational clauses pass vini-replacement and embedding under a propositional verb without a copula, ICs fail subject-complement inversion and embedding, and SCs pass subject-complement inversion and alternation with sé-clefts. The study also raised methodological issues in studying the semantic properties of copular clauses in French Creoles and endangered languages.
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    Ou ka palé Patwa? A Study of Surviving Traditional Domains of Patois Usage in Paramin Village, Trinidad
    (2020-05-01) Benjamin, Nicolette, Henry, Treverne, Sookhai, Nicole
    This research project expounds on the lexicon of the surviving traditional domains of Trinidadian French Creole (Patwa/Patois) regarding the folktales, proverbs, jokes, and riddles that are in use among the surviving Patois speakers of Paramin Village, Trinidad. The purpose of this study is to aid in the preservation of Trinidadian Patois by exploring, documenting and adding to existing data of this endangered language within these traditional domains. This study is based on a collection of 9 proverbs, 6 folktales, and 2 jokes through the employment of two focus groups, an interview as well as secondary sources. Findings of this study indicated that the Patois speakers of Paramin Village were knowledgeable of the linguistic practices of folktales, proverbs and jokes in Trinidadian French Creole. However, they were unfamiliar with riddles in Patois. This project is anticipated to be effective in building a greater awareness of Trinidadian French Creole within these linguistic practices as this endangered language plays an integral part in the rich and vibrant culture of Trinidad. This study can also inspire future research in the linguistic domain of language preservation of other endangered languages.
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    The Rise and Fall of French Creole in Trinidad with Special Mention of Patois Retentions
    (2020-05-01) Bridgemohan, Rashtee Amelia
    French Creole is a language that has been widely studied in the Caribbean by scholars such as Mervyn C. Alleyne and Michel DeGraff (Reid 2012). Many countries such as Trinidad & Tobago, St. Lucia and Haiti have their own distinct variety of French Creole with the language being an official language in the Haitian territory. However, unlike St. Lucia and Haiti where French Creole is thriving, the language is severely endangered on the island of Trinidad. French Creole was once the lingua franca of the island, so why is this language now endangered? Over time from the mid twentieth century to present day, the language has lost its prevalence in society. This research project aims to investigate two main research questions: – How or why the language lost its status as a language of wider communication on the island as well as if there are any lexical retentions from the Patois language known to the younger generation aged 18-40. In the small coastal town of Cedros, the language of Patois was once spoken as the common tongue for many of the town’s inhabitants. Today, only a handful of elderly population have retained the language, many choosing not to share or transmit the language with their children and grandchild due to negative attitudes towards the language which emerged even more in the mid-twentieth century. For this research project, the researcher was fortunate to interview a pair of siblings who shared their knowledge or lack thereof of the Patois language. This study follows a mixed methodology as interviews and questionnaires were used to gather data. The interviews provided insight into language attitudes whereas the questionnaires provided insight into language retention. It should be noted that this study does not provide any solutions to language preservation or revitalization. This study falls under the category of sociolinguistics and focuses mainly on language retention and language attitudes.