SOWING SOCIAL SYNONYMS:

THE INFLUENCE OF AGE, ETHNICITY

AND SOCIAL NETWORKS ON LEXICAL

CHOICE FOR FLORA ITEMS IN

NORTHERN TRINIDAD

Ariana Phillip

Rhianna Ragoonanan

Chelsea Seepaul

Lecturer: Dr Renée Figuera

Supervisor: Dr. Jo-Anne S. Ferreira

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics

Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics

Faculty of Humanities and Education

The University of the West Indies, St Augustine

2024



1

ABSTRACT

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.



2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
LIST OF FIGURES 3
LIST OF TABLES 4

Food Item #1 (Aubergine/Baigan/Brinjal/Eggplant/Melongene) 4
Food Item #2 (Banana/Fig) 4
Food Item #3 (Bandhania/Chadon Beni/Cilantro/Culantro) 5
Food Item #4 (Avocado/Avocado Pear/Pear/Zaboca) 5

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 7
STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP 8
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 10
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 12

2.1. History of French Creole, Bhojpuri and Trinidadian English Creole 13
2.2. Language Attitudes 14
2.3. Language Loss 16
2.4. Vestiges of Trinidadian French Creole and Trinidadian Bhojpuri Today 17
2.5. Language Variation in relation to Ethnicity and Age 18
2.6. Previous Variationist Studies and Language Choice Studies in the Caribbean 20
2.7. Social Network Analysis 21
2.7. Addressing the Gaps 23

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 25
3.1. The Case Study 25
3.2. Participants 26
3.3. Data Collection 27
3.4. Data Analysis 28

3.4.1. Theoretical Framework Using Social Network Theory and Its Influence on
Research Design 29
3.4.2. Theoretical Framework Using Audience Design and Its Influence on Research
Design 31

CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 32
4.1. Food Item #1 (Eggplant/Melongene/Aubergine/Baigan/Brinjal) 33
4.2. Food Item #2 (Banana/Fig) 45
4.3. Food Item #3 (Chadon Beni/Bandhania/Culantro/Cilantro) 51
4.4. Food Item #4 (Avocado/Zaboca/Avocado Pear) 58

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 68
WORKS CITED 71
APPENDIX 79



3

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Labelled Map of the Regions, Municipalities and Wards of Trinidad and

Tobago……………………………………………………………………………………..25

Figure 2: Diagram of an Ego and its Alters as the First Order Network Zone……………29

Figure 3: Ethnicity Index for Question Six of the Questionnaire…………………………30



4

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Number of Respondents Whose Families Spoke a Different Language, Alongside

Their Ethnicity………………………………………………………………………………..26

Food Item #1 (Aubergine/Baigan/Brinjal/Eggplant/Melongene)

Table 2: Number of Respondents for Each Variant, According to Ethnicity, Age, and

Reason for Choice …………………………………………………………………...33

Table 3: Number of Respondents for Each Variant, According to Their Families’

Ethnicities …………………………………………………………………………....37

Table 4: Number of Indo-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In Relation

to Their Network …………………………………………………………………… 39

Table 5: Number of Afro-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In Relation

to Their Network …………………………………………………………………… 41

Table 6: Number of Dougla-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In

Relation to Their Network …………………………………………………………..43

Table 7: Number of Mixed-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In

Relation to Their Network…………………………………………………………...44

Food Item #2 (Banana/Fig)

Table 8: Number of Respondents for Each Variant, According to Ethnicity, Age, and

Reason for Choice ………………………………………………………………… 45

Table 9: Number of Respondents for Each Variant, According to Their Families’

Ethnicities ………………………………………………………………………… 46

Table 10: Number of Indo-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In Relation

to Their Network ……………………………………………………………………47

Table 11: Number of Afro-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In Relation

to Their Network …………………………………………………………………… 48



5

Table 12: Number of Dougla-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In

Relation to Their Network ………………………………………………………… 49

Table 13: Number of Mixed-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In

Relation to Their Network ………………………………………………………… 50

Food Item #3 (Bandhania/Chadon Beni/Cilantro/Culantro)

Table 14: Number of Respondents for Each Variant, According to Ethnicity, Age and

Reason for Choice …………………………………………………………………...51

Table 15: Number of Respondents for Every Variant, According to Their Families’

Ethnicities …………………………………………………………………………... 53

Table 16: Number of Indo-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In Relation

to Their Network …………………………………………………………………… 54

Table 17: Number of Afro-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In Relation

to Their Network …………………………………………………………………… 55

Table 18: Number of Dougla-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In

Relation to Their Network …………………………………………………………..56

Table 19: Number of Mixed-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In

Relation to Their Network …………………………………………………………..57

Food Item #4 (Avocado/Avocado Pear/Pear/Zaboca)

Table 20: Number of Respondents for Each Variant, According to Ethnicity, Age and

Reason for Choice ………………………………………………………………… 58

Table 21: Number of Respondents for Each Variant, According to Their Families’

Ethnicities …………………………………………………………………………..60

Table 22: Number of Indo-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In Relation

to Their Network ……………………………………………………………………62



6

Table 23: Number of Afro-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In Relation

to Their Network ………………………………………………………………….....64

Table 24: Number of Dougla-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In

Relation to Their Network …………………………………………………………...65

Table 25: Number of Mixed-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, In

Relation to Their Network …………………………………………………………..66



7

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TB - Trinidadian Bhojpuri

TrinEC - Trinidadian English Creole

TFC - Trinidadian French Creole

TTSE - Trinidad and Tobago Standard English



8

STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP

The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet

requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of our

knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by

another person, except where due reference is made.

Date: 10/05/2024



9

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, we would like to thank God for bestowing us with the health,

perseverance and knowledge to commit to this project that would culminate in the completion

of our degrees.

We are also greatly indebted to our lecturer, Dr. Figuera, for providing much-needed

guidance during the year-long course, and to our supervisor, Dr. Ferreira, for assisting us with

the formulation of our project, sharing resources with us, and allocating time to give feedback

on our many drafts.

Finally, we are also thankful to our parents for providing support in challenging times

during our project. Special thanks are owed to our friends and peers who encouraged us when

we felt dispirited about our endeavours.



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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Language variation is a branch of sociolinguistics which concerns the systematic ways in

which languages change due to different social and discourse factors. For this project, we

study lexical choice, which is the process by which speakers select a single appropriate word,

or lexical variant, from their sociolingustic repertoire of multiple similar variants for each

specific conversation. Specifically, we examine this through the popular discourse factor,

language use, and the anthropological theory of social network analysis, which is essentially

the study of how a social group affects each of its members’ behaviour.

Lexical choice is particularly pertinent to Trinidad and Tobago, because it is a

uniquely diverse nation, with an extensive history of different ethnicities settling in the

islands, bringing their own cultures, and more relevantly, their many languages. Even though

many of these languages are dying, like Trinidadian French Creole (TFC) (brought from

varieties created from the interactions between French enslavers and enslaved Africans), and

like Trinidadian Bhojpuri (TB) (one of the languages brought by the Indian indentured

labourers after emancipation), Winer asserts that these languages have survived through their

“creolisation” (“Creole in the Kitchen” 3) into the lexicon of the vital, dominant languages of

English and English Creole, specifically through flora terms. Thus, there is the situation of

Trinidadians having to select, for example, one lexical variant, from several of different

linguistic origins, all referring to the same food item.

Within this diverse linguistic landscape, which has provided many lexical variants for

locals to choose from, we have noticed that certain lexical items have been used over others,

such as melongene (archaically spelled as <malanagene> and referred to as balangen,

balangene, ballangine) and baigan (also bigan, bhaigan and bygan) over eggplant (Solanum

melongena L.; 2n = 24). Furthermore, certain trends in these variations have become obvious

to us where it intersects with specific factors such as age and ethnicity. For example, people



11

of Indian descent tend to refer to said vegetable as baigan, those of African descent as

melongene, and people belonging to Generation X or older as aubergine. Therefore, we aim

to find out whether lexical variation in Trinidad and Tobago is based on social factors, such

as ethnicity and age, or anthropological frameworks like social network analysis, or both. To

accomplish this, we distributed the questionnaire to 60 people who lived in Northern

Trinidad, which includes towns like Tunapuna, Sangre Grande, and Port-of-Spain, which are

rather socially diverse like the entire nation. At the end of the questionnaire, we asked

participants to share it to two other individuals within their social network who were not their

family and lived in North Trinidad, with the intention of collecting 180 responses, but we

only received 100.

In addition, this study has significant implications for TFC and TB, which have

chiefly been studied through a retentionist lens, rarely a variationist one, and in very few

cases, with social factors and social network analysis as variables. These languages may also

enjoy renewed appreciation, and hence, a boost in a target audience for revitalisation projects

from both participants and readers of this study.

Finally, concerning the structure of this project, the second chapter features a review

of the relevant literature, Chapter Three outlines the methodology, including the sampling and

methods of data collection and analysis, while Chapter Four presents and analyses the results

of this data collection, using the social factors, social network theory, and supplemental

literature. Lastly, Chapter Five summarises all this information, precipitating areas for future

research.



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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Trinidad and Tobago has a diverse linguistic history, which has greatly contributed to the

lexicon in the English and English Creole languages. This has resulted in allonymy which

involves alternative names for the same referent, usually due to language contact (Kozlova et

al. 83). Hence, the national population has access to and uses a variety of lexical items

(words) to refer to the same entity, which is called lexical variation. A rule of allonymic

groups is that it includes “an item which has the largest area of functioning” – the dominant,

or “primary” allonym (Kozlova et al. 85).

Flora items are a particularly interesting group within allonymy, because they are

given a standard scientific name mainly in Latin and Greek, usually derived from a

pre-existing common name based on, for example, Amerindian languages, as is the case with

Chrysobalanus icaco and Taino’s zeekak (pork fat). However, these language communities

often come into contact with languages who lack this influence and, thus, have their own

flora terms, such as baigan in Bhojpuri, which enter the Creole vernacular. In these situations,

the common term from which Latin is derived is not always the dominant one, necessitating

an investigation into the factors that cause this.

In fact, lexicographical botanists face challenges such as one plant may have different

names in a single country and this can be seen in the Dictionary of the English/Creole of

Trinidad and Tobago where “of the 1,143 plant species that have common names, 897

(approximately 78%) have more than one common name” (Baksh-Comeau and Winer 55).

The common names that are used in Trinidad and Tobago to refer to flora also “indicate a

certain closeness and feeling of attachment, as well as, contribute to national identity”

(Baksh-Comeau and Winer 53). This is reinforced by Trinidad and Tobago’s “long

tradition…of writing the vernacular TTEC and English” (Baksh-Comeau and Winer 47).



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2.1. History of French Creole, Bhojpuri and Trinidadian English Creole

Including before 1498, with almost six centuries of extensive language contact among

speakers of various languages, Trinidad is thought to have one of the most diverse linguistic

backgrounds of any Caribbean island (James 6). Trinidad, the focus of this study, was initially

discovered and occupied by the indigenous people who spoke several different Arawakan

(Ta-Maipurean) and Cariban languages, making it an already linguistically diverse

environment, then they were colonized by the Spanish (Baksh-Comeau and Winer 37-38). In

order to develop the colony, the Cedula of 1783 was implemented to encourage migration to

the island, resulting in a large influx of French Catholics from the French West Indies. With

their arrival, they brought their languages, French and French Creole (Patois), to the shores of

Trinidad. French Creole native speakers became a sizable proportion of the population and

the language served as the lingua franca of Trinidad for more than a century, from 1783 until

the late 19th century (Ferreira, “The History of Trinidad and Tobago’s Languages” 5).

In 1797, the Spanish colony was captured by Britain and formally ceded in 1802. In

1814, Governor Ralph Woodford made efforts to introduce English in the law courts and in

other areas of public life, but French still dominated (Ferreira, “Trinidad’s French Creole”

112). English became the official language of Trinidad in 1823 which is more than two

decades after the British took rule over the island (Holm 350). The French language was

deliberately targeted and gradually taken away from the speakers as a result of the British

challenge to French dominance, particularly because language is the “chief culture marker for

most groups” (Ferreira, “The Sociolinguistic Situation of Trinidad & Tobago” 3). Only in

1851, was English introduced via primary schools, initiating the beginning of the end for

nearly all other languages on the island (Ferreira, “Trinidad's French Creole Linguistic and

Cultural Heritage” 112).



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With the full emancipation of the enslaved Africans in 1838 in Trinidad, new labour

was sourced from different territories such as China, Portugal (mainly Madeira), the USA,

Ireland, Scotland, India, and other West Indian colonies. However, the Indian indentured

labourers were considered the most reliable. They were brought to Trinidad between 1845

and 1917, and Bhojpuri speakers were the heart of the first well-established Indian

community in Trinidad (Mohan 22). According to Mohan (28-29), the language of TB faded

into obscurity due to Canadian Missionary primary schools targeting the Indian children to

convert them to Christianity. In these schools, children were exposed to English at a young

age, through socialisation with other children of their own age. Moreover, the missionaries

took advantage of the economic insecurity of the Indians and education conducted in English

as a way of integration into the British state.

Migration of English-speaking West Indians from other Caribbean islands from 1900

onwards also helped in reinforcing the position of English (Winford, “Creole’s Culture” 37).

Thus, the influences of French, French Creole, English and the English Creoles of other West

Indian territories have resulted in the formation of Trinidadian English Creole (TrinEC)

which is one of the national languages of the country (Winford “Creole’s Culture” 41-42). In

addition to language education policies, etc., the increasing dominance of TrinEC has

contributed to both TFC and TB dying out in Trinidad (Ferreira “Trinidad’s French Creole”

113; Sealey and Aquing 18).

2.2. Language Attitudes

For Trinidad, there is relatively very little research on the language attitudes to

Trinidadian English, TrinEC, TFC, and TB. In a study done by Winford in 1976, TrinEC was

stigmatised by teachers and labelled as “bad English” where they did not view TrinEC as

having its own grammatical system or having a different grammatical system from English,

and TrinEC was deemed appropriate only in informal domains (“Teacher Attitudes” 58).



15

Despite the positive attitudes towards English, particularly Standard English, its consistent

usage was considered “annoying” in informal settings since participants perceived that it

indicated reservedness and that the speakers were pretentious (Warner 159). In a later study in

1993 conducted by Mühleisen, language attitudes to TrinEC have greatly improved, where

many see it as a marker of identity (especially when some Trinidadians in another country

meet other Trinidadians) and acknowledge it as a language in its own right (“Attitudes toward

Language Varieties” 65). However, both studies found that TrinEC and Trinidad and Tobago

Standard English (TTSE) were for the most part used in certain domains like the professional

sphere, but Mühleisen found that the usage of TTSE was not as restricted to specific domains

as before where there was greater use of TrinEC in certain genres of media and politics

(Winford, “Language Attitudes” 61; Mühleisen, “Attitudes towards Language Varieties” 67).

In a study of Paramin, the language attitudes of TFC speakers defined their language

as ‘broken French’ but ironically, it was generally not considered inferior to French. Some

were indifferent to the language, but most held positive and nostalgic attitudes towards it,

especially among the formally educated (Ferreira and Holbrook, “Are They Dying?” 14-15).

In a pilot study, teachers from the Paramin R.C. School were highly interested in learning

TFC and at the end, they expressed enthusiasm about it and have made attempts to

incorporate it within school assemblies and other activities (Ferreira and Holbrook, “Are

They Dying?” 14-15). TFC speakers perceived the language as a distinct marker of their

in-group identity and solidarity, and in Paramin, they held certain events in their language

such as “the annual Dimanche Gras (pre-Carnival) Patois mass, other masses with Patois

songs (including the Christmas crèche songs), traditional rites and rituals such as wakes”

(Ferreira “Trinidad’s French Creole” 116 cf. Sealey and Aquing 15), in which Patois is an

autonym for the exonym, TFC. Generally speaking, it was used in informal situations or

settings but depends on certain factors such as age of interlocutors, topic, presence of a third



16

party or presence of a stranger (Dopson-Morris 27). However, they perceived English as the

language of progress and social mobility and did not see it as a threat to TFC; their only

concern was that English would completely displace TFC (Dopson-Morris 31).

Meanwhile, the only documented evidence of language attitudes towards Bhojpuri is

that it was considered a deficient Hindi, and thus had lower prestige, even before it arrived in

Trinidad (Mohan 21-23). TB speakers often refer to it as ‘broken Hindi’ or ‘bad Hindi’ and it

was often compared to what was heard in Indian cinema, songs and within services at Hindu

temples (Sealey and Aquing 17; Mahabir 22). However, relatively little focused, systematic

or comparative research has been done on the language attitudes of the general public

towards French Creole and Bhojpuri within one study.

2.3. Language Loss

Language loss or death is defined by Jaspaert and Kroon as an alteration in an

individual’s level of language proficiency and language shift as a change in language

utilisation within a minority group (80).

In Joseph’s project, she asserts that it is commonly agreed upon by many researchers

that language shift is largely impacted by language attitudes, especially when looking at TFC

(11). For example, the older generation of TFC speakers were reluctant to speak it with the

younger generation, which is one reason for language loss (11). In Fishman’s book Reversing

Language Shift, he proposed eight stages of language loss, in which the eighth stage is

parallel to the situation in Trinidad; Joseph stated that TFC has reached that stage in language

loss in Trinidad, where only a few elderly people speak the language as their first language

(Fishman 88; Joseph 47). Thus, TFC is a dying language.

In a study done by Dopson-Morris in 1982, inhabitants of Paramin who were over 49

years old learnt TFC as their first language and learnt English in school, while those under 49

learnt English as their first language within the home (18). An effort was made in the 1930s



17

to teach children English, rather than TFC (Dopson-Morris 19). TFC was previously used

when speaking to family and friends, joke-telling, intimate conversations, proverbs, folklore,

expressing emotion, passing down traditions and customs and singing calypso, but its

functions and domains were limited, as it was quickly substituted by TrinEC after the 1900s

(Winford “Creole’s Culture” 51).

TB has become a dying language since the number of speakers are declining due to no

children speaking the language. In 1983, Sealey and Aquing’s study found that most TB

monolinguals were over 75 years old, while TrinEC/TB bilinguals were between 55 and 75

years old and those under 55 were usually TrinEC monolinguals (18). TB monolinguals are

often located in isolated, rural, agricultural areas with high Indian populations, while

bilinguals were a product of an education that was provided by the Canadian missionary

schools and exposure to TB (Sealey and Aquing 18).

In the language change/replacement process, most times, the third generation feels

the sense of cultural loss the most because the older generation still has the language, the

middle-aged purposefully did not want to learn the language, but the younger generation was

not given a proper opportunity to learn the language (Schneider 209). The “shift” away from

the community's mother tongue and toward another language starts when the latter gains

traction and is adopted by the youth, who are the ones who determine the language's survival

(Ferreira, “The Portuguese Language in Trinidad and Tobago” 69).

2.4. Vestiges of Trinidadian French Creole and Trinidadian Bhojpuri Today

The vocabulary and terminology of TrinEC have been heavily influenced by TFC

(Ferreira, “Trinidad’s French Creole Linguistic and Cultural Heritage” 111). According to

research conducted by Joseph in Beausejour, Diego Martin, the most French-lexical

retentions were found in Carnival and Folklore, subsequently followed by Fauna then Flora,



18

and lastly, Folk Medicine with the least number of retentions (49). French and TFC retentions

can be abundantly found when mentioning fauna; for example, the word crapaud is

commonly used to refer to a frog (Michaelis et al. 67). According to Ferreira, there are 274

common names of birds of French and TFC provenance in Winer's Dictionary of

English/Creole of Trinidad & Tobago: On Historical Principles, and 276 common names of

plants and trees with French and TFC origin in terms of flora (Ferreira “Trinidad’s French

Creole Linguistic and Cultural Heritage” 118). The many toponyms, idioms, and lexical

terms used during Carnival celebrations are just a few examples of how Patois words are still

used in Trinidadian speech and recent research by Leps suggests that language shift from

TFC to TrinEC is happening more quickly as younger generations are not being exposed to

TFC and are losing touch with TFC words and expressions (27).

As for TB, it has become a distinct marker of Indo-Trinidadian culture, even though

the use of TB is limited to “ lexical items relating particularly to the domains of religion, food

and kitchen, kinship and abuses” (Mahabir 22). In particular, many popular Indo-Trinidadian

dishes are seen as local and have “been naturalized into general Trinidad English (Creole)

usage” (Winer, “Creole Kitchen” 5; Mahabir 22). TB lexical items are also used within the

indigenous art form, chutney. In addition, TB lexicon persists in the writings of

Indo-Trinidadian novelists like Seepersad Naipaul, Samuel Selvon and sometimes in the

literature of non-Indo-Trinidadians such as Derek Walcott, who is not even Trinidadian but

St. Lucian, where a glossary is not needed to define these terms (Mahabir 24; Winer, “Indic

Lexicon” 10).

2.5. Language Variation in relation to Ethnicity and Age

As aforementioned, several elements influence language variation. Firstly, Drummond

and Schleef assert that “a significant proportion of variation can be attributed to social



19

reasons” (50), which are usually relatively broad and of a census-type macrosociological

nature, such as gender, social class, age and ethnicity (51). For instance, ethnicity is

determined through social characteristics defined along the lines used in governmental

censuses, including religious background, national origin, native language, food, literature,

folklore and music, as well as other cultural markers (Leets et al. 116), wherein the members

of an ethnic group may or may not belong to the same race, which pertains to biological

physical traits such as skin colour, hair texture and eye shape (Waters 167). Noels adds that

ethnicity is also assessed through subjective assessments of personal experience (89), with

Cameron suggesting a tripartite model for ethnicity identification: “(1) the centrality or the

importance of the ethnic group to one’s sense of self, (2) in-group affect, or one’s sense of

esteem associated with this membership, and (3) in-group ties or a sense of connectedness to

the group” (241).

Furthermore, age is defined as “the measure of the time elapsed from the date of live

birth to a specific point in time, usually the date of collection of the data” (Australian Bureau

of Statistics). In sociolinguistics, this more biological definition contrasts -- and even works

in tandem with -- social age, which Eckert considers as a person’s place at a given time

according to the social order: namely a life stage of childhood, adolescence, adulthood or old

age, as well as the history of the person, of their community, and of society (1).

There are two types of time: real and apparent. Real time is time measured with

calendars and clocks and because of this, it is objective. Real-time studies interview the same

speakers from the same speech community at different points in time to detect historical

change within the community. Conversely, apparent time is time measured by age at a

specific point in time (Eckert 1), and its studies analyse the speech of a sample of people of

different ages, and assume that patterns of variation between these age groups indicate that a

change is in progress in the community (Cheshire 8). Apparent time is subjective, determined



20

by individuals using different criteria, exemplified by the varying segregations of the

generations among sociologists. For example, Dimock affirms Generation Z is born from

1997 to 2012, but the Center for Generational Kinetics argues that they range from 1996 to

2015, which is why this type of time is dubbed “generation-specific” by Cheshire (1).

However, she recognises that apparent time is problematic, because behaviour that may be

assumed to be generation-specific, may actually be the result of age-grading (8), which refers

to a change in linguistic habits with age that happens to every individual speaker (3).

2.6. Previous Variationist Studies and Language Choice Studies in the Caribbean

There is a plethora of studies examining the effect of these social and audience factors

on language variation, but relatively few have been done on French Creole in the

English-official Caribbean. One of these studies by Mitchell and Mopsus concerns the

variation in and the attitudes toward the usage of St. Lucian French Creole (Kwéyòl) in St.

Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, along gender and education lines. They found that male

speakers generally use Kwéyòl more than their female counterparts, with the more

highly-educated participants, irrespective of gender, restricting Kwéyòl use to the home,

while less-educated ones were more likely to use it in other locations, like the workplace (6).

The majority of respondents harboured positive feelings toward French Creole, such as it is

“beautiful, the best”, “different, unique, special” and “beneficial” (7).

Furthermore, a study was done by Regis about the influence of the ethnicity identity

of Dougla on lexical choice, where Bhojpuri was one of the linguistic sources for their

lexicon. The definition of who is classified as a Dougla is more complex than a person simply

sharing Indian and African lineage since “the degree of this mixture is always a cause for

contention” and this has hindered the establishment of a distinct Dougla identity (Regis, “The

Trinidad Dougla” 13). Regis focused on terms associated with cooking, kinship and family,

folk and cultural terms used among Indo-Trinidadians and lastly, insults and taboos among



21

Douglas (Regis, “The Trinidad Dougla” 56-67). Thus, Dougla, “like others, would draw from

a pool of resources available to them via their community, the linguistic tools needed for

social interaction” (Regis, “The Trinidad Dougla” 59). However, it is not feasible to link

Douglas to an African lexicon because African words and phrases have become entrenched in

TrinEC. This is emphasised by the fact that the Dougla participants of her study do not

associate these terms to their African identity since “their provenance is unrecognizable and

largely unquestioned” (Regis, “The Trinidad Dougla” 62). Contrastively, Indic terms are

more recognizable and can be indexed as markers of alignment to one’s Indo-Trinidadian

ethnicity, depending on the frequent usage of these terms. (Regis, “The Trinidad Dougla” 60).

Some Afro-Trinidadians and those who lean more to their Afro-roots “attempt to project a

distinct identity” and “refrain from employing Indic terms, from eating Indian foods and from

participating in Indic cultural and religious observances” (Regis, “The Trinidad Dougla” 63).

2.7. Social Network Analysis

A social network refers to individuals who interact with each other regularly, resulting

in the formation of interpersonal relationships (Swan et al. 283; Holmes and Wilson 271). By

studying social networks, language is refocused from the social variable of a speaker to the

nature of interaction between a speaker and other people (Holmes and Wilson 271). Once

someone is embedded within a social network, it will be influential in the selection of one’s

linguistic style and consequently, a person’s will signal what network they belong to (Sharma

and Dodsworth 342; Holmes and Wilson 273). A person may belong to more than one

network and subconsciously change their speech when shifting from one context to another

(Holmes and Wilson 273). Social network analysis involves the usage of tools and concepts

by researchers to describe the structural nature of these relationships (Swan et al. 283). Social



22

network analysis has been used as an analytical framework to determine language variation.

As proposed by Milroy, a linguistic variant might act as “network marker” (157).

Within social network analysis, the term ‘ethnic homophily’ is “the proportion of

same-ethnicity ties in a network” and this often fortifies the usage of vernacular linguistic

forms (Sharma and Dodsworth 352; Stoessel 124). In Stoessel’s study of immigrant women

in the US, it was found that the number of L1 speakers within a strong social network was

important in language maintenance of their ethnic language in the host country. If these

individuals had weak ties with L1 speakers, they often shifted to the dominant language,

American English (Stoessel 124). However, ethnicity does not always correlate with the use

of ethnic variants nor is it consistent across variables or individuals (Sharma and Dodsworth

352).

That being said, sometimes the selection of one’s speech style is for the sake of

accommodation of the interlocutor’s speech style, rather than an act of ethnic identity

(Sharma and Dodsworth 352). A study done in East London looked at whether or not

ethnicity was a significant factor of variation in spoken English of young working-class

people; whether a speaker’s friend group encouraged linguistic innovation within phonology

and if the latter interacts with the former. It was found that the seven speakers had large

friendship groups that were multi-ethnic in nature, and they were more prone to using

innovations than the others (Cheshire et al., 22). They proposed that because these people had

dominant personalities among their friend groups, they engaged in the act of ‘brokering’

which refers to the “use of multi membership to transfer some element of one practice into

another” (Wenger 109; Chesire et al., 23). Some people tend to be very adept at being

‘brokers’, “regularly creating connections and engaging in ‘import-export’” (Wenger 109;

Cheshire et. al 23).



23

The intersection between social networks and the factor of age in sociolinguistic

studies is seen as inevitable according to Sharma and Dodsworth (352). They stated,

“networks inevitably change over the course of an individual’s life span, and cultural norms

and patterns of social engagement are never entirely stable over time” (Sharma and

Dodsworth 352). Because a community is made up of people, it is always dynamic and “may

change its patterns of contact and values because of changes in cultural practice, social

norms, urbanization, mobility, mechanization of work, social independence, and many other

factors, and these changes can in turn affect whether and how networks influence language

variation” (Sharma and Dodsworth 352). In a study on Detroit inner-city residents integrating

into their neighbourhood, Edwards found that participants in the older age groups (40–59,

60+) were more likely to choose Black English variants than respondents in the younger age

groups (18–25, 26–39) (112).

However, there are no known or accessible studies about the impact that social

networks have on influencing one’s linguistic choices within Trinidad and Tobago.

2.8. Addressing the Gaps

Evidently, there is a need to fill this absence of studies on language attitudes towards

the multiple linguistic sources of the country’s English Creole and English lexicon, in relation

to social factors such as age and ethnicity in influencing lexical choice. This is a particularly

critical gap as TFC lexical items would be competing with the equivalent items from other

languages such as TB, which is ethnically coded to Indian descendants, as well as with

English, the official language. As aforementioned, TFC terms, in particular, usually survive

through flora, and this domain has not singularly been concentrated on before in variationist

and retentionist studies. Extra-linguistic factors such as context, solidarity and prestige have

also never been examined, much less paired with the more popular social factors, in TFC

studies.



24

Hence, we intend to address these elements for research with the following question:

To what extent do age and ethnicity influence the lexical choice between variants for food

items in Northern Trinidad, namely between avocado, avocado pear, pear (Persea

americana) and zaboca, aubergine, baigan, brinjal, eggplant (Solanum melongena L.; 2n =

24) and melongene, banana (Musa sapientum) and fig, and bandhania, chadon beni,

cilantro1 and culantro (Eryngium foetidum)? This will be supported by the following

sub-questions:

● Which variant is used the most by each ethnic and age group?

● Why is this variant the most used?

● Does this preferred variant change in different contexts, and if so, why?

1 The scientific name for cilantro is Coriandrum sativum.



25

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes and rationalises the methodology, research design, and data analysis of

the project, while addressing the limitations and ethical concerns of these methods.

3.1. The Case Study

Primarily, the methodological approach chosen for this project was the case study.

This approach is the detailed analysis of a single case: “single person (e.g., a language

learner), a group of people (teachers of a particular course), or a phenomenon (e.g., providing

feedback to students) in a particular context with which the researcher has developed some

ties or interests” (Riazi 25). For this investigation, the case was the residents of Northern

Trinidad, specifically Diego Martin, Port-of-Spain, San Juan-Laventille, Tunapuna-Piarco

and Sangre Grande, which we designated based on the 1990 map of Trinidad and Tobago’s

regions, municipalities and wards (see figure 1).

Figure 1. Labelled Map of the Regions, Municipalities and Wards of Trinidad and Tobago

We preferred the case study methodology because unlike most approaches, its purpose

is to be both “descriptive and… explanatory” (Riazi 26). As aforementioned, we have

observed, and been curious about, variation in lexical choice for the food items in question in



26

our daily lives, so we intend to systematically describe this phenomenon of lexical variation

-- exactly which variants are used, by whom, in which contexts, etc. -- then explain this

lexical choice and variation with social and extra-linguistic factors, and perhaps even

frameworks determined by our intuitive analysis of the phenomenon, namely language shift

from TFC, and even TB, to TTSE and TrinEC.

3.2. Participants

Evidently, the group of people forming the case for the study was necessarily

narrowed for feasibility. Firstly, Northern Trinidad was selected as the study’s area of focus

where participants came from multiple ethnicities: 43 Indo participants, 29 Afro, 11 Dougla,

and 17 Mixed (other). A number of them came from backgrounds where their family spoke a

language or multiple languages (see table 1). In addition, our sample initially focused on the

three generations, Generation X, Y and Z, which accounted for 36, 29, and 31 individuals,

respectively. However, four respondents belong to the Baby Boomer Generation.

Table 1

Number of Respondents Whose Families Spoke a Different Language, Alongside Their

Ethnicity



27

3.3. Data Collection

Although “case studies are predominantly qualitative”, this project chiefly analysed

the frequency of each of the variants within each age and ethnicity, which is numerical,

thereby necessitating quantitative data. Consequently, the data collection method employed

was an electronic questionnaire, with 35 simply-worded, non-invasive (not inquiring about

their income, sexual orientation and activity, abuse, addiction, etc.), multiple-choice questions

(see Appendix).

Regarding sampling, the broad population of Northern Trinidadians was reduced into

a sample size using stratified sampling. The strata were already evident from the social

factors of age and ethnicity. For age, we used the three most populous generations of the

general population, as indicated by the Central Statistics Office (16): Generation Z,

Millennials and Generation X. We defined these according to Dimock: Generation Z born

from 1997 to 2012, Millennials from 1981 to 1996, and Generation X from 1965 to 1980. For

ethnicity, we used all the ethnicities delineated by Brereton et al. above. Since, as

aforementioned, the apparent time of generations is subjective, and ethnicity is often

conflated with race, we included these definitions in the questionnaire to allay any

befuddlement of the participants that may compromise the reliability of their responses.

From Tuesday 9 April to Wednesday 17 April 2024, each of the three investigators

distributed the questionnaire to 20 people in their neighbourhood, totalling 60 respondents.

Then, applying snowballing sampling, these 60 respondents were asked to share the

questionnaire with two people outside their family, who belong to a different generation to

themselves and also live in Northern Trinidad, welcoming an additional 120 respondents, and

intending to gain a total of 180 respondents. However, not all respondents were able to send it

to two people, so there were ultimately 100 participants. In any case, this total, along with the

numbers for each stratum reflecting the aforementioned ratio of the general population (43



28

Indo participants, 29 Afro, 11 Dougla, 17 Mixed (other)), allowed us to discern general trends

for the Northern population.

The questionnaire was deemed apt because it was time-efficient compared to the

sociolinguistic interview, and allowed the interpretation of statistics through graphs, making

it easier to compare the variation patterns of each ethnic and age group.

However, with questionnaires, respondents often experience a certain ‘survey fatigue’

whereby they tire of too many questions, resulting in them not answering some questions or

answering them superficially, thereby compromising the robustness of the data. We

circumvented this issue by using close-ended questions for the majority of the questionnaire,

in conjunction with separating them into five short sections and making the response to

questions that are critical to analysis mandatory — respondents could not submit the

questionnaire until these mandatory questions were answered.

Google Forms’ automatic tabulation of the responses minimised human error, and the

anonymity and lack of ethical violations of Google Forms encouraged respondents’ honesty,

increasing data reliability.

3.4. Data Analysis

This study situated lexical variation as being influenced by one’s social network, with

specific attention to one’s age group and ethnic group. This is because one’s lexical choices

are often, but not always, reinforced through exposure to another individual’s language style,

specifically those that make up their social networks. Thus, a person may adopt the usage of

certain lexical items in order to project an image that aligns with the identity of the group that

they want acceptance from, such as people of the same/different ethnicity or age. Moreover,

variation is also dependent on the context of a given conversation, pertaining not only to the

individuals involved, but the topic and the setting as well. Therefore, the framework of

analysis is shaped by social network theory and audience design.



29

3.4.1. Theoretical Framework Using Social Network Theory and Its Influence on Research

Design

A social network refers to individuals who interact with each other regularly, resulting

in the formation of interpersonal relationships. Social network analysis involves the usage of

tools and concepts by researchers to describe the structural nature of these relationships.

Anchorage refers to a network from the perspective of one person, and general statements

will be made about the social relationships that person has with other people. This one person

is the focus called the ego, from which lines radiate, while the people with whom the ego

comes into contact are the alters. The people who are directly linked to the ego make up the

first order network zone (Milroy 46), as illustrated in figure 2 from Degenne and Forse (26).

Figure 2. Diagram of an Ego and its Alters as the First Order Network Zone

We intended to investigate whether the relationships between individuals of the same

age and/or ethnicity reinforce the use of markers related to one’s ethnic and/or age identity.

We are selecting ego-star network analysis, which is defined as focusing “on the number and

nature of ties reported by individuals, but does not aim to describe how everyone is connected

to each other within a given community” (Swan et al. 283). The benefits of this data

collection method are that it is quick and easy since it does not require access to the entire

community, and that the ego star requires participants to provide some information about

their network while allowing for stratified sampling since participants do not need to be



30

linked to each other (Sharma and Dodsworth 343). However, the participants’ self-report may

not always be reliable (Sharma and Dodsworth 345).

Our first section in the questionnaire focused on collecting ego-star information,

gathering network data on one’s family and friend group, while comparing the variants that

each respondent uses with each social context to discern any correlation with the factors of

age and ethnicity. Questions 3), 4) and 5) collected information about the ethnicity of one’s

family, while questions 6), 7) and 8) investigated the ethnicity of one’s friend group. Question

6) was an index for ethnicity on a scale from 1-6, each number with a specific percentage of

many friends of the same or different ethnicity that a participant has. Below is the range that

was used:

Figure 3. Ethnicity Index for Question 6) of the Questionnaire

Questions 8) and 9) pertained to the age of individuals that made up a participant’s

friend group. This was used to see how influential these relationships are regarding one’s

lexical choice: their decision to choose one lexical item over another may signal their ethnic

or age identity.

Question 10) inquired about any non-English languages the respondents’ families

might have spoken, which may, in turn, influence any non-English variants they may use.

In the following four sections of the questionnaire, each section was concerned with a

different food item where respondents were shown a picture, and they were asked to choose



31

which variant they preferred to use to identify the item and where they learnt it from, to make

clear connections between the social network whether they learnt it from and social aspects of

the network such as age and ethnicity that were collected in the first section. These elements

worked in tandem to allow us to gather frequency data of preferred lexical variants to

determine whether certain choices are influenced by one’s social network group being

composed of individuals of a particular age group or ethnicity.

3.4.2. Theoretical Framework Using Audience Design and Its Influence on Research Design

Audience design is a sociolinguistic model that accounts for one’s shift in language

style being influenced by the nature of a speaker’s audience for the purpose of creating

solidarity or distancing themselves, with the main goal being to gain approval from the

intended audience.

Within our questionnaire, each section dealing with a food item, asked whether or not

their preferred lexical variant changed (Questions 13, 19, 25, and 31), to which other variant

it changed to (Questions 14, 20, 26, and 32) and under which context (Questions 15, 21, 27,

and 33). With subjective questions like when and why the variant was used, respondents were

provided a wide range of options in the multiple choice -- at least five -- with the opportunity

to write out their own answers, if the default responses were not applicable. The choices that

were used for the question asking about the preferred variant were repeated for the changed

variant and this question was followed by another one that enquired about the reason for this

change (Questions 16, 22, 28, and 34).



32

CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

As outlined in the previous chapter, the questionnaire first gathered bio-sociological data

about the respondents, such as their ages and ethnicities, those of their friends and family, as

well as the languages spoken by their families. Then, the participants were asked to indicate

their preferred variant for each of the four food items, and whether this variant changed under

any circumstances. This chapter will present these lexical choices against the bio-sociological

data, from the first item to the last (according to how they were ordered in the questionnaire),

and explain any patterns of correlation that appear, in order to answer the three research

questions (RQs).



33

4.1. Food Item #1 (Eggplant/Melongene/Aubergine/Baigan/Brinjal)

Table 2

Number of Respondents for Each Variant, according to Ethnicity, Age, and Reason for

Choice



34

This table highlights the number of respondents who come from families who spoke

languages in addition to English and English Creole, as gleaned from question 10 of the

questionnaire. If the family speaks only English, they are not flagged.

To begin, to answer RQ1, as table 2 illustrates, Indo-Trinidadians use the baigan

variant the most, exclusively learning the term from their families (in response to RQ2). Most

likely, this is because baigan is a word of Bhojpuri origin, Bhojpuri being the lingua franca

among the 20 languages that were spoken by the Indo-Trinidadians’ ancestors who came to

Trinidad. As evidence, 18 of the 38 Indo respondents who say baigan come from families

who spoke Bhojpuri. Evidently, these respondents who come from TB backgrounds represent

the minority, demonstrating the “obsolescent” (Ferreira, “Caribbean Languages” 139) status

of Bhojpuri in Trinidad; the language is “slowly but surely disappearing” (Ferreira,

“Caribbean Languages” 140) because its older speakers are not transmitting it to their

children and grandchildren. Thus, the popularity of baigan is more likely due to the

entrenchment of the word in TrinEC lexicon than the vitality of the language, with the term

being used by all Trinidadian citizens regardless of ethnicity.

This supposition is supported by the fact that the term is the second-most used by

Afro-Trinidadian respondents, who have no Indian ancestors and do not originate from

Bhojpuri-speaking families. Parenthetically, this adoption of baigan by TrinEC may also

explain why it surpasses the other Hindi/Bhojpuri variant brinjal (two respondents in total,

only Generation X Indos), which has not received the same treatment. Notably, brinjal is

ultimately derived from Arabic via Portuguese, perhaps demonstrating the precedence of

non-English languages (and terms) replacing European ones in Trinidadian flora allonymy, a

phenomenon which will be explored further below.

Similarly, the most popular variant among Afro-Trinidadians is melongene (20

respondents), possibly because, as discussed in Chapter 2, some Afro-Trinidadians use



35

French Creole variants because they do not wish to compromise their ethnic identity by using

Indo terms like baigan (Regis, “The Trinidad Dougla”, 63). All these respondents also

learned the term from their families, four of which spoke French Creole. This minority of

families who spoke Patois signals its moribundity due to lack of cross-generational

transference, as explained in Chapter 2, but, interestingly, among these respondents, the

younger generations of Z and Millennials use melongene more than the oldest Generation X.

Not only does this prove Winer’s (“Creole in the Kitchen” 3) earlier assertion that dead and

moribund languages survive through flora terms in Creoles, but, perhaps, it also shows that

the possibility of Patois revitalisation exists among the youth, aligning with Ferreira and

Holbrook’s findings (14) in Chapter 2, since most are already familiar with Patois terms,

whether they realise it (through their ancestors having spoken the language) or not. Winer is

further validated by the fact that, apart from the aforementioned brinjal, the English variants

eggplant (eight respondents in total) and aubergine (0 respondents) are the least popular, even

though Trinidad is English-official, foregone in favour of terms of non-English origin.

In addition, two of the 18 aforementioned Indo Bhojpuri-speaking families also spoke

TFC, along with one of the seven Afro respondents who say baigan. This is noteworthy for

two reasons: 1) in contemporary society, Patois heritage continues to transcend ethnic barriers

to be known by the general population (even if it is solely through flora terms), ever since the

19th century when it was the lingua franca of Trinidad (Braithwaite and Ferreira “Patois

History” par. 10), but 2) this is still not enough to keep the language vital, as the majority of

this study’s respondents still choose baigan.

With nine respondents, baigan is the most used among the Dougla-Trinidadians as

with Indo-Trinbagonanians possibly because, unlike the Afro-Trinidadians, they also have

Indian ancestors from at least one side of the family, even if only one respondent hails from a

Bhojpuri-speaking family. As Douglas have African ancestors, the second-popular and only



36

other variant used by Douglas is melongene (two respondents, with one from a

Patois-speaking family).

Once again, baigan is the most used among the Mixed-Trinidadians with ten

respondents. This is expected because, despite not fitting neatly into any of the previous

ethnic groups, as aforementioned, baigan appears to be the variant most engrained in

Trinidadian language.

Proceeding to age groups, Generation Z uses baigan the most (24 respondents), as can

be expected from the youngest generation, who usually follows popular trends, like that

outlined for baigan above. That being said, as one of the least popular variants, eggplant is

mostly used by Generation Z as well (five of eight respondents), with three learning the term

from the media (the only variant to be learned from the media and the only Generation to do

so) and one never having heard of the other variants. Thus, the media has a greater influence

on Generation Z’s lexicon than older generations’, especially as out of the four groups,

Generation Z spends the most time on social media (Dixon par. 1), where the eggplant emoji

(🍆) is always mentioned and used. In addition to the vegetable, this emoji has another

connotation as representing a penis, which only Generation Z is consistently able to

recognise, according to Lu (35). As Millennials are the second-youngest generation, and their

most used variant is also baigan (17 respondents), this explanation may also apply to this

group. Notably, one Millennial uses all the terms because they work in agriculture, where

they evidently must know and use all variants to accommodate customers of varying

backgrounds who may use any term, thereby introducing profession as an uninvestigated

factor in lexical choice.

Finally, Generation X’s most used variant is baigan (21 respondents), whose parents

and family, as a part of the Silent/Traditionalist (born 1925-45) and even the Greatest (born

1901-24) Generations, most likely transferred the term to them, as Bhojpuri was more



37

prevalent when they and their parents were alive. To a greater extent, this is also true for the

oldest Boomer respondents, who exclusively use the ethnic variants of baigan and melongene

(two respondents each).

Table 3

Number of Respondents for Each Variant, according to Their Families’ Ethnicities

Table 3 presents data from questions 3-5 of the questionnaire, which inquire about the

ethnicities of the respondents’ families to determine if this too has any influence on their

lexical choice, i.e. answer RQ2. Option A is “Paternal and maternal sides belong to the same

ethnicity”, B “The family is too mixed to differentiate”, C “Ethnicities of maternal and

paternal sides are not the same but both exert equal influence”, and D “Ethnicities of maternal

and paternal sides are not the same, but the family leans more towards one ethnicity despite

more than one ethnic influence.”

In the first place, table 3 illustrates that among the respondents who identify as

Indo-Trinidadian, their families are least likely to be ethnically diverse, as in most cases, both

maternal and paternal sides are Indo (39 respondents), and where they are not the same, the



38

respondents still favour the side that is Indo (three of four respondents). Due to their

exclusion from wider Trinidadian society during indentureship, Indo-Trinidadians came as a

distinct group, especially due to their tendency to practise endogamy where they would often

marry those of the same ethnicity and religion (Schwartz 59-60). Thus, “endogamous

marriages keep Indian culture strong as they perpetuate family structure, cooking styles,

language, education, clothing, and religion” (Bunce 128). This may also account for the

group’s steadfast retention of their ethnic variant baigan: there are no other ethnic groups

within their families to influence their lexical choice away from baigan. The same can be said

for the Afro-Trinidadians, who rarely diverge from their ethnicity within the family, as well

as their associated variant melongene (20 respondents).

This hypothetical interethnic influence is shown to be a reality with

Dougla-Trinidadians: three respondents who lean more towards Indo choose baigan, while

the one who leans more towards Afro chooses melongene, despite all four having both Indo

and Afro lineage. However, most Mixed-Trinidadians, even if there are other influences like

“Chinese, Afro, Indigenous, Creole French”, “Mixed” and “Afro”, still choose baigan.

In tandem with the aforementioned fact that baigan is the preferred variant of the

general population due to its being embedded in TrinEC, Mixed-Trinidadians may not be as

susceptible to ethnic influence swaying their lexical choice as Douglas, because their identity

is more of an indistinguishable amalgamation of many different ethnicities. Not to say that

Douglas’ identity is binary, but that Mixed-Trinidadians may not even have Indo, Afro and/or

Dougla heritage at all, whereas this mix defines the Dougla identity (Regis, “The Dougla in

Trinidad” 12)

Furthermore, food is a quintessential aspect of the plural culture of Trinidad, often

transcending ethnic boundaries. In fact, Winer asserts that, in particular, Indo-Trinidadian

dishes are not considered ‘Creole’, but ‘local’(5), a part of the Trinidadian identity in general.



39

Therefore, these Indo-Trinidadian dishes whose names reflect their main flora ingredients

might be lexically retained more easily by not only Indo-Trinidadians, but other ethnic groups

as well. As such, the general popularity of baigan may also be due to the pervasiveness of

Indian foods, including baiganee and baigan choka throughout Trinidad (both being sold by

several roti shops, street vendors, and restaurants), the consumption, and even production, of

which is not restricted to any one ethnicity.

Table 4

Number of Indo-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network



40

This table only features the respondents who did not use their preferred variant all the

time, as indicated in questions 13-16 in the questionnaire. The respondents who do use their

variants all the time are not presented.

Table 4 demonstrates that, even though baigan is the most popular variant in general,

it is still substituted the most under different contexts (23 respondents), usually with

melongene (11 of the 23 respondents), as the two are typically used interchangeably. This is

consistent with the previous data, as these two are the most popular variants. The context

under which the two are usually switched is with foreigners, including other West Indians

(four respondents). Most likely, this change is to accommodate most foreigners who would

not understand the term baigan, as, within the Caribbean, there are only strong Bhojpuri

communities in Guyana (where the item is also referred to as balanjay) and Surinam,

suggesting melongene is more recognisable, because of its eclectic background (whether the

respondents are familiar with it or not): the word is influenced by French Creole phonology,

adopted into FC, English, and TrinEC, but is of Spanish origin.

It is also noteworthy that these Indo respondents are mostly friends with

Afro-Trinidadians, which may also subconsciously account for their use and/or knowledge of

the melongene variant, while they learned baigan at home. In fact, one of these respondents

uses melongene with their Afro, Mixed friends, because they would be made fun of, scolded

or given confused looks for using baigan. This accommodation for the audience and social

network is also explicit in freestyle responses, like “I use language familiar to the group I am

with”, “I use it in the case that they are more associated with that term,” and “Persons may

not know the term baigan (foreign restaurants)”, with the latter two switching to eggplant.

Other respondents who changed to eggplant did so with colleagues. These two facts suggest

that: 1) English acts a lingua franca among a range of non-English variants, and 2) because

eggplant is a Standard English term, it is considered the only ‘professional’ variant,



41

indicating a prescriptivist, Eurocentric mentality among the respondents, and perhaps even

their audience and network.

Table 5

Number of Afro-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

As illustrated by table 5, inversely to the Indo respondents, the most used variant

among Afro-Trinidadians, melongene, is mostly switched with baigan (ten respondents),

usually to refer to a specific dish (six respondents). This dish is most likely baiganee or

baigan choka, and once again proves how food perpetuates a language’s vitality: even though



42

these respondents are not Indo-Trinidadian, Indo-Trinidadian food is an extricable cultural

aspect of Trinidad’s plural society, and every citizen can partake, both in the food and the

language, regardless of ethnicity.

Respondents also switch from baigan to melongene around their Afro family, which

exemplifies network accommodation, because their family most likely uses the typical Afro

variant melongene and would be confused by the use of baigan, or even offended since, as

explained above, it is considered a threat to their ethnic identity. This may be subliminal,

since most respondents say they use the two interchangeably, except for where it is conscious

in, for example: “My father used baigan and my Mom says melongene. It depends on which

family member I am talking to.”

Lastly, it is noteworthy that a Generation X respondent switches from the typical Afro

melongene to aubergine, a British English variant, with their parents and family. Most likely,

their Greatest Generation family (born between 1901 and 1927) transferred it to them, as the

Greatest Generation directly experienced British occupation of the island, during which they

may have learned the term, due to which may suffer from a language inferiority complex of

their Creole in favour of the coloniser’s English, as was the case with other ethnic languages

like Bhojpuri.



43

Table 6

Number of Dougla-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

Like the Indo-Trinidadians, according to table 6, most Dougla-Trinidadians switch

from baigan to melongene interchangeably (six of seven respondents, with the other one from

melongene to baigan). This is an expression of, and accommodation for, their dual Indo and

Afro identity.



44

Table 7

Number of Mixed-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

Table 7 shows that most Mixed-Trinidadians also switch baigan for melongene

interchangeably (four of ten respondents), with two doing so for accommodation purposes

with foreigners and friends. Switches from eggplant to baigan also occur (which makes

sense, since, as discovered above, baigan is the most commonly used variant in general and,

hence, more likely to be understood) for network accommodation: one respondent explains,

“My husband family is mixed more Indian influenced hence they use the term and I use it

with them at times”, while another selected the ‘I need to impress those people’ option as the

reason for their switch. The latter is interesting: the respondent probably wishes to assert their

broad ethnolinguistic knowledge, especially if their Afro friends consider the use of eggplant,

a foreign, Standard English variant, “snob[bish]”, which is quite common in non-Standard

English communities (Casas 12), and would regrettably decrease their solidarity with the

group.



45

4.2. Food Item #2 (Banana/Fig)

Table 8

Number of Respondents for Each Variant, according to Ethnicity, Age and Reason for Choice

Table 8 above shows that most Indo-, Afro- and Mixed-Trinidadians prefer the

banana variant to fig, with 31, 24 and 13 respondents respectively which answers RQ1 and

most have learned it from their family which explains why it is the most used, answering

RQ2. What may account for this general popularity of English’s banana over Patois’ fig is the

moribundity of the Patois language, especially since most of the respondents who come from

families who spoke Patois, still prefer banana (nine of 13 respondents). Thus, fig has not



46

been inoculated against obsoletion through adoption into TrinEC like chadon beni has. In

fact, most people do not even realise fig is Patois.

That said, Dougla-Trinidadians apparently have a mixed preference for both fig and

banana, with six out of eleven preferring banana, and five out of eleven preferring fig, all

having learned the term from their families. This seems to suggest that there are more Indo-

and/or Afro-Trinidadians not studied here that use fig, in contrast to the ostensible norm for

this group discovered above, and have transferred it to their family, i.e. the respondents of

this study and others who mirror their preferences.

Table 9

Number of Respondents for Each Variant, according to Their Families’ Ethnicities

Confirming table 8’s findings, table 9 shows that, generally, the most popular variant

(80 respondents) is banana regardless of the ethnicity of the respondents, along with that of

their families, despite some families having multiple ethnicities.



47

Table 10

Number of Indo-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

In response to RQ3, table 10 shows that most Indo-Trinidadians use banana and fig

interchangeably (12 of 17 respondents), particularly with their families. However, three

respondents switch from banana to fig for a specific variety, this variety most likely being

unripe, as specified by another respondent: “Use both frequently but would exclusively use

[fig] if the fruit is green.” Conversely, fig changes to banana with foreigners for two

respondents, with one having the need to impress these foreigners, demonstrating once again



48

that English has more international acceptance compared to Patois, and thereby, enjoys a high

status (Kozlova 95). Further consolidating this notion is one respondent’s use of banana

“around [their] children so they learn the correct term”: because Patois is not English, fig is

considered “bad English” (Winford, “Language Attitudes” 58). Of course, this may also be

due to the fact that, in English, fig is the name of another fruit, Ficus carica, and the

respondent does not wish their children to confuse the two.

Table 11

Number of Afro-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

According to table 11, like with the Indo-Trinidadian respondents, Afro-Trinidadians

respondents also use the two variants interchangeably, as well change to fig for a specific

variety like “local bananas”, possibly referring to silk fig or moko fig (Digat and Spencer

134; Winer, “Dictionary of English Creole” 344). Once again, the negative attitude towards



49

fig is exhibited with one respondent who uses banana “with [their] son” “to ensure [their] son

knows the correct term.”

Table 12

Number of Dougla-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

Since Douglas already have an already-equal preference for banana and fig (see table

8), table 12 evidently shows that this group rarely changes their preferred variant in the first

place, with only four respondents. Like the previous ethnicities, the majority change variants

interchangeably (three respondents), with the one outlier changing their variant from banana

to fig for a specific variety to avoid being made fun of or given confused looks. This is

because, as implied by the above data, referring to “green”, ‘moko’ and ‘silk’ figs as bananas

is strange.



50

Table 13

Number of Mixed-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

Lastly, the Mixed-Trinidadians tend to change variants for two main reasons:

identifying a specific dish or variety or when conversing with foreigners. This trend imitates

that of the Afro-Trinidadians, who also change their lexicon for these purposes (see table 13).



51

4.3. Food Item #3 (Chadon Beni/Bandhania/Culantro/Cilantro)

Table 14

Number of Respondents for Each Variant, according to Ethnicity, Age and Reason for Choice

This third food item represents the opposite of the first. In response to RQ1, table 14

illustrates that the French Creole variant chadon beni dominates Bhojpuri’s bandhania, in



52

every ethnic and age group (81 respondents in total), not just among Afro-Trinidadians, while

neither of the English variants cilantro and culantro, adopted from Spanish, is used (though

cilantro actually refers to a different flora item, it is often conflated with culantro). This is

important, because, according to the previous data, Bhojpuri terms are used more frequently

than Patois, so bandhania should be the most popular variant, but the fact that it is not,

suggests that, like baigan, chadon beni has been embedded in TrinEC which answers RQ2.

That is, bandhania appears to be of insular use and knowledge among Indo-Trinidadians, as

evidenced by the variant being almost exclusively used by Indo respondents (13 of 18

respondents), seven of whom come from families who spoke Bhojpuri.

Furthermore, only 14 of these 81 respondents come from families who spoke Patois in

their lifetimes, with the remainder speaking only Trinidadian English and TrinEC. Likewise,

among these 14 families, four also spoke Spanish, and two of the 81 total come from

families who only spoke Spanish. All this means that Patois, despite being a dying language,

eclipses Bhojpuri, Spanish and Standard English, even though English is the numerically

dominant. Alternatively, it may mean that the legacy of Patois is powerful, or that these terms

are no longer only Patois, but are now English and English Creole terms as well. The fact that

these groups forego their typical variants of bandhania, culantro and cilantro further

consolidates the hypothesis of chadon beni’s entrenchment in TrinEC, and perhaps even

implies negative attitudes towards English variants cilantro and culantro, like those towards

eggplant.

In any case, this influence of respondents’ heritage languages on their lexical choice is

undeniable, as the one respondent who uses “all terms” does so because their family spoke

“all of the above [languages] and many more.”



53

Table 15

Number of Respondents for Every Variant, according to Their Families’ Ethnicities

Consistent with the above findings, table 15 demonstrates that, despite Indo and other

ethnic influences like Mixed, White, and Chinese, most respondents choose chadon beni.

Similarly, the exclusivity of bandhania among Indos is made obvious by the two

Indo-leaning Douglas choosing this variant since it is a Bhojpuri term which indexes

Indo-Trinidadian identity (Regis, “The Trinidad Dougla” 60).



54

Table 16

Number of Indo-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

For RQ3, As expected, table 16 shows that most Indo respondents who originally say

chadon beni switch to the second-popular bandhania (seven respondents) interchangeably

with their family, because Bhojpuri may be familiar to them, and the use of any other variant



55

like cilantro would inspire confusion and solidarity-reducing negative perceptions as a snob.

Another two of these respondents who switch “in the market” and with their Afro friends,

because “the market vendors are usually younger than me or of African descent, and they

don't know the term bandhania” and they would be made fun of or given confused looks, also

proves the Indo-Trinidadian insularity in relation to bandhania and social network

accommodation based on ethnicity where individuals engage in “brokering” by using their

many linguistic sources, to maintain relationships (Wenger 109; Cheshire et al. 23).

Parenthetically, chadon beni is the variant most often used to refer to a specific variety of the

item (three respondents, compared to one each for bandhania and cilantro).

Table 17

Number of Afro-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

Likewise, table 17 illustrates that all five of the Afro respondents who choose chadon

beni switch to bandhania interchangeably, because those two are the most common terms in

the general population. Like before, “brokering” is also conducted with Indo and Dougla

friends to avoid the network (audience)’s teasing and confusion and create stronger ties with

individuals of different ethnicities, as Indos and some Douglas are more likely to use

bandhania (Wenger 109; Cheshire et al. 23).



56

Table 18

Number of Dougla-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

According to table 18, four of the five Dougla-Trinidadian respondents who originally

choose chadon beni switch to bandhania interchangeably with their family, which is to be

expected as this linguistic habit reflects their intermediate ethnic identity between

Indo-Trinidadian and Afro-Trinidadian, who prefer Bhojpuri and Patois terms respectively

according to the above findings. Once again, the dominance of chadon beni among Afros and

the influence of social networks is exemplified in the way one respondent switches from

baigan to chadon beni with their Afro and Mixed friends to avoid teasing and confusion, thus

engaging in “brokering” to accommodate to the dominant ethnicities of their friend group

(Wenger 109; Cheshire et al. 23).



57

Table 19

Number of Mixed-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

Finally, in addition to earlier patterns like cilantro for a specific variety and

interchangeable use of bandhania and chadon beni with family to exhibit the multi-ethnic

identity, table 19 introduces the switch from chadon beni to cilantro “specifically for

foreigners.” Evidently, in the extra-regional space, because Standard English is more

dominant in terms of number of speakers and overt prestige than both Patois and Bhojpuri,

respondents switch to the English variant cilantro to accommodate addressees that are

foreigners in order to be accepted and understood better, even though they ignore this

dominance within Trinidad, as they generally refer to the food by its non-English variants.

Thus, cilantro is the internationally accepted English variant which is used for foreigners,

similar to eggplant above (Kozlova 95).



58

4.4. Food Item #4 (Avocado/Zaboca/Avocado Pear)

Table 20

Number of Respondents for Each Variant, according to Ethnicity, Age and Reason for Choice

Table 20 states that most Indo-, Dougla- and Mixed-Trinidadians use zaboca (29, 8

and 11 respectively), which answers RQ1, and they usually learned it through their family,



59

which explains why they use it frequently in relation to RQ2. Contrastively, 17 out of 29

Afro-Trinidadians selected avocado as their preferred variant, where 13 learned it from their

family and four learned the term through the media.

The fact that Indo-Trinidadians chose the Patois variant zaboca instead of a Bhojpuri

one (as for baigan) or the generally popular English one (as for banana), implies that 1) any

Bhojpuri variant for Persea americana (note the origin of the plant in the Americas) that may

have existed has not survived, and 2) zaboca has now become a TrinEC term like melongene

and chadon beni. In any case, what further consolidates these hypotheses, is that the Hindi

word for this food item is evokaado (एवोकाडो), evidently resembling English’s borrowed

avocado, which these respondents also forewent.

Among the Mixed-Trinidadians who selected zaboca, there were two people who

come from Patois- and Spanish-speaking families, one who comes from a Spanish

background and one who has family members that spoke Patois and Bhojpuri. Thus, the

Mixed ethnic group has a more linguistically diverse background compared to other

ethnicities. There seems to be no correlation between the languages of one’s ancestors and

their influence on lexical choice for the Mixed group, but one’s parents and family during

one’s childhood seem to be the common denominator for their preferred lexical variant. This

is also applicable to a large extent to Afro-Trinidadians who predominantly chose avocado

because of their families, but the media has an increasing role in conditioning their lexical

choice, especially for Generation Z.

With regard to the different age groups, Generation Z is divided equally, with 18

people each using the lexical items avocado and zaboca. This shows that there is a lexical

divide with regard to which term Generation Z prefers to use. According to Kozlova et al.,

“linguistic vitality of the term avocado is reinforced by the fact that it is a part of

“Internationally Accepted English” but it exists alongside zaboca because it is an informal



60

lexical variant that is used “to appeal to local addressee” (95). From the 18 people who use

avocado, eight indicated they were influenced by the media. As discovered above, this age

group’s predilection for social media aligns with their propensity for preferring English

(‘foreign’) terms over ‘local’ TrinEC ones, which originate from non-English languages like

Patois. Social media globalises the youngest generation’s lexicon.

Moreover, most Millennials (17 of 29 respondents) and Generation X (20 of 30

respondents) use zaboca from their family, possibly indicating Patois’ status as a dying

language of the past, with the youngest Generation Z spearheading the shift to the English

variant eggplant.

Table 21

Number of Respondents for Each Variant, according to Their Families’ Ethnicities

Table 21 cements the above findings, as Indo-Trinidadian participants continue to

choose zaboca regardless of their ethnicity and that of their families. The same can be said

for their Afro-Trinidadian counterparts who persist with avocado, but among those whose

families contain ethnicities other than Afro (nine respondents), the majority of five choose



61

zaboca, suggesting that these other ethnicities have influenced their lexical choice, since

zaboca is the most popular variant in every ethnicity except these Afros.

Aligning with the above preferences for both Indo- and Afro-Trinidadians, Douglas

who embrace their Indo ethnicity more, also conform to the lexical choice of zaboca while

the one who identified with their Afro roots selected avocado, in spite of having

Patois-speaking backgrounds. However, for those that had multiple ethnicities exerting equal

influence within their Dougla identity, lexical variation, thus, was not as predictable since two

individuals chose avocado while three selected zaboca.



62

Table 22

Number of Indo-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

In relation to RQ3, table 22 adheres to the pattern of the previous food items, with

most Indos interchanging between zaboca and avocado, around friends (one respondent),



63

family (four respondents) and foreigners (11 respondents). Similar to findings in Mühleisen’s

study, TTSE was not restricted to specific domains as before, allowing for greater use of

TrinEC (67). This is further reinforced by the two participants who used the open answer

option to indicate that they use them interchangeably or “when [they] can’t remember the

other name for it” as the context, showing the normalisation of the usage of both variants.

However, when the audience includes a foreigner, respondents use the term avocado

because they would be made fun of, scolded or given confused looks, or they need to impress

them, while one responded that they wanted to “ensure that they know what it is”. Thus,

zaboca is seen as the variant that is used in informal contexts while avocado is more

internationally acceptable and is deemed as more “appropriate” to communicate to addressees

outside and even within the Caribbean (Kozlova et al. 95). This can also apply to the other

Patois variants above. It reflects similar language attitudes that were found in the studies

conducted by Winford and Mühleisen where TTSE was still used in certain contexts since

participants understood the limitations of TrinEC (“Teacher attitudes” 61; “Attitudes towards

Language Varieties” 67).

Furthermore, avocado is also used when referring to a specific dish or variety (three

respondents) and this is most likely due to the dish ‘avocado toast’ being popularised in

recent times.



64

Table 23

Number of Afro-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

Table 23 displays the changing of Afro-Trinidadians preferred variant avocado to

zaboca by 11 respondents in certain contexts: with parents and family, with friends and when

referring to a specific dish or variety. The majority of those that selected parents and family

as their context for changing their variant give the reason that they use both variants

interchangeably or that they are comfortable with those people. One person provided the open

response that they “associate it with my Trinidadian identity and so, I try to use it at times to

identify”. This reflects the findings for Indo-Trinidadians in Table 21 and correlates with



65

Mühleisen where TrinEC and Trinidadian English were not as restricted to specific domains,

and lexical variation of the two terms by Afro-Trinidadians indicate this (67).

However, two individuals stated that when they are with their friends, one used both

terms interchangeably, but the other selected that they would be made fun of, scolded or

given confused looks. Their friend group is composed of Indo- and Mixed-Trinidadians and

previously, it has been stated that zaboca is the dominant variant among these ethnic groups.

It is possible that this person engages in the act of “brokering” where their participation in

friend groups that are comprised of individuals of a social network of a different ethnicity

results in them conforming to the language of the peers, specifically to the lexicon, to

maintain and build relationships (Wenger 109; Cheshire et al. 23).

Table 24

Number of Dougla-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

Table 24 shows that zaboca is switched out for avocado by Dougla-Trinidadians (four

respondents), interchangeably with family, friends and when referring to a specific dish, as

well as with foreigners. Once again, for foreigners, participants used the term avocado

because they would be made fun of, scolded, or given confused looks, proving that avocado

is viewed as the internationally accepted variety (Kozlova et al. 95).



66

Table 25

Number of Mixed-Trinidadian Respondents who Change Variants, in Relation to Their

Network

Finally, according to table 25, for respondents who originally chose zaboca, some

selected their second variant to be avocado (11 respondents) and they often used the latter in

a range of contexts, such as with foreigners, with parents and family, with colleagues and

when referring to a specific dish or variety.

For foreigners and colleagues, they selected the reason for their lexical variation was

that they use both terms interchangeably because they were accustomed to it. This correlates

with Mühleisen’s study where the demarcations between where TrinEC and Trinidadian

English are supposed to be used have become blurred slightly. However, with parents and

family, one person selected that they use both terms interchangeably while another individual

indicated that when they did not use the lexical variant avocado, it would lead to them being

scolded, being made fun of or given confused looks, most likely because, it constituted as



67

“bad English” according to Winford and the family tried to teach their child the “correct

term” (“Teacher Attitudes” 58).



68

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

This chapter summarises the previous chapters of the study, along with outlining the general

conclusions, limitations and recommendations for future studies.

Evidently, the study aimed to discern a connection between age and ethnicity and

lexical choice among Northern Trinidadians through an online questionnaire. As such, for

Solanum melongena and Eryngium foetidum, it was found that Indo- and Afro-Trinidadians

used baigan and melongene, respectively, and bandhania and chadon beni, respectively. This

is because the former’s Indian ancestors most likely spoke Bhojpuri, from which these terms

originate, while some Afro-Trinidadians may reject Bhojpuri and other terms used by

Indo-Trinidadians to protect their ethnic identity. Due to their less straightforward ethnic

identities, both Dougla- and Mixed-Trinidadians tend to say baigan and chadon beni, because

these so far appear to be generally the most popular variants in our study population, having

been entrenched into TrinEC. These two are also the most popular variants for these food

items, within each age group for the same reason.

Likewise, for Musa sapientum, banana is the most common variant in general, among

all age and ethnic groups under study, demonstrating that, unlike chadon beni, the

Patois-derived fig has not been ingrained so deeply into TrinEC of these generations.

However, like chadon beni, the Patois term zaboca for Persea americana is also now a

veritable TrinEC word, as it is the most popular for all ages and ethnicities under study over

English’s avocado and avocado pear.

In addition, the study found links between respondents changing their preferred

variants under different contexts and their social networks. To illustrate, Indos who usually

say Patois melongene and chadon beni, as well as Afros who say baigan and bandhania,

against the apparent norms for their own ethnic group in this study, switch to the opposite

terms with their families and friends who are of a different ethnicity, because these networks



69

are more likely to understand or simply prefer the term commonly associated with their

ethnic background. Similarly, those respondents who, regardless of age and ethnicity,

typically say fig and zaboca switch to banana and avocado, because the English terms are

considered “proper” and/or they are more likely to be understood using English terms as the

language has more speakers than Patois, especially in the international arena outside of the

Caribbean (where French Creole is the second language, after Spanish). These

environmentally-conditioned variations suggest that, for Trinidadians, English variants hold

overt prestige, while the Bhojpuri and Patois ones are the ones that are used to indicate

solidarity and closeness with others (covert prestige), especially since those who originally

prefer English variants switch to the non-English ones around friends and family to avoid

being perceived as pretentious.

The most notable general trend detected among the age groups is that the globalising

capacity of social media is increasing the popularity of English variants in Generation Z.

Furthermore, this study faced many limitations during the collection of data.

Originally, the study intended to distribute the questionnaire to the members of a well-known

service organisation club of St. Augustine. However, our questionnaire received no

responses. Thus, we were forced to change our sample at the last minute to a sample of

residents of Northern Trinidad. Nonetheless, the questionnaire was able to gather 100

responses despite the time frame being limited to one week, a number large enough to

potentially allow the findings to be generalised. That being said, we did not obtain an equal

number of respondents across all the ethnic and age groups, especially for the Boomer

generation, of which there were only four respondents, as we did not intend to study this

group. Therefore, the findings can be considered somewhat inconclusive, as they would not

have been with a large, equal number of respondents. Finally, our methodological approach

was quantitative, in order to analyse the trends within the data, but a qualitative study may



70

have better captured the wide, complex range of opportunities for lexical variation, in relation

to age, ethnicity, context, networks, and language attitudes.

Hence, future projects can investigate the link between age and ethnicity, or even

another variable like education, on lexical choice, by getting the same number of respondents

across these strata, including the Boomer generation, to address this gap left by our study.

Instead of a questionnaire, these projects can use interviews to glean the most data from their

respondents as possible, since variation is quite a subjective field and thereby, necessitates

such a qualitative method. Other studies can even examine the impact of social media on the

lexicon choice of the youngest generations.



71

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APPENDIX

Questionnaire

Section One - Bio-sociological Data

1) Please note that race is biological, and thereby physical, with races being

differentiated by skin colour, hair texture, eye shape, etc., while ethnicity pertains to

cultural factors, like religion, food, music, and nationality.

The Central Statistical Office of Trinidad and Tobago provides a breakdown of the

ethnic composition in Trinidad (16):

African descent - 32.76%

Caucasian - 0.59%

Chinese - 0.31%

(East) Indian - 37.01%

Indigenous - 0.11%

Mixed (African and East Indian/Dougla) - 7.83%

Mixed (other) - 15.69%

Not Stated: 6.39%

Other Ethnic Group - 0.17%

Portuguese - 0.07%

Syrian/Lebanese - 0.08%

With this information in mind, please answer this question:

With which of the following ethnicities do you identify?

a) Afro-Trinidadian (you are a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago by birth whose

majority ancestors came from West Africa before, during or after

Emancipation, whether or not from another territory, bringing their religious



80

and cultural traditions. You are not a resident, or permanent resident of other

countries).

b) Indo-Trinidadian (you are a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago by birth whose

majority ancestors came from India beginning in 1845, whether or not from

another territory, bringing their religious and cultural traditions. You are not a

resident, or permanent resident of other countries).

c) Mixed (with ethnicities other than or in addition to Afro- and

Indo-Trinidadian).

d) Dougla-Trinidadian (you are a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago by birth who

has one Afro-Trinidadian and one Indo-Trinidadian parent. You are not a

resident, or permanent resident of other countries).

e) White/Caucasian.

f) Chinese.

g) Indigenous.

h) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

2) The Central Statistics Office created a breakdown of the population according to age

brackets:

10-14 years old - 90,527 persons

15-19 years old - 101,246 persons

20-24 years old - 117,570 persons

25-29 years old - 127, 118 persons

30-34 years old - 108,657 persons

35-39 years old - 95,236 persons

40-44 years old - 88,674 persons

45-49 years old - 98,915 persons



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50-54 years old - 89,725 persons

55-59 years old - 75,349 persons

60-64 years old - 60,356 persons

65-69 years old - 45,939 persons

With this context is mind, please answer this question:

To which of the following age groups do you belong?

a) Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012).

b) Millennial (born between 1981 and 1996).

c) Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980).

d) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

3) Generally speaking, do your immediate family share your ethnicity?

a) Paternal and maternal sides belong to the same ethnicity.

b) The family is too mixed to differentiate.

c) Ethnicities of maternal and paternal sides are not the same, but both exert

equal influence.

d) Ethnicities of maternal and paternal sides are not the same but the family leans

more towards one ethnicity despite more than one ethnic influence.

4) If you answered, b) or c), please state the ethnicities of your family.

a) Afro-Trinidadian (they are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago by birth whose

majority ancestors came from West Africa before, during or after

Emancipation, whether or not from another territory, bringing their religious

and cultural traditions. They are not residents, or permanent residents of other

countries).

b) Indo-Trinidadian (they are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago by birth whose

majority ancestors came from India beginning in 1845, whether or not from



82

another territory, bringing their religious and cultural traditions. They are not

residents, or permanent residents of other countries).

c) Mixed (with ethnicities other than or in addition to Afro- and

Indo-Trinidadian).

d) Dougla-Trinidadian (they are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago by birth who

have one Afro-Trinidadian and one Indo-Trinidadian parent. They are not

residents, or permanent residents of other countries).

e) White/Caucasian.

f) Chinese.

g) Indigenous.

h) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

5) If you answered d), please state which ethnicity your family leans more towards.

a) Afro-Trinidadian (they are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago by birth whose

majority ancestors came from West Africa before, during or after

Emancipation, whether or not from another territory, bringing their religious

and cultural traditions. They are not residents, or permanent residents of other

countries).

b) Indo-Trinidadian (they are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago by birth whose

majority ancestors came from India beginning in 1845, whether or not from

another territory, bringing their religious and cultural traditions. They are not

residents, or permanent residents of other countries).

c) Mixed (with ethnicities other than or in addition to Afro- and

Indo-Trinidadian).



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d) Dougla-Trinidadian (they are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago by birth who

have one Afro-Trinidadian and one Indo-Trinidadian parent. They are not

residents, or permanent residents of other countries).

e) White/Caucasian.

f) Chinese.

g) Indigenous.

h) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

6) What percentage of your friends are of another ethnicity than your own?

a) 1 = OVER 80% of a different ethnicity/different ethnicities.

b) 2 = UP TO 80% of a different ethnicity/different ethnicities.

c) 3 = up to 60% of a different ethnicity/different ethnicities.

d) 4 = up to 40% of a different ethnicity/different ethnicities.

e) 5 = up to 20% of a different ethnicity/different ethnicities.

f) 6 = all my friends share my ethnicity.

7) If you chose any other option than f) 6 = all friends are the same ethnicity as self,

please select which of the following ethnicities make up your friend group:

a) Afro-Trinidadian (they are Trinidadian citizens by birth whose ancestors came

from West Africa during the slave trade, bringing their religious and cultural

traditions. They are not residents, or permanent residents of other countries).

b) Indo-Trinidadian (they are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago by birth whose

majority ancestors came from India beginning in 1845, whether or not from

another territory, bringing their religious and cultural traditions. They are not

residents, or permanent residents of other countries).

c) Mixed (with ethnicities other than or in addition to Afro- and

Indo-Trinidadian).



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d) Dougla-Trinidadian (they are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago by birth who

have one Afro-Trinidadian and one Indo-Trinidadian parent. They are not

residents, or permanent residents of other countries).

e) White.

f) Chinese.

g) Indigenous.

h) All of the above.

i) Any other not listed. Please specify: ___________

8) Generally speaking, are your friends, peers and colleagues of the same age as you?

a) Yes.

b) No.

9) If no, to which of the following age groups do they generally belong?

a) Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012).

b) Millennial (born between 1981 and 1996).

c) Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980).

d) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

10)Which of the following languages did your parent(s) or grandparent(s) speak?

a) Patois (also known as French Creole).

b) French.

c) Hindustani.

d) Spanish.

e) None of the above. They only spoke English and/or English Creole.

f) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

Section Two - Food Item #1



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11) By which of the following terms do you REGULARLY refer to the object in the

picture above?

a) Eggplant.

b) Melongene.

c) Aubergine.

d) Baigan.

e) Brinjal.

f) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

12)Do you know why you refer to the item by the term indicated in question 11) above

and not the others?

a) I learned it from my parents and family growing up.

b) I learned it from my friends.

c) I learned it from my colleagues.

d) I learned it from the media (books, movies, TV shows, social media, etc.).

e) I have never heard of the other terms.

f) Any other not listed. Please specify: _________________________

13)Do you refer to the item using this term all the time?

a) Yes.

b) No.

14) If no, which other term do you use?



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a) Eggplant.

b) Melongene.

c) Aubergine.

d) Baigan.

e) Brinjal.

f) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

15)When do you use this other term?

a) When I am around/speaking to my parents and family.

b) When I am around/speaking to my friends.

c) When I am around/speaking to my colleagues

d) When I am around/speaking to foreigners, including other West Indians.

e) When I am alone.

f) When I am referring to a certain dish, or to a specific variety of this food item.

g) Any other not listed. Please specify: ________________

16) Give a reason for your answer in question 15) above.

a) I am comfortable with those people.

b) I need to impress those people.

c) I would be made fun of, scolded, or given confused looks if I use the term I

usually use.

d) None of the above. I am just accustomed to using them interchangeably.

e) Any other not listed. Please specify: ________________

Section Three - Food Item #2



87

17) By which of the following terms do you REGULARLY refer to the object in the

picture above?

a) Fig.

b) Banana.

c) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

18)Why do you refer to the item by the term indicated in question 17) above and not the

others?

a) I learned it from my parents and family growing up.

b) I learned it from my friends.

c) I learned it from my colleagues.

d) I learned it from the media (books, movies, TV shows, social media, etc.).

e) I have never heard of the other terms.

f) Any other not listed. Please specify: _________________________

19)Do you refer to the item using this term all the time?

a) Yes.

b) No.

20) If no, which other term do you use?

a) Banana.

b) Fig.



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c) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

21)When do you use this other term?

a) When I am around/speaking to my parents and family.

b) When I am around/speaking to my friends.

c) When I am around/speaking to my colleagues.

d) When I am around/speaking to foreigners, including other West Indians.

e) When I am alone.

f) When I am referring to a certain dish, or to a specific variety of this food item.

g) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

22)Give a reason for your answer in question 21) above.

a) I am comfortable with those people.

b) I need to impress those people.

c) I would be made fun of, scolded, or given confused looks if I use the term I

usually use.

d) None of the above. I am just accustomed to using them interchangeably.

e) Any other not listed. Please specify: ______________



89

Section Four - Food Item #3

23) By which of the following terms do you REGULARLY refer to the object in the

picture above?

a) Chadon Beni (“Shadow benny”).

b) Bandhania.

c) Culantro.

d) Cilantro.

e) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

24)Why do you refer to the item by the term indicated in question 23) above and not the

others?

a) I learned it from my parents and family growing up.

b) I learned it from my friends.

c) I learned it from my colleagues.

d) I learned it from the media (books, movies, TV shows, social media, etc.).

e) I have never heard of the other terms.

f) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

25)Do you refer to the item using this term all the time?

a) Yes.

b) No.



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26) If no, which other term do you use?

a) Chadon Beni (“Shadow Benny”).

b) Bandhania.

c) Culantro.

d) Cilantro.

e) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

27)When do you use this other term?

a) When I am around/speaking to my parents and family.

b) When I am around/speaking to my friends.

c) When I am around/speaking to my colleagues.

d) When I am around/speaking to foreigners, including other West Indians.

e) When I am alone.

f) When I am referring to a certain dish, or to a specific variety of the food item.

g) Any other not listed. Please specify: __________

28)Give a reason for your answer in question 27) above.

a) I am comfortable with those people.

b) I need to impress those people.

c) I would be made fun of, scolded, or given confused looks if I use the term I

usually use.

d) None of the above. I am just accustomed to using them interchangeably.

e) Any other not listed. Please specify: ______________



91

Section Five - Food Item #4

29) By which of the following terms do REGULARLY you refer to the object in the

picture above?

a) Avocado.

b) Avocado Pear.

c) Pear.

d) Zaboca.

e) Any other not listed. Please specify: ______________

30)Why do you refer to the item by the term indicated in question 29) above and not the

others?

a) I learned it from my parents and family growing up.

b) I learned it from my friends.

c) I learned it from my colleagues.

d) I learned it from the media (books, movies, TV shows, social media, etc.).

e) I have never heard of the other terms.

f) Any other not listed. Please specify: ______________

31)Do you refer to the item using this term all the time?

a) Yes.

b) No.



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32) If no, which other term do you use?

a) Avocado.

b) Avocado Pear.

c) Pear.

d) Zaboca.

e) Any other not listed. Please specify: ______________

33)When do you use this other term?

a) When I am around/speaking to my parents and family.

b) When I am around/speaking to my friends.

c) When I am around/speaking to my colleagues.

d) When I am around/speaking to foreigners, including other West Indians.

e) When I am alone.

f) When I am referring to a certain dish, or to a specific variety of this food item.

g) Any other not listed. Please specify: ______________

34)Give a reason for your answer in question 33) above.

a) I am comfortable with those people.

b) I need to impress those people.

c) I would be made fun of, scolded, or given confused looks if I use the term I

usually use.

d) None of the above. I am just accustomed to using them interchangeably.

e) Any other not listed. Please specify: ______________

35) To bolster the reliability of our study, we kindly ask that you send this questionnaire

to two (2) people OUTSIDE your family who also live in the North of Trinidad.

(what classifies as North according to our study are the regions/municipalities of

Diego Martin, Port of Spain, San Juan-Laventille, Tunapuna-Piarco, Sangre Grande.)



93

In addition, please make sure that these two people are not of the same generation as

you. E.g. if you are part of Generation Y, please send the questionnaire to someone

who is part of Generation X and Generation Z.

Please note: If you received this questionnaire from someone OTHER THAN one of

the three investigators, you can ignore this question.

a) Yes, I will.

b) I can only send it to one other person.

c) No, I don't know anyone else who lives in the North of Trinidad and is from a

different generation than myself.