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Appendix 1
The Origin of Surinam Creole
A creole language must by definition have its origin in a
pidgin language (Hall 1966:xii). A pidgin originates in a
situation in which no communication is possible in any of the existing mother
tongues. In these circumstances, people try to communicate in one of the
available languages (usually the language of the power group), although they
have no opportunity to acquire a good command of it. A reduced, simplified
language arises that is used only in restricted situations: in trading, in the
market, in the factory, on the plantation, or in the army. In all other
situations - at home, in religious ceremonies, in court, in education - the
mother tongue is still used. Thus a pidgin has a restricted use and may be
regarded as a reduced language when compared to the model from which it arose.
The process of reduction can be studied if one knows both the model language and
its reduced pidgin form. The trade language employed between Trio Indians and
Djuka bushnegroes can be regarded as a pidginized form of the creole mother
tongue of the Djuka. Not much is known about this pidgin. De
Goeje (1908:204-19) gives a short word list and some expressions.
These few examples show that the vocabulary of the model language has been
reduced in a more or less systematic way. The Djuka interrogative sama (who?) broadened its range of application to include also
‘what?’, ‘which?’, ‘when?’, and ‘why?’. The Djuka demonstrative disi (this) is also used as the third person singular pronoun and as
the adverb ‘here.’ The unmarked member of a pair of relational terms is taken
from Djuka (in the case of adjectives with the addition of an ‘essive’ Trio
suffix = mee), and the marked member adds the Trio negation
wa (‘no,’ ‘not’):
| lánga-mee (far) |
lánga-mee wa (not far, close by) |
| mooi-mee (beautiful) |
mooi-mee wa (ugly) |
| hebi, hebee (heavy) |
hebee wa (not heavy, light) |
It seems as if the agents of the language change (the Trio in this case) reduced
the vocabulary of Djuka at the expense of grammatical morphemes, which they took
from their own language. This must be the basis of the concept of language
mixing so often referred to in connection with pidgins.
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A creole language develops from a pidgin as it becomes the native language of a
group. If people speaking different mother tongues begin to intermarry and form
a single community (as was the case, for example, when slaves of different
origins were brought together on a plantation), and if a particular pidgin is
the common language of this community, it will become the mother tongue of the
children of mixed-language marriages and eventually of the whole community
(though not of groups who do not intermarry with the others, such as the white
settlers). As soon as this pidgin becomes the native language of a group, it
must be used in many more situations than when it was only a contact language
between people who had their own native languages, and we may thus assume that
it undergoes a process of expansion to meet the new demands on it.
It is not possible to prove the reality of such a process in a direct way,
because with the promotion of a pidgin to a creole status the pidgin ceases to
exist. We can, however, find indirect evidence of it if, during the period of
creolization, the speakers no longer had access to the original model language
of the pidgin. This might be the cause of a remarkable distribution in the
Zambuangeño lexicon of Spanish- and Philippine-based elements. Frake (1971) was struck by the fact that in this
language a significantly greater number of unmarked lexical items had a Spanish
origin and a significantly greater number of marked lexical items a Philippine
origin. One must assume that, during the pidgin stage of Zambuangueño, the
lexicon contained mainly unmarked lexical items and during the process of
creolization, when the speakers no longer had access to the Spanish model, the
marked items were added.
It is not, or not yet, possible to prove that the same development happened in
Surinam Creole, although there is reason to believe that this language had a
Portuguese pidgin origin and was creolized in contact with English.
Surinam Creole (also called Negro-English) is clearly an English-based Creole. In
studying the origin of a large group of Creole verbs, the following results were
obtained (Voorhoeve 1970):
|
English origin
|
Dutch origin
|
Portuguese origin
|
African origin
|
Unknown origin
|
Total
|
| 211 |
190 |
24 |
8 |
43 |
476 |
The influence of English is greater than this table suggests. The verbs of
English origin are often very basic verbs, e.g. ‘go,’ ‘come,’ ‘walk,’ ‘talk,’
‘sleep,’ ‘want,’ etc., certainly more so than the verbs of | |
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Dutch origin. Verbs of African origin may also be basic, e.g. nyam ‘to eat,’ fom ‘to beat,’ fufuru ‘to steal,’ koso ‘to cough,’ gonggosa ‘to gossip.’ The same holds true for verbs of Portuguese
origin, e.g. sabi ‘to know,’ kaba ‘to
finish,’ pina ‘to be poor,’ pasa ‘to pass.’
Surinam was under British rule for only sixteen years (1651-67). It is not
absolutely necessary for the language of administration to serve as a model in
the development of a pidgin or creole. The creole of Trinidad is French-based,
although Trinidad has never been under French rule (Thomas 1869). The early history is of extreme importance. This type of
language is used to try to bridge a communication gap between different
components of the population. Once established, the language survives as long as
it serves a useful purpose. It is therefore important to know as precisely as
possible the growth of the population and the relative size of the different
components during the formative period. The documents are often not very clear,
and a certain amount of conjecture is necessary. Let me try to summarize the
main facts (see also the population figures in the introduction, p. 3):
In 1661 there must have been about 1000 Europeans in the colony. In 1665 an
epidemic eliminated many. Two hundred settlers left the colony that year, but
200 Portuguese Jewish planters from Cayenne, possibly with their own slaves,
settled in Surinam. The colony was captured by the Dutch in 1667, recaptured by
Barbados that same year, but handed back to the Dutch in 1668 in accordance with
the terms of the peace treaty of 1667. Before Surinam was handed over, 67 of the
most important English planters emigrated from the colony with 412 slaves. In
1671 a group of 517 people left the colony, followed in 1675 by a group of 250
whites with 980 slaves. In 1680 the last group of 102 Englishmen and slaves
left, leaving only 39 Englishmen behind. The English planters were not allowed
to take the slaves acquired under Dutch rule out of the colony, which meant that
the ones who left were mainly the old slaves.
There are not many clues to the language of the slaves when they arrived from
Africa. Slaves as far south as Angola were probably among the first groups
(Daeleman 1973). The main contact language on the
African coast in these early days was a Portuguese pidgin, although its
influence was already declining in the seventeenth century. A distinction
between old slaves (acquired before 1667) and new slaves (acquired after that
date) seems important. After 1667 a rapidly increasing number of new slaves was
brought in, and they soon outnumbered the old ones; this was already the case in
1671. The de- | |
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parture of the experienced slaves with the
best command of English after 1671 forces us to assume that the original Surinam
pidgin had already become firmly established among the slaves by about 1675. If
this had not been so, it would have been impossible for the old slaves to pass
on an English heritage to the new ones.
This short formation period (1651-80) might give rise to the hypothesis that an
English pidgin had already been acquired by the slaves in Africa. There is no
historical support for the existence of an English pidgin in Africa at such an
early date, however, whereas the existence of a Portuguese pidgin has been
established beyond doubt. Moreover, the creole of Surinam shows clear cases of
early Portuguese elements. It is therefore worthwhile to consider the importance
of early Portuguese influence.
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The Portuguese Component
The existence of Portuguese elements in Surinam Creole is a problem,
especially because of the preponderance of Portuguese elements in the
language of the Saramaccan bushnegroes, the descendants of runaways to the
central part of Surinam. In that language the Portuguese component is almost
as strong as the English one. We must therefore consider the rather early
Portuguese influence, which has not yet been accounted for by prevailing
theories.
For a long time people have been satisfied to attribute the Portuguese
influence to the presence in Surinam of Portuguese Jewish planters.
Herskovits, however, pointed out that typical Jewish terms such as trefu (food taboo) and kaseri (ritually
clean, kosher) are found in the coastal Creole, the language of the
descendants of slaves, but not in Saramaccan Creole, the language of the
descendants of the runaways (Herskovits 1930/31). There thus appears to have
been no Jewish influence on the language that shows the strongest Portuguese
influence, so the problem of the origin of the Portuguese influence remains.
Herskovits also pointed out that newly imported slaves probably had the
strongest tendency to escape to the bush, where they gathered in runaway
tribes. These runaways did not get the opportunity to adapt themselves to
the prevailing slave language spoken on the plantations. The English items
in their vocabulary can easily be explained by the influence of their stay
on the plantations or by later contacts with coastal Creole, especially
after emancipation. The Portuguese items can have been adopted only in
Africa.
Portuguese pidgin was in fact the most common contact language on the African
coast during the seventeenth century. The slaves must | |
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have had contact with this language, even if it was only after they were
transported to the African coast to be sold to European traders. They took
this language with them to the New World. It might even have been the only
means of communication with their fellow slaves and the crew on the ships.
However, the same language was not used on the plantations in Surinam. Thus,
after their arrival, the new slaves had to adopt the English-based pidgin,
probably already in the process of becoming a creole.
If the Portuguese components in Saramaccan Creole are ascribed to the African
period, then the few basic Portuguese items in Surinam Creole could possibly
also have found their way into the language in essentially the same manner.
This, in my opinion, would mean that one can no longer take it for granted
that Surinam Creole originated only from an English-based pidgin. The oldest
source was in any case an Afro-Portuguese pidgin, which might have developed
into the English-based creole directly or via an intermediate English-based
pidgin stage on the plantations. The whole process must have taken place in
a remarkably short period of time (between 1651 and 1680). Thus it is
possible that an English-based pidgin was not spoken by the newer slaves in
Surinam but that they adapted their Portuguese pidgin to the language of
their masters, and of the earlier slaves, and at the same time converted it
to a more general use as their own mother tongue. This process by which a
pidgin develops into a pidgin or creole with a different base may be termed
relexification. The historical and linguistic
arguments in favor of the relexification theory have been summarized in
Voorhoeve 1973. Most of the Portuguese
elements in the pidgin of the slaves were, as a result of this process,
replaced by English elements without any great changes in the grammatical
structure of the language.
The relexification theory explains the striking similarities in the structure
of creole languages all over the world, which are based on different models
(Thompson 1961). Taylor (1960) has drawn up quite a convincing list of these
similarities. One of the most striking examples may be found in the verbal
system of creoles. In Surinam Creole all (or nearly all) verbal tenses are
formed by means of three verbal particles placed between the subject and the
main verb: ben (past tense), sa (future
tense or hypothetical), and (d)e imperfect tense or
durative). These three particles, alone or in combination with each other,
account for eight different verbal tenses and/or aspects. These eight tenses
can be tabulated as follows (Voorhoeve 1957(a)).
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There is no detailed description of all the creole languages on the basis of
which a comparison of the verbal systems is possible. However, the verbal
system always seems to operate essentially on the basis of three particles
with roughly the same values, although the particles themselves have
different forms and thus must have quite different origins:
| |
past
|
future
|
imperfect
|
| Dominican Creole, etc. |
te |
ke |
ka |
| Haitian Creole |
te |
ava |
ape |
| Jamaican Creole |
ben |
wi |
a |
| Surinam Creole |
ben |
sa |
(d)e |
| Sarmaccan Creole |
bî |
sà |
tá |
| Krio (Sierra Leone) |
bîn |
gò |
dè |
| Negro Dutch |
ha |
lo |
le |
| Papiamentu |
taba |
lo |
ta |
| Philippine Creole |
ja |
de |
ta |
| Indo-Portuguese |
ja |
di |
ta |
| Macao Creole |
ja |
lo |
ta |
| Malacca Creole |
ja |
ló(go) |
ta |
The similarities in the basic system are such that a common origin seems
plausible. This common origin is not always reflected in the form of the
particles but is hardly likely to be different from the trade language of
the Portuguese sailors, widely used by different nations until the
seventeenth century. This language was relexified in different directions,
giving rise to differently based creole languages.
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Evidence from Older Stages of Surinam Creole
Relexification of a more limited scope is a rather common phenomenon. In all
languages, isolated lexical items are replaced by new ones with a different
origin without affecting the grammatical structure of the language. This
process is usually called borrowing, but in creole languages borrowing
becomes such a massive phenomenon that it may completely change the
affiliation of the language. It is possible to demonstrate the phenomenon in
Surinam Creole, as we have access to old documents in the language. The
oldest text, in
Beschrijvinge van de
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volksplantinge Zuriname
(Description of the Colony of Surinam), was published by J.D. Herlein in 1718. It is a curious document. It
must have been constructed or elicited by a European, presumably the author
himself, in any case by someone not aware of the subtle ways in which
Surinamese Creoles show respect in their linguistic behavior. For example,
the use of second or third person singular pronouns to refer to people of
higher social position or people with whom one is not on intimate terms must
often be avoided in Surinam Creole. This text used these forms freely and
would therefore probably be jarring to modern Creole ears. It gives the
impression of a European speaking with total disregard for polite Creole
usage. It is possible that the author elicited the text from a Creole
speaker, but in that case he has put the text consciously or unconsciously
in a European mouth. It is highly unlikely that a Creole would have used
such forms in everyday language. The lack of good manners should rather be
attributed to the European author.
The text of 1718 has been criticized by Jan Nepveu, governor of Surinam from
1768 to 1779, in a manuscript of 1765. Nepveu made a few direct criticisms,
mostly introduced by: ‘Creoles would rather say ...’. But he also added some
vocabulary items and expressions that contain indirect criticisms of the
1718 text. Where Nepveu used different words for the Herlein items, we may
assume that the Nepveu items were the normal ones in 1765. We reproduce here
the original text from 1718 in the first column. The second column contains
the corrections that can be deduced from the Nepveu manuscript of 1765.
Corrections are introduced by a colon. If only one work in the Herlein text
is corrected, this word is repeated in italics to the left of the colon. The
third column presents the same text in modern Creole, between square
brackets if the text lacks the necessary refinement. In that case an
alternative polite rendering is added in parentheses. The fourth column
presents as literal a modern English translation as possible. Italics in the
original text draw attention to possible corruptions and printing errors.
All translations of the original Creole text are based on the Dutch
translation that accompanied it. For a later reprinting of the 1718 text
with a Dutch translation, see Schuchardt 1914.
For a reprinting with a literal English translation, see Rens 1953.
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|
1718 Text
|
1765 Corrections
|
Modern Surinam Creole
|
English translation
|
| 1. Oudy. |
|
Odi. |
Hello. |
| 2. Oe fasje jou tem? |
: Ou fasi jou tan; oe: hoe. |
Fa yu tan? |
How do you do? |
| 3. My bon. |
: mi de boen. |
Mi de bun. |
I am well. |
| 4. Jou bon toe? |
bon: boen. |
Yu de bun tu? |
Are you also well? |
| 5. Ay. |
ay: aay. |
Ay. |
Yes. |
| 6. My belle wel. |
: mi de belle wel, mi de belwel, mi de boen. |
Mi de bun. |
I am (very) well. |
| 7. Jou wantje sie don pinkinine? |
wantje: wanti, wandi; pinkinine: pikinso. pekinini = my child. |
Yu wani sidon pikinso? |
Do you want to sit down a while? |
| 8. Jie no draei? |
jie: jou, joe; draei:
drei, dreij. |
[Yu (~I) no drey?] (more polite: Yu no wani dringi wan sani?) |
Are you thirsty? |
| 9. Ay mi wanto drinkje. |
wanto: wanti, wandi; drinkje: drinki. |
Ay, mi wani dringi (wan sani) |
Yes, I could do with a drink. |
| 10. Grande dankje no ver mie. |
ver: for. |
Grantangi [no fu mi] (more polite: watra no e kiri mi.) |
Many thanks, not for me. |
| 11. Jo wantje smoke Pipe Tobakke? |
jo: jou, joe; wantje:
wanti, wandi. |
Yu wani smoko wan pipa (tabaka)? |
Do you want to smoke a pipe of tobacco? |
| 12. Yo wantje loeke mie jary? |
jo: jou, joe; wantje:
wanti, wandi; loeke: loekoe |
Yu wani luku mi dyari? |
Do you perhaps want to see my garden? |
| 13. Loeke mie Druije se hansum? |
hansum: hansom, mooij. |
Luku mi droyfi, fa den moy. |
See my grapes, how beautiful they are. |
| 14. Mie jary no grandebon? |
:mi Jarie no mooij. |
Mi dyari no moy? |
Is not my garden beautiful? |
| 15. Ay hantsum fo trou. |
hantsum: hansom, mooij; fo
trou: for troe. |
Ay, a moy fu tru. |
Yes, it is very beautiful. |
| 16. Jo wantje gaeu wakke lange mie? |
jo: jou, joe; wantje:
wanti, wandi; gaeu: go; wakke: wakka; lange: langa. |
Yu wani (go) waka langa (~ nanga) mi? (better: Yu wani kon
waka nanga mi?) |
Do you want to walk with me? |
| 17. Oe plasje joe wil gaeu? |
oe plasje: hoe plesi, hoe pleisi; gaeu: go. |
Pe yu wani go? (~O presi yu wani go?) |
Where will you go? |
| 18. Mie wil gaeu na Watre-zy. |
watre: watra; zy: seij. |
Mi wani go na watra sey. |
I want to go to the riverside. |
| 19. Oe tem wie wil gaeu na Riba? |
oe: hoe; gaeu: go. |
O ten wi sa go na liba? |
When shall we go to the river? |
| 20. Oe plesje tem. |
: da tem jou plessie. |
Te yu wani. |
Whenever you wish. |
| 21. Mie misisi take jou oudy. |
misisi: missi; take: taki. |
Mi misi seni taygi yu (more polite: misi) odi (taygi = taki
gi). |
My mistress sends you her greetings. |
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| 22. Akesi of joe tan an house? |
ahakisi offi missie sa tan na Hosso. |
[A aksi efi yu sa tan na oso](better and more polite: A aksi
efi misi de na oso.) |
She asks if you will stay at home. |
| 23. à Wilkom loeke joe na agter dina tem. |
: a sa kom loeke jou, etc. |
A wani kon luku yu di bakadina. |
She will come visit you this afternoon. |
| 24. No mie ben benakase ta entre ples à
reddi wen. |
: no mi sendi hakisi na tara plesi a reddi; à
reddi: a reddi, kaba. |
No, mi (ben) seni aksi na wan tra presi kaba ... |
No, I have already inquired from another whether it would
please her if I came to her. |
| 25. As hem ples hem kon te maare. |
as: offi; hem: him, hem;
te maare: ta mara. |
Efi a wani, a kan kon tamara. |
If it pleases her, she can come tomorrow. |
| 26. Oe som bady Mastre vor joe? |
oe: hoe; som bady: so ma;
mastre: masra; vor: for. |
Suma na yu masra? (possible, but not natural: o suma na a
masra fu yu?) |
Who is your master? |
| 27. Oe fasse nam vor joe Mastre? |
oe: hoe; fasse: fasi; nam: nem; vor: for. |
Fa yu masra nen? |
What is your master's name? |
| 28. Oe fasse kase joe Misisi? |
oe: hoe; fasse: fasi; misisi: missi. |
Fa den e kari yu misi? (better: Fa yu misi nen?) |
How is your mistress called? |
| 29. Oe plesse jo liewy? |
oe: hoe; plesse: plesi,
pleisi; jo: jou, joe; liewy:
libi. |
Pe yu e libi? |
Where do you live? |
| 30. Klosse byna Forte. |
|
Krosibey fu foto. |
Close to the fortress. |
| 31. Jie no love mie moore. |
jie: jou, joe; love: lobi;
moore: moro. |
Yu no lobi mi moro. |
You do not love me any more. |
| 32. Je wantje sliepe lange mie? |
je: jou; joe; wantje:
wanti, wandi; sliepe: slipi; lange: langa. |
Yu wani sribi langa (˜ nanga) mi? |
Do you want to sleep with me? |
| 33. No mie no wantje. |
wantje: wanti, wandi. |
No, mi no wani. |
No, I do not want. |
| 34. Jie no bon. |
jie: jou, joe; bon: boen. |
Yu a no bun suma. |
You are not good (nice). |
| 35. Jie monbie toe moussie. |
jie: jou, joe; toe
moussie: toe moussi. |
Yu gridi tumusi. |
You are too greedy. |
| 36. Kom bosse mie wantem. |
|
Kon bosi mi dan. |
Come kiss me then. |
| |
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| 37. Na tappe. |
na tappe: na tapoe. |
Na tapu. |
Upward. |
| 38. Na bie laeu. |
na bie laeu: na bilo, na ondro, na gron. |
Na ondro (to indicate a place: na bilo). |
Downward. |
| 39. Zon komotte. |
zon: son. |
Son opo. |
The sun rises. |
| 40. Zon gaeud on. |
zon: son; gaeud on: go
don. |
Son dongo. |
The sun sets. |
| 41. Santje. |
santje: santi. |
Sani. |
A thing. |
| 42. Kaba. |
|
Kaba. |
Done (finished, ready). |
| 43. Hause. |
: hosso. |
(H)oso. |
A house. |
| 44. Tappe. |
|
Daki. |
The roof. |
| 45. Tappe windels. |
: tappe fenstre; windels: windau, finstre. |
Tapu fensre. |
Shut the windows. |
| 46. Ope windels. |
: oppo fenstre; windels: windau, finstre. |
Opo fensre. |
Open the windows. |
| 47. Ver wate jie no ope windels? |
jie: jou, joe; ope: oppo;
windels: windau, finstre. |
San ede yu no opo fensre? |
Why do you not open the windows? |
| |
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A careful comparison of the texts reveals that for a considerable period of
time alternative possibilities of Portuguese and English origin coexisted in
Creole. The clearest case is the pair bun/P. ‘bom’ vs. belwel / E. ‘very well,’ of which only the
Portuguese-derived item survives in modern Creole. The Portuguese-derived
item grande did not survive as a regular adverb, ‘very,’
or adjective, ‘big,’ but it is still present in composite nouns as grantangi (many thanks), granmasra (big
master), granman (governor), granmama
(grandmother), in the composite adverb granwe (long ago,
in 1765 still found as grandi wey), and maybe also in the
verb grani (to be old). The item grandebon may even have survived in the word granbun
(holy communion). In modern Creole the regular adverb heri
/ D. ‘heel’ for the meaning ‘very’ can also be rendered by fu
tu / E. ‘for true.’ The 1765 text contains the English-derived item
kweti / E. ‘quite’ without indications as to its use.
It is possible that this item replaced grande and survived
for some time. It is still used in modern Creole but only in negative
sentences. The pair kaba / P. ‘acabar’ and a
reddi / E. ‘already’ also shows that the Portuguese item survived
in modern Creole, although the English-derived item is still found in the
dictionary of Focke in 1855, viz. arede. It appears that
Portuguese items that managed to survive until 1718 were so firmly rooted in
the language that it was no longer possible for them to be replaced by the
coexisting English-derived item.
Alternative possibilities of items of English and of Dutch origin can also be
found in the early texts. See the pairs hansom / E.
‘handsome’ vs. moy / D. ‘mooi,’ windau /
E. ‘window’ vs. fensre / D. ‘venster.’ In both cases the
English-derived item was eventually lost. The opposite occurred with the
pairs wani / E. ‘want’ vs. wil (if wil is really from Dutch), agterdina /
D. ‘achter’ and E. ‘dinner’ vs. bakadina / E. ‘back
dinner’ (if agter is really from Dutch).
These alternative possibilities may reflect old dialectal differences. The
unpublished dictionary by C.L. Schumann (1783)
for instance contains the word brens / E. ‘brains,’ with
the remark that this word is still used on the old English plantations but
not in town (Voorhoeve Donicie 1963(b): 23). It
is quite possible that Schumann or his Creole informant (whose oral comments
he often cites in this dictionary) had in mind the plantations that were
first cultivated by the English pioneers before 1680. The English influence
may in that case have been strongest and longest on the old English
plantations and may have diminished only gradually with the spreading
influence of the town language. Focke 1855 does
not contain the word brens. A | |
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more
detailed study of the Surinam Creole vocabulary in a historical perspective
may reveal more about the development of the language.
If we accept the hypothesis that most slaves came from Africa during the
seventeenth century with a basic knowledge of an Afro-Portuguese pidgin and
in Surinam found a few slaves from Barbados with a more deeply rooted
knowledge of an English-based creole or pidgin, we may assume that the
English-based language quickly became dominant but that for some time there
was a certain competition within it between Portuguese-derived and
English-derived items with an identical meaning. The British planters,
overseers, and indentured laborers reinforced the English, so that the
English-derived items won the battle in most cases. The Portuguese-derived
items that remained in the language after the English influence had ceased
were so firmly rooted that they could not easily be replaced by subsequent
developments. The English-derived items were in a much weaker position and
many could thus be replaced by Dutch-derived ones.
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