Social Stratification

1
Social Stratification Language in the Modern
Caribbean

• Part II

2
Aims

• To explore the linguistic reality hidden behind
  the labels Spanish-/English-/French-/Dutch
  Speaking.
• To examine alternative labels which better
  capture the linguist reality of territories.
• To identify the social factors which might
  motivate a particular linguistic situation.

3
Territory Labels

• English Speaking
• French Speaking
• Spanish Speaking
• Dutch Speaking
• What do these labels mean?

4
Territory Labels contd

• The labels suggest that the official language of
  the territory is English/Spanish/French/Dutch.
• The language of the ultimate colonizing power.

5
The Distribution of Languages in the Caribbean
Country Official Language Mass Vernacular/Creole Other Languages

Cuba Spanish Spanish -
Dominican Republic Spanish Spanish -
Puerto Rico Spanish Spanish English


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The Distribution contd
Country Off. Lang Mass Vern. Other lang.
Barbados English EC
Jamaica English EC
Antigua English EC
St. Kitts English EC
St. Vincent English EC
Monsterrat English EC
BUSVirgin Islands English EC
7
The Distribution contd
Country Official Lang.(s) Mass Vernacular/Creole Other Languages
Haiti French Creole, French French Creole -
Guadeloupe French French Creole -
Martinique French French Creole -
8
The Distribution contd
Country Official Language Mass Vernacular/Creole Other Languages
St. Lucia English FC, EC -
Grenada English EC FC
Dominica English FC, EC -
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The Distribution contd
Country Official Language Mass Vernacular Other Languages
Aruba Dutch Papiamentu E S
Bonaire Dutch Papiamentu English
Curacao Dutch Papiamentu E S
St. Maarten Dutch EC E, P S
Seba Dutch EC E, P S
St. Eustatius Dutch EC E, P S
10
The Distribution contd
Country Official Lanugage Mass Vernacular Other Languages
Guyana English EC Amerindian languages
Suriname Dutch Sranan Saramaccan, Ndjuka, Javanese, Sarnami,English
Trinidad English EC FC, Spanish Bhojpuri
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The Labels Which Better Reflect The Linguistic
Realities

• Continuum
• Diglossia
• Bilingualism/Multilingualism

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Labels contd

• Labels may refer to the speech community
• or the individual.
• Always keep in mind the De facto
• (factual/real) and the De Jure
• (legal/law) situation.

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The Creole Continuum

• What is the Creole Continuum
• a continuous spectrum of speech varieties
  ranging from the Creole to the standard language.
• Main levels of the continuum
• Acrolect (standard variety)
• Mesolect (intermediate varieties)
• Basilect (Creole)

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The Creole Continuum contd

• The Creole Continuum is usually used to describe
  the linguistic situation in Jamaica and Guyana.
• (Read DeCamps quote in Rickford 198718 )

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The Creole Continuum contd

• Many Jamaicans and Guyanese persist in the myth
  that there are but two varieties the patois and
  the standard.
• The standard is not British English (as is the
  claim) rather there is an evolving standard
  (Jamaican, Guyanese) English which is mutually
  intelligible with but different from the British
  Standard.

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The Creole Continuum contd

• Each speaker (Jamaican Guyanese) commands a span
  of this spectrum. The breath of the span depends
  on -
• The breath of his/her social contacts (DeCamp
  1971350) which among other things is informed by
  his/her education and the need to portray his
  presence in or familiarity with a particular
  social group (acts of identity).

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The Creole Continuum contd

• Guyanese e.g.
• I told him
• Ai told him (Acrolectal)
• A tel im
• A tel ii
• Mi tel am (Basilectal)
• (Jamaican example from H/Work)

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The Creole Continuum contd

• Jamaican e.g.
• I was walking to school
• Ai woz waakin tu skuul
• A woz a waak tu skuul
• mi woz a waak go skuul
• mi did a waak go skuul
• mi wehn a waak go skuul
• mi wehn de waak go skuul
• mi behn a waak go skuul
• mi behn de waak go skuul

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The continuum contd

• Things to consider
• What is so special about the Caribbean continuum
  situation?
• Is the continuum a social or linguistic
  description?
• How may underlying systems are were really
  dealing with one, two, three?
• Are we just speaking of diglossia anyway?
• Can the acrolect, mesolect and basilect be
  clearly isolated?

20
Diglossia

• The concept was developed by Ferguson (1959) and
  extended in its scope by Fishman (1971).
• A diglossic situation is one in which there
  exists two separate language varieties, each with
  its own specific functions within the society
  (Devonish, 19869)

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Diglossia contd

• A diglossic situation exists in a society when
  it has two distinct codes which show clear
  functional separation that is one is employed in
  one set of circumstances and the other in an
  entirely different set (Wardhaugh 198687)

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Diglossia contd

• In diglossic situations the High language
  variety is the one used in writing, in education,
  in government administrative and legal
  institutions, and generally in public and formal
  situations.
• These domains are dominated by and under the
  control of the ruling class and their values
  (Devonish 19869)

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Diglossia contd

• Diglossia is a relatively stable language
  situation in which, in addition to the primary
  dialects of the language (which may include a
  standard or regional standards), there is a very
  divergent, highly codified (often grammatically
  more complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of
  a large and respected body of written literature,
  either of an earlier period

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Diglossia contd

• Or in another speech community, which is learned
  largely by formal education and is used for most
  written and formal spoken purposes but is not
  used by any sector of the community for ordinary
  conversation (Ferguson 1959336)

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Diglossia contd

• The Low variety is the one used by the mass of
  the population in the course of their everyday
  private and informal interaction, within the
  family, and in the various forms of popular
  culture.
• It typically involves two distinct language but
  may also involve dialects of the same language.

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Defining Characteristics of Diglossia

• Both varieties are kept apart functionally.
• The H variety is the prestige variety L lacks
  prestige.
• H is highly codified.
• All children learn the L variety.
• H variety is usually learnt in school.
• L variety tends to borrow learned words from the
  H variety especially to express new ideas.

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Examples of Diglossic Situations outside the
Caribbean

• Arabia - Classic Arabic (H) and the various
  colloquial varieties (L)
• Swiss Germany -Standard German (H )and Swiss
  German (L)
• Greece - Kataharevousa (H) Demotic (L)

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Diglossia contd

• Haiti was once seen as the prime example of
  Diglossia in the Caribbean.
• Standard French (H) and French Creole (L)
• FC has been given Official status. The Speech
  community by law is bilingual.
• Most of the population is monolingual in French
  Creole (In light of this, consider that for
  diglossia to persist the individual has to
  command both codes) Are speakers in Haiti really
  diglossic?

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Monolingualism

• Refers to the ability to use a single language.
• The speech community and the majority of
  individuals can be monolingual. Example Cuba
  (official language is Spanish and the Mass
  Vernacular is Spanish)
• Keep in mind that in this situation individuals
  may be bi/multilingual.

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Bilingualism and Multilingualism

• Refers to the ability to speak more than one
  languages (Bi-two and Multi-multiple/several).
• When is a person truly bilingual? (Extremesknows
  a few words? cannot be differentiated from a
  native speaker)
• A bilingual speaker will switch between codes and
  is not necessarily
• restricted by speech context.
• Example of bilingual speech community outside the
  Caribbean is Canada (French and English).
• For e.g. of Caribbean bilingual situation
  consider individual/defacto situation (examine
  Puerto Rico which has English as an additional
  language in the speech community but it (English)
  is not official)
• Multilingual Suriname, Trinidad, Curacao

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Multilingualism outside of the Caribbean

• The Tukano (live in the Northwest Amazon, on the
  border between Colombia and Brazil).
• Multilingualism is the norm in this community
  because men must marry outside their language
  group. They choose women from various tribes.
  After marriage the women move into the mens
  households. Consequently in any village several
  languages are used.

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Conclusion

• The key is being able to argue the extent to
  which the labels adequately capture the
  linguistic situation in the territories.
• ALL THE BEST!!!