LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.11.19 (01) [E/Papiamentu]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
L O W L A N D S - L * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/index.php?page=rules
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org or lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Commands ("signoff lowlands-l" etc.): listserv at listserv.net
Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
Archives: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8) [Please switch your view mode to it.]
=======================================================================
You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request.
To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
text from the same account to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or
sign off at http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
=======================================================================
A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
=======================================================================

   L O W L A N D S - L * 19 November 2005 * Volume 01
=======================================================================

From: Ingmar Roerdinkholder <ingmar.roerdinkholder at WORLDONLINE.NL>
Subject: LL-L "Anniversary" 2005.11.18 (06) [Papiamentu]

Ami ke sabi esei tambe, Shon Ron...
So, the question is:
could people who know Spanish or Portuguese follow our little dialogue in
Papiamento? And, what do they think about this language - you can also
read the Papiamento Wren tranlation at the A-site. Unfortunately not
listen to it (yet?), but I can assure you that Papiamento has a very
typical, pleasant sentence melody, and it is also unique in the sense that
is has tonal pitch accent - a heritage from the speakers of the languages
of the slaves of course, who brought the Portuguese trading pidgin with
them from West Africa. The other Creole with tonal accents is the
Portuguese based Saramaccan of the Surinamese Bush Negroes.
Later on, massive Spanish influence from neighbouring Venezuela took place
on the creole language of the slaves in Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire, and
Papiamento was born.

Ingmar

Reinchi a skirbi:
>P.S.: Ami lo gusta na konosé si nos amigunan kén por lesa Spaño o/í
>Portuges por komprende kí nos ta bisando aki.

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language varieties

Halo atrobe, Ingmar, mi kompai, í danki pa e aklarashon pa nos amigunan!

I completely agree with you about the fascinating nature or features of 
Papiamentu.  Well, actually, I would extend this to *all* "mixed" languages 
(and there's no language that doesn't fascinate me, anyhow, not is there a 
language that isn't "mixed" in some way).  This probably applies to all 
lovers of languages (with emphasis on the plural, because people that are 
fascinated by only one language also tend to be purists and thus to 
disapprove of "mixing").

> And, what do they think about this language - you can also
> read the Papiamento Wren tranlation at the A-site.

They can also read my introduction to the language:
http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/index.php?page=papiamentu-info

I'll post it below for the interested but lazy ones among them.  ;-)

(By the way, I'm open to suggestions re all my introductions -- which are 
supposed to be as brief as possible -- and I still need a decent intro to 
Dutch.)

Please note what I write (at the end) about the much-noted tonal feature. 
According to my analysis it is a case of tonal stress, apparently as a 
result of a marriage between tonal types of (African) languages with 
"normal" stress assigning languages (Portuguese, Portuguese Ladino, Spanish, 
Spanish Ladino, Dutch, English, probably indigenous and now extinct 
Antillian Carib Arawakan varieties).

As some of our Lowlanders must have noticed by now -- if they hadn't been 
aware of it earlier -- Papiamentu has absorbed a hefty lexical dose of 
Dutch.  Here a few examples:

lesa 'to read', warda 'to wait', drùif 'grape', 'grapevine', was 'wax', 
wòrs(t) 'sausage', kantu '(water's) edge', oloshi 'clock', ferf 'paint', 
blek 'pale', èmer ~ hèmber ~ hèmchi 'pail', 'bucket', korant 'newspaper', 
leim 'glue', 'paste', trapi 'ladder', laat 'late', laker '(cloth) sheet', 
vak 'section', 'division', vèlt 'field', verkout 'cold' (illness), za(g) 
'saw', zin 'phrase', 'sentence', zürstòf 'oxygen', zuip 'whip', zolder 
'loft', funda 'found'

English loans:
chòis 'choice', waf 'warf', waya 'wire', we(i)ta 'waiter', ènvelop 
'envelop', djis 'just', 'only'

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

***
The beginnings of Papiamentu (also known as Papiamento) seem to have been in 
contacts between Portuguese, African languages and indigenous Arawak 
varieties, with later additions of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), Dutch, Spanish 
and English, among others. The name of the language originally meant 
something like “colloquially,” based on the archaic Portuguese and Spanish 
verb _papear_ or _papiar_ ‘to converse’. Primarily West Africans, including 
Cape Verdeans, arrived on the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao) by 
way of slave trade dominated by Sephardic Jews from Portugal and Brazil, 
later to be joined by Ladino speakers with ancestry in Spain. All the 
languages that came together left imprints on Papiamentu, but its base 
appears to be a mix of Portuguese and Spanish.
     Papiamentu is the first language of the majority of people born and 
raised in the Netherlands Antilles. However, only as a result of language 
activism did it begin to enjoy a positive and official status in 1995, and 
it is now widely used in the media. In Bonaire and Curaçao it is currently 
used in the first two years of primary education. Most of its speakers are 
conversant in Dutch, English and Spanish as well. Lately, the language is 
being more and more influenced by Spanish, which is considered prestigeous 
in the region. Outside the region, Papiamento is primarily used in the 
Netherlands, Sint Maarten, Saba, Statia and Puerto Rico.
      Papiamentu is widely regarded as being a rare tonal Creole, influenced 
by tonal West African languages. While it is true that a high tone (here ´) 
and a low tone (here `) are used, probably West African in origin, these 
appear to be merely realizations of stressed and unstressed syllables 
respectively; e.g., _sálà_ ‘living-room’ (cf. Spanish _sAla_), sàlá ‘to salt’ 
(cf. Spanish salAr); biáhà ‘voyage’ (cf. Spanish viAje), biàhá ‘to travel’ 
(cf. Spanish viajAr). In other words, Papiamentu has tonal stress: primary 
stress carries a high tone, while other syllables carry a low tone. 

==============================END===================================
* Please submit postings to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
  to be sent to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or at
  http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
======================================================================