LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.11.19 (03) [E/Papiamentu]

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   L O W L A N D S - L * 19 November 2005 * Volume 03
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From: Jacqueline Bungenberg de Jong <Dutchmatters at comcast.net>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.11.19 (01) [E/Papiamentu]

Re: Here are a few examples of Dutch words absorbed in Papiamentu
Ron says zuip = English whip.
That is interesting because whip in Dutch is zweep, but there is a closer
cognate in zuip(en) pejorative for to drink. I would expect the old
slavemasters to use zuipen rather than drinken. Oh well, so it goes.
Jacqueline

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From: Jacqueline Bungenberg de Jong <Dutchmatters at comcast.net>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2005.11.19 (02) [E/Papiamentu]

Ron says:
<< it became clear to me that in the
<old days of European supremacy (real and imagined) colonists and their
<helpers, most of whom had little or no education and little or no incentive

<to regard indigenous people as being real human beings (in part to protect
<themselves from compassion), either believed that all "Kanakas" anywhere in

<the world had one type of "primitive" language, or they believed that
<"primitive," "childish" linguae francae were all they deserved or could be
<expected to learn.
Ron, maybe you are assigning worse motives to the "colonists" than is
necessary. People that have to converse with people who do not understand
them usually start with some kind of "desperanto" which leans heavy on
nouns, pointing and mimicry of verbs. And if that works fine.! Unless a
person is a linguistic genius like you must be, learning a language is
difficult. Want to "see" me speak Italian?

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

Kunbai, Jacqueline í Ulpi! Ami ta kontento ke esaki tópiko ta interesante pa 
bo, tambe ke bo por komprende (hopi di) Papiamentu, Ulpi.

Hi, Jacqueline and Ulpi! I'm happy to see you find this topic interesting, 
also that you can understand (much of the) Papiamentu, Ulpi.

Jacqueline:

> Ron says zuip = English whip.
> That is interesting because whip in Dutch is zweep, but there is a closer
> cognate in zuip(en) pejorative for to drink. I would expect the old
> slavemasters to use zuipen rather than drinken. Oh well, so it goes.

I'm afraid _zuip_ really does come from _zweep_ 'whip', 'lash'.  Don't be 
fooled by the spelling <ui> here.  It looks Dutch but isn't, is in fact 
pronounced something like [Ui] or [wi].

'To drink' is _bebe_ (cf. Spanish & Portuguese _beber_).  I'm not sure there 
is a Papiamentu equivalent of Dutch _zuipen_ (also Low Saxon 
_supen_/_zoepen_, German _saufen_) 'to drink' (of animals), 'to imbibe 
excessively', 'to carouse', 'to be a drunk'.  A 'drunk' (Dutch _zuiper_ or 
_zuiplap_) is a _buraché_, 'drunkenness' is _buracheria_, _fuma_ is the 
adjective 'drunk' (but 'to smoke', Spanish _fumar_, is _huma_), and if you 
are as soused as you can possibly be (Dutch _stomdroken_) you are 
_stòmburachi_ (nice Dutch-Spanish mix!).  (Compare Spanish _borracho_ 
'drunk' (adj & n), _emborracharse_ 'to get drunk', Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) 
_borračo_ 'drunk', _borračéz_ (Spanish _embriaguez_).)

> Ron, maybe you are assigning worse motives to the "colonists" than is
> necessary. People that have to converse with people who do not understand
> them usually start with some kind of "desperanto" which leans heavy on
> nouns, pointing and mimicry of verbs. And if that works fine.! Unless a
> person is a linguistic genius like you must be, learning a language is
> difficult. Want to "see" me speak Italian?

I would certainly give the individual the benefit of the doubt, and I am 
well aware that in the _Tempo Doeloe_ (the time of Dutch colonization of 
Indonesia) and in fact in all colonizing empires there have always been 
Europeans that appreciated indigenous people, languages and cultures, and 
there have always been cases of them "going native," much to the chagrin of 
their compatriots.  I was just sharing the overall impression I received 
from reading precontemporary records about general attitudes.  Even many, 
probably most, of the books of that time that were supposed to teach 
Europeans about the cultures of colonized countries contained descriptions 
and generalizations that nowadays would be funny if they weren't so sad, 
especially passages about "national mentality/character" (which I have seen 
discussed in some European publications even in this day and age, e.g., "the 
... are a very proud and courageous people") and advice about the way the 
"natives" must be handled (usually something well-meaning like "handle them 
firmly, yet with kindness").  I invite you to read old textbooks teaching 
Asian and African languages.  The dialogues tend to tell quite a lot of 
stories.  Most of them are between Europeans and servants (things like "Why 
did you not tell me you broke the vase, Mwaka?", "I need you to go to the 
market and buy the items I drew on this list, and you must not dawdle this 
time.", "Call Sarish to my drawing room this very instant, for he failed to 
brush my riding boots!")

Language learning ability and human relations and attitudes aside, my 
hypothesis is that there had been migrating *traditions* of contact language 
creation, traditions that came to be spread mostly by Europeans and by 
intercolonial migration and communication, traditions that may at least in 
part explain the similarities between the various pidgins and creoles.  From 
the little I know about Portuguese-, Spanish-, French- and Russian-based 
contact languages (except trade pidgins like Russonorse) I can tell that 
there seem to be similar if not identical indications.  Such contact 
languages were probably considered very convenient among the Europeans 
because they were relatively easy to learn and they could be used in more 
than one place, hence greatly facilitating communication with ordinary 
subjects within the whole of a given empire, certainly in the beginning, 
before general education came to be established and the colonizers' 
languages came to be taught everywhere.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron 

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