Creole and Dialect Continua

Whose Kriol is Moa Beta? Prestige and Dialects of Kriol in Belize

“…9 For example, Ravindranath (2009), writing primarily about language attitudes in the Garifuna community, suggests that Kriol is frequently seen as having greater overt prestige than Garifuna. This is a position that Escure (1997) and Bonnor (2001) take as well. Bonnor also discusses the less prestigious place of Kriol with respect to English, writing, "Creole speakers commonly defer to the superiority of speakers of foreign varieties of English, like those associated with the United States and England, and accord them greater prestige" (p.82).…”

“…27 According to the World Travel & Tourism Council's economic impact report on Belize for 2012, approximately 33 percent of Belize's GDP is tourism-based, with 30 percent of jobs in the country also directly related to tourism. For example, the coastal town of Placencia, where much of the work on Kriol and Garifuna reported in Escure (1981Escure ( , 1991Escure ( , 1997 was done, is no longer the rural, isolated fishing village described by Escure. In the last two decades the population has grown dramatically as a result of tourism, and there are many foreign-owned business and hotels, including one by the famous movie director Francis Ford Coppola.…”

Language Ideology, Gender, and Varieties of Belizean Kriol

“…9 For example, Ravindranath (2009), writing primarily about language attitudes in the Garinagu community, suggests that Kriol is frequently seen as having greater overt prestige than Garifuna. This is a position that Escure (1997) and Bonner (2001) take as well. According to Bonner, Garinagu are, in many respects, second-class citizens in Belize: many negative stereotypes surround their identity.…”

Pidgin and Creole Languages

“…For instance, studies of lectal continua (e.g., Escure, 1997) have had this potential, but little has been done by creolists to show how their findings may apply to other languages. For instance, studies of lectal continua (e.g., Escure, 1997) have had this potential, but little has been done by creolists to show how their findings may apply to other languages.…”