Language Maintenance and Language Shift in Dominica

Christie, Pauline

doi:10.1080/00086495.1982.11829333

Cited by 18 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…All Patwa speech was transcribed with this orthography. For descriptions of the genesis, grammar, and phonology of Patwa, see Amastae 1979aAmastae , 1983Christie 1982;Holm 1989;Taylor 1977;Wylie 1995. 3 Kwan-Terry 1992 followed one bilingual Cantonese-English child from age 3.5 to 5 years.…”

Section: N O T E Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Multilingual play: Children's code-switching, role play, and agency in Dominica, West Indies

Paugh¹

2005

Lang. Soc.

164

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In Dominica, rural adults forbid children from speaking Patwa (a Frenchlexicon creole) in favor of acquiring English (the official language), contributing to a rapid language shift in most villages. However, adults value Patwa for a range of expressive functions and frequently code-switch around and to children. Children increasingly use English but employ Patwa for some functions during peer play when away from adults. This study examines how, despite possible sanctions, children use Patwa to enact particular adult roles during peer play, and what this signifies about their knowledge of role-and place-appropriate language use. Critically, they draw on their verbal resources and physically embodied social action to create imaginary play spaces both organized by and appropriate for Patwa. The examination of children's social worlds provides a more nuanced picture of language shift-and potential maintenance-than observing only adult-adult or adultchild interaction. (Language socialization, language shift, code-switching, children, role play, creole, Dominica, Caribbean.)* I N T R O D U C T I O N A growing body of literature on peer interactions in multilingual settings illustrates that adolescents and school-age children use code-switching for a variety of functions, such as structuring play, games, and other activities, negotiating meanings and rights, and asserting their shifting identities and allegiances (e.g.,

show abstract

Section: N O T E Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Multilingual play: Children's code-switching, role play, and agency in Dominica, West Indies

Paugh¹

2005

Lang. Soc.

164

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Access to these two varieties is distributed differentially throughout the population. If we consider first the case of Dominica, Christy (1982) reports a range of linguistic competencies from monolingual Kwéyôl speakers to monolingual English speakers. However, there is evidence of a considerable shift over the last fifty years or so from a situation in which the majority of the population were monolingual Kwéyôl speakers, to one in which the majority are bilingual in Kwéyôl and an English-lexicon creóle.…”

Section: Language Culture and Curriculummentioning

confidence: 99%

The quest for status: Accrediting Kwéyòl language and literacy courses in the UK

Nwenmely

1995

Language, Culture and Curriculum

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Christie (2010) also notes the existence of another English‐based variety, Kokoy, spoken in the north‐east region of Dominica but she maintains that this variety is recognisably different from anything within the Dominica Creole English‐Dominican standardised English continuum that she proposes. There is extensive discussion of language shift in Dominica in Christie (1982, 1983, 1990, 1994, 2010) but to my knowledge, Christie's (2010) brief list of features is the most comprehensive description of its grammar available. Irvine (2020) provides a slightly more detailed outline of some of the major features of Dominica Creole English.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

St. Lucia Creole English and Dominica Creole English

Irvine

2020

World Englishes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper provides a comparative sketch of two emergent creoles: St. Lucia Creole English and Dominica Creole English. With very similar circumstances surrounding their formation and emergence, it is expected that they will have many features in common. While this is generally the case, however, this paper also outlines some areas in which their grammars diverge. This research represents original data for varieties that are somewhat under-documented and calls for further data collection and fieldwork to confirm the patterns found here. INTRODUCTIONIn the last 150 years, two new languages have emerged in the Caribbean under very similar circumstances: St. Lucia Creole English and Dominica Creole English. With such closely matched formation processes and varieties contributing to its emergence, it would be reasonable to assume that the language varieties share many of their features. Recent fieldwork in St. Lucia revealed a perception amongst some participants, however, that Dominica's 'dialect' is less 'Standard English-like' than that of St. Lucia. This paper aims to begin exploring whether there are any significant morphosyntactic differences between St. Lucia Creole English and Dominica Creole English. The description below therefore presents a number of features found in both Dominica Creole English and St. Lucia Creole English, followed by some features which appear to be in Dominica Creole English but are infrequent or unattested in St. Lucia Creole English. Due to current data availability, it would not be fruitful to present features that are present in St. Lucia Creole English but not (or not yet) attested in Dominica Creole English. This paper also represents one of very few descriptions available on Dominica Creole English (and St. Lucia Creole English to a lesser extent).The goals of the paper are as follows:a) to provide new data from two currently under-documented varieties, b) to establish the similarities and differences in some of their features, and c) to highlight the need for further documentation, particularly in Dominica.It is also hoped that this new data will eventually contribute to discussions on contact language formation processestheories of creole genesis have been plagued by a lack of evidence due to the scarcity of data from creoles in the early

show abstract

Language Maintenance and Language Shift in Dominica

Cited by 18 publications

References 1 publication

Multilingual play: Children's code-switching, role play, and agency in Dominica, West Indies

Multilingual play: Children's code-switching, role play, and agency in Dominica, West Indies

The quest for status: Accrediting Kwéyòl language and literacy courses in the UK

St. Lucia Creole English and Dominica Creole English

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About