SYNTACTIC INNOVATION IN A CARIBBEAN CREOLE: THE BASTIMENTOS VARIETY OF PANAMANIAN CREOLE ENGLISH

Abstract

This article examines the origins of the past tense marker woz, which is in variation with di(d), in the English-derived creole spoken on the Panamanian island of Bastimentos in the Caribbean Sea. This study of language variation suggests that the concepts of decreolization as well as the Creole continuum itself have limited applications in regions where the national language is unrelated lexically to a creole spoken within its national borders. It also suggests that decreolization as an explanatory model has been overapplied in general, and that some variation phenomena designated as the result of language contact may instead be disguised examples of internally-motivated change or at least the result of multiple causation (i.e. a combination of internally-and externally-motivated factors).

Review of Montgomery (1994): The crucible of Carolina: Essays in the development of Gullah language and culture

“…She also offers evidence that da in perfective (or [+past]) contexts is not a phonetic variant of the past tense marker di(d), and thus this (relatively) new function for da must have a target different from that assumed in a model of decreolization. Aceto (1996), who exam ines variation between the past tense marker di(d) and the innovation woz in the Bastimentos variety of Panamanian Creole English (e.g., ši woz siŋ 'she sang'), agrees with this general conclusion -that is, variation in the verb complex need not always be explained in terms of externally-induced change such as decreolization.…”

Variation in a secret creole language of Panama

“…New research (Aceto 1995) demonstrates that, in the Anglophone Caribbean area, structural innovation may be a considerable (though not exclusive) factor behind some examples of language variation and change, to a greater extent than is usually considered by creolists. This cryptolect, based on the English-derived Creole spoken as a first language by Afro-Panamanians of West Indian descent, displays lexical, phonological, and syntactic variation in the shift from creole to Gypsy utterances.…”

“…This article derives from fieldwork which resulted in data from more than 20 speakers in more than 30 hours of interviews and natural discourse (see Aceto 1995). From this pool of consultants, three were willing and able to provide data on this cryptolect.…”

“…The variety of PCE spoken in Bastimentos has heretofore been undocumented (see Aceto 1995). The variety of PCE spoken in Bastimentos has heretofore been undocumented (see Aceto 1995).…”

Tourism and small-language persistence in a Panamanian Creole village

“…Significantly smaller populations of creole speakers live in the mainland city of Changuinola near the Costa Rican border, on the island of Carenero, and in a few small, extremely remote villages east of the Peninsula Valiente on the Golfo de los Mosquitos. While Herzfeld (1983aHerzfeld ( , 1983b provides some preliminary data and a brief history of PCE in Bocas del Toro, the only variety of PCE in Bocas del Toro that has been studied in any detail is the variety spoken in Old Bank (see Aceto 1995Aceto , 1996aAceto , 1996bSnow 2000aSnow , 2000b.…”