The rocky road to education in creole

Authors

  • Angela Bartens University of Helsinki Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v2i2.27

Keywords:

minority and creole languages, language planning and promotion, education

Abstract

The first part of this paper examines measures for promoting minority languages applicable to creole language speaking communities. It is found that there is no language which is superior because of structural features but that most creole speaking communities continue to struggle with the prejudice that their language is “bad” or “broken” English, French , Spanish or Portuguese to such an extent that auto-odi has become part of the linguistic identity. Hence the importance of valorization campaigns to precede and accompany status and corpus planning measures. Language promotion is vital to these communities as it constitutes an opportunity for approximating sociocultural—and hence socio-economic—stability. The focus of the discussion lies on the specific characteristics of creole speaking communities, e.g. continuum situations, and on the educational domain. In the second part of the paper, the language promotion measures undert a ken in the educational domain by specific communities speaking creole languages based on Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, and African languages are discussed. The third and final section attempts an evaluation of the preceding discussion with the Chabacano community of the Philippines in mind.

References

Alleyne, M. (1994). “Problems of standardization of creole languages”. In M. Morgan (ed.), The Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies, UCLA, 7-18.

Appel, R. & L. Verhoeven (1995). “Decolonization, language planning and education”. In J. Arends, P. Muysken & N. Smith (eds.), Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 65-74.

Augel, M.P. (2000). “No ka pudi tapa sol ku mon-o crioulo guineense como língua literária?”. Papia 10, 5-22.

Baker, P. (1990). “Off target?”. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 5(1), 107-19.

Baker, C. & S. Prys Jones (1998). “African languages”. Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters, 355-67.

Bamgbose, A. (2000). Language and Exclusion: The Consequences of Language Policies in Africa. Münster: Lit Verlag / London: Global.

Baptista, M. (1996). “Capeverdean (under)representation in bilingual education at stake”. Cimboa 1, 23-25.

Baptista, M. (1998). The Sociolinguistic Situation in the Cape Verde Islands. UNESCO: The World Languages Report Questionnaire. [Available in the Creolist Archives.]

Bartens, A. (1995). Die ibero romanisch-basierten Kreolsprachen: Ansätze der linguistischen Beschreibung. Frankfurt & Main: Peter Lang.

Bartens, A. (1996). Der kreolische Raum: Geschichte und Gegenwart. Helsinki: Die Finnische Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Bartens, A. (1999a). “A génese dos crioulos caboverdianos por difusão componencial e a importância dos estudos dialectológicos”. In K. Zimmermann (ed.), Lenguas criollas de base española y portuguesa. Frankfurt & Madrid: Vervuert & Iberoamericana, 67-88.

Bartens, A. (1999b). “Existe-t-il un système verbal semi-créole?”. Neuphilologische Mitteilungen [1998], 99(4), 379-99.

Bartens, A. (2000). “Notes on componential diffusion in the genesis of the Kabuverdianu cluster”. In J. McWhorter (ed.), Current Issues in Pidgin and Creole Linguistics. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 35-61.

Beckford Wassink, A. (1999). “Historic low prestige and seeds of change: Attitudes toward Jamaican creole”. Language in Society 28(1), 57-92.

Berotte Joseph, C.M. (1997). “Haitian Creole in New York”. In O. García & J.A. Fishman (eds.), The Multilingual Apple: Languages in New York City. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 281-99.

Boggs, S.T. (1985). Speaking, Relating, and Learning: A Study of Hawaiian Children at Home and at School. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.

Bollée, A. (1993). “Language policy in the Seychelles and its consequences”. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 102, 85-99.

C a rrington, L. (1976). “Determining language education policy in Caribbean sociolinguistic complexes”. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 8, 127-43.

Chaudenson, R. & P. Vernet (1983). L’école en créole. Étude comparée des reformes des systèmes éducatifs en Haïti et aux Seychelles. Paris: ACCT.

Christie, P. (ed.) (1996). Caribbean Language Issues: Old and New. Papers in Honor of Professor Mervin Alleyne on Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday. Barbados: The Press of the University of the West Indies.

Couto, H.H. do (1997). Creole and Education in Guinea-Bissau. Paper presented at the Third Annual Creole Language Workshop, FIU (Miami), March 20-22, 1997.

Craig, D.R. (1980). “Models for educational policy in creole-speaking communities”. In A. Valdman & A. Highfield (eds.), Theoretical Orientations in Creole Studies. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney & San Francisco: Academic Press, 245-65.

Craig, D.R. (2000). Teaching Language and Literacy Policies and Procedures for Vernacular Situations. Georgetown, Guyana: Education And Development Services.

DeCamp, D. (1971). “Introduction: The study of pidgin and creole languages”. In D. Hymes (ed.), Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 13-39.

Dejean, Y. (1993). “An overview of the language situation in Haiti”. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 102, 73-83.

Devonish, H. (1986). Language and Liberation: Creole Language Politics in the Caribbean. London: Karia Press.

Devonish, H. (1996). “Vernacular languages and writing technology transfer: The Jamaican case”. In P. Christie (ed.), Caribbean Language Issues: Old and New. Papers in Honor of Professor Mervin Alleyne on Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday. Barbados: The Press of the University of the West Indies, 101-11.

Dijkhoff, M. (2000). “Language Policy in the Netherlands Antilles”. Paper presented at the 13th Biennial Conference of the Society for Caribbean Linguistics, Mona, Jamaica, August 16-19, 2000.

Diki-Kidiri, M. (1994). “Développer le sango en tant que langue officielle”. In H. Pasch (ed.), Sango: The National Official Language of the Central African Republic. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 25-31.

Durizot Jno-Baptiste, P. (1996a). La question du créole à l’école en Guadeloupe: quelle dynamique? Paris & Montréal: L’Harmattan.

Durizot Jno-Baptiste, P. (1996b). “L’évolution de la question du créole à l’école en Guadeloupe”. In A. Yacou (éd.), Créoles de la Caraïbe. Actes du colloque universitaire en hommage à Guy Hazaël-Massieux, Pointe-à-Pitre, le 27 mars 1995. Paris: Karthala / CERC, 71-77.

Dyche, C. (1996). “Writing proficiency in English and academic performance”. In P. Christie (ed.), Caribbean Language Issues: Old and New. Papers in Honor of Professor Mervin Alleyne on Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday. Barbados: The Press of the University of the West Indies, 143-59.

Eades, D. & J. Siegel (1999). “Changing attitudes towards Australian creoles and aboriginal English”. In J.R. Rickford & S. Romaine (eds.), Creole Genesis, Attitudes and Discourse. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 265-77.

Ehret, R. (1997). “Language development and the role of English in Krio”. English World-Wide 18(2), 171-89.

Elugbe, B.O. (1995). “Nigerian pidgin: Problems and prospects”. In A. Bamgbose, A. Banjo & A. Thomas (eds.), New Englishes: A West African Perspective. Ibadan: Mosuro & British Council, 284-99.

Elugbe, B.O. & A.P. Omamor (1991). Nigerian Pidgin: Background and Prospects. Ibadan: Heinemann.

Espírito Santo, C. (1985). “Situação actual da língua portuguesa nas ilhas de S. Tomé e Príncipe”. Actas do Congresso sobre a situação actual da língua portuguesa no mundo, [Lisboa 1983]. Lisboa: Instituto de Cultura e Língua Portuguesa , vol. I, 253-60.

Fishman, J.A. (ed.) (1982). Bilingual Education for Hispanic Students in the United States. New York: Teachers’College, Columbia University.

Foley, J.A. (1992). “What future for Kreol Morisiyen?”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 13(4), 359-72.

Gerbault, J. (1994). “The development of Sango literacy in Central African society”. In Helma Pasch (ed.), Sango: The National Official Language of the Central African Republic. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 71-84.

Gonsalves, G.E. (1996). “Language policy and reform: The case of Cape Verdean”. In C.E. Walsh (ed.), Education Reform and Social Change: Multicultural Voices, Struggles, and Visions. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 31-36.

Grosjean, F. (1982). Life with Two Languages: An Introduction to Bilingualism. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Hamel, R.E. (ed.) (1995). Derechos humanos lingüísticos en sociedades multiculturales (= Alteridades 5(10)). México: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.

Heine, B. (1968). Afrikanisches Verkehrssprachen. Köln: Infratest.

Hornberger, N.H. (1998). “Language policy, language education, language rights: Indigenous, immigrant, and international perspectives”. Language in Society 27(4), 439-58.

Howe, K. (1993). “Haitian Creole as the official language in education and the media”. In F. Byrne & J. Holm (eds.), Atlantic Meets Pacific: A Global View of Pidginization and Creolization. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 291-98.

Hulstaert, G. (1989). “L’origine du lingala”. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 17, 81-114.

Kephart, R. (1985). ‘It Have More Soft Words’: A Study of Creole English and Reading in Carriacou, Grenada. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms.

Kephart, R. (1992). “Reading Creole English does not destroy your brain cells!”. In J. Siegel (ed.), Pidgins, Creoles and Nonstandard Dialects in Education. Melbourne: Applied Linguistics Association of Australia, 67-86.

Kephart, R. (1999). Report on a Creole English Reading Experiment. Paper presented at the Seminar on Language, Education and Culture in the Context of the Western Caribbean, San Andrés (Colombia), May 21-22, 1999.

Knappert, J. (1979). “The origin and development of Lingala”. In I.F. Hancock, E. Polomé, M. Goodman & B. Heine (eds.), Readings in Creole Studies. Ghent: E. Story-Scientia, 153-64.

Koyt, M.M. (1994). “La situation du sango en République Centrafricaine”. In H. Pasch (ed.), Sango: The National Official Language of the Central African Republic. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 13-23.

Kremnitz, G. (1983). Français et créole: ce qu’en pensent les enseignants. Le conflit linguistique à la Martinique. Hamburg: Buske.

Lipski, J. (1987). “Modern Spanish once-removed in Philippines Creole Spanish: The case of Zamboangueño”. Language in Society 16(1), 91-108.

McCourtie, L. (1998). “The politics of creole language education in Jamaica: 1891–1921 and the 1990es”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 19(2), 108-27.

McWhorter, J. (1998). “Identifying the creole prototype: Vindicating a typological class”. Language 74(4), 788-818.

Menacker, T. (1998). “A visit to CAP”. PACE 9, 3-4.

Minority Rights Group (1994). Education Rights and Minorities. London: Minority Rights Group.

Moïse, Cl. (2000). “De la politique linguistique à la politique, quelle place du chercheur dans la cité?”. Grenzgänge 13, 38-48.

Morgan, M. (ed.) (1994). The Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies, UCLA.

Mufwene, S.S. (1986). “The universalist and substrate hypotheses complement one another”. In P. Muysken & N. Smith (eds.), Substrata Versus Universals in Creole Genesis. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 129-62.

Mufwene, S.S. (1997). “Kitúba”. In S.G. Thomason (ed.), Contact Languages: A Wider Perspective. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 173-208.

Mühlhäusler, P. (1995). “Attitudes to literacy in the pidgins and creoles of the Pacific area”. English World-Wide 16(2), 251-71.

Murtagh, E.J. (1982). “Creole and English as languages of instruction in bilingual education with aboriginal Australians: Some research findings” . International Journal of the Sociology of Language 36, 15-33.

Pasch, H. (1994). “Status and role of Sango in the Central African Republic as contrasted to French”. In H. Pasch (ed.), Sango: The National Official Language of the Central African Republic. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 85-97.

Pasch, H. (ed.) (1994). Sango: The National Official Language of the Central African Republic. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.

Pasch, H. (1997). “Sango”. In S.G. Thomason (ed.), Contact Languages: A Wider Perspective. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 209-70.

Perry, D. (2000). Perils of Papiamento. Press release AP-Willemstad, Curaçao, April 29, 2000, reproduced as a CreoLIST posting May 16, 2000.

Pollard, V. (1999). “Beyond grammar: Teaching English in an anglophone creole environment”. In J.R. Rickford & S. Romaine (eds.), Creole Genesis, Attitudes and Discourse. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 323-33.

Ravel, J.-L. & P. Thomas (1985). État de la réforme de l’enseignement aux Seychelles (1981–1985). Paris: Ministère des Relations Extérieures, Coopération et Développement.

Reinecke, J.E., S.M. Tsuzaki, D. DeCamp, I.F. Hancock & R.E. Wood (eds.) (1975). A Bibliography of Pidgin and Creole Languages. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii.

Reynolds, S. (1999). “Mutual intelligibility?: Comprehension problems between American Standard English and Hawai’i Creole English in Hawai’i’s public schools”. In J.R. Rickford & S. Romaine (eds.), Creole Genesis, Attitudes and Discourse. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 303-19.

Rickford, J.R. & S. Romaine (eds.) (1999). Creole Genesis, Attitudes and Discourse. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Roberts, P.A. (1994). “Integrating creole into Caribbean classrooms”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 15(1), 47-62.

Robertson, I. (1996). “Language policy (1): Towards a rational approach for Caribbean States”. In P. Christie (ed.), Caribbean Language Issues: Old and New. Papers in Honor of Professor Mervin Alleyne on Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday. Barbados: The Press of the University of the West Indies, 112-19.

Romaine, S. (1994). “Language standardization and linguistics fragmentation in Tok Pisin”. In Morgan (ed.), The Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies, UCLA, 19-42.

Romaine, S. (1995). Bilingualism. Oxford & Cambridge: Basil Blackwell [2nd edition].

Romaine, S. (1999). “Changing attitudes to Hawai’i Creole English: Fo’ find one good job, you gotta know how fo’ talk like one haole”. In J.R. Rickford & S. Romaine (eds.), Creole Genesis, Attitudes and Discourse. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 287-301.

Samarin, W.J. (1955). “Sango, an African lingua franca”. Word 11(2), 254-67.

Samarin, W.J. (1980). “Standardization and instrumentalization of creole languages”. In Valdman & Highfield (eds.), Theoretical Orientations in Creole Studies. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney & San Francisco: Academic Press, 213-36.

Samarin, W.J. (1982). “Goals, roles and language skills in colonizing central equatorial Africa”. Anthropological Linguistics 24(4), 410-22.

Shrimpton, N. (1995). “Standardizing the Krio language”. In Ph. Baker (ed.), From Contact to Creole and Beyond. London: University of Westminster Press, 217-28.

Siegel, J. (1992). “Teaching initial literacy in a pidgin language: A preliminary evaluation”. In J. Siegel (ed.), Pidgins, Creoles and Nonstandard Dialects in Education. Melbourne: Applied Linguistics Association of Australia, 53-62.

Siegel, J. (1993). “Pidgins and creoles in education in Australia and the Southwest Pacific”. In F. Byrne & J. Holm (eds.), Atlantic Meets Pacific: A Global View of Pidginization and Creolization. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 299-308.

Siegel, J. (1996). “Special report: PACE in Melanesia”. PACE 7.

Siegel, J. (1997). “Using a pidgin language in formal education: Help or hindrance?”. Applied Linguistics 18(1), 86-100.

Siegel, J. (1999). “Creoles and minority dialects in education: An overview”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 20(6), 508-31.

Simmons-McDonald, H. (1996). “Language policy (2): The case for formal education in St. Lucia”. In Pauline Christie (ed.), Caribbean Language Issues: Old and New. Papers in Honor of Professor Mervin Alleyne on Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday. Barbados: The Press of the University of the West Indies, 120-42.

Skutnabb-Kangas, T. & J. Cummins (eds.) (1988). Minority Education: From Shame to Struggle. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters.

Skutnabb-Kangas, T., R. Phillipson & M. Rannut (eds.) (1994). Linguistic Human Rights: Overcoming Linguistic Discrimination. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Thornell, C. (1994). “Reflections on the 1984 Sango orthography decree”. In H. Pasch (ed.), Sango: The National Official Language of the Central African Republic. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 33-55.

Valdman, A. & A. Highfield (eds.) (1980). Theoretical Orientations in Creole Studies. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney & San Francisco: Academic Press.

Valkhoff, M. (1975). “Le monde créole et les Iles du Cap Vert”. In M.F. Valkhoff (ed.), Miscelânea luso-africana. Lisboa: Junta de Investigações Científicas do Ultramar, 59-72.

Veiga, M. (1995). O crioulo de Cabo Verde. Introdução à gramática. Praia: Instituto Caboverdiano do Livro e do Disco / Instituto Nacional da Cultura.

Watson-Gegeo, K.A. (1994). “Language and education in Hawai’i: Sociopolitical and economic implications of Hawai’i Creole English”. In M. Morgan (ed.), The Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies, UCLA, 101-20.

Winer, L. (1989). “Variation and transfer in English Creole-Standard English language learning”. In M.R. Eisenstein (ed.), The Dynamic Interlanguage: Empirical Studies in Second Language Variation. New York: Plenum Press, 155-73.

Winer, L. (1990). “Orthographic standardization for Trinidad and Tobago: Linguistic and sociopolitical considerations”. Language Problems and Language Planning 14(3), 237-68.

Winer, L. & L. Jack (1997). “Caribbean English Creole in New York”. In O. García & J.A. Fishman (eds.), The Multilingual Apple: Languages in New York City. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 301-37.

Winford, D. (1994). “Sociolinguistic approaches to language use in the anglophone Caribbean”. In Morgan (ed.), The Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies, UCLA, 43-62.

Wurm, S.A. (1980). “Standardisation and instrumentalisation in Tok Pisin”. In A. Valdman & A. Highfield (eds.), Theoretical Orientations in Creole Studies. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney & San Francisco: Academic Press, 237-44.

Zéphir, F. (1997). “Haitian Creole language and bilingual education in the United States: Problem, right, or resource?”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 18(3), 223-37.

Zéphir, F. (1999). “Challenges for multicultural education: Sociolinguistic parallels between African American English and Haitian Creole”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 20(2), 134-54.

Published

2001-08-01

How to Cite

Bartens, A. (2001). The rocky road to education in creole. Sociolinguistic Studies, 2(2), 27-56. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v2i2.27