Dr Jo-Anne S Ferreira
Many popular myths surround Patois (known to linguists as French Creole or French-lexicon Creole), one of which, is that it is not a ‘real’ language, or that it lacks a ‘real’ grammar, or that it cannot be written, or that it is ‘simplified’ French. Patois may have many names: Patwa, Patuá, Creole, Créole, French Creole, Creole French, Kwéyòl and Kreyol, but the ones that do not befit the language are ‘patois’ with a common <p> or ‘broken French’. The term ‘broken French’ implies that speakers of Patois have never learned or been able to learn ‘good’ French, and, ultimately, that both the language and the speakers of the language are inadequate and inferior to French and to the French. As no language is ‘broken’ this view is the opposite of the truth. The European, African and mixed groups who contributed to the formation of Patois were resourceful, creating a new language to meet the needs of its multilingual African and European speakers, later including speakers of Indic and Chinese languages and Arabic.
While French has long had a reputation around the world as the language of culture, haute civilisation, and refined living, the reputation of Patois has been the reverse. In the past and, to some extent, the present, because of the higher socio-economic status of French speakers and the lower status of Patois speakers, Patois has been looked down on, even scorned, by native and non-native speakers alike. (Negative views of the language even extend to the common <p>, whereas the names of all respected languages such as English, French and Spanish are written with their initial uppercase letters.) This has everything to do with the social and historical origins of the language (namely, its association with slavery and with the lower socio-economic classes in French-governed societies), rather than any inherent and intrinsic linguistic ‘flaws.’
French Creole is spoken almost the world over, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. In the Americas, French Creole is spoken from Louisiana in the USA to Paria (Venezuela) and Amapá (Brazil) and in at least eight Caribbean territories. In the Caribbean, more than 12 million people speak the language, second only to Spanish. This is more than the number of English speakers and French speakers combined.
In countries around the world, the social and/or official status of French Creole varies greatly. In Haiti, Ayisyen (Haitian) is an official language along with French; Morisyen (Mauritius), Seselwa (Seychelles), Réunionnais (Réunion), and Kwéyòl (St. Lucia) are all making strides, with more and more literature being produced in each of these national varieties. In the French Caribbean départements, the language is a CAPES (postgraduate) subject.
In the north of the Brazilian state of Amapá, it is one of the languages of primary bilingual education, along with Portuguese. In these nations, specialists have helped to develop standardised spelling systems, and dictionaries and grammars have been published. Apart from academic works, pedagogical materials and story books, documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Bible have been translated into Haitian (St Lucian Kwéyòl has the New Testament). French Creole is used for an increasingly wide number of functions in a range of domains.
Although Tobago was claimed by the French, little or no trace of French or French Creole remained in Tobago, except for very few toponyms. Trinidad, on the other hand, was never claimed by the French. Although under Spanish control for some 300 years, from 1498 up to the period 1797-1803, (officially British from 1797), Trinidad became similar to former French colonies in many ways. The island was socially and culturally ‘colonised’ by the French from 1783. As historian Pierre-Gustave-Louis Borde put it, “Trinidad at that time seemed like a French colony which Spain had recently acquired.”
This came about because of the proclamation of the second Cedula de Población that allowed Catholic settlers and their enslaved workers, as well as free coloureds, entry into Trinidad. French citizens and others (including some Irish) came in droves, soon outnumbering the Spanish. With the French came the French and French Creole languages. By the time the British arrived, Trinidad’s population was about 28,000 people, of whom 20,000 were French Creole-speaking enslaved Africans.
While Spanish remained the language of government, of archival records and of the law courts, French was the language of commerce and society for many years. For some four decades after the arrival of the French, the French language was used for official purposes, until 1823, Governor Ralph Woodford having ruled in 1814 that English should be introduced into the law courts. Advertisements and correspondence in French continued to appear in the English-dominated newspapers of the mid-to-late nineteenth century. In 1845, attorney-general Charles William Warner, very powerful in his time, declared in the Legislative Council that “English rights and privileges should only be given to those who would take the trouble to learn English and to bring up their children in an English way.” By 1851, English was introduced via primary schools, which probably marked the beginning of the end of French, Patois and other languages in Trinidad.
In Trinidad, Patois became the lingua franca, crossing every ethnolinguistic, social and geographic boundary, and facilitating communication among speakers of over 20 languages in the mid-19th century. Many Patois speakers also spoke French and/or sang French songs, and many speakers of French, namely, French Creoles and others also spoke Patois and/or sang Patois songs. This suggests that there was no real dichotomy between the two languages and two different socio-economic communities speaking the two languages. Antony de Verteuil and Louis Davidas, in their writings on the French in Trinidad, both indicate that the linguistic borders between the élites and non-élites speaking Patois were quite permeable as the ancestors of both groups were both involved in the development and use of the language.
The number ofTrinbagonian surnames of French and French Creole origin (including Corsican names) is great, and these names are borne by individuals of a variety of ethnic backgrounds: Aguiton, Annisette, Antoine, Arnaud, Baptiste, Barcant, Bégorrat, Besson, Boisselle, Boisson, Bon, Borde, Cazabon, Charlerie, Christiani, Cipriani, Coussement, d’Abadie, de la Bastide, (de) Boissière, de
Four, de Gannes, de la Grenade, d’Heureux, de Lapeyrouse, de Lisle, de Meillac, de Montagnac, de Montbrun, des Anges, deVerteuil, Du Bois, Duval, Espinet, Fortuné, Fournillier, Francheschi, François, Ganteaume, Gillezeau, Girod, Granger, Gregoire, Guillaume, Jean-Baptiste, La Borde, La Foucade, Lange, Laurent, Le Cadre, Le Gendre, Léotaud, Ligoure, Lopinot, Louison, Majani, Melizan, Montrichard, Moreau, Mouttet, Olivier, Petit, Pitilal (half Patois, half Hindi/Bhojpuri), Pierre, Pollonais, Pouchet, Poujade, Rochard, Renaud, Rostant, Rousseau, Seheult, Sellier, Thavenot, Toussaint, Voisin, Yuille, and many, many more.
Although now endangered, our Patois remains a living language in some communities and families. Patois is still spoken in Paramin, Cameron, Blanchisseuse, Toco, Arima, Valencia, Lopinot, Santa Cruz and Moruga, and a number of other communities, including wherever cocoa was grown. Patois was the first language of calypso, riddles, folktales (Patois expressions such as Crick Crack and Tim Tim are part of the storytelling tradition), and proverbs (many translated into English and Trinidadian English Creole or Dialect). Atilla, Executor, Invader, Tiger, Caresser, Roaring Lion, Sparrow and others, used Patois in their calypsos, up to Machel Montano, Denise Belfon, Leston Paul and RemBunction. (The Mighty Zandolie has a Patois sobriquet.) Up to recently, Patois flourished in the form of Christmas Kwèch (crèche) music in Paramin. The language continues to live on in the lexicon and grammatical structures of the everyday speech of Trinbagonians.
Evidence of the reach of both French and Patois may be seen in the dozens and dozens of place names in Trinidad and Tobago, many originally French that now have Patois pronunciations. Some Trinbagonian place names of French and French Creole origin include the following: Abbé Poujade, Anglais Point, Avocat, Bagatelle, Bande Leste, Beau Pres Road, Begorrat’s Cave, Belmont, Beausejour, Biche, Blanchisseuse, Bonasse, (Le) Carenage, Cascade, Coco Jean/Jah, Covigne Ravine, Crapaud Village, Croisée, Embacadere, Felicity, Francique, La Fantaisie, La Fillette, La Florissante, La Fortune, Lambeau La Paille, Lapeyrouse, La Retraite, La Rufin, La Rue Pomme, La Sagesse Road, La Romaine, La Vache, Le Platte, L’Eau Michele, Louis d’Or, Macaque Hill, Mai d’Estomac Bay, Matelot, Mt d’Or, Plaisance, Pois Cassé, Roussillac, St Clair, St François, St Julien, Sainte-Croix, Ste Marie Point, Ste Madeleine, Saline Bay, San Francique, Sans Souci, Saut d’Eau, Trois Rivières, Trou Macaque, all others with Belle, Bois, Bon(ne), Bourg, Grand(e), Champs, Lagon, Les, L’Anse, Mon, Petit(e), Mitan, Morne, Pointe, Terre, Ville, surnames like Lopinot and Lapeyrouse, etc., and many, many more in street names, former estates, topographical features, and the hyphens in Port-of-Spain.
After the second Cedula de Población opened the doors to French Roman Catholic immigration, Spanish names were translated into French, or adapted to a French/Patois pronunciation. Examples include La Luna which became La Lune (now Lalin in pronunciation), Punta de Piedra became Pointe-à-Pierre, Punta Gorda became Point Gourde and Río Grande became Grand(e) Rivière. Many other non-French names also gained a French and Patois pronunciation: Chaguanas, Chaguaramas (in Venezuela, these two names are of course still pronounced with the <ch> of church, as opposed to the <ch> of machine), Gaspar Grande > Gasparee, Icacos > Icaque, La Brea, Laventilla > Laventille, any name with Petit(e) (see above) or Piti, San Juan, Siparia > Sipawee, and more. Patois also has its own names for Arima (Arime), Port-of-Spain (Òpò), Mayaro (Maywo), and others, such as Güiria (Lawil) in Venezuela.
The language is still one of the contributors to the lexicon of the following domains:
a) traditional Carnival (Canboulé, Chantwèl, Dame Lorraine, Dimanche Gras, Jabjab, Jab Molassie, Jouvert, Nèg Jardin, Pierrot Grenade, Santi-manitay, Viey La Cou), and cultural elements such as La Reine Rivé, Bois and more;
b) folklore (Lagahoo, Lajablesse, Mama Glo, Papa Bois);
c) flora (for example, Barbadine, Bois Bandi, Bois Cano(n), Cerise, Chataigne, Chennette, Dasheen, Ditay Payee, Fig, Flamboyant, Geritout, Gros Michel, Grugrubef, Immortelle, Mango Doudous, Mango Long, Mango Rose, Mango Vert, Mango Zabiko (and other mangoes), Pika, Pois Doux, Pommecythere, Pommerac, Shadon beni, Sikyé, Ti Mawi, Topitambu, Vetivert, Zaboca, Zikak);
d) fauna (Battimamzelle, Biche, Corbeau/Cobo, Crapaud, Jashwa, Jep, Keskidee, Kobo, Krapaud, Mapipire, Pag, Shinney, Zandolie, Zebafam, Zebapique);
e) some foods (for example, Paime, Toolum, Kouveti Pocham, Soupee, and also Macafouchette), and
f) several aspects of everyday life in Trinidad (for example, Bazodee, Bosi-back, Cagoo, Commesse, Doux-doux, Flambeau, Jamette, Lagli, La-hey, Maco, Macomere, Mamapoule, Mauvais Langue, Maljo (also Spanish), Petit Careme, Poto Léglise, Salop, Shabine, Tantie, Toutoulbey, Tout bagay, Tout moun, Vay-ki-vay, Zafey and Gran Zafey, Zwill, and more; Tout Bagay and Tout Moun have become almost symbolic of Patois among non-Patois speakers.)
The spellings here are varied. Some words, originally from Spanish and other languages, took on a French and Patois pronunciation and/or French spelling, such as cascadura > cascadoux, español > panyol, gallera > gayelle, la ñapa > lagniappe, pastel > pastelle and sancocho > sancoche and lappe and lambie (not French or Patois, but gained French spellings). Some words from African languages, such as Igbo, Ewe, Yoruba and Fon, came into our English and our English Creole via Patois. Examples are Accra, Baton lélé, Bèlè, Big Belly Dun-dun, Chak-Chak, Gangan, Kalenda, Lengay, Nennen, Soucouyant, Bobolee, Callaloo, Hototo, Mook, Sousou, Toolum, Tambou Bambou, and maybe Congoree. All of these words and over one thousand others are recorded and analysed in the Winer 2009 Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago (DE/CTT).
Just as there are standard writing and spelling systems (orthographies) for languages like English and French, there is a standardised alphabet for French Creole. Linguist, Lawrence D Carrington, helped to develop this spelling system in 1969, part of the Lesser Antillean regional orthographic standardisation of the language, 100 years after John Jacob Thomas’s pioneering Trinidadian French Creole grammar of 1869, The Theory and Practice of Creole Grammar. Carrington was one of the pioneers of the study of St Lucian French Creole. Trinidadian English Creole preserves huge variation in the ways of spelling Trinidadian English and English Creole words of Patois and French origin, as above. However, the new, approved orthography for all national and territorial varieties of Lesser Antillean French Creole is modern, accessible and useful. Unlike past orthographies, would-be students do not have to learn Latin or French to access Patois as its phonology is now well-represented by its orthography. (French spells the sound /o/ some 22 different ways, but Patois consistently uses just <o>.) The Department may be consulted for assistance and advice in accurately rendering Patois in its modern writing system, including issues of naming and spelling the language’s names, which is useful for future generations, and for a greater regional reach within the Caribbean and beyond.
Courses in French Creole have been offered at St Augustine since 1977. The former Extra-Mural Division first offered a Patois course in 1977 with late Carnival Minstrel, Morilla Theresa Montano of Maraval, spearheaded by Rawle Gibbons, who is again offering Patois through the Caribbean Yard Campus in 2013, in Paramin with Richard Mendez and Tunapuna with Nnamdi Hodge. Since 1991, courses have been regularly offered as Linguistics courses in the Faculty of Humanities and Education (FHE). In the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (DMLL), the courses are approached as courses in both language learning and linguistic analysis for students reading for the Bachelor of Arts degree. Recent Centre for Language Learning (CLL) non-credit courses, offered after the earthquake in Haiti, have focused on communicative competence. Women Working for Social Progress (Workingwomen) also offers a course in Patois. The Workingwomen’s course was developed and is taught by Hodge, one of the graduates of the UWI FHE course. Hodge has co-produced a bilingual songbook and a CD of Patois songs with Florence Blizzard, and is part of the St Augustine team documenting Trinidadian and Venezuelan Patois heritage – language, songs and culture.
In DMLL, the St Lucian variety is the main one taught and the original course was based on a manual for St Lucia, originally developed by Trinidadian linguist, Lawrence Carrington with his American colleague, Albert Valdman. The course was first taught by Martiniquans, including an outreach course to Paramin, and is now taught by Dr Sandra Evans of St Lucia. Students have also joined the UWI Asosyasyon Kwéyòl, taken part in field trips, and helped to organise the UWI celebration of the annual International Jounen Kwéyòl (started in St. Lucia in 1981, and celebrated internationally on October 28th since 1983). Students have also produced a newspaper, a magazine and a DVD in Patois.
Here, students discover the origins of the language, examine language structure at the level of sound, vocabulary and grammar, and are trained to read, write, speak and understand the language. Many Trinidadian students who speak Dialect (Trinidadian English Creole) have found it relatively easy to learn Patois, since there are almost exact grammatical correspondences between the two languages. Examples include direct translations/calques from French and French Creole: ‘It have’ (i ni), ‘She have 10 years’ (li tini 10 an), ‘to make baby’ (fè ich/piti popo), ‘to make hot/cold’ (from i ka fè cho/fwèt), and ‘which part’ (ki koté).
The use of ‘does’ corresponds directly with ka (for example, ‘Ah does go market every day’ = Mwen ka alé laplas touléjou), and the use of ‘go’ corresponds to ké (for example, ‘Ah go marrid a nice woman’ = Mwen ké mayé yon bèl fanm), “outside woman” (fanm déwò), and more.
While the language, in Trinidad and Tobago, is endangered and has fewer and fewer native speakers who are children, many want to see the language come alive again in Trinidad and to be able to travel easily within French Creole-speaking countries. UWI scholars and others have undertaken various projects to document and preserve the language in Trinidad and throughout the region, and several businesses have Patois names (Acajou, Bèl Chevé, Veni Mangé, Veni Apwann, and the Trinidad and Tobago Building and Loan Association’s slogan is “Quittez Loyer ou Payer pour Cai ou” (Kité Loyé-ou péyé pou Kay-ou) or “Let your rent pay for your home.”
There are books documenting proverbs, stories and songs in French and French Creole, as well as dictionaries including Patois (as used in English and English Creole). Books include those by John Jacob Thomas (the very first linguist and philologist to document the grammar of any French Creole variety in the world in 1869), Anthony de Verteuil, Elsie Clewes-Parsons, Blizzard and Hodge, and others. The Alex de Verteuil-produced documentary, C’est Quitte, has a segment on modern-day Patois, and student film projects have looked at the language.
(Reprinted from STAN, UWI St Augustine periodical March 2013)
