Guyanese Creole
For the purposes of this page, BE refers to Standard British English and GC refers to Guyanese Creole.
Phonology:Consonants:
BE /θ/ is replaced in GC by /t/ in initial, medial, and final positions” (Cave, 1970, p. 256). The word "thing" is pronounced [tɪŋ]. BE “velar nasal /ŋ/ does not occur in GC except in 'thing' (GC /tɪŋ/). It is replaced by alveolar nasal /n/” (Cave 1970, p. 257). In this case, “missing” becomes “missin’” and “running” becomes “runnin.’” BE dental fricative /ð/ is replaced by /d/. For example, the word “bathe” is pronounced [bed] (Cave, 1970, p. 257). Professor of Linguistics at the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica, Hubert Devonish published a scholarly paper written entirely in GC. He included a Standard English translation. Notice some of the phonological and morphological differences between the two transcripts.
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Morphology:Consonant clusters are reduced by simply dropping a consonant. For example, the word “friend” would be pronounced [fren] in GC
Fo Staat Aaf. Piipllaik de wid piipl wa dem fiil se iz dem matii. If piipl fain deself togeda an dem no waan de faitin wan anada, dem gun ga fo staat fiil se dem iz matii. An if yu ga piipl wa fiil se dem iz matii, dem gun du dem watsmata fo de wid wan anada. In dis worl hee, yu gat konchrii wa don set op aredii, bot we di piipl-dem no fiil dem iz wan nee shan kaaz dem taakin aal kain a difrent wee. An den yu gat piipl wa fiil se dem iz wan neeshan bot no gat konchrii. Dem hoslin fo chrai set op konchrii fo aal huu biilangs to dem neeshan" (Devonish, 1998, p. 136). Introduction. People like to be with others who they consider to be like themselves. If people are going to be together without conflict, they have to feel that they share some kind of common identity. And where people feel that they have a common identity, they know no limits in their efforts to be with each other. In thii world, there are many states which are already established (jut whose populations do not feel themselves members of a single nation because of language differences. There are, as well, cases in which people feel themselves to constitute a single nation but have no state. Such people are usually involved in trying to establish a state for the members of their national group" (Devonish, 1998, 137). |
Lexis:Word Borrowing:
All of the following non-English loans are according to Cave (1970) page 250. Indigenous Languages: -Casareep (meat preservative) -Cassiri (fermented cassava beverage) Dutch: -Koker (a sluice) -Stelling (a wharf) |
West-African:
-Nyam (eat) -Cass-cass (disorganized) French: -Bateau (a small boat) -Kiskadee (a bird) Spanish: -Mantilla (a veil) -Hacienda (a ranch) |
Intonation:Similar to many West African and Indian languages, GC is syllable-timed, while BE is stress-timed. Cave (1970) uses the example of “I’n go” (pronounced middle tone, high tone) means “I shall go.” While “I’n go” (pronounced high tone, middle tone) means “I did not go” (p. 258).
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Grammar:
Features:
Words are duplicated for emphasis. In GC, saying “Come now now” means “come right now, this moment.” Grammatical redundancy is avoided. For example, in BE, you would say, “two orange cats.” BE marks the plural twice, while in GC you would say, “two orange cat.” The word “two” already indicates plurality. Making the subject plural again is redundant. With words indicating ownership, the genitive inflexion is not used. Cave (1970) uses the example of, “This is John’s book” becoming “This ah John book,” in GC (p. 259). Past tense markers are omitted. For example, the utterance, “She hugged and kissed her kids,” would become “She hug and kiss her kids,” in GC. Pronouns: “Mi” is commonly used to refer to first-person singular forms. “Dem” is commonly used to refer to third-person forms. |
In this Wikitongues video, a woman named Tetree is sharing her personal history (a story that would require use of the past tense in BE). Notice some of the grammatical and morphological features of GC she uses: her omission of past tense markers, “mi” as a first-person singular pronoun, and consonant cluster reduction (Wikitongues, 2016).
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