ASPECTS OF TRINIDADIAN CREOLE

Mary M. Chin Pang

B.A. , Boston Univers i ty , 1976

A THESIS SUBMITTED I N PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF ARTS

i n t h e Department

0 f

Languages, L i t e r a t u r e s and L i n g u i s t i c s

@ Mary M. Chin Pang 1981

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

August 1981

All r i g h t s reserved. This t h e s i s may n o t b e reproduced i n whole o r i n p a r t , by photocopy

o r o t h e r means, wi thout permission of t h e au thor .

APPROVAL

Name : Mary M. Chin Pang

Degree: Master of Arts

T i t l e of T h e s i s : Aspects of T r i n i d a d i a n Creo le

Examining Committee:

Chairman: Thomas A. P e r r y

B r i a n E. Newton S e n i o r S u p e r v i s o r

%chard C. DeArmond

Lennar t G r g Z r e n / E x t e r n a l ~ x a m i n a d A s s o c i a t e P r o f e s s o r Department of Nathemat ics Simon P r a s e r U n i v e r s i t y

Date approved: A U Y U S ~ 17, 1 9 8 1

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T i t l e o f Thesis / ~ i s s e r t a t j . o n :

Aspects of T r i n i d a d i a n Creole.

(date )

iii

ABSTRACT

ASPECTS OF TRINIDADIAN CREOLE

This t h e s i s examines t h e r e l a t i o n of T r in idad ian Creole t o t h e

v a r i a n t of Standard English spoken on t h e i s l a n d from the p o i n t of

view of t h e phonological diasystem l i n k i n g t h e two, There i s a l s o

some r e fe rence t o t h e r e l a t e d Tobagonian Creole d i a l e c t .

An in t roduc to ry s e c t i o n o u t l i n e s t h e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c f e a t u r e s of

c r e o l e s i n gene ra l and d i scusses t h e s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c a spec t s of t h e s e

p a r t i c u l a r c r e o l e s w i t h i n t h e i r l a r g e r l i n g u i s t i c contex ts . I n t h e

main body of t he t h e s i s , an a t tempt i s made t o account f o r t h e a b i l i t y

of c r e o l e speakers t o s u c c e s s f u l l y swi tch codes between s t anda rd and

c r e o l e v a r i e t i e s by determining t h e phonological r u l e s which r e l a t e

t hen t o one another ; t h e r e i s a l s o some d i scuss ion of t h e n e c c e s s i t y

of p o s t u l a t i n g e x t r i n s i c r u l e order .

There a r e t h r e e main conclusions. The f i r s t conclusion i s t h a t

t h e c r e o l e s i n ques t ion may be de r ived from Standard Engl i sh by

p o s t u l a t i n g about one dozen ordered r u l e s ; t h e second conclusion is

t h a t code swi tch ing may be accounted f o r an t h e assumption t h a t t h e

r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s underlying t h e c r e o l e s need no t be more a b s t r a c t than

ones similar t o t h e s u r f a c e forms of Standard Xngl.ish; t h e t h i r d con-

c l u s i o n is t h a t r e f e rence t o s t r i c t o rde r ing of r u l e s may be e l imina t -

ed only i n t h e c a s e where t h e r u l e s have a 'b leeding ' r e l a t i o n s h i p o r

where t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p is of t h e ' feed ing ' type , and where t h e o rde r

a c t u a l l y found is ' feeding ' .

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL

AB STRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2

THE PHONEMIC SYSTEM OF TRINIDADIAN CREOLE

CHAPTER 3

THE PHONOLOGICAL RULES OF TRINIDADIAN CREOLE

C o n t r a c t i o n U n r o u n d i n g Shwa R o u n d i n g a n d r - L o s s Shwa L o w e r i n g P a l a t a l i z a t i o n L a b i a l i z a t i o n V e l a r i z a t i o n D e v e l a r i z a t i o n O c c l u s i v i z a t i o n C l u s t e r R e d u c t i o n a n d M e t a t h e s i s

CHAPTER 4

RULE ORDERING

CONCLUSION

LIST OF REFERENCES

i i

iii

i v

v

CHAPTER 1

1.1

1.2 '

1.3

CHAPTER 2

2.1

2 . 2

LIST OF TABLES

Genetic Relationship between Creoles and Standard Languages

Population Content of Trinidad

Pronominal System of Trinidadian Creole

i

The Vowel Phonemes of STE and TC

The Correspondences between STE Lower Vowel Phonemes and their Equivalents in TC

2.3 The Consonant Phonemes of STE and TC

CHAPTER 4

4.1 The Rule Ordering Constraints of TC

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The a i m of t h i s paper i s t o compare t h e phonology of t h e English-

based Tr in idad ian Creole (hencefor th a l s o known a s TC) and Tobagonian

Creole (TBC), and p l a c e them i n a pe r spec t ive by c o n t r a s t i n g them wi th

the phonology of Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh (STE), t h e l a t t e r be ing

c l o s e r t o Standard B r i t i s h Engl i sh than t o Standard American English.

We a t tempt t o come t o g r i p s wi th t h e s i t u a t i o n of two languages e x i s t -

i n g s i d e by s i d e w i t h i n t h e same community by g iv ing a b r i e f o v e r a l l

view of t h e h i s t o r i c a l , s o c i o l o g i c a l , and s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c f a c t o r s t h a t

i n f luenced and culminated i n t h i s d i g l o s s i a ; and by s e t t i n g up a sys-

t e m of phonemes a s w e l l as a system of gene ra l r u l e s t h a t account f o r

t h e p r e s e n t phone t i c s t r u c t u r e of TC and TBC. We a l s o propose a n

o rde r ing of t hese r u l e s , s t a t i n g why we f e e l i t neccessary t o c r e a t e

such an order .

F i r s t of a l l , i n o r d e r t o understand what t h i s e n t a i l s , perhaps we

should c l a r i f y as p r e c i s e l y as p o s s i b l e , what t h e term ' c r eo le ' means,

and what i ts r e l a t i o n s h i p i s t o ' p i d g i n s f , ' d i a l e c t s f , ' l i n g u a f r a n c a s f

and ' s tandard languages' . Furthermore, t o al low g r e a t e r comprehension

of t h e s u b j e c t of t h i s t h e s i s , w e would a l s o l i k e t o show: (a) how TC

and TBC have an i n t r i c a t e and i n e x t r i c a b l e co-existence w i t h STE with-

i n t h e West Ind ian i s l a n d s of Tr in idad and Tobago; (b) t h e p o s i t i o n of

t h i s c r e o l e w i t h i n t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n of c r e o l e s of t h e Caribbean; i n d

(c) t h e reasons why t h i s d i g l o s s i a should be apprec i a t ed and understood.

U n t i l t h e l a s t few decades, p idg ins and c r e o l e s have been regarded

as deviant dialects of standard languages. By standard languages, we

refer to those forms of recognized or 'world' languages which are

generally understood by the native speakers of the language. This

misconception was perhaps encouraged by the fact that creoles are

based on standard languages; for instance, French Creole or creolized

French, for example, Haitian Creole, is actually based on the standard

form of French. Creoles, and pidgins in particular, have also been

given innumerable misnomers. Max K. Adler (1977), gives a long list

of these names - argots, artificial languages, bastard jargons, broken English, makeshift languages, patois, langues mdlang&es, slave lang-

uages, speech mixtures, hybrid languages, mongrel lingo, folk speech,

and others. As a result of the derogatory, patronizing and contempt-

uous overtones associated with these terms, pidgins and creoles are

often mistakenly believed to be dialects which are lacking in struct-

ure and incoherent in form.

The word 'pidgin' (as suggested in DeCamp (1971a)) may have come

from the Chinese pronunciation of the English saying "That's my bus-

iness". DeCamp also explains that a pidgin is basically a dialect

created for interlingual communication and is the native language of

neither community. This need for contact usually arises in trade sit-

uations. Pidgins may also arise where two communities, speaking diff-

erent languages, are dominated by a society also having an alien nat-

ive language, for example, the English in China, where many different

Chinese dialects are spoken.

Pidgins are usually extremely limited in inner form, the morphol-

ology be ing excep t iona l ly spa re , l ack ing p l u r a l i t y , t ense o r case mark-

ers, f e a t u r e s which may be redundant. P i d g i n i z a t i o n i t s e l f is a com-

p l e x p roces s c o n s i s t i n g of s e v e r a l phases - s i m p l i f i c a t i o n i n ou te r

form, r e d u c t i o n i n i nne r form, and r e s t r i c t i o n i n r o l e . Max K. Adler,

(1977), c a l l s p idg ins "a l i n g u i s t i c compromise" of "two f o s t e r parents".

H e s t a t e s t h a t t h e language spoken by t h e dominant c l a s s of t h e s o c i e t y

p rov ides t h e vocabulary f o r t h e p idg in , and t h i s i s adapted by the low-

er cl .asses t o t h e p a t t e r n of t h e syn tax of t h e i r language. The d i f f -

e r ence i n t h e phonology is a r e s u l t of t h e d i f f e r e n t phonemes of t h e i r

n a t i v e language. There a r e two types of p idg ins : (1) r e s t r i c t e d pid-

g i n s which d i e out when t h e purpose f o r t h e i r e x i s t e n c e no longer

e x i s t s , and (2) extended p idg ins , which develop i n t o c r eo le s .

The t e r m ' c r e o l e ' , a l s o explained by Decamp i n t h e above ment-

ioned a r t i c l e , comes from t h e Portuguese ' c r i o u l o ' , Spanish ' c r i o l l o '

and French ' c r & o l e t . F i r s t used t o r e f e r t o people of European an-

c e s t r y born i n t h e co lonies , i t was l a t e r expanded t o mean s l a v e s of

Af r i can descen t , and today, i t r e f e r s t o t h e language spoken by t h e

people who now-inhabi t t hese co lon ie s o r former co lonies . These c r e o l e

languages a r e based on e s t a b l i s h e d , European languages, u s u a l l y Eng-

l i s h , French, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch, t h e ma jo r i t y of which a r e

spoken i n t h e Caribbean a rea . English-based c r e o l e s a r e spoken i n

Jamaica, T r in idad and Tobago, Barbados, Antigua, numerous o t h e r is-

l a n d s of t h e Lesser A n t i l l e s which were formerly, o r s t i l l a r e Engl i sh

Colonies , Surinam ( t h e c r e o l e c a l l e d Sranan) and i n Guyana. French

c r e o l e s e x i s t i n H a i t i , Mart inique, Guadeloupe, Grenada, t h e Grena-

d ines , Des i rade , Marie Galante , Les S a i n t e s , S a i n t e ~ a r t h & l e m y , Domin-

i c a , S a i n t Lucia , French Guyana, and even i n T r in idad where i t is rap-

i d l y dying ou t . Spanish p idgin i s spoken i n Venezuela and Colombia.

Papiamento,-which i s a Spanish c r e o l e based on a Portuguese p idgin wi th

g r e a t l e x i c a l i n f luence from Dutch, i s spoken i n Curacao, Bonaire and

Aruba. Portuguese-based d i a l e c t s (Saramaccan and Matuwari) a r e spoken

i n Surinam, and a Dutch c r e o l e , now almost e x t i n c t , i n t h e Virg in Is-

lands .

According t o Adler, a l i n g u a f r a n c a i s a language spoken w i t h i n

an a r e a where t h e i n h a b i t a n t s speak d i f f e r e n t n a t i v e languages. It is

usua l ly t h e language spoken by most of t h e people, and i t may be a

p idg in o r a s tandard language. Lingua f r ancas a l s o e x i s t i n c e r t a i n

f i e l d s of technology, f o r example, medicine, where s p e c i f i c Greek o r

La t in t e r m s a r e understood by expe r t s i n t h a t p a r t i c u l a r f i e l d regard-

l e s s of t h e i r n a t i v e language.

S e v e r a l t heo r i e s have been proposed for t h e b i r t h and evo lu t ion

of p i d g i n s from s tandard languages, and t h e i r subsequent development

and expans ion t o form c reo le s , e.g. Hawaiian Creole. The f i r s t o f

t h e s e t h e o r i e s , discussed by Decamp, i s t h a t p i d g i n s , and t h e r e f o r e

c r e o l e s , were c rea t ed by spontaneous gene ra t ion , t h a t is, they were

c r e a t e d i n a r a p i d and makeshif t manner i n c o n t a c t s i t u a t i o n s between

communities speaking d i f f e r e n t n a t i v e languages, needing t o communicate

wi th one another . Another hypothesis t h a t i s w e l l known is t h a t of

monogenesis. This r e f e r s t o t h e b e l i e f t h a t a l l p i d g i n s come from one

master p idg in , t h a t is , a Portuguese v e r s i o n of t h e l i n g u a f r anca of

t h e Levant ( n a t i o n s of t h e e a s t e r n Mediterranean) dur ing t h e 1600's -

Sabi r . There h a s been cons ide rab le oppos i t i on t o t h i s t heo ry s i n c e

t h e r e a r e c r e o l e s which have no t r a c e of Portuguese i n f l u e n c e , and

fur thermore, t h e r e i s no h i s t o r i c a l f a c t on which t o base t h i s not ion.

P i d g i n i z a t i o n and c r e o l i z a t i o n a r e fundamentally phases of t h e same

process t h a t h a s occurred and i s p r e s e n t l y occurr ing time and aga in t o

many sou rce languages a l l over t h e world.

To p u t it i n a n u t s h e l l , they undergo t h e same b a s i c process . A s

a r e s u l t , c r e o l e s a r e cha rac t e r i zed by t h e same f e a t u r e s . DeCamp

'sts t h e s e a s fo l lows: (1) t h e r e a r e u sua l ly no number, gender o r r case markers; (2) a d v e r b i a l and a d j e c t i v a l forms a r e i d e n t i c a l ; (3)

i adverbs and a d j e c t i v e s a r e i t e r a t e d f o r i n t e n s i f i c a t i o n ; and (4) verb- \

a1 a s p e c t s are i n d i c a t e d by s y n t a c t i c markers bu t t r u e t e n s e s a r e no t Z

\ marked morphological ly . They a r e more complex i n form and more va r i ed

1 i n f u n c t i o n t h a n p idg ins s i n c e they a r e probably t h e f e s u l t o f t h e ex- 1 '

pansion of t h e p idg in and a r e now t h e n a t i v e languages of t h e i r speak-

ers.

According t o Decamp, c r e o l e s undergo two types of processes : (1)

change i n s t r u c t u r e - (a) i n s c a l e - r educ t ion , expansion, s impl i -

f i c a t i o n and complicat ion; and (2) change i n func t ion - (a) i n t h e scope

of i t s u s e , and (b) i n s o c i a l s t a t u s . Creoles can be and o f t e n a r e t h e

r e s u l t of p i d g i n s o r even a pre-p idgin iza t ion continuum undergoing t h e

. c r e o l i z a t i o n process . Th i s development depends on t h e r o l e of t h e pid-

g i n i n s o c i e t y . P i d g i n i z a t i o n and c r e o l i z a t i o n a r e t h u s m i r r o r images of

t h e same p roces s , t h a t i s , r educ t ion and expansion. Since they under-

go t h e same process , t h e r e is obviously a r e l a t i o n s h i p between p idg in

and c r e o l e as w e l l a s between one c r e o l e and another .

There a r e many c r e o l e s s c a t t e r e d among speakers i n d i f f e r e n t p a r t s

of t he world, which a r e s o s i m i l a r a s t o be mutual ly i n t e l l i g i b l e . I n

f a c t , a l l French c r e o l e s a r e mutual ly i n t e l l i g i b l e al though they may n o t

n e c c e s s a r i l y b e understood by Standard French speakers . Some English-

based c r e o l e s may be mutual ly comprehensible, a s is t h e case wi th West

Ind ian Engl i sh c r e o l e and Kr io t h a t is spoken i n S i e r r a Leone, West

Afr ica . However, t h e r e is a problem i n s o f a r a s t h e gene t i c c l a s s i f i -

c a t i o n is concerned. This is d iscussed i n Mervyn C. Alleyne (1971).

S ince t h e r e i s much cont roversy over what c o n s t i t u t e s p r e c i s e l y t h e

g e n e t i c r e l a t i o n s h i p between s t anda rd languages, i t i s no t s u r p r i s i n g

t h a t t h e r e i s no agreement as t o t h e g e n e t i c c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of c r eo le s .

I n t h e c a s e of t h e West I n d i a n i s l a n d s , no r eco rds were kep t of which

languages were n a t i v e t o t h e o r i g i n a l s l a v e s , and fur thermore, t h e i r

c u l t u r e had been superseded, o r a t l e a s t g r e a t l y inf luenced by t h e

c u l t u r e of t h e European c o l o n i s t s . Therefore, t h e r o o t of t h e problem

l i e s i n whether t h e r e s u l t i n g c r e o l e should be c l a s s i f i e d i n conjunc-

t i o n w i t h t h e European sou rce language i n a p a r e n t / o f f s p r i n g r e l a t i o n -

s h i p , o r whether i t should b e c l a s s i f i e d i n a g e n e t i c r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h

o t h e r c r e o l e s . Perhaps, we could suggest t h a t c r e o l e s and o t h e r sou rce

languages should be c l a s s i f i e d i n a more gene ra l r e l a t i o n s h i p , some-

t h i n g i n t h e d i r e c t i o n of t h e c h a r t on t h e fol lowing page:

Table 1.1 Genet ic Rela t ionship between Creoles and Standard Languages.

Engl i sh ---r Afr ican Language -I- French

The s tudy of p idgins and c r e o l e s a l s o s e r v e s t o i l l u m i n a t e n a t u r a l

t endencies i n human language.

I n T r in idad and Tobago, we have t h e s i t u a t i o n where two r e l a t e d

languages e x i s t w i th in one community f o r d i f f e r e n t purposes. It may

be c a l l e d an example of d i g l o s s i a ( a s descr ibed by Charles A. Fergu-

son (1959)) , o r t h e type of c r e o l e continuum discussed by Derek Bick-

e r ton(1973) . I n t h e l a t t e r a r t i c l e , Bickerton contends t h a t a c r e o l e

continuum i s c rea t ed by non-speakers of Engl i sh who come i n t o contac t

w i t h it. They then make random s e l e c t i o n s of t h e Engl i sh output i n

o r d e r t o i n t e r n a l i z e t h e i r own i n a c c u r a t e ve r s ions of t h e r u l e s of t h e

English language. A s more and more speakers r epea t t h i s process , t h e

continuum becomes "an ordered and p r i n c i p l e d dynamic process" where t h e

a r e a of i n t e r a c t i o n expands r a p i d l y as forms of t h e c r e o l e a r e develop-

ed. Between both po le s of t h e continuum i s a remarkable amount of d ia -

l e c t s , which a r e inherent ly ' d i f f e r e n t from one another , y e t whose

boundaries cannot be p r e c i s e l y def ined . Each vernacular has i t s own

r o l e , and t h i s r e s u l t s i n a complex p a t t e r n swi tch ing i n o rde r t o p l a y

each s o c i a l r o l e . Max K. Adler (1977) s t a t e s t h a t t h i s uns t ab le pro-

ce s s which r e s u l t s i n t h e c r e a t i o n of a c r e o l e continuum i s charac te r -

i z e d by: p re se rva t ions , borrowings, new format ions , t r a n s f e r r e d mean-

i n g s , s p e c i a l p re fe rences , and compounds o r i t e r a t i v e s which i n d i c a t e

i n t e n s i f i c a t i o n o r weakening. Some of t h e s e e x i s t i n T r in idad ian

Creole , as w e s h a l l demonstrate l a t e r on.

I n t h i s case , we have Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh , Tr in idadian

Creole and Tobagonian Creole. Standard Tr in idad ian English, which is

t h e educated form of Engl i sh , i s c l o s e r t o Standard B r i t i s h Engl i sh

( f o r example, /3/ i s t h e vowel i n STE ' po t ' a s i n Standard B r i t i s h

Engl i sh ; / r / i s l o s t p o s t v o c a l i c a l l y , s o they say /ka:/ n o t /kar / f o r

' c a r ' ) s i n c e i t i s based on i t , than i t i s t o Standard American Eng-

l i s h , y e t i t i s d i s t i n c t i v e l y Tr in idad ian o r West Ind ian i n f lavour .

As w e s h a l l see, both STE and TC o r TBC a r e used i n widely d i f f e r i n g

s i t u a t i o n s f o r e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t purposes. I n s o f a r a s t h e language

s i t u a t i o n i s concerned, t h e r e e x i s t s c u r r e n t l y i n Tr in idad and Tobago

a d i g l o s s i a t h a t i s r a p i d l y becoming a l i n g u i s t i c continuum. A t one

extreme of t h e continuum i s Standard Eng l i sh o r Standard Tr in idad ian

Eng l i sh and a t t h e o t h e r end is t h e 'pure ' c r e o l e equ iva l en t t o i t s

Jamaican coun te rpa r t descr ibed by Bery l L. Bai ley (1971), and I a m pos-

i t i v e t h a t t h i s unadul te ra ted form i s spoken by few, i f any, n a t i v e s

of T r in idad and Tobago. The d a t a which is ana lysed later on i n t h i s

paper r e p r e s e n t s t h e form t h a t i s s t i l l spoken, and i s a s c l o s e as

p o s s i b l e t o t h e c r e o l e end of t h e continuum.

Standard Tr in idadian Engl i sh , T r in idad ian Creole and Tobagonian

Creole are used f o r widely d i f f e r e n t r o l e s i n s o c i e t y . Each person

w i t h i n t h e community commands a span of t h i s l i n g u i s t i c continuum, and

9

t he f u r t h e r up t h e socio-economic l adde r he o r s h e i s , t h e c l o s e r t h e

person i s towards t h e Standard Tr in idadian Engl i sh p o l e of t h e contin-

uum. Some peop le a r e extremely v e r s a t i l e i n t h a t they a r e f a m i l i a r

w i th a g r e a t expanse of t h i s continuum, and a r e t h e r e f o r e a b l e t o

communicate w i t h people from more v a r i e d walks of l i f e . Others a r e

more l i m i t e d i n t h a t t h e i r most c r e o l i z e d Engl i sh w i l l s t i l l be h igher

towards t h e Standard Tr in idadian Engl i sh end than , f o r example, a road

worker 's most 'educated' form of English. Tr in idad and Tobago a r e

c u r r e n t l y undergoing a dynamic process which i s moving them towards

the d i r e c t i o n of a pos t -c reo le community, e s p e c i a l l y i n t h e more urb-

an a reas . David Decamp (1971) exp la ins t h a t t h e cond i t i ons t h a t l e a d . t o t h i s are: (I) t h e o f f i c i a l language is t h e s t anda rd language which is

t h e sou rce f o r t h e c r eo le ; (2) t h e r i g i d s t r a t i f i c a t i o n between s o c i a l

c l a s s e s i s beginning t o break down, o r no longer e x i s t s , s o t h a t s o c i a l

mob i l i t y i s p o s s i b l e ; and (3) t h e r e a r e enough educa t iona l and accu l t -

u r a t i o n a l programs t o reach t h e ma jo r i t y of t h e populace and e x e r t

enough p r e s s u r e t o move them towards t h e s tandard end of t h e continuum,

away from t h e c reo le . Another important f a c t o r t h a t h a s caused t h i s

process t o a c c e l e r a t e i s t h e sudden i n f l u x of f o r e i g n l abour as a re-

s u l t of t h e d i scove ry of o i l and n a t u r a l gas , t h a subsequent a v a i l -

a b i l i t y of massive sums of money, r a p i d i n d u s t r i a l development, and

consequent ly, t h e n e c c e s s i t y of having a good command of Standard Eng-

l i s h a s t h e only means of communication wi th f o r e i g n l a b o u r e r s whose

n a t i v e language i s n o t Tr in idadian Creole , and who, t h e r e f o r e , u se

Standard E n g l i s h a s a l i n g u a f ranca .

Standard Engl i sh i s gene ra l ly used f o r formal s i t u a t i o n s and i s

t h e norm f o r formal educa t ion a t school , o f f i c i a l channels of comrnun-

i c a t i o n , mass media such a s r a d i o and t e l e v i s i o n , government dec l a r -

a t i o n s , memoranda, o f f i c i a l ceremonies, l e g a l documents, e t c . On t h e

o t h e r hand, T r in idad ian Creole and Tobagonian Creole a r e used i n dom-

e s t i c s i t u a t i o n s and f o r communication between f r i e n d s o r members of

t h e community. It may a l s o be used on formal occasions such as i n pol-

i t i c s ; f o r example, i n an e l e c t i o n speech, D r . E r i c Williams, t h e now

deceased prime m i n i s t e r , made a p o l i t i c a l promise i n Standard Tr in i -

dadian Eng l i sh ending wi th t h e Tr in idad ian Creole phrase "o crapaud

smoke mih pipe" meaning "or t h a t w i l l be t h e end of me". Being t h e

w i l y p o l i t i c i a n t h a t he was, he l apsed i n t o c r e o l e i n t e n t i o n a l l y i n

o rde r t o emphasize t h e se r iousness of h i s promise a s w e l l a s t o dem-

o n s t r a t e i d e n t i t y w i th t h e average Tr in idad ian who uses c r e o l e a s h i s

way of communicating and express ing himself .

A l l T r in idad ians and Tobagonians speak c r e o l e t o some e x t e n t , y e t

q u i t e a few w i l l deny t h e i r knowledge of i t , o r even t h e f a c t t h a t i t

e x i s t s . Th i s i s because they have been brought up i n t h e b e l i e f t h a t

Standard Eng l i sh i s 'good English ' whi le Tr in idadian Creole and Tob-

agonian Creole a r e 'bad English ' . However, i n t h e p re sen t day, more

and more c r e o l e speakers a r e beginning t o t a k e p r i d e i n t h e i r h e r i t a g e .

One of t h e s i g n s of t h i s new a t t i t u d e is t h e acceptance and r e c o g n i t i o n

of a growing body of l i t e r a t u r e t h a t i s s t r i c t l y f o l k l o r i c and def in-

i t e l y c r e o l e . I n t h e p a s t , poe t ry was n o t poe t ry un le s s i t w a s w r i t t e n

i n Standard Eng l i sh and was thus a man i f e s t a t ion of t he f a c t t h a t t h e

11

poet has l ea rned Standard Engl i sh , and w a s t hus 'educated' . Another

symptom o f t h i s new i d e n t i t y is ' h y p e r c r e o l i z a t i o n l , which is

hype rco r rec t ion i n reverse . Creole speakers know t h a t i f they want t o

advance economically and s o c i a l l y w i t h i n t h e i r community, t h e a b i l i t y

t o speak Standard English is e s s e n t i a l . While they may wish t o par-

t i c i p a t e i n t h i s upward mob i l i t y , t hey a l s o want t o r e t a i n t h e i r i-

d e n t i t y as a c r e o l e speaker . The r e s u l t of t h i s agonizing dichotomy

has been t h a t they over-react and t r y t o u se t h e most extreme form of

c r e o l e i n eve ry s i t u a t i o n , J u s t a s people who use Standard Engl i sh i n

c a s u a l s i t u a t i o n s are considered t o b e pedan t i c and snobbish, l i kewise

t h e i n a b i l i t y o r t h e s tubborn r e f u s a l t o use Standard English o r Stan-

dard Tr in idad ian English i n s i t u a t i o n s t h a t warran t i t c a l l s down s i m -

i l a r d i sapproval .

S ince Tr in idad ian Creole and Tobagonian Creole a r e gene ra l ly used

a t home and f o r c a s u a l communication w i t h i n t h e community, t h e r e must

b e some way whereby t h e s t r u c t u r e and concepts of Standard Engl i sh are

i n t e r n a l i z e d by c r e o l e speakers . Th i s i s done through t h e educa t iona l

system. I n t h e major i ty of s c h o o l s , c h i l d r e n a r e n o t only encouraged

b u t a r e a l s o pressured i n t o speaking Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh , t o

t h e e x t e n t where t eache r s even p r o f e s s ignorance of T r in idad ian Creole

and Tobagonian Creole. I n some cases, should t h e c h i l d cont inue t o \ 1

speak Tr in idad ian Creole o r Tobagonian Creole , he i s he ld up be fo re t h e

c l a s s as a f i g u r e of r i d i c u l e , and h e is l a t e r mocked and s t i gma t i zed

by h i s p e e r s as being 'a count ry boy from t h e bush' . Even i n many

homes, c h i l d r e n a r e pressured by t h e i r p a r e n t s t o speak Standard Eng-

l i s h . I f t h e c h i l d does n o t a t t e n d schoo l f o r economic reasons o r

o therwise , h e neve r the l e s s acqu i r e s a b a s i c understanding of Standard

Engl i sh o r Standard Tr in idadian Eng l i sh by l i s t e n i n g t o t h e r a d i o o r

o t h e r forms of mass media. Thus, even though t h e person may be illit-

e r a t e , o r may n o t have an accep tab le degree of competency i n Standard

Engl i sh o r Standard Tr in idadian Engl i sh , he i s s t i l l capable of under-

s t and ing i t s i n c e he has i n t e r n a l i z e d t h e s t r u c t u r e and b a s i c concepts

of Standard English. H i s p rof ic iency i n ' t h i s f i e l d is measured by h i s

a b i l i t y t o swi t ch back and f o r t h from Standard Engl i sh t o Standard

Tr in idad ian Engl i sh t o T r in idad ian Creole o r Tobagonian Creole , and by

h i s capac i ty t o d i s t i n g u i s h between t h e ve rnacu la r s t h a t range along

t h e continuum, w i t h i n t h e wide a r e a of i n t e r a c t i o n .

One i n t e r e s t i n g a spec t o f t h i s s i t u a t i o n , a s is d iscussed by

Dennis R. Cra ig (1971), i s t h e f a c t t h a t c r e o l e speakers may recognize

Standard Eng l i sh forms out of p ropor t ion w i t h t h e i r a b i l i t y t o produce

similar examples. Creole speakers a r e i n t h e p e c u l i a r p o s i t i o n t h a t ,

wh i l e Eng l i sh is n o t a f o r e i g n language t o them, i t is s t i l l nq t t h e i r

r n a t i v e language. For c r e o l e speaking c h i l d r e n , t h i s poses a c u t e prob-

l e m s , i n educa t ion a s w e l l a s i n t h e a c q u i s i t i o n of language, t h a t a r e

only now be ing acknowledged. While t h e s e c h i l d r e n and even a d u l t s re-

cognize Standard Engl i sh forms, they may n o t be a b l e t o reproduce s i m -

i l a r forms o r be a b l e t o d i s t i n g u i s h t h e i n n a t e d i f f e r e n c e between

Standard Eng l i sh and c r e o l e p a t t e r n s . To he lp s o l v e t h e s e problems,

Cra ig has i n d i c a t e d what educa tors should look f o r i n t h e i r c r e o l e

speaking s t u d e n t s and how they should go about overcoming it.

T r i n i d a d i a n Creole and Tobagonian Creole a r e now i n a s t a g e of

t r a n s i t i o n , t h a t i s , they a r e g radua l ly moving towards Standard Engl i sh

o r S tandard Tr in idadian English. It i s an u n s t a b l e and dynamic process .

S ince T r i n i d a d and Tobago a r e themselves s o minute i n s i z e and t h e r e

a r e no geographica l f a c t o r s t h a t would pose insurmountable b a r r i e r s t o

communication, t h e r e i s no g r e a t v a r i e t y of T r in idad ian Creole w i t h i n

Tr in idad , o r Tobagonian Creole i n Tobago. Each community speaks a form

of c r e o l e which i s mutually i n t e l l i g i b l e w i th , and sometimes ha rd ly

d i s t i n g u i s h a b l e from t h a t of any o t h e r community. Of course, t h e

c r e o l e spoken i n a wealthy suburb of Port-of-Spain i s more l i k e l y t o be

c l o s e r t o Standard Tr in idadian Engl i sh than t h a t spoken i n a t i n y

i s o l a t e d v i l l a g e l i k e Moruga. However, t h i s is due t o socio-economic

f a c t o r s t h a t are o u t s i d e the scope of t h i s paper. Communication be-

tween h i g h e r and lower c l a s s e s a r e eased by each c l a s s a t tempt ing t o

speak a form of c r e o l e t h a t i s c l o s e r t o t h a t spoken by t h e o t h e r c l a s s ,

which may b e o u t s i d e t h e range wi th which t h e speaker f e e l s comfort-

a b l e , y e t w i t h i n t h e a r e a of i n t e r a c t i o n .

T r i n i d a d i a n Creole and Tobagonian Creole a r e n o t i d e n t i c a l as many

people b e l i e v e . One of t h e reasons f o r t h i s can be found i n t h e h i s -

t o r y of b o t h i s l a n d s . Tr in idad and Tobago a r e t h e most southern of t h e

cha in of i s l a n d s t h a t are s t r u n g ac ros s t he Caribbean Sea. Forming t h e

lowest p o i n t of t h e Lesser A n t i l l e s , they l i e j u s t o f f t h e n o r t h e a s t e r n

c o a s t of Venezuela. Tr in idad covers an a rea of approximately one thous-

and, e i g h t hundred and s ix ty- four square mi l e s wh i l e sma l l e r Tobago ex-

tends over one hundred and s i x t e e n square m i l e s , w i t h a vo lcan ic peak

a t i t s c e n t r e . Both i s l a n d s were discovered by Chr is topher Columbus

on h i s t h i r d voyage i n 1498, and claimed f o r Spain. Afeer 1783, Trin-

idad was popula ted by French s e t t l e r s , and i n 1797, t h e i s l a n d w a s cap-

t u red by t h e B r i t i s h . It w a s o f f i c i a l l y ceded t o B r i t a i n i n 1802.

Tobago became a colony of B r i t a i n i n 1814, and o f f i c i a l l y s o i n 1877.

Both i s l a n d s were jo ined a s a s i n g l e colony i n 1889. Tr in idad and

Tobago became independent on August 31s t , 1962. S laves w e r e emancip-

a t ed i n 1833. I n order t o r e p l a c e t h i s labour f o r c e , t h e B r i t i s h

brought i nden tu red labourers from I n d i a between 1845 and 1917. Th i s

l a t e a d d i t i o n of Eas t Ind ian workers and then , Chinese immigrants,

has had some measure of i n f luence on t h e c r e o l e of Trinidad.

I n b o t h i s l a n d s , t h e r e a r e sma l l pockets where Yoruba i s s t i l l

spoken, b u t t h i s i s r a p i d l y dying o u t , even among t h e o l d peop le who

a r e forced t o speak c r e o l e t o communicate w i th t h e younger genera t ions .

I n T r in idad , French Creole i s a l s o spoken by a smal l minor i ty , made up

mostly of people from Grenada and o t h e r i s l a n d s where it i s more com-

mon.

The popu la t ion content of bo th i s l a n d s are very d i f f e r e n t and

t h i s accounts p a r t l y f o r t h e d i f f e r e n c e between Tr in idad ian Creole and

Tobagonian Creole . While Tobago i s populated almost e n t i r e l y by people

of Afr ican descen t , t h e r e are s e v e r a l r a c i a l groups

popula t ion of Tr in idad . A gene ra l breakdown of t h e

of t h e latter i s as fol lows:

which comprise t h e

popu la t ion content

Table 1.2 Popula t ion Content of Trinidad.

1. Of Afr ican descent ........................ 45% 2. Of Eas t Ind ian descent .................... 40% ........................ 3. Of Chinese descent 5% 4. Of mixed r a c i a l a n c e s t r y .................. 5% 6 , Of European and Mid-Eastern descent ....... 5%

(mainly Engl i sh , Spanish, French, Portuguese, Syr ian and Lebanese descent ) .

A s a r e s u l t , T r in idad ian Creole i s d i s t i ngu i shed from the English-

based c r e o l e s of t h e o t h e r Caribbean i s l a n d s by t h e words, o r c r e o l i z e d

forms of them, borrowed from Spanish, French, Chinese and Hindi . Some

c r e o l e idioms taken from Spanish a r e : /mamagay/ meaning ' t o a c t l i k e a

sycophant, t o f l a t t e r exces s ive ly ' from 'mamar g a l l o ' , /malfo/ ' e v i l

eye ' from 'ma1 d e o j o ' and / p i c 3 1 'song w i t h a w i t t y o r sha rp c r i t i c a l

obse rva t ion of soc i e ty : Some l e x i c a l i t e m s taken from French are:

/ lagahu/ 'werewolf ' from ' loup garou' , / l a y a b l ~ s / ' female demon' from

' la d i a b l e s s e ' , /cob01 ' v u l t u r e ' from 'corbeau' , /crape/ ' f r o g ' frbm

'crapaud' , /du-du/ from 'doux-doux' r e f e r r i n g t o ' one 's sweetheart: i, e.

a term of endearment, and /p3mcite/ ' t ype of f r u i t ' from ' p o m e cy-

t h s r e ' . Words from Hindi which have been incorpora ted i n t o t h e vocab-

u l a r y of T r in idad ian Creole a r e : /du lahrn / ' b r i d e ' , / b e t i / ' g i r l ' , / ah lu /

' po ta to ' , / bay i / ' spinach ' , e t c , ; and Chinese, o r t h e c r e o l i z e d Chinese

/hakwai/ f o r 'b lack people ' . It i s a l s o q u i t e common t o h e a r Trinidad-

i a n Creole speakers r e p e a t ' o u i ' ( f o r example, / a s i st wi/ f o r 'I real-

I l y saw i t ' ) a t t h e end of a s ta tement o r answer t o a ques t ion as a s i g n I

i of emphasis, Anl ther reason why t h e c r e o l e of Tobago i s much more c9n-

s e r v a t i v e than t h a t of Trinidad i s t h a t Tr in idad i s much more devel-

oped than Tobago, which, because of i t s ' l a c k of resources s t i l l remains

i n t h e backwaters , s a f e from r a p i d change.

There is cons tan t and vary ing degrees of i n t e r a c t i o n between Trin-

i dad ian Creole , Tobagonian Creole and Standard English. I have c a l l e d

Tr in idad ian Creole a c r e o l e and n o t a d i a l e c t of English, because, a l -

though t h e l i n g u i s t i c s i t u a t i o n is moving towards a pos t -c reo le con-

tinuum, t h e c r e o l e t h a t is s t i l l spoken by t h e i n h a b i t a n t s of t h e '

numerous sma l l towns, suburbs and v i l l a g e s is no t understood by t h e

ma jo r i t y of Standard English n a t i v e speake r s e n t e r i n g t h e community.

To g ive a broad i d e a of how wide t h e a r e a of i n t e r a c t i o n i s between

Standard Engl i sh and Tr in idadian Creole , w e w i l l t a k e a c l o s e r look a t

it. Standard Engl i sh i s gene ra l ly t h e language used i n bus ines s - major

bus ines s t r a n s a c t i o n s between l a r g e co rpo ra t ions a r e u sua l ly conceived,

c a r r i e d o u t , and sea l ed i n Standard Eng l i sh , a l l formal c o n t r a c t s a r e i n

Standard Engl i sh , e t c . Moving down t h e economic l adde r , sma l l e r bus-

i n e s s d e a l s , s ay between small fami ly bus ines ses , may be nego t i a t ed i n

Standard Tr in idad ian English, o r , depending on the r e l a t i o n s h i p between

t h e businessmen, a form of T r in idad ian Creole , each t r y i a g t o speak t h a t

form of c r e o l e wi th which he f e e l s t h e o t h e r i s most comfortable. To-

wards t h e lower end of t h e s c a l e , t h e r e is t h e Sunday market where t h e

housewife goes t o buy f r e s h meat and produce. This b a r t e r i n g and

haggl ing i s u s u a l l y expressed i n t h e ' pu re s t ' form of c r e o l e known t o

t h e housewife. I f t he vendor wishes t o d r i v e a hard barga in , h e

a t tempts t o make a c o n t r a s t between h i s socio-economic p o s i t i o n and t h a t

17

of t h e housewife, t o t h e advantage of t h e l a t t e r . I f , on t h e o t h e r

hand, he wishes t o wheedle and f l a t t e r , he p l a y s up t o he r by speaking

h i s most r e f i n e d form of Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh , thus implying

t h a t , of course , she i s a very important person. A preacher , speaking

in fo rma l ly t o one of h i s f l ock , w i l l speak i n Tr in idad ian Creole; y e t ,

when addres s ing h i s congregat ion, i l l i t e r a t e though he may be , he w i l l

u s e what h e t h i n k s is Standard Engl i sh , on ly occas iona l ly breaking i n t o

Tr in idad ian Creole t o s t r e s s a po in t . Should h e d e l i v e r h i s sermon i n

T r in idad ian Creole , t h e congregat ion would b e extremely offended and

i n s u l t e d by t h i s l a c k of d i g n i t y , and would condemn h i s c a p a b i l i t y t o

preach , g r e a t though h i s o r a t o r i c a l a b i l i t y may be.

A s any s o c i o l o g i s t o r s o c i o l i n g u i s t knows, t h e s e k inds of r e l a t i o n -

s h i p s and s i t u a t i o n s occur on a d a i l y b a s i s and each may c a l l f o r a

d i f f e r e n t form of c r e o l e which may be c l o s e r t o 'pure ' c r e o l e o r t o

Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh than what t h e speaker uses h imsel f . Any

person would b e hard p u t t o s ay t h a t t h e r e was one s i n g l e day when he

d i d n o t have t o make a few o r even many adjustments- t o t h e form of Stan-

dard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh o r T r in idad ian Creole t h a t h e speaks, i n o rde r

t o communicate wi th o t h e r s without a rous ing h o s t i l e f e e l i n g s . A t y p i c a l

example of t h i s i s a grocer who, w i t h i n t h e passage of one day, speaks

Standard Eng l i sh t o h i s lawyer and c l i e n t s who a r e t eache r s , Standard

T r i n i d a d i a n Engl i sh t o h i s bus ines s compet i tor , T r in idad ian Creole t o

h i s paying customers, and a much broader form of T r in idad ian Creole t o

t h e non-paying customers and t h e s t r e e t sweeper. I n o rde r t o do t h i s ,

h e must swi t ch back and f o r t h without h e s i t a t i o n , and, i n t u r n , move up

and down t h e l i n g u i s t i c continuum by adding c r e o l e words o r borrowing

words from Standard English f o r a s i t u a t i o n i n which t h e r e a r e no c r e o l e

words t h a t are approp ia t e ,

The f a c t t h a t t h e r e a r e borrowings from Standard Engl i sh , Spanish,

French, Chinese and Hindi l ex i cons a f f e c t s a l l components of Trinidad-

i a n Creole . D i f f e r e n t words may be used f o r t h e same r e f e r e n t i n Stan-

dard Eng l i sh and i n Tr in idadian Creole , f o r example, / f r a k / i s used f o r

' d r e s s ' , /j3:si/ ' j e r s e y ' f o r ' sweater ' , /badrs / 'bodice ' f o r 'b louse ' ,

/bakanal/ 'bacchanal ' f o r 'confusion, s p e c t a c l e 1 , / f g t / ' f e t e ' f o r - - . .

' p a r ty ' , e t c . Some Standard Engl i sh words may a l s o be incorpora ted i n t o

Tr in idad ian Creole , b u t used i n an e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t sense , e.g. / d i

f f g f r ~ g f r ~ g / meaning n o t t h a t t h e f i s h i s f r e s h , b u t t h a t i t has a

very f i s h y taste o r smell . / f r & g / i n t h i s sense , may a l s o b e used t o

d e s c r i b e 'eggs ' . Severa l Standard Engl i sh terms may a l s o b e used i n

r eve r se o r d e r i n Standard Tr in idadian Engl i sh o r T r in idad ian Creole ,

f o r example, ' tongue t i e d ' becomes ' t i e d tongue' .

Thus, T r in idad ian Creole d i f f e r s - from Standard Engl i sh , n o t only

i n t h e l e x i c o n , b u t a l s o i n t h e grammar and i n t h e phonology. Some of

t h e s e d i f f e r e n c e s are poin ted ou t i n David Jay Minderhout (1973) and i n . .

David Decamp (1971). They a r e as fol lows:

(1) The copula o r forms of ' t o be ' are usua l ly absent and are gen-

e r a l l y d e l e t e d a f t e r pronouns, f o r example, /i b a yan w i / 'he i s a

r e a l l y bad man', / d i bwai dEm w ~ k f d wrkrd/ ' t h e boys are very wicked

o r mischievous' .

(2) There is gene ra l ly no p a s t t e n s e i n d i c a t o r , a l though t h e cont in-

uous t e n s e i s marked by t h e v e r b a l s u f f i x -ing, ( f o r example, /i wakm

d31f d i s t r i t / 'he i s walking down t h e s t r e e t ' ) , t h e p r e s e n t and h a b i t -

u a l t e n s e by 'does' (eg. s h i daz go t a t538 ~ b r i de/ ' she goes t o

church eve ry day ' ) , and t h e f u t u r e by forms of 'go' (eg. /a go go s i d i

d a k t a l 'I w i l l go t o s e e t h e doc to r ' ) .

(3) P l u r a l markers a r e de l e t ed .

(4) The fo l lowing pronominal system i s found:

Table 1 . 3 Pronominal System of Tr in idadian Creole.

STE TC

she h Igi1 h e r

they t ldSrn1 them

There is no c a s e i n t h e pronouns, except t h a t /a/ may be used i n pre-

f e r ence t o / m i / .

(5) There i s no subject-verb agreement, eg. / d i E in i c r a l we i wan/

' t h e c a t e r p i l l a r where i t wants t o ' .

(6) There i s no p a s s i v e form of t h e verb.

(7) The negative particle corresponding to 'isn' t' varies from / ~ n t

NfnN E /, eg. /di neba de ~ n t takrn nobw2di b~znrs/ 'that neighbour

does not discuss other people's affairs'.

(8) Multiple negation - Whereas two negatives within the same core

sentence are understood in Standard English to equal a positive, in

Trinidadian Creole, multiple negatives within the same clause simply

indicate negative. Eg. /mi e nyam no plant~n/ 'I did not eat any plan-

tain'. The general negativizer is /no/.

(9) Questions are not realized by the inversion of the corresponding

.statement, but by a declarative sentence ending with a high tone.

(10) Use of the repetitive sentence is quite common, eg. / r z d ~ d i

d ~ d wi/ for 'he is really dead'.

(11) The dummy subject constructions 'there is' or 'there are' are

usually replaced by the existential 'it' in 'it have' as in / ~ t hab tu

man faytrn m di wek/ 'there are two men fighting-in the wake'.

'4 (12) Reduplication is not a characteristic of lower social class.

It spans the breadth of the entire continuum and is accepted by all

social classes. Thus it is quite common to hear expressions like

/hwoli-hwoli/ 'full of holes', Islo-do/ 'very slow', lbrrs-brrsl 'very

rapidly' , /we t-WE t/ ' really wet ' , and, taken from the African language Twi, /bob01 'fool' and /b~bz~l/ 'confusion, mess'.

(13) Another feature that is characteristic of English-based creoles

is that of associated plurals. The use of these associated plurals is

generally limited to the lower classes of creole speakers. Some exam-

ples are: /jan dem/ 'John and his companions' and /di bwai drm/ 'all the

boys ' . / /

(14) Some nouns a r e a l so used f o r verb functions. Whereas i n Stan-

dard English t h e verbal counterpart of t h e noun ' t h i e f ' i s ' t o s t e a l ' ,

i n Tr in idadian Creole, the verbal equivalent of the noun ' t h i e f ' i s ' t o

t h i e f ' , a s i n t h e example: /rz t i f i t i f d i got w i / meaning 'he r e a l l y

s t o l e t h e goat ' . S imi lar ly , whereas i n Standard English the re e x i s t s

t h e noun ' t o t e ' meaning ' ca r ry -a l l ' , t h e r e i s no such noun i n Trin-

idadian Creole. Ins tead, the re i s t h e verb ' t o t o t e ' which means ' t o

carry ' . I

/ (15) Cer ta in verbs which a r e semantic converses i n Standard English,

f o r example, ' l ea rn ' and ' teach ' , a r e sometimes expressed by a s i n g l e

word. Creole speakers say /a l 3 n d i a l f a b e t d r s wik/ 'I learned the

alphabet t h i s week', but they a l s o say / lm ?$i samz/ ' teach her how ' t o

do sums'.

\ I !! (16) One of the more complex of the grammatical and phonological var-

i a b l e s i s hypercorrect ion, Hypercorrection a r i s e s when a d i s t i n c t i o n

i n the s tandard language is neu t ra l i zed i n a p a r t i c u l a r &alect . To

apply t h i s t o t h e s i t u a t i o n a t hand, le t us consider speakers of Trin-

idadian Creole, where verbs a r e no t marked f o r number and person. The

d i s t i n c t i o n i s the re fo re collapsed. However, c reo le speakers hear

speakers of Standard English using verb forms t h a t a r e marked f o r num-

be r and person. They a r e not aware t h a t t h e r e a r e c e r t a i n r u l e s t h a t

apply t o form these paradigms under c e r t a i n condit ions and i n c e r t a i n

contexts . They only know t h a t , p e r s o n s of h igher s o c i a l s tanding, who

a r e b e t t e r educated, use these verb forms. Thus, i n an attempt t o re-

f i n e t h e i r language and advance t o what t hey b e l i e v e is a ve rnacu la r

t h a t i s c l o s e r t o Standard Engl i sh , they produce unacceptable and un-

grammatical sen tences l i k e :

(a) *I has t o go t o town today.

(b) *We u se s t o go t o t he market.

(c ) *YOU wants a cup of cof fee?

(d) *They is a l a z y people.

The same p r i n c i p l e a p p l i e s i n phonology. Thus, i f sounds i n a

s tandard language, s ay sound a and sound b a r e pronounced i n d i f f e r e n t l y - - a s - b i n a d i a l e c t , t h e d i a l e c t speaker may n o t know when t o s u b s t i t u t e

s tandard - a f o r h i s - b. For i n s t ance , t h e speaker of a n 'h - less f d i a l e c t ,

when /h/ and zero a r e co l l apsed , may mis takenly i n t r o d u c e /h/ i n an i t em

which has ze ro i n t h e s tandard language (e .g, he might s ay / h z l / f o r

1 f i l l f ) . I n Tr in idad , s tandard / a / and /3/ bo th go t o /a/. One

is t h e r e f o r e n o t s u r p r i s e d when c r e o l e speake r s o c c a s i o n a l l y ove rco r rec t

t h e i r /a/ t o / a / , pronouncing, f o r example /bahamfis/ aham am as' as

lb3hamnsl. I n o t h e r i n s t a n c e s , where t h e r-Loss r u l e a p p l i e s ( a s i s ex-

p l a ined i n t h e chap te r on r u l e s , t h e / r / is d e l e t e d p o s t v o c a l i c a l l y i n

T r in idad ian Creole) s o t h a t t h e Standard Eng l i sh word / g ~ r d n / 'Gordonf

i s pronounced i n c r e o l e as lga :dn/ , i t is n o t unusual t h a t c r e o l e speak-

e r s hype rco r rec t and i n s e r t / r / where t h e r e is none i n S tandard English.

Thus, w e g e t / b l a r s t r d / for ' b l a s t e d ' . S ince t h e d i s t i n c t i o n between

t h e words w i t h /r/ and those wi thout have been negated i n c r e o l e , Trin-

i dad ian Creole speakers r e - i n s e r t t h e / r / when speaking Standard Trin-

i d a d i a n Engl i sh , sometimes misapplying t h e r u l e and i n s e r t i n g /r/ where

t h e r e w a s none p rev ious ly de l e t ed .

Another p o t e n t i a l sou rce of hype rco r rec t ion might occur a s a r e s u l t

of o c c l u s i v i z a t i o n . Whereby s tandard 101, /a/, /v/ and / d l go t o I t / ,

/ d l , /b/ and /y/ r e s p e c t i v e l y , one might t h e r e f o r e expec t hype rco r rec t ion

of /Q/, /a/, /v/ and /?!I f o r c r e o l e I t / , / d l , /b/ and /TI. One example

of t h i s is when c r e o l e speakers hypercor rec t Standard Engl i sh

/maeamatzks/ 'mathematics ' t o /maQimaerks/.

Hypercor rec t ion i s a s common a phenomenon among speakers of Trin-

i dad ian Creole a s i t i s among Tobagonian Creole speakers . It occurs

n a t u r a l l y i n everyday speech, e s p e c i a l l y when speakers of t h e c r e o l e t r y

t o r e f i n e t h e i r d i a l e c t without having a f i r m grasp of t h e r u l e s t h a t

govern S tandard Engl i sh . Most of t h e phonological e r r o r s of hyper-

c o r r e c t i o n a r e i n d i v i d u a l ones r a t h e r than gene ra l ones, However, a s

f a r a s t h e grammar i s concerned, hype rco r rec t ion is more widespread

and e s p e c i a l l y p r e v a l e n t among t h e more i l l i te ra te who are i n t h e pro-

c e s s of moving up t h e socio-economic ladder . The performance of t h e

c r e o l e speaker does n o t always r e f l e c t a t r u e p i c t u r e of h i s knowledge

of S tandard E n g l i s h and h i s a b i l i t y t o d i s t i n g u i s h between t h e d i f f e r e n t

ve rnacu la r s .

Char les A. Ferguson (1959) s a y s t h a t i n . a d i g l o s s i a , t h e r e a r e

g r e a t d i f f e r e n c e s between t h e grammar of t h e supe ro rd ina t e and t h a t of

t h e subord ina t e language, t h e grammar of t h e l a t t e r be ing much s impler

t han t h a t of t h e former. There a r e less o b l i g a t o r y c a t e g o r i e s ; para-

digms are more symmetr ical , i n t h a t i r r e g u l a r forms are d i sca rded o r ig-

nored a s i r r e l e v a n t and redundant; and p repos i t i ons a l l t ake t h e same

case.

S i m i l a r l y , he observes , t h e l ex i con of t h e language of lower s o c i a l

s t a t u s i s more l i m i t e d than t h a t of t he more h i g h l y regarded language.

I n t h i s ca se , s i n c e some c r e o l e words have no equ iva l en t i n Standard

English and v i c e v e r s a , they a r e never used when c r e o l e speakers corm-

un ica t e w i t h Standard Engl i sh speakers because t h e l a t t e r do no t u s u a l l y

understand t h e s e terms ( e . g. c r e o l e words l i k e /maco/ from 'maquereau' ,

t h e French word meaning 'mackerel ' , o r t h e s l a n g meaning 'pimp', i n

c r e o l e i s used i n a derogatory manner, a s a noun o r verb, t o r e f e r t o

someone who meddles o r s p i e s on o t h e r ~ e o p l e ' s a f f a i r s ; /macorn€/ from

t ma commere', \ an o ld French term, no longer i n use , meaning 'my dea r '

and conveying a f e e l i n g of warmth and camaraderie, e t c . ) . As a r e s u l t ,

speakers who belong w i t h i n t h i s l i n g u i s t i c continuum, i f they a r e c l o s e r

t o one extreme of i t than t o t h e middle a r e a of i n t e r a c t i o n , may be ig-

no ran t of words which belong t o t h e po le of t h e continuum t h a t i s opp-

o s i t e t o t h e i r s and a world a p a r t from t h e i r s . 'A-

I n rega rd t o phonology, t h e phonology of t h e c r e o l e is much more

b a s i c , s t reaml ined and u n c l u t t e r e d by t h e redundancies t h a t might p lague

t h e o l d e r , more e s t a b l i s h e d language. I n t h e case where t h e s t anda rd

language h a s phonemes t h a t a r e n o t p re sen t i n t h e c r e o l e , t h e latter

may borrow them whenever t h e occasion makes it impera t ive t o do so.

Ferguson goes on t o e x p l a i n t h a t a d i g l o s s i a e x i s t s wherever t h e r e

i s one subord ina t e language and a supe ro rd ina t e one. I n t h i s ca se , t h e

former i s Tr in idad ian Creole and t h e l a t t e r is Standard Tr in idad ian

English. The supe ro rd ina t e language (Standard Tr in idadian Eng l i sh o r

Standard Engl i sh) i s t h e one used and accepted i n t h e l i t e r a t u r e . It is

a l s o used f o r formal educat ion and w r i t t e n and formal purposes. No

group w i t h i n t h e community eve r needs t o use t h e s tandard language f o r

c a s u a l s i t u a t i o n s . A d i g l o s s i a - i s d i f f e r e n t i a t e d from a s i t u a t i o n i n

which a s t anda rd language e x i s t s w i t h a number of d i a l e c t s t h a t a r e re-

l a t e d t o it .

He a l s o s t a t e s t h a t a d i g l o s s i a is c r e a t e d by t h e e x i s t e n c e of

t h r e e condi t ions : (1) t h e body of l i t e r a t u r e is i n t h e superimposed

language o r a d i a l e c t r e l a t e d t o it; (2) t h e r e is l i m i t e d l i t e r a c y among

t h e popula t ion ; and (3) much t i m e has passed t o a l low t h e s t a b i l i z i n g

and es tab l i shment of t h i s s i t u a t i o n , The d i g l o s s i a becomes threa tened

when t h e r e is: (1) g r e a t e r l i t e r a c y ; (2) more communication; and (3) a

d e s i r e f o r a n a t i o n a l language.

The arguments i n favour of having t h e superimposed language as t h e

n a t i o n a l language a re : (1) t h e superimposed language i s be l i eved t o be

s u p e r i o r t o t h e subord ina te language; (2) t h e f i r s t connects t h e c i t -

i z e n s of t h e country t o speakers of t h a t language a l l over t h e world;

and (3) it i s more un i fy ing t o have one language, i.e. t h e s tandard

sou rce language, than i t is t o have a mu l t i t ude of ve rnacu la r s t h a t

vary . The appeal of having t h e subord ina t e language a s t h e n a t i o n a l

language l i e i n t h e fo l lowing ideas : (1) t h e c r e o l e i s more c o l o u r f u l

t han the s t anda rd language; (2) t h e subord ina t e language c r o s s e s a l l

s o c i a l boundaries; and (3) i t i s understood by a g r e a t e r ma jo r i t y of

t h e i n h a b i t a n t s of t h e country. The superimposed language i s chosen

o u t , f o r example, La t in . V a r i e t i e s of t h e subord ina t e language may

become t h e s tandard i f t h e r e a r e a l r eady s e v e r a l communities i n e x i s t -

ence t h a t a r e c e n t r e s f o r t h e s e vernaculars .

Le t u s now consider how t h e s e cond i t i ons apply t o t he s i t u a t i o n i n

Tr in idad and Tobago. The body of l i t e r a t u r e t h a t was o f f i c i a l l y sanct-

ioned by t h e Board of Education was w r i t t e n i n S tandard English. How-

eve r , w i t h i n the l a s t few yea r s , i t has bowed t o growing p re s su re t o

i nc lude and recognize a s p a r t of t h e o f f i c i a l cur r icu lum works of cre-

o l e speake r s who have w r i t t e n and composed i n t h e i r n a t i v e language.

There i s even a newspaper w i th island-wide c i r c u l a t i o n t h a t emphasizes

t h i s ' c reo l i sm' by having most of t h e i r a r t i c l e s w r i t t e n i n c r eo le .

Some of t h e h a r d l i n e r s and o l d t r a d i t i o n a l i s t s s t i l l look down on t h i s

w i t h d i s t a s t e , a s a l a c k of educat ion, o t h e r s r ega rd i t a s a symbol of

a growing consciousness of and p r i d e i n t h e i r i d e n t i t y ,

Much t i m e has passed t o al low f o r t h e s t a b i l i z i n g and e s t a b l i s h -

ment of t h e c r e o l e s i n c e i t s development from a p idg in , Whereas be-

f o r e , a s i z a b l e po r t ion of t h e popula t ion was i l l i te ra te , now, due t o

r a p i d development, a b e t t e r economy, and more communication i n T r in i -

dad, t h i s i s now reduced t o a mere handful . O f cou r se , s i n c e l i f e i n

Tobago moves a t a much slower pace, t h e d i g l o s s i a remains much more

s t a b l e t h a n i n Trinidad. Tobagonian Creole is more conserva t ive and is

much c l o s e r t o i t s o r i g i n a l form than i s t h e c r e o l e of i t s s i s t e r i s l and .

Na tu ra l ly , when independence was dec lared i n 1962, t h e o f f i c i a l lang-

uage chosen w a s t h e European source language, S tandard B r i t i s h English.

From t h i s , we can draw t h e conclusions t h a t a l though t h e r e is d e f i n i t e -

l y a d i g l o s s i a t h a t is r e l a t i v e l y s t a b l e i n Tobago; i n Tr in idad , t he

d i g l o s s i a i s th rea t en ing t o break up a s i t moves towards a pos t -c reo le

continuum, of t h e type descr ibed i n Decamp (1971).

Mervyb C. Alleyne (1971) p r e s e n t s a d i f f e r e n t f a c e t of t h e prob-

l e m . He b e l i e v e s t h a t c r e o l e languages a r e t h e r e s u l t of a c u l t u r a l

c l a s h between Western European languages and those of West Afr ica. The

Afr ican c u l t u r e and t h e language of t h e s l a v e s were p a r t l y o v e r l a i d by

t h a t of t h e European c o l o n i s t s i n an e f f o r t t o subsume them. This

i n t e r a c t i o n between upper and lower c l a s s e s of t h e s o c i e t y gave r i s e t o

a " c u l t u r a l c o n t a c t s i t u a t i o n " and t h e subsequent p roces ses of borrow-

ing , i n c o r p o r a t i o n , r e s t r u c t u r i n g , s i m p l i f i c a t i o n , expansion, e t c . l e d

t o t h e development of an enormous v a r i a t i o n i n ve rnacu la r s . The r e s u l t -

i n g English-based c r e o l e s show i n t h e i r broad s t r u c t u r a l p a t t e r n s ,

morphology, and phonology, t h a t t h e i r source languages a r e West African.

These c r e o l e s are t h e r e f o r e t h e end r e s u l t of "decul tura t ion" and "a-

ccu l tu ra t ion" , r e s t r u c t u r i n g and r e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n .

One of t h e maladies of t h i s "decul tura t ion" i s t h e p u b l i d p r i v a t e

dichotomy f e l t by many c r e o l e speakers , who wish t o advance s o c i a l l y

and economical ly, and, knowing t h a t t h e use of Standard Engl i sh is

e s s e n t i a l t o f a c i l i t a t e t h i s be t te rment , s t i l l want t o r e t a i n t h e i r

i d e n t i t y as c r e o l e speakers . The c r e o l e thus becomes and is regarded

as a c u l t u r a l v a r i a n t . There s t i l l e x i s t s t h e idea, 'among some people,

t h a t c r e o l e s developed from a baby t a l k model, t h a t is , t h e s l a v e ' s

i m i t a t i o n of h i s mas t e r ' s i m i t a t i o n of t h e s l a v e ' s i m i t a t i o n . A s w e

know, t h i s i s a misconseption. A f a r more p l a u s i b l e theory i s t h e one

proposed by Alleyne (1971), t h a t c r e o l e s developed among f i e l d s l a v e s

whose s o c i a l con tac t w a s l i m i t e d t o t h e i r peers . Thus, they r e i n t e r -

p re t ed Engl i sh , r e s t r u c t u r i n g i t t o f i t i n t o t h e p a t t e r n s of t h e i r own

n a t i v e language.

I n comparison t o o t h e r types of co lack Engl i sh ' , William Labov

(1971) s t a t e s t h a t he b e l i e v e s t h a t "Non Standard Negro ~ n g l i s h " of

Black American communities is f a r more developed a s a post-creole con-

tinuum than t h e English-based c r e o l e s of t h e Caribbean. This b e l i e f i s

based on t h e f a c t t h a t c e r t a i n r u l e s which a f f e c t West Ind ian Engl i sh

on a l e v e l t h a t is extremely c l o s e t o t h e s u r f a c e form, a r e a p p l i c a b l e

t o Black Engl i sh a t a much deeper l e v e l . It i s t h e r e f o r e conceivable

t h a t t he English-based c r e o l e s of t he West I n d i e s may fol low a pa th

t h a t is very s i m i l a r t o t h a t of "Non Standard Negro English". H e a l s o

b e l i e v e s t h a t t h e c e n t r a l s t r u c t u r e s of l i n g u i s t i c systems, such as

v e r b a l t e n s e and a spec t , resist in f luence from o t h e r languages, whi le

t h e p e r i p h e r a l elements of vocabulary a r e f r e e l y borrowed. He s t a t e s

t h e p r i n c i p l e t h a t :

I1 whenever a subord ina t e d i a l e c t i s i n con tac t w i t h a supe ro rd ina t e one, l i n g u i s t i c forms produced by a speaker of t h e subord ina t e d i a l e c t i n a formal c o n t e x t w i l l s h i f t i n an unsystematic manner towards t h e superord ina te ."

This accounts f o r t h e development of t h e l i n g u i s t i c continuum from a

d i g l o s s i a t o a pos t -c reo le one.

I n a t t empt ing t o account f o r phonological phenomena i n T r in idad ian

Creole , we have made t h r e e d i v i s i o n s : Tr in idadian Creole , Standard

Tr in idad ian Engl i sh and Standard English. On t h e o t h e r hand, S t an ley

Tsuzaki (1971) p r o p o s e s . t h a t a number of c o e x i s t e n t sub-systems be set

up i n a c a s e where a l i n g u i s t i c continuum e x i s t s , i n t h e o rde r o f :

p idgins , v a r i e t i e s of c r e o l e s , s t anda rd language, e t c . , s o t h a t t h e con-

tinuum may b e b e t t e r analysed. W e have decided a g a i n s t t h i s method f o r

t h e s imple reason t h a t i t i s very d i f f i c u l t i f no t impossible t o d i s -

t i n g u i s h where t h e p idg in ends and t h e c r e o l e begins , o r even between

each s l i g h t l y d i f f e r e n t ve rnacu la r . Tsuzaki a l s o s t a t e s t h a t i f one

component of a l i n g u i s t i c system i s a f f e c t e d , f o r example, a phoneme,

then a l l t h e o t h e r s a r e a f f e c t e d . Therefore , a l l t h e o the r phonemes

must make adjustments and adap ta t ions . The argument a g a i n s t t h i s is

t h e s i m i l a r i t y of c r e o l e grammars i n some a r e a s and t h e d i s s i m i l a r i t y

i n o t h e r s . This argument a l s o suppor t s t h e r e l e x i f i c a t i o n hypothes is

of Taylor , Whinnon and Stewar t , r e f e r r e d t o by Tsuzaki. There is

evidence t h a t languages i n c l o s e c o n t a c t , f o r a long per iod , become

i d e n t i c a l i n some a r e a s and d i f f e r e n t i n o t h e r s . The r e l e x i f i c a t i o n

hypothes is r e q u i r e s t h a t t h e l e x i c o n of a language can be s p l i t o f f

from t h e grammar many t i m e s i n t h e course of t h e development of t he

c r eo le . I n t h i s paper , we have p r e f e r r e d t o s e t up a diasystem t o

account f o r T r in idad ian Creole and Tobagonian Creole.

The a b i l i t y t o understand nove l u t t e r a n c e s i y Standard Engl i sh

must depend on a system of i n t e r n a l i z e d r u l e s l i n k i n g t h e two l e v e l s ,

i .e. Creole and Standard English. There must be a competence t o d e r i v e

one from t h e o the r . What t h i s t h e s i s a t tempts t o show i s t h a t i n

a c t u a l f a c t , i t is p o s s i b l e t o d e r i v e c r e o l e r e n d i t i o n s of Standard

Engl i sh l e x i c a l i t e m s by apply ing a sma l l s e t of phonological ru l e s .

Some of t h e s e r u l e s w i l l be found t o apply i n a s p e c i f i c o rde r . These

a r e d i scussed i n chapters 3 and 4. There are a l s o a couple of r u l e s

which do n o t r e q u i r e t h e p o s t u l a t i o n of o rde r ing c o n s t r a i n t s a s f a r a s

t h e g e n e r a l body of r u l e s a r e concerned. This is a l s o d iscussed i n

chap te r 3.

Much cont roversy cen te r s around t h e n e c c e s s i t y f o r e x t r i n s i c order-

i n g of r u l e s . We s h a l l a l s o d i scuss t h e p o s s i b i l i t y of e l imina t ing

o r d e r i n g c o n s t r a i n t s and of thus c o l l a p s i n g t h e d i s t i n c t i o n between

'o rdered ' and 'unordered' r u l e s i n chap te r 4.

CHAPTER 2

THE PHONEMIC SYSTEM OF TRINIDADIAN CREOLE

The purpose of t h i s chapter i s t o r e l a t e t h e phonologica l s t r u c t -

u re s of S tandard Tr in idadian Engl i sh t o those of T r i n i d a d i a n Creole and

Tobagonian Creole. A s a s t a r t i n g p o i n t , we s h a l l l i s t , f o r purposes of

comparison, t h e s u r f a c e phonemes of Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh and

Tr in idad ian Creole . W e s h a l l i n d i c a t e t h e main correspondences found.

Chapters 3 and 4 w i l l be devoted t o t h e d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e gene ra l

r u l e s l i n k i n g Standard Tr in idadian Engl i sh t o t h e c r e o l e s and t h e d i s -

cussion o f m a t t e r s of ordering. '

Table 2 . 1 The Vowel Phonemes of Standard Tr in idad ian Eng l i sh and Tr in idadian Creole,

STE

It w i l l b e noted t h a t T r in idad ian Creole has a smaller inventory

oE vowel phonemes than has Standard Tr in idad ian Eng l i sh (e leven a s com-

pared t o t h i r t e e n ) . I n t h e case of t h e h ighe r vowels (i,l , e , 4 , u,

V, o ) , t h e Standard Tr in idadian Engl i sh phonemes show up i n Trinidad-

i a n Creole r e n d i t i o n s a t corresponding p o i n t s , a l though t h e r e may be

minor phone t i c d i f f e r ences .

Standard Tr in idad ian English lower vowels ( E , a ? , a , 3 , 3:, a:)

a r e r e l a t e d t o t h e four Tr in idadian Creole lower vowels a s fol lows:

(1) Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh /€ / corresponds t o T r in idad ian

Creole /€/, Thus, we f i n d STE / g € t / ' ge t ' f o r TC /gy•’ t / , and STE lp€n /

'pen' f o r TC / p ~ n / .

(2) Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh /ae/ corresponds t o t h e more cen-

t r a l T r in idad ian Creole / a / . Thus, f o r / m = t / 'mat' we f i n d /mat/ , f o r

/haet/ ' h a t ' t h e r e i s / h a t / , and f o r / k ~ t / ' c a t ' , /kya t / .

(3) Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh /a/ i n uns t r e s sed environments, i n

genera l , appears i n Tr in idadian Creole a s /a / . Thus, / s s s t a ( r ) / 'sis-

t e r ' shows up as / s r s a / , /b=?ka(r) / 'banker ' a s /banks/, / l & t a ( r ) / ' l e t -

ter' a s / l ~ t a / , / a f t a ( r ) / ' a f t e r ' a s / a f t a / , / p i t a ( r ) / ' p e t e r ' a s

/ p i t a / , / beka ( r ) / ' baker ' a s /beka/, /bs t a ( r ) / ' b e t t e r ' as / b ~ t a / ,

/pr iEa ( r ) / ' p reacher ' a s /pr iEa/ and / t i E s ( r ) / ' t e ache r ' a s /&a/. We

s h a l l r e f e r t o t h e r e l e v a n t r u l e as Shwa Lowering. I n s t r e s s e d pos i t -

ion , Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh / a / is l i m i t e d t o words such as ' t u r n ' ,

' h u r t ' , e t c . where we may wish t o permit underlying //r//. I n t h e s e

cases T r in idad ian Creole has /3/ ,- f o r example, / t3:n/ ' t u rn ' , / h ~ : t/

' h u r t ' , /b3:n/ 'burn' , /w~ : rn / 'worm', /w2:d/ 'word' and /b3:d/ ' b i rd ' .

This r u l e we s h a l l l a b e l Shwa Rounding. Standard ~ r i n i d a d i a n Eng l i sh

a l s o has /a/ i n numerous i tems when t h e c r e o l e s have unreduced vowels.

Thus, 'tomorrow' /tam2ro/ appears as /tumaro/ and 'yesterday ' l ygs t ade / ,

as / y ~ s a d e / .

(4) Standard Tr in idadian Eng l i sh /2/ and /2:/ corresponds t o Trin-

i dad ian Creole / a / , t h e l i n k i n g r u l e be ing one of Unrounding. Thus,

f o r lp3t/ ' ~ o t ' w e f i n d at/, f o r / b ~ : l / ' b a l l ' we g e t / b a l / , f o r / tay/

toyt ' t h e r e is /tay/, f o r / g ~ n / 'gone' we f i n d / g a d and f o r / b ~ m /

'bomb' w e have /barn/.

(5) Standard Tr in idadian Eng l i sh /a : / corresponds t o T r in idad ian

Creole /a:/.

These correspondences can b e shown a s fol lows:

Table 2.2 The Correspondences between STE lower Vowel Phonemes and t h e i r e q u i v a l e n t s i n TC.

STE TC

I n gene ra l , ~ r i n i d a d i i n Creole consonant phonemes occur i n t h e

s a m e p o s i t i o n as Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh Consonants, w i t h only a

few except ions which s h a l l be d i scussed on t h e fo l lowing page.

The consonants of bo th systems are as fol lows:

Table 2 . 3 The Consonant Phonemes of STE and TC.

STE TC

There a r e l e s s consonants i n t h e Tr in idad ian Creole inventory of

phonemes than i n Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh (twenty-four i n t h e for-

mer compared t o twenty i n t h e l a t t e r ) . There i s no /&/, /@/, o r /2/

i n T r in idad ian Creole and /v/ is merely a n al lophone of /b/. This can

be accounted f o r by t h e r u l e of Occ lus iv i za t ion , which s t a t e s t h a t :

(a ) S l i t d e n t a l f r i c a t i v e s are occ lus iv i zed , thus /Q/ goes t o / t /

as i n / u q / ' t h i n g ' , I t r u t / ' t r u t h ' , / t a t / ' thought ' ; and /a/ goes t o

/ d l a s i n /wzdzn/ ' w i t h i n f , /doz/ ' t h o s e ' and /bed/ 'bathe ' .

(b) The voiced l a b i o d e n t a l f r i c a t i v e /v / is o p t i o n a l l y occ lus iv i zed ,

t h a t is, /v/ is an al lophone of /b / and t h e r e f o r e v a r i e s o p t i o n a l l y

wi th it , t h u s we g e t / b i l i b / ' b e l i e v e ' , /drayb/ ' d r i v e ' and /d&bl /

' d e v i l ' .

(c) The voiced p a l a t a l f r i c a t i v e /$!/ is occ lus iv i zed t o /Y/ , t hus -

' p l ea su re ' becomes l p l f fa/ and 'measure' / m ~ Y a / .

Thi s tendency towards a r educ t ion i n t h e inventory of phonemes is

a l i g n e d w i t h t h e no t ion of s i m p l i c i t y , t h a t i s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of a l l

c r e o l e s . Note t h a t a l l t h e l i q u i d s and g l i d e s remain the same i n Trin-

i d a d i a n Creole a s i n Standard Tr in idadian Engl i sh .

CHAPTER 3

THE PHONOLOGICAL RULES OF TRINIDADIAN CREOLE

Most of the data in this chapter are based on the personal know-

ledge of the author who, being a native of Trinidad and Tobago, acted

as her own informant. The rest of the data are taken from A Trans-

formational Analysis of Tobagonian Creole English, a Ph.D. dissert-

ation by Donna Elaine Southers (1975); and from A Socio-linguistic

Description of Tobagonian English, a Ph.D. dissertation by David Jay

Minderhout.

The phonological systems compared are those of Trinidadian Creole

and Tobagonian Creole (which is a more conservative form of TC and

perhaps indicative of its past form) and Standard Trinidadian English.

The latter is based on Standard British English. The analysis here

presented was intended to be synchronic but it is clear that it can

also be interpreted to be diachronic. The scope of this analysis is

limited to the rule system relating standard and creole varieties.

37

First of all, let us consider the rules whereby the vowels of the

creole phonemic system are derived from the vowel phonemes of Standard

Trinidadian English:

Contraction

Data:

Discussion:

brown

crown

down

drown

town

pound

mound

round

ground

The difference between Trinidadian Creole and Tobagonian Creole

lies in the generality of the rule contracting /law// to 131. In

Tobagonian Creole, there appears to be no restriction; whereas in

Trinidadian Creole the phenomenon is limited to the environment before

/n/ (or perhaps before all nasals? There are no actual cases of under-

lying //awn// or //awn//). The Trinidadian Creole form of the rule

must t h e r e f o r e state:

I / / / J / /- +nasal

I n Tobagonian Creole , we have simply:

/ /awl/ -+ 131

A s w e s h a l l s e e l a t e r on, t h i s secondary /3/ i s n o t s u b j e c t t o t h e

Unrounding r u l e (which i s analyzed n e x t ) , s o t h a t t h e latter w i l l have

t o be ordered be fo re t h e Cont rac t ion r u l e .

The replacement of / / n / / by /9 / i s found when t h e under ly ing form

has //awn// o~ //awnd//, a l though n o t when it h a s / /a~// ( a s i n 'upon'

/pan/) . Therefore , t h e r e l e v a n t r u l e , . V e l a r i z a t i o n ( l a t e r d i scussed i n

d e t a i l ) , must precede Contract ion, ( s e e d e r i v a t i o n of Ipawnd/ 'pound').

Unrounding

Pan

?2a: t

ga:n

ga: 1

wa:k

bomb

b o t t l e

upon

s h o r t

gone

g a l l

walk

talk

Gordon

Tobagonian Creole

(c) k3

h3

3t

h ~ s

Statement of rule:

John

frock

dog

son

brown

crown

down

drown

town

pound

mound

round

ground

COW

how

out

house

Discussion:

Shwa Rounding and r-Loss

Data:

(a) w3:k

h2: t

work

h u r t

Note t h a t /3/ does occur i n t h e i t e m s of ( b ) , which i n Standard

Engl i sh , have /awl. This impl ies t h a t t h e r u l e producing t h e s e cases

of /3/ must n o t b e followed by t h e Unrounding r u l e and t h u s feed i n t o

it. The a c t u a l o rde r i s t h a t of counterfeeding: f o r i n s t ance , cons ider

t h e d e r i v a t i o n s of /barn/ 'bomb' and / p y / 'pound':

b2 m p awnd

F i n a l Consonant Dele t ion - Pawn

V e l a r i z a t i o n - pa?

Unrounding barn - Cont rac t ion -

p33

Another sou rce of s u r f a c e /3/ i s t h e under ly ing sequence / / a r n / /

as i n /bz~:n/ 'burn ' . Again we must ensure t h a t t h e secondary /D/ does

n o t undergo Unrounding. That i s , t h e o rde r i s counter feeding:

barn

Unrounding - Shwa Rounding b x n

r-Loss b2:n

b i r d

t h i r d

word

worthless

d i r t

f i r s t

l e a r n

Myrtle

p e a r l / ~ e a r l

s h i r t

Statement of ru le :

S t ressed / /a/ / goes t o /3/ before / /r/ / .

Discussion:

The /3/ a r i s i n g from t h i s r u l e i s not converted f u r t h e r t o /a/ by

the normal Unrounding r u l e (e.g. / / g x d n / / -+ /ga:dn/) a s w e s h a l l see

l a t e r on. That i s , the a c t u a l order i s t h a t of counterfeeding: Un-

rounding - Shwa Rounding. Compare the de r iva t ions of / w ~ : k / 'work'

and /wa:k/ 'walk':

wark w3:k

Unrounding - wa:k

Shwa Rounding w ~ r k - r-Loss w3:k -

W e note a l s o t h a t because pos i t ion before //r// i s p a r t of t h e s t r u c t -

u r a l d e s c r i p t i o n of Shwa Rounding, t h e r u l e of r-Loss must be made t o

fo l low Shwa Rounding ( t h e o rde r i s a c t u a l l y counterbleeding) . So f a r ,

t h e o rde r ing c h a r t becomes:

Unrounding

I - Shwa Rounding intr traction

I

There a r e thus two processes involved i n de r iv ing /w3:k/ from

//wark// 'work'; one is t h e more gene ra l r u l e d e l e t i n g pos t -voca l ic

/ / r / / i n bo th s t anda rd and c r e o l e v a r i e t i e s ; t h e o t h e r i s t h e spec i f - .

i c a l l y c r e o l e r u l e conver t ing / /a/ / t o /3/ be fo re / /r/ / .

Not ice t h a t i n o rde r t o account f o r t h e /3/ of such i tems we must 1

p o s i t a n under ly ing / / r / / a s t r i g g e r , a l though t h i s / / r / / does n o t

occur i n Standard English. Thus we a r e making a minor depa r tu re from

our u s u a l p r a c t i c e of r e l a t i n g t h e c r e o l e forms back t o t h e s t a n d a r a

ones r a t h e r than t o deeper under ly ing s t r u c t u r e s . The a l t e r n a t i v e ,

would be t o t r e a t i t e m s such a s / b ~ : n / a s o r i g i n a t i n g from forms w i t h

s t anda rd long / /a: / / . W e p r e f e r no t t o take t h i s approach however, as

Standard Engl i sh needs a r u l e o f /r/ Loss anyway i n o rde r t o account

f o r t h e a l t e r n a t i o n between r - f i n a l forms such a s /kar / ' c a r ' i n pre-

v o c a l i c p o s i t i o n and t h e r-less forms found f i n a l l y and preconsonant-

a l l y .

Shwa Lowering

Data:

(a) s z s a

t i Z a

p r i 8 a

d a l a

dak ta

• ’ • ’ l a

bf t a

beka

b agka

l a y a

bada

waiya

p i t a

mfra

a f t a

lC ta

y ~ s a d e

&a

n ~ b a

t a i y a

h a i y a

sister

t eache r

preacher

d o l l a r

doctor

f e l low

b e t t e r

baker

banker

1 awy er

bo thex

w i r e

P e t e r

mir ror

a•’ ter

letter

yes terday

ever

never

t y r e

h i r e

mister

f ama

(b) tumaro

farmer

tomorrow

Statement of r u l e :

A l l uns t r e s sed shwas a r e lowered t o /a / .

Discussion:

It w i l l be noted t h a t t h e /k/ of 'banker ' and 'baker ' remains

unpa la t a l i zed . That is , t h e P a l a t a l i z a t i o n r u l e , which i s d iscussed

later on, i s no longer ope ra t ive a t t h e p o i n t i n t h e r u l e sequence a t

which Shwa Lowering t akes e f f e c t . Thus, t h e a c t u a l o rde r i s counter-

feeding. Consider t h e d e r i v a t i o n of 'baker ' :

bekar

r-Loss beka

. P a l a t a l i z a t i o n -

Shwa Lowering beka

The on ly o t h e r r u l e a f f e c t i n g shwa is t h a t which rounds s t r e s s e d

shwa t o /3/ b e f o r e / r / . I f w e a l low t h i s r u l e t o b e ordered b e f o r e

Shwa Lowering, t h e l a t t e r r u l e can be s i m p l i f i e d t o say t h a t a l l shwas

are lowered. It i s obvious t h a t t h e e f f e c t of Shwa Rounding and Shwa

Lowering w i l l b e t o e l imina te /a/ from the phonet ics of T r in idad ian

Creole and Tobagonian Creole.

Standard Engl i sh has shwa i n many i n s t a n c e s when t h e c r e o l e s show

t h e ' f u l l 1 vowel. Thus, Standard Engl i sh 'tomorrow' / t a m x o / shows up

a s / t u m k o / . What t h i s imp l i e s i s t h a t t h e under ly ing forms w i l l have

t h e unreduced vowel; Standard English w i l l then reduce t h e s e t o shwa

according t o t h e r u l e s which happen t o apply t o Standard Engl i sh phon-

ology. The c r e o l e s l a c k t h i s r u l e of shwa reduct ion . Thus, t h i s i s

one of t h e two c a s e s ( t h a t of r-Loss mentioned on page 42) where t h e

c r e o l e forms appear t o de r ive , n o t from Standard Engl i sh i t s e l f , b u t

from a 'deeper ' underlying l e v e l than t h a t a t which shwa r educ t ion

t akes e f f e c t .

Consider now t h e r u l e s t h a t a f f e c t t h e c r e o l e consonant phonemes

and a l low them t o be der ived from Standard Engl i sh consonants:

P a l a t a l i z a t i o n .

game

G a i l

ga in

gya: t a

gya : badin

gyaloz

gyamb 1

(dl kyen

kyebl

ky e j

kyek

kyes

kyeb

(•’1 kya t

k y a r i

k y a r

kya :

garden

garage

ga l lop

ga ther

g a r t e r

gaberdine

gallows

gamble

gas

cane

cable

cage

cake

case

cave

c a r e f u l

keskedee

k e t t l e

c a t

c a r r y

ca tch

car

kyanada

ky an t in

Statement of rule:

can

Canada

canteen

here

near

Discussion:

Palatalization is a phenomenon which is fairly common in many

languages. It is so called because, in addition to the primary con-

striction, there is also a second narrowing of the tongue at the pal-

atal region. This results in the [i] or Cy] sound characteristic of

palatalization.

In Trinidadian Creole, this is realized in the examples given on

the two preceding pages. The features of the vowel are extended to

the preceding consonant; thus acting as a secondary modifier. The

tongue position of these front vowels is assimilated by the preceding

consonant thus resulting in palatalization.

In Trinidadian Creole, it is the velars that are palatalized be-

fore a front vowel. Thus, we can posit the following rule:

This may b e s i m p l i f i e d to :

P a l a t a l i z a t i o n i s thus condit ioned by t h e f e a t u r e [+frond of t h e f o l l -

owing vowels.

Le t us now cons ider t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e P a l a t a l i z a t i o n r u l e with-

i n t h e r u l e sequence. I n order t o f i n d o u t whether t he Unrounding r u l e

precedes o r fo l lows P a l a t a l i z a t i o n , w e w i l l a t t empt t o compare t h e der-

i v a t i o n s of /gya:dn/ 'garden' and /ga:dn/ co or don'. Consider what

would be t h e r e s u l t of applying Unrounding f i r s t :

gardn g x d n

Unrounding gardn gardn

P a l a t a l i z a t i o n gyardn gyardn

- r-Loss gya : dn *gya : dn

Thus, P a l a t a l i z a t i o n must precede Unrounding. Once Unrounding . .

t akes p l a c e , P a l a t a l i z a t i o n is no longe r e f f e c t i v e , s i n c e , i f i t is

app l i ed t o /ga:dn/ 'Gordon', a f t e r Unrounding, we g e t t h e unacceptable

phonet ic r e a l i z a t i o n of /gya:dn/. The problem is t o prevent t h e se-

condary /a/ of 'Gordon' and o t h e r i t ems w i t h under ly ing / /3// from

t r i g g e r i n g P a l a t a l i z a t i o n . That is, t h e Unrounding r u l e must n o t b e -

allowed t o f eed P a l a t a l i z a t i o n , Th i s can b e achieved by applying t h e , \ . . . .

ru l e s i n t h e counterfeeding order of P a l a t a l i z a t i o n , followed by Un-

rounding:

gardn g~rdn

Palatalization gyardn - Unrounding - gardn

r-Loss gya : dn ga: dn

From these derivations, we can conclude that:

(a) Palatalization must not apply after Unrounding, since this would

result in /gya:dn/ for 'Gordon'.

(b) This leaves the following derivations, since the position of the

r-Loss rule in the rule sequence is irrelevant as far as these data are

concerned:

gardn gxdn

(1) Palatalization gyardn -

Unrounding - gardn

r-Loss gya : dn ga: dn

(2) Palatalization gyardn - r-Loss gya : dn g3: dn

Unrounding - gaidn

(3) r-Loss ga: dn g ~ : dn

Palatalization gya: dn - Unrounding - ga: dn

However, we must consider exceptions like the Tobagonian Creole

form of /ka:n/ meaning 'can't' as compared to the Trinidadian Creole

ve r s ion /kyant / . Unlike t h e latter, t h e Tobagonian Creole form has a

long /a : / and is n o t p a l a t a l i z e d .

As we have formulated t h e P a l a t a l i z a t i o n r u l e , t h e l e n g t h of t h e

fol lowing vowel is i r r e l e v a n t , Thus, i f w e o rde r t h e r-Loss r u l e be-

f o r e P a l a t a l i z a t i o n , ( a s i n d e r i v a t i o n ( 3 ) ) , i t must a c t on v e l a r s pre-

ceding long la: /.

However, i n Tobagonian Creole , we f i n d t h a t P a l a t a l i z a t i o n f a i l s

be fo re t h e long /a:/ of /ka:n/ ' c an ' t ' (versus T r in idad ian Creole

/kyant / . This has imp l i ca t ions f o r our order ing; f o r i n Tobagonian

Creole we must ensu re t h a t whi le t h e /a:/ a r i s i n g from r-Loss t r i g g e r s

P a l a t a l i z a t i o n , t h i s i s n o t t h e case wi th t h e /a : / of t h e Tobagonian

' can' t ' . A s we must presume t h a t t h e underlying f o m s a r e t h e same i n

both, some r u l e must apply i n t h e case of /ka:n/ t o impede P a l a t a l i z -

a t i o n . A p l a u s i b l e choice would be a r u l e of lengthening, (al though

whether t h i s is morphological ly o r phonologica l ly condi t ioned must re-

main an open ques t ion ; c e r t a i n l y n o t a l l cases of / / a n t / / undergo

lengthening - t hus , ' aunt ' and ' a n t ' a r e pronounced homophonously as

/ a n t / ) . For Tobagonian Creole , w e may t h e r e f o r e propose:

T r in idad ian Creole Tobagonian Creole

kan t kan t

Lengthening - k a : n t

P a l a t a l i z a t i o n kyan t - Clus t e r Reduction

On t h i s assumption, P a l a t a l i z a t i o n a p p l i e s only be fo re s h o r t /a/

( f o r g e n e r a l i t y , b e f o r e s h o r t vowels). Note however, t h a t w e must s t i l l

a l low f o r P a l a t a l i z a t i o n i n both Tobagonian Creole and Tr in idadian

Creole b e f o r e t h e /a:/ r e s u l t i n g from r-Loss. There, i n both d i a l e c t s ,

w e have /gya:dn/ * garden1. Th i s imp l i e s t h a t t h e /a:/ of such i t e m s

must a r i s e a f t e r P a l a t a l i z a t i o n , a s o therwise , t h e s t r u c t u r a l d e s c r i p t i o n

of t h e l a t t e r r u l e would no t be m e t . Thus, t h e r ev i sed o rde r i s Length-

ening, P a l a t a l i z a t i o n , and r-Loss. Consider now t h e d e r i v a t i o n s i n

Tobagonian Creole of ' c an1 , ' c a n ' t ' and ' c a r t ' :

can can' t c a r t

kan kan t k a r t

Lengthening - ka :n t - P a l a t a l i z a t i o n kyan - kya r t

r-Loss -

Clus t e r Reduction -

kya : t

I n Tr in idad ian Creole , 'cow' i s pronounced /kaw/ r a t h e r than

*/kyaw/, s o t h a t i f w e assume underlying //kaw//, we must remove it from

t h e range of a p p l i c a t i o n of P a l a t a l i z a t i o n . It i s t h e r e f o r e tempting

t o appea l t o t h e same Lengthening r u l e a s i s r equ i r ed i n Tobagonian

Creole anyway, t o impede t h e P a l a t a l i z a t i o n of /ka:n/ ' c an ' t ' , even

though on t h e su r f ace , t h e l eng th c o n t r a s t i n t h i s dipthong i s n e u t r a l -

i z e d i n probably a l l d i a l e c t s of English. Thus, f o r Tr in idadian Creole

we have :

kaw

Lengthening ka:w

P a l a t a l i z a t i o n - The forms /hye/ 'here ' and /nye/ 'near ' do no t appear t o a r i s e from

P a l a t a l i z a t i o n a s o ther words wi th sequences of /ne-/, /he-/ a r e un-

a f fec ted (/nem/ 'name', /he t / 'hate".

A s i m i l a r process i s t h a t of Labia l iza t ion:

Lab ia l i za t ion

(d) ba:n

Pa t

Pan

bas

b a t 1

boy

s p o i l

pound

about

born

Pot

pond

boss

b o t t l e

Statement of r u l e :

Discussion:

A comparison of 'boy' /bway/ and 'buy' /bay/ makes it c l e a r t h a t

L a b i a l i z a t i o n a f f e c t s only those sequences which, i n Standard Engl i sh ,

are rep resen ted by a l a b i a l s t o p followed by /2y/; those, i n which Stan-

dard Engl i sh has l ay / a r e n o t a f f e c t e d . Th i s imp l i e s t h a t i f t h e /w/ of

forms such as Tr in idadian Creole /bway/ a r e t o b e der ived by a de r iva t -

i o n a l r u l e , t h e segments corresponding t o s u r f a c e / a / must be under-

l y i n g l y d i f f e r e n t i a t e d . Thus, w e have f u r t h e r evidence f o r p o s i t i n g a

dua l source f o r s u r f a c e / a / , i n a d d i t i o n t o t h a t adduced i n our d iscuss-

i o n of P a l a t a l i z a t i o n , when w e noted t h e occurence of t h i s phenomenon

i n T r in idad ian Creole /gya:dn/ 'garden' b u t n o t i n Iga:dn/ 'Gordon'.

J u s t as P a l a t a l i z a t i o n is condi t ioned by f r o n t vowels, w e may

assume t h a t t h e p re sen t phenomenon, which we l a b e l ' ~ a b i a l i z a t i o n ' , is

condi t ioned by t h e f e a t u r e [+back]. Not ice , however, t h a t wh i l e P a l a t a l -

i z a t i o n a f f e c t s v e l a r s t o p s i n t h e environment be fo re any f r o n t vowel,

L a b i a l i z a t i o n is r e s t r i c t e d t o a p o s i t i o n b e f o r e t h e s p e c i f i c sequence

y . W e may t h e r e f o r e propose t h e fo l lowing d e r i v a t i o n s f o r Trinidad-

i a n Creole /bway/ 'boy' and /bay/ 'buy':

/ b y / /bay/

L a b i a l i z a t i o n bwsy

Unrounding bway

The r e l a t i o n between Lab ia l i za t ion and Unrounding i s one of 'count-

e rb leeding ' ; t h a t i s , i f t h e order of a p p l i c a t i o n were reversed, t h e Un-

rounding of / ~ y / t o l ay / would remove t h e environment requi red f o r t h e

a p p l i c a t i o n of Lab ia l i za t ion , thus o b l i t e r a t i n g t h e su r face con t ra s t of

'boy' and 'buy':

/ b v / /bay/

Unrounding bay - P a l a t a l i z a t i o n - -

There a r e th ree po in t s worth examining i n r e l a t i o n t o Labial iza-

(1) Its i n t e r a c t i o n wi th t h e r u l e which c r e a t e s secondary I D / , i . e .

t h e Contrac t ion ru le .

(2) The p o s s i b i l i t y of s impl i fy ing i t s d e s c r i p t i o n s o t h a t i t app l i e s

t o a l l underlying l a b i a l s t o p + /3/ sequences.

(3) The r e l a t i o n s h i p between Lab ia l i za t ion and P a l a t a l i z a t i o n .

(1) The Contrac t ion r u l e , a s w e noted, a f f e c t s t h e underlying / law// ,

convert ing i t t o 131, so t h a t , f o r in s t ance , /kaw/ 'cow', i n Tobagonian

Creole, i s r e a l i z e d a s /k3/. The L a b i a l i z a t i o n r u l e , a s w e have form-

u la t ed i t , opera te s only before underlying / / ~ y / / . I n t e r a c t i o n between

t h e two r u l e s would t h e r e f o r e a r i s e were Contract ion t o y i e l d a sequence

/key/ o r lg3y/ . For example, an underlying //kawy// might go by con-

t r a c t i o n t o /k3y/ and, were L a b i a l i z a t i o n t o follow, subsequently t o

/ k w ~ y / . However, t h e r e do n o t appear t o be any cases of underlying

//kawy// and s o t h e mat ter of d i r e c t i n t e r a c t i o n between t h e two r u l e s

cannot be put t o empir ica l t e s t .

However, although the relative ordering of Labialization and Con-

traction cannot be established directly, there is an indirect argument

from transitivity in so far as (a) Labialization precedes Unrounding (as

noted before) and (b) Unrounding precedes Contraction (as is clear from

the fact that the /3/ arising from / / a w l / is not unrounded to /a/:

4 kaw

Unrounding - Contraction k3

On this basis, we may therefore hypothesize that were the sequence

//awy// to, in fact, occur underlyingly, the surface output would be

/3y/ :

/~awy/

Labialization - Unrounding - Contraction P3 Y

(2) The second point concerns the possibility of simplifying the

formulation of the Labialization rule to allow it to apply to labial

stops before all occurrences of underlying 131. Recall that under the

present analysis, the failure of /3/ before other segments to trigger

Labialization is accounted for by restricting Labialization itself.

Thus, /bway/ 'boy' and /barn/ 'bomb' would be derived as follows:

/ b ~ / /bm/

Labialization b w ~ y - Unrounding bway bam

While this description is observationally adequate, it has one

slightly unsatisfactory feature: the environment for Labialization in-

volves reference to the segment following the inmediately adjacent 131.

It would be preferable if, without complicating our account elsewhere,

we could state the environments purely in terms of immediately adjacent

segments. One possible method of meeting this requirement would be to

apply Unrounding in'two stages, the first converting /2/ to /a/ except

before /Y/, and the second affecting all residual cases. Thus, if Lab-

ialization is allowed to intervene between 'restricted' and lgenerall

Unrounding, the only instances of /3/ actually accurring at this point

of application will be those preceding /y/:

/b~y / /bm/

Restricted Unrounding - b am

Labialization b w ~ y -

General Unrounding bway - Not only does this account meet the principle of 'immediate adjacency',

but it may in fact recapitulate the historical sequence more accurately

than our original analysis. However, it does entail the addition of an

extra rule (Restricted Unrounding), so that, on balance, it would seem

preferable to stick to our original presentation.

Furthermore, if we allow the rule of Labialization to operate in

the environment between labial stop and /3/ simpliciter, we shall also

have to ensure that it does not act on the secondary / p ~ / , /b3/ arising

+ by Contraction (as in / b ~ / 'about' from //abawt// or Shwa Rounding as

Z in /b~:n/ 'burn' from //barn//). That is, it must be crucially ordered

i o n s would b e incompatible w i th t h e o rde r ing p r i n c i p l e s needed anyhow,

al though we might wish t o regard them as s l i g h t a d d i t i o n a l evidence

a g a i n s t t h e hypothes is t h a t L a b i a l i z a t i o n does n o t r e q u i r e r e f e rence t o

/y / i n i ts s t r u c t u r a l d e s c r i p t i o n , on t h e b a s i s t h a t a s l i g h t complicat-

i o n i n r u l e d e s c r i p t i o n is p r e f e r a b l e t o t h e a d d i t i o n of e x t r i n s i c

o rde r ing c o n s t r a i n t s .

(3) The t h i r d t o p i c concerns t h e r e l a t i o n of t h e p re sen t r u l e of

L a b i a l i z a t i o n t o t h a t of P a l a t a l i z a t i o n . A t f i r s t s i g h t , they a r e

q u i t e s i m i l a r :

( a ) I n bo th cases , a g l i d e is i n s e r t e d .

(b) The f e a t u r e of t h e g l i d e depends on t h a t of t h e fol lowing vowel.

The /w/ i s i n s e r t e d be fo re t h e back vowel / 3 / , and /y / be fo re any f r o n t

vowel.

(c ) I n bo th cases , t h e preceding consonant belongs t o one p a r t i c u l a r

p o i n t of a r t i c u l a t i o n c l a s s , /w/ r e q u i r i n g /b / o r / p l , / y / , /k / o r /g/.

The only cons ide ra t ion t h a t would prevent our subsuming Lab ia l i za t -

i o n and P a l a t a l i z a t i o n under a gene ra l r u b r i c ' g l i d e formation ' , might

be t h e d iscovery t h a t t h e two r u l e s apply a t d i f f e r e n t p o i n t s on t h e

gene ra l r u l e sequence. However, t h e only o rde r ing c o n s t r a i n t i d e n t i f i e d

thus f a r for L a b i a l i z a t i o n , is t h a t i t r e q u i r e s it t o precede Unrounding.

S i g n i f i c a n t l y enough, t h i s c o n s t r a i n t a l s o c h a r a c t e r i z e s P a l a t a l i z a t i o n .

Not ice aga in , f o r example, t h e d e r i v a t i o n of lgya: dn/ ' garden' and

l g a : dn/ ' or don' :

P a l a t a l i z a t i o n gyardn

Unrounding -

-

gardn

r-Loss gya : dn ga: dn

The o t h e r order ing c o n s t r a i n t s on P a l a t a l i z a t i o n ( t h a t it must

fo l low Lengthening and precede r-Loss) a f f e c t r u l e s which do not i n t e r -

a c t w i t h L a b i a l i z a t i o n anyway, s o t h a t t h e r e appear t o be no o b s t a c l e s

i n t h e way of combining t h e two r u l e s o t h e r t han t h e pure ly n o t a t i o n a l

ones of formula t ing t h e more gene ra l r u l e . One p o s s i b l e formula t ion

might be:

G l ide Formation: A g l i d e i s i n s e r t e d between v e l a r s t o p and f r o n t

vowel and between l a b i a l s t o p and /3/, ag ree ing i n f r o n t n e s s w i t h

t h e fo l lowing vowel.

home

h o l e

h o t e l

ho ly

b o a t

b o a s t

bone . bonus

I n Tobagonian Creole / / o / / appears t o d iphthongize t o /wo/ i n a l l

con tex t s :

hwom

hwol

h w o t ~ l

hwol i

bwot

bwos

bwol

bwon

bwonns

kw 01

kwo t

kwon

h o p

grwo

cold /coa l

coa t

cone

cope

grow

grwos g ros s

rwo z r o s e

rw OP rope

m o d road

m o r OW

mwo more

This appears t o r e p r e s e n t a phenomenon s u f f i c i e n t l y removed from Labial-

i z a t i o n t o j u s t i f y our cons ider ing i t a s a s e p a r a t e r u l e :

(1) Unlike bo th P a l a t a l i z a t i o n and L a b i a l i z a t i o n i t does n o t i n t e r -

a c t wi th o t h e r r u l e s .

(2) Its s t r u c t u r a l d e s c r i p t i o n does n o t r e f e r t o t h e preceding con-

sonant whereas P a l a t a l i z a t l o n and L a b i a l i z a t i o n r e f e r t o v e l a r and

l a b i a l segments r e spec t ive ly .

V e l a r i z a t i o n

Data :

down

town

(b) pan

man

(c) pan

ga:n

Discussion:

pound

drown

brown

crown

mound

round

ground

Pan

man

upon

gone

tu rn

b i rd

burn

t h i r d

word

c u r l

The above d a t a i n d i c a t e t h a t where Standard English has the se-

quence //awn//, both Trinidadian Creole and Tobagonian Creole show / D Y / .

Thus, i n add i t ion t o t h e e f f e c t of Contraction, w e must a l s o consider

t h e occurrences of v e l a r /IJ/ f o r Standard Engl i sh d e n t a l In / . The i t e m s

i n sets (b) and (c ) show t h a t under ly ing / / a n / / and //m// r e s p e c t i v e l y

do n o t l e a d t o t h e output 131.

It is c l e a r t h a t whatever t h e c o r r e c t formula t ion of t h e r u l e may be,

i t cannot s t a t e t h a t //n// goes t o /3/ a f t e r / a / . F i r s t of a l l , t h e r s

would be no way of prevent ing , f o r example, t h e i t e m / /pan/ / 'pan' from

f i n i s h i n g up a s */pay/. The only p l a u s i b l e candida tes a r e :

(1) V e l a r i z a t i o n of / / n / / t o /IJ/ i s condi t ioned by a preceding /w/.

(2) V e l a r i z a t i o n of / / n / / t o /q / i s condit ioned by a preceding 131.

I f we choose op t ion (I), then it: i s obvious t h a t V e l a r i z a t i o n must

apply b e f o r e t h e removal of /w/ by Contract ion: t h a t is , t h e r equ i r ed . .

orde r w i l l be counterbleeding. Consider, f o r example, t h e d e r i v a t i o n

of /d23/ 'down':

dawn

Cont rac t ion d'3

The converse o rde r would f a i l t o y i e l d /3/ as t h e r u l e , a s formulated,

does n o t o p e r a t e on t h e sequence / ~ n / . However, w e r e we t o adopt op-

t i o n (2), t h i s order would then become t h e only p o s s i b l e one:

dawn

Cont rac t ion d3 n

Ve la r i za t ion (2 ) d33 It now becomes neceessary t o t ake i n t o account i t ems such a s t hose

i n (c) and (d) of t h e d a t a , f o r , i f V e l a r i z a t i o n is i n f a c t condi t ioned

by a preceding 131, we must prevent i t s a p p l i c a t i o n both t o t h e pr imary

/ad of i t e m s such as / /gs :n / / and t o t h e secondary / ~ : n / of i t e m s such

as / t3:n/ ' t u r n ' .

Consider f i r s t t h e primary / / m / / _ s e q u e n c e . I f Ve la r i za t ion (2) is

t o be i n h i b i t e d from a c t i n g on i t , then i t must be removed from t h e

range of a p p l i c a t i o n of t h e r u l e ensu r ing t h a t t h e //3// i s unrounded

t o /a/ by o rde r ing Unrounding be fo re i t :

g=n

Unrounding gan

Ve la r i za t ion (2 ) - With regard t o t h e secondary /m/ a r i s i n g from Shwa Rounding, we must

ensu re t h a t r-Loss fo l lows Ve la r i za t ion . Consider t h e d e r i v a t i o n of

' t u r n ' :

t a r n

Shwa Rounding t 3rn

V e l a r i z a t i o n (2) -

To summarize, w e may say t h a t V e l a r i z a t i o n c a n i n f a c t b e made t o

app ly t o p o s i t i o n a f t e r /3/ i f t h e fo l lowing c o n s t r a i n t s on o rde r ing are

adopted:

Unrounding Cont rac t ion

\ i z a

These are c l e a r l y more complex than what we r e q u i r e f o r Ve la r i za t -

i o n ( I ) , which must simply b e made t o o p e r a t e b e f o r e t h e /w/ , which

occu r s i n i t s s t r u c t u r a l d e s c r i p t i o n , i s l o s t by Contract ion:

Velarization (1)

I Contraction

On this basis, we shall assume that Velarization (1) is preferable and

that the Velarization rule should therefore be formulated as follows:

Velarization: Underlying //n// converts to / / in the environment 3 after /w/.

It remains only to add that although the present rule appears to

have the opposite effect of the much more widespread rule found also in

Trinidadian Creole and Tobagonian Creole, converting final /3/ to / s /

in unstressed /13/ (/ma:nrn/ 'morning'), there is no possibility of in-

teraction between the rules. Velarization occurs only after /w/, de-

velarization only after /I/, so that the environments are in compli-

mentary distribution.

Develarization

Data:

h~lprn

snjzn

dansrn

itrn

ma : nIn

gorn

ta:kzn

helping

singing

dancing

eating

morning

going

talking

wa : k r n

11krn

ma&n

ti81n

l a y m ~ n

walking

l i c k i n g

mashing

teaching

' l i m i n g r , hanging around

Statement of r u l e :

F i n a l /3/ goes t o /n/ a f t e r uns t r e s sed /I/.

Discussion:

This r u l e appears t o b e t h e only one (with t h e excep t ion of diph-

t hong iza t ion i n Tobagonian Creole , page 58) which does n o t i n t e r a c t

w i th o t h e r r u l e s . A s we noted be fo re , t h e v e l a r /3/ c r e a t e d by Velar-

i z a t i o n does n o t occur a f t e r /I/ and t h e r e f o r e does n o t e n t e r i n t o

o rde r ing c o n s t r a i n t s w i t h t h e p re sen t r u l e .

Occ lus iv i za t ion

Data:

(a) t i • ’

t x n

r b r i t r n

t r i

t r u t

t h i e f

t h i n

every th ing

t h r e e

t r u t h

t ayk

t r k

t a t

t r e d

t r o

t r o t

tn nda

Cbl d ~ m

bed

d a t

d e

d i

den

d i z

w ~ d r n

do

d r s

do2

(cZ drayb

I r b

gb r i

b i l i b

bluhebp

thank

t h i c k

thought

t h read

throw

t h r o a t

thunder

them

ba the

t h a t

t h e y / t h e r e

t h e

then

t h e s e

w i t h i n

though

t h i s

t hose

d r i v e

l ive

every

b e l i e v e

Bluehaven

f ayb

dsb l

r ~ b a

web

keb

f i v e

d e v i l

r i v e r

wave

cave,

p leasure

measure

s e i z u r e

t r e a s u r e

garage

Statement of ru le :

S l i t d e n t a l f r i c a t i v e s a r e occlusivized. The voiced labiodenta l

f r i c a t i v e /v/ is op t iona l ly occlusivized. The voiced p a l a t a l

f r i c a t i v e / 8 / is occlus iv ized t o /j/.

Discussion:

The only way t h i s r u l e can i n t e r a c t wi th o the r s appears t o be l i m -

i t e d t o t h e case of the sequence / / m y / / . Occlusivizat ion can c r e a t e a

p o t e n t i a l inpu t f o r Glide Formation. Thus, w e might expect t h e follow-

ing p o s s i b i l i t y :

Occlus iv iza t ion a b ~ y d

Lab ia l i za t ion abw3yd

Unrounding abwayd

In actual fact, however, this and similar items do not undergo Glide

Formation, and what we find is /abayd/. This implies that Glide Form-

ation is crucially ordered before ~cclusivization:

av3yd

Glide Formation -

Occlusivization abayd

Unrounding abayd

Cluster Reduction and Metathesis

Data:

(a) tari

tL 3

Pat

kr a8

tray

story

sting

spot

scratch

strong

spit

st ink

skin

skull

skirt

stop

(b) E S P ~ ~

r i s p ~ k

l a s

f 3:s

b2: s

brs

t e s

hes

nsks

h= 3

s3=3

maYn

han

E n

b r n

(d) k o l

b o l

h o l

f il

expect

respect

l a s t

f i r s t

b u r s t

b e s t

t e s t

has te

next

second

f ind

wind

b l ind

hound

sound

mind

hand

end

bend

cold

bold

bold

f i e l d

Statement of rule:

Sequences of /s/ + stop delete the /s/ word initially; in other positions, they delete the stop. /dl is deleted everywhere after

nasals and /I/.

Discussion:

This rule does not appear to be crucially ordered in respect to any

of the rules that we have discussed. For instance, //~awnd// '~ound'

would lead to /p33/ given the rule descriptions we have offered irres-

pective of ordering of Cluster Reduction. Thus, both (a) and (b) yield

the correct result:

s" p awnd

(a) Cluster Reduction Pa-

Velarization p a 9

Contraction P3?

(b) Velarizatfon ~""tfd

Contraction . - . . ~33d

Cluster Reduction P33 However, consider the following data:

.krxpsi crispy

aks ask

This Metathesis appears to be irregular (i.e. morphologically con-

ditioned) . Thus, while //asks// goes to /aks/, //w~sp// undergoes the usual Cluster Reduction to yield /was/. When Metathesis does apply, it

-

bleeds Cluster Reduction, Thus, the derivation of /aks/ 'ask' and

/krspsi/ 'crispyf must be assumed to go as follows:

ask krzspi

Metathesis aks krzpsi

Cluster Reduction - -

The Metathesis is optional and may be stated as follows:

Metathesis: /s/ metathesizes with a following stop.

CHAPTER 4

RULE ORDERING

The rule ordering constraints of Trinidadian Creole are summarized in

the table below.

Table 4.1 The Rule Ordering Constraints of Trinidadian Creole

(Lab

I Glide Formation

ialization) / I \ w a l a ~talizat ion)

u

/ / I \ yb- f - E- Contraction

Shwa . kounding .

,ewer ing b

Metathesis

I b

er Reduction

r-LOSS Develarization

b = bleeding order b- = counterbleeding order f' = counterfeeding order

There has been cons iderable d i s c u s s i o n i n r e c e n t yea r s about t h e

need f o r e x t r i n s i c r u l e ordering. E x t r i n s i c o rde r ing i s d i s t i ngu i shed

from i n t r i n s i c ordering, which need n o t be s t a t e d e x p l i c i t l y and which

arises au toma t i ca l ly from t h e d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e r u l e s themselves ( s ee

Noam Chomsky, Aspects of t h e Theory of Syntax, p. 223). Thus, given t h e

u s u a l formula t ions of t h e Pas s ive Transformation, which in t roduces t h e

a g e n t i v e BY phrase, and of t h e Agent De le t ion Transformation, which

d e l e t e s t h e agen t ive phrase, t h e only way both t ransformat ions can apply

i s t o assume t h a t they ope ra t e whenever t h e i r i npu t cond i t i ons a r i s e .

For i n s t a n c e , 'Someone a r r e s t e d B i l l ' cannot undergo agent d e l e t i o n a s

i t c o n t a i n s no agent phrase; i t can undergo p a s s i v i z a t i o n t o ' B i l l

was a r r e s t e d by someone', which in t roduces an agent phrase and is con-

s equen t ly s u b j e c t t o agent d e l e t i o n .

It may be noted i n t h e above example of i n t r i n s i c o rde r ing , one

r u l e c r e a t e s a p o t e n t i a l i npu t t o t h e second. That i s , ( a ) t h e r e l a t i o n

between t h e two r u l e s i s a feeding one and (b) t h e a c t u a l o r d e r i n which

t h e r u l e s apply i s feeding. Because t h e agen t phrase (on t h e above

account) cannot a r i s e except as a r e s u l t of p a s s i v i z a t i o n , t h e r e is only

one p o s s i b l e order ing . Were agent d e l e t i o n t o apply be fo re p a s s i v i z a t -

i o n , it would i n f a c t never b e allowed t o o p e r a t e (and consequent ly

would n o t even e x i s t ) .

I n phonology we may a l s o have a f eed ing r e l a t i o n l i n k i n g two r u l e s .

Consider Shwa Rounding and Unrounding i n T r in idad ian Creole. It w i l l be

r e c a l l e d t h a t Shwa Rounding conver t s /a/ t o /3/ be fo re /r/ i n i tems such

as / t a r n / ' t u rn ' and Unrounding conver t s /3/ t o /a/ as i n / b m / 'bomb'.

I f w e allowed both r u l e s t o apply whenever t h e i r s t r u c t u r a l desc r ip t ion

was m e t , s t a r t i n g from / t a r n / w e would note t h a t of t h e two r u l e s i n

quest ion on ly Shwa Rounding was appl icable , y ie ld ing / t a m / . But t h i s

now meets t h e s t r u c t u r a l desc r ip t ion of Unrounding and i s sub jec t t o

f u r t h e r conversion t o / t a rn / . However, t h e r e , i s an important d i f f e rence

between t h i s phonological case and t h e s y n t a c t i c one. It i s t h a t t h e

/a/ a r i s i n g from Shwa Rounding can a l s o occur underlyingly, so t h a t

whether o r n o t we apply t h e r u l e s i n a p a r t i c u l a r order , both r u l e s w i l l

s t i l l apply t o some forms.. I n p a r t i c u l a r , i f w e apply them i n the con- 6,

verse order (counterfeeding) both w i l l have inputs :

bz~ m t a r n

Unr ound ing bam - Shwa Rounding - t2rn

This order is , a s w e noted above, t h e one a c t u a l l y found. It is

thus c l e a r t h a t when two r u l e s a r e i n a feeding r e l a t i o n and when t h e

feeding r u l e fol lows ( the order is counterfeeding) t h e p r i n c i p l e t h a t

r u l e s apply whenever t h e i r s t r u c t u r a l desc r ip t ions a r e m e t , w i l l y i e l d

the wrong r e s u l t . *

The ques t ion then a r i s e s : is it poss ib le t o modify t h e desc r ip t ion

of t h e r u l e s i n order t o ensure t h a t t h e co r rec t output i s generated?

I n t h i s case , can w e formulate t h e r u l e of Unrounding t o ensure t h a t it

does no t apply t o t h e / t ~ r n / a r i s i n g from / t a r n / ? The answer must be

'no', i n so f a r a s the primary / D / of / t a m / ' t o rn ' a f f e c t e d by Un-

rounding. That is, the only condi t ion which could be b u i l t i n t o Un-

rounding which i s capable of i n h i b i t i n g i ts a p p l i c a b i l i t y t o ' turn '

would have t o r e f e r no t t o the input e x i s t i n g a t t h e s t a g e of de r iva t ion

a t which Shwa Lowering occurs, but t o t h e underlying form. That is,

Shwa Rounding would have t o be formulated a s follows:

Unrounding: /3/ is lowered t o / a / except when i t occurs i n t h e under-

ly ing form a s /a/ before /r/.

Thus, i t would be t o admit t h a t phonological r u l e s can ' look back' t o

e a r l i e r s t a g e s i n a der iva t ion .

E s s e n t i a l l y , t h e same i s t r u e of a l l t h e r u l e s i n our desc r ip t ion

c: which apply i n a counterfeeding order ( the re a r e no examples of feeding

order) . Consider, f o r example, t h e r u l e of Glide Formation i n r e l a t i o n

t o Unrounding. Glide Formation i n t e r a l i a i n s e r t s a /y/ between /k/ and

/ a / , y i e ld ing /kyat / from /kat / . However, t h e /ka t / a r i s i n g from /ka t /

i s not f u r t h e r converted t o /kyat / . Again, the only way w e can prevent

t h i s i s t o p r o h i b i t Glide Formation from applying t o those /ka/ se-

quences which a r i s e from underlying /ke/ . S imi lar ly , Unrounding w i l l

have t o be prevented from applying t o t h e /3/ of i tems such as

'town' by s t a t i n g t h a t t h e /3/ a r i s i n g from underlying / law// is exempt.

F ina l ly , w e found t h a t Glide Formation does not apply t o t h e /ka/ o f ,

f o r ins t ance , /beka/ 'baker'. Again, because t h e order i s counterfeed-

ing , w e must s t a t e t h a t /ka/ sequences a r i s i n g from Shwa Lowering a r e

exempt (or equ iva len t ly , /ka/ sequences a r i s i n g from underlying /ka/) . W e thus arrive a t t h e following conclusion:

Counterfeeding Ordering Elimination: This can only be achieved i f

t h e r u l e s a r e allowed t o ' look back' t o e a r l i e r s t a g e s i n a der-

i v a t ion.

Two r u l e s may be s a i d t o bea r a b leeding r e l a t i o n s h i p t o each o t h e r

when one of them (A) i s such t h a t i ts e f f e c t i s t o p o t e n t i a l l y remove

i n p u t s f o r t h e second (B). I f t h e a c t u a l o rde r of a p p l i c a t i o n is A-B,

then w e s a y t h a t t h e order i s b leeding; t h e converse o rde r (B-A) i s

c a l l e d counterbleeding.

Among t h e ordered r u l e p a i r s discovered t o l i n k Standard Trinidad-

i a n Engl i sh and Tr in idadian Creole , we found only one case of a b leeding 4

o rder . The r u l e of Lengthening was found t o remove t h e forms f o r 'cow'

and ' c a n ' t ' from t h e s t r u c t u r a l d e s c r i p t i o n of P a l a t a l i z a t i o n :

kan t kaw kan

Lengthening ka:nt ka:w -

P a l a t a l i z a t i o n - - ky an

It w i l l b e r e c a l l e d t h a t P a l a t a l i z a t i o n w a s discovered t o a c t on a v e l a r

s t o p only be fo re s h o r t f r o n t vowels.

How, then , would it be p o s s i b l e t o e l i m i n a t e r e f e rence t o o rde r of

a p p l i c a t i o n and a t t h e same t i m e ensure t h a t 'cow' and ' c a n ' t ' are pro-

t e c t e d from t h e e f f e c t of P a l a t a l i z a t i o n ? I f our r u l e s - a r e no t app l i ed

as t o t h e o rde r of a p p l i c a t i o n it is c l e a r t h a t P a l a t a l i z a t i o n must be

s o formulated as t o f a i l t o apply t o i t e m s meeting t h e s t r u c t u r a l des-

c r i p t i o n of Lengthening. A s w e no ted , t h e p r e c i s e cond i t i ons t r i g g e r i n g

Lengthening a r e unc lear excep t t h a t /a/ is always lengthened be fo re /w/.

I n any c a s e , whatever environments cond i t i on Lengthening w i l l have t o b e

l i s t e d as p a r t of t h e s t r u c t u r a l d e s c r i p t i o n of P a l a t a l i z a t i o n ; s o t h a t

P a l a t a l i z a t i o n w i l l have t o have appended t o it wording t o t h e e f f e c t

' ,.. except be fo re / a w l , i n t h e word ' can ' t ' ... '. Thi s g ives u s a

f u r t h e r p r i n c i p l e :

Bleeding Ordering El iminat ion: Th i s can only be achieved i f t h e

d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e b l ed r u l e i s complicated t o exclude t h e envi r -

onment i n which t h e b leeding r u l e a p p l i e s a s expla ined i n t h e pre-

ceding page.

Counterweeding o rde r l i n k s v a r i o u s p a i r s of r u l e s d iscussed above.

For i n s t a n c e , t h e r u l e of Cont rac t ion a p p l i e s be fo re t h a t of Velar iza t -

i o n i n a counterb leeding order . It w i l l b e r e c a l l e d t h a t / d ~ y / 'down'

i s der ived from //dawn// by f i r s t conver t ing / I n / / t o /?/ a f t e r / /w/ /

and then Cont rac t ing / / a w l / t o / 3 / , t h u s , i n e f f e c t , removing t h e

t r i g g e r f o r Ve la r i za t ion :

dawn

V e l a r i z a t i o n d a y

Cont rac t ion d39 I n t h i s case, r a t h e r t han prevent a p a r t i c u l a r r u l e from applying, we

must ensure t h a t both r u l e s apply , which means, i n e f f e c t , t h a t t h e

p o t e n t i a l l y b l ed r u l e of V e l a r i z a t i o n must apply when t h e //w// is s t i l l

p re sen t . The most reasonable s o l u t i o n would be t o apply bo th r u l e s a t

t h e l e v e l of underlying form s imul taneous ly , t h a t is , apply both Velar-

i z a t i o n and Cont rac t ion t o //dawn//, y i e l d i n g d i r e c t l y / d q / .

A similar s i t u a t i o n , a s might b e expected, a p p l i e s t o t h e o the r

cases of counter feeding o rde r i n o u r da t a . For i n s t a n c e , / / t a r n / / goes

t o / t s :n / by f i r s t rounding t h e shwa be fo re / /r / / and then d e l e t i n g t h e

t r i g g e r , r . Again w e may o b t a i n t h e c o r r e c t r e s u l t by apply ing Shwa

Rounding and r-Loss d i r e c t l y t o t h e under ly ing s t r u c t u r e / / t a r n / / , i n

which t h e s t r u c t u r a l d e s c r i p t i o n of bo th r u l e s a r e met. F i n a l l y w e

found t h a t i n o rde r t o account f o r t h e conversion of / / b ~ y / / t o /bway/

we must f i r s t apply L a b i a l i z a t i o n i n t h e environment be fo re / a / a s t h e

/3/ i s removed l a t e r by Unrounding - aga in a ca se of t h e u s u a l counter-

b l eed ing order . A s i n t h e o the r ca ses d i scussed , we may e l i m i n a t e

counterb leedfng order ing s p e c i f i c a t i o n by apply ing t h e r u l e s simultan-

eously. Th i s g ives us t h e t h i r d p r i n c i p l e governing e l imina t ion :

Counterbleeding Ordering El iminat ion: Th i s can be achieved i f t h e

b l e e d i n g r u l e and t h e b l ed r u l e apply s imultaneously.

To summarize, we may s t a t e t h a t e l i m i n a t i o n of s t r i c t o rde r ing of

phonologica l r u l e s i s p o s s i b l e b u t t h a t t h e means whereby t h i s i s achiev-

ed w i l l v a r y r a d i c a l l y according t o t h e p r e c i s e n a t u r e of t h e r e l a t i o n

between t h e r u l e s ( ' feeding ' o r 'b leeding ' ) and according t o t h e a c t u a l

o rde r which t h e s t r i c t o rder ing hypothes is would p o s i t ( ' f eed ing ' ,

' counter feeding ' , ' b leeding ' , ' counterb leeding ' ) . The complicat ions

e n t a i l e d are cons iderable and, most s e r i o u s l y , i n t h e ca se of counter-

f eed ing o r d e r s , we are forced t o accept t h a t r u l e s may ' look back' t o

e a r l i e r s t a g e s i n a d e r i v a t i o n and say t h i n g s l i k e 'A goes t o B except

where C occu r s a t an e a r l i e r s t a g e i n t h e de r iva t ion ' .

CONCLUSION

The a i m of t h i s t h e s i s was t o ana lyze t h e r e l a t i o n between Standard

Tr in idad ian Eng l i sh and Tr in idadian Creole and Tobagonian Creole from a

phonologica l p o i n t of view, bear ing i n mind t h a t Standard Tr in idad ian

Engl i sh i s based on Standard B r i t i s h English. I n o r d e r t o accomplish

t h i s goa l , we s e t up a diasystem l i n k i n g Tr in idad ian Creole , Tobagonian

Creole and Standard Tr in idadian Engl i sh , a l s o t a k i n g i n t o account o the r

a l t e r n a t i v e s t o t h i s approach.

I n t h e in t roduc to ry chapter , w e a t tempted t o p rov ide a n o v e r a l l

view of t h e i s l a n d s of Trinidad and Tobago, and t h e h i s t o r i c a l , socio-

l o g i c a l and s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c f a c t o r s t h a t played a p a r t i n t h e c r e a t i o n

of a d i g l o s s i a . We a l s o d iscussed t h e reasons why t h i s d i g l o s s i a i s

r a p i d l y developing i n t o a pos t -c reo le continuum.

The second chapter d e a l t w i th t h e phonemic system of T r in idad ian

Creole as compared t o t h a t of Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh , showing how

t h e former is der ived from and based on t h e latter. W e a l s o poin ted

out t h e correspondences between t h e vowel and consonant phonemes of

T r in idad ian Creole and those of Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh .

I n t h e n e x t chapter , w e presented a dozen phonologica l r u l e s which

s e r v e t o d e r i v e Tr in idadian Creole and Tobagonian Creole from Standard

Tr in idad ian English. Of t h e s e twelve r u l e s , n i n e were ordered i n r e l -

a t i o n t o one ano the r , two t o each o t h e r , and one was completely o u t s i d e

t h e domain of t h e s e r e s t r i c t i o n s . The r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s p o s i t e d f o r un-

de r ly ing forms were c l o s e t o t h e s u r f a c e forms of Standard Tr in idad ian

Engl i sh , s i n c e w e found it unneccesary t o go t o 'deeper ' l e v e l s .

F i n a l l y , Chapter 4 was devoted t o d i scuss ion of t h e p o s s i b i l i t y of

e l imina t ing t h e need f o r e x t r i n s i c o rde r ing of t h e r u l e s .

Consequently, s e v e r a l conclus ions were drawn. F i r s t of a l l , we

noted t h a t T r in idad ian Creole and Tobagonian c i e o l e could b e de r ived

from Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh by p o s i t i n g a dozen phonologica l c'

r u l e s , which a r e a l l ordered w i t h t h e except ion of one. Secondly, s i n c e

t h e under ly ing forms f o r t h e s e r u l e s were c l o s e t o t h e s u r f a c e forms of

Standard Tr in idad ian Engl i sh , w e could then account f o r t h e c r e o l e

speaker ' s a b i l i t y t o swi t ch codes e f f o r t l e s s l y . F i n a l l y , we concluded

t h a t it i s p o s s i b l e t o e l i m i n a t e s t r i c t o rder ing of r u l e s on ly where

t h e r e was a 'b leeding ' r e l a t i o n s h i p o r where t h e r e was a ' f eed ing ' one,

and t h e a c t u a l o rde r i n which they app l i ed was ' feeding!

LIST OF REFERENCES

Adler, Max K. ( 1977) Pidgins, Creoles and Lingua Francas: A socio- linguistic study. Hamburg : Buske.

Alleyne, Mervyn C. (1971) Acculturation and the cultural matrix of creolization (in Hymes (1971)).

Bailey, Beryg L. (1971) Jamaican Creole : can dialect boundaries be defined? (in Hymes (1971)).

Bickerton, Derek (1973) The nature of a Creole Continuum, in Language, vol. 49, #3, pp. 640-669.

Craig, Dennis R. (1971) Education and Creole English in the West Indies: some sociolinguistic factors, (in Hymes (1971)).

Decamp, David (197lalIntroduction: The study of pidgin and creole languages, (in Hymes (1971)).

(197lb]Towards a generative analysis of a post-creole speech continuum (in Hymes (1971)).

Ferguson, Charles A. (1959) Diglossia, in Word, vol. 15, pp. 325-340.

Hymes, Dell (ed.) (1971) Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. London: Cambridge University Press.

Labov, William (1971) The notion of 'system' in creole languages, (in Hymes (1971)).

Minderhout, David Jay (1973) A Socio-linguistic Description of Tobagonian English, Georgetown University, Ph.D. Dissertation.

Southers, Donna Elaine (1975) A Transformational Analysis of Tobagonian Creole English. University of North Carolina, Ph.D. Dissert- at ion.

Tsuzaki, Stanley (1971) Coexistent systems in language variation: the case of Hawaiian English, (in Hymes (1971)).