Trinidadian Spanish
 | This article, Trinidadian Spanish, has recently been created via the Articles for creation process. Please check to see if the reviewer has accidentally left this template after accepting the draft and take appropriate action as necessary.
Reviewer tools: Inform author |
| This article, Trinidadian Spanish, has recently been created via the Articles for creation process. Please check to see if the reviewer has accidentally left this template after accepting the draft and take appropriate action as necessary.
Reviewer tools: Inform author |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2023) |
 | This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. (January 2023) |
| Trinidadian Spanish | |
|---|---|
| Castellano trinitense o trinitario | |
| Native to | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Region | Caribbean |
Native speakers | (<2000 cited 1990)[1] L1 users: <2000 (1990) L2 users: unknown |
Early forms | |
| Latin (Spanish alphabet) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Trinidad and Tobago |
| Regulated by | None |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | es |
| ISO 639-2 | spa[2] |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | es-TT |
Trinidadian Spanish (castellano trinitense or castellano trinitario) refers to the Spanish natively spoken by Cocoa Panyols in Trinidad and Tobago which is very close to extinction.
The current situation of Spanish in Trinidad and Tobago is complex due to the recent influx of Venezuelan migrants and a misguided popular belief that there was never a hispanophone presence on the island, resulting in all Spanish speakers are labelled as Venezuelan or "Spanish". Most native Spanish speakers in Trinidad were historically found in the Santa Cruz, Caura Valley, Paramin, Lopinot and other rural communities working in and around the cocoa industry. [3] The local dialect of Trinidadian Spanish is almost completely lost due to it's social status (as a language for the poor or migrants), the prestige of English under British rule and larger influxes of non-hispanic communities: East Indians, Chinese, Portuguese, Syrians etc.
The last vestiges of Hispano-Trinidadian culture can be seen in the Christmas period. Tradicional music from the Northern Range, Parang a galicismo of Parranda, uses the Joropo, Gaita and Polo music styles among others and is sung in Spanish. More recent Soca Parang and Chutney Parang have been performed in English. Pastelles, or pasteles in Spanish, are also eaten.
Trinidadian Spanish is closely related to the Spanish found in the east of Venezuela (Sucre, Caribbean Coast) and Margarita Island and shares many features with Caribbean Spanish in general. Due to the Venezuelan presence in Trinidad, it is likely that the local dialect of spoken Spanish will become ever more venezolano or sucrense.
History
The Spanish arrived in Trinidad in 1592 and Spanish speakers on the island have been present in some form ever since. European settlers were very small in number but the indigenous people were taught and proselytised in Spanish[4]. After the Cédula de Población, French Creole took over as lingua franca among the newly arrived peoples, then replaced by English after 1802 when Britain officially took the island. The second wave of Spanish speakers came in the form of 'peons', eastern Venezuelan agricultural workers who arrived in the early 19th century. Due to their low economic and social status, Spanish was stigmatised as a language of the Panyols so was quickly dropped by many descendants or not taught at all for fear of passing on bad English.
Due to socioeconomic factors and geographic isolation, Spanish, the local variety especially, was not adopted or even heard by large parts of the population.
Except from these two larger migrations, throughout Trinidad's history there have been movements of people in smaller numbers between Venezuela (and to a lesser extent other Spanish Speaking countries) and Trinidad. These include the 'bozal ' Spanish speaking Slaves from Spanish America[5], descendants of Trinidadians who migrated from El Callao and Güiria and migrants from Maracaibo for the petroleum and cocoa industry. In the 21st century this migration was induced by economic decline in Venezuela and the island's close proximity and flights to other locations.
Features[6]
- Trinidadian Spanish shares almost all the features of Venezuelan Spanish, especially Eastern Venezuela.
- There is weak consonantism and strong vocalism, meaning that vowels stressed are lengthened and unstressed vowels become unvoiced or disappear. E.g. zapato -> zapat, arepa -> arep.
- Intervocalic fricative dentals are often lost in -ado/a and -ido/a endings, so madrugada becomes madrugá.
- l often replaces r inside and at the end of words. This is common in many Caribbean dialects.
- Verba archaism are used such as vide, vido; truje, trujo; semos alongside the modern vi, vio; traje, trajo; somos.
- Other archaic words used include cuasi (casi), dende (desde), mientre (mientras), fogón (estufa o cocina), paila (sartén), candela (fuego).
Lexicon
The lexicon of Trinidadian Spanish is very similar to that of Eastern Venezuelan and Margaritan Spanish, with some words borrowed from Cariban, Arawakan, English, Patois, Caribbean Hindustani and Portuguese. It is most developed in the aspects of life that were traditionally most in the Panyol culture: Cocao, farming, hunting, religion and food.
Cachicamo - Armadillo
Morrocoy - Red-footed tortoise
Chaco - Sweet Potato
Tucuche - Hummingbird
Macaurel o Macauel - Boa Constrictor
Motoká - car
Garratadera - Cocoa knife
Dite - hot drink
Place Names[7]
El Puelto - Port of Spain
Mayaroa - Mayaro
El Toco - Toco
Oropuche - Oropouche
Tamanaco - Mt. Tamana
Las Cotorras - Five Islands
La Misión - Princes Town
Blanquisel o Blanquizales - Blachissuese
Sin Cuidado - San Souci
Maravaca - Saut D'eau Bay
Filete - Filette Point
Matalote - Matalot
See also
Notes
References
- ^ Spanish → Venezuela at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018)
- ^ "ISO 639-2 Language Code search". Library of Congress. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
- ^ https://books.google.es/books?id=X0sYAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s Title: The Cocoa Panyols of Trinidad: An Oral Record Author: Sylvia Moodie-Kablalsingh the University of Virginia ISBN: 1850436606, 9781850436607
- ^ Ottley, Carlton Robert (1971). Spanish Trinidad : an account of life in Trinidad, 1498-1797. [Port of Spain]: Longman. ISBN 0-582-76313-4. OCLC 16209268.
- ^ Lipski, John. "TRINIDAD SPANISH: IMPLICATIONS FOR AFRO-HISPANIC LANGUAGE". Nieuwe West-Indische Gids / New West Indian Guide. 64 (1/2): 7–27 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Moodie, Sylvia Maria. "The Spanish Language as Spoken in Trinidad". Caribbean Studies. 13 (1): 88–94 – via JSTOR.
- ^ R.W, Thompson. "PRE-BRITISH PLACE-NAMES IN TRINIDAD". De West-Indische Gids. 39 (2/4): 137–165.
Sources
External links
- (in English) [1] TRINIDAD SPANISH: IMPLICATIONS FOR AFRO-HISPANIC LANGUAGE
- (in English) The Spanish Language as Spoken in Trinidad History and features of Spanish as spoken in Trinidad.
Category:European-Venezuelan culture Category:Spanish dialects of South America Category:Venezuelan culture Category:Languages of Venezuela