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Papiamento

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Papiamento or Papiamentu is the primary language spoken on the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao (the so-called ABC islands). It is also well known by people in Saba, St Eustatius, and the Sint Maarten islands.

Papiamento is a creole language whose lexicon is drawn firstly from Portuguese (about 60%) and some Spanish language and from Dutch (about 25%). The remainder (15%) comes from West African languages, Arawak, and other languages.

History

The historical origins of Papiamentu are still not very well known. It is still disputed whether Papiamento originated from Portuguese or from Spanish. Due to the resemblance between Spanish and Portuguese, it is difficult to tell whether a particular word came from one or from the other. In addition, some Arubans claim Papiamentu to be of Arawak-Spanish origin and developed mostly in Aruba, while others maintain it to be an Afro-Iberan language that developed on first on Curaçao and then spread to Aruba. While such discussions often are based on historical evidence selectively interpreted for nationalist purposes, they nevertheless further complicate the debate on the origins of Papiamentu.

However, historical constraints, core vocabulary and grammatical features that Papiamentu shares with Capeverdean crioulo suggest that the first ingredients were Portuguese and languages of West Africa, and that the Dutch and Spanish influence occurred at a later time (17th and 18th century, respectively). The name of the language itself comes from papear ("to chat", "to talk"), a characteristically (old) Portuguese word; compare with Papiá Kristang ("Christian talk"), a Portuguese-based creole of Indonesia, and the Capeverdean Crioulo word papiá ("to talk"). Spain claimed dominion over the islands in the 16th century, but made little use of them. In 1634 the Dutch-based West India Company (WIC) took possession of the islands, deporting their small Arawak and Spanish population to the continent, and turned them into the hub of the Dutch slave trade between Africa and the Caribbean. An outline of the competing theories is provided below.

Local development theory

There are various local development theories. One such theory proposes that Papiamento developed in the Caribbean from a Portuguese-African pidgin used for communication between African slaves and Portuguese-speaking slave traders. For religious and political reasons, the traders were mostly Jews of Portuguese origin.

The Judaeo-Portuguese population of the ABC islands increased substantially after 1654, when the Portuguese recovered the Dutch-held territories in Northeast Brazil — causing most of the Portuguese-speaking Jews in those lands to flee, for fear of being punished as Dutch collaborators. The precise role of Sephardic Jews in the early development is unclear, but it is certain that Jews play a prominent role in the later development of Papiamentu. It is certain that Papiamento is linguistically similar to Ladino, the language of early Portuguese/Spanish Sephardic communities. Many early residents of Curacao were Sephardic Jews either from Portugal, Spain, or Portuguese Brazil. Therefore, it can be assumed that Ladino was brought to the island of Curaçao, where it gradually spread to other parts of the community. As the Jewish community became the prime merchants and traders in the area, business and everyday trading was conducted in Papiamento/Ladino. As various nations owned the island and official languages changed with ownership, Papiamento/Ladino became the constant language of the residents.

African origin theory

A more recent theory holds that the origins of Papiamentu lie in the Afro-Portuguese creoles that arose almost a century earlier, in the west coast of Africa and in the Cape Verde islands. From the 16th to the late 17th century, most of the slaves taken to the Caribbean came from Portuguese trading posts ("factories") in those regions. Around those ports there developed several Portuguese-African pidgins and creoles, such as Upper Guinea Kriol, Mina, Capeverdean Crioulo, Angolar, and Guene. The latter bears strong resemblances to Papiamento. According to this theory, Papiamento was derived from those pre-existing pidgins/creoles, especially Guene, which were brought to the ABC islands by slaves and/or traders from Cape Verde and West Africa.

Some specifically claim that Afro-Portuguese mother language of Papiamentu arose from a mixture of the Mina pidgin/creole (a mixture of Cape Verdean pidgin/creole with Twi) and the Angolar creole (derived from languages of Angola and Congo).Proponents of this theory of Papiamento contend that it can easily be compared and linked with other Portuguese creoles, especially the African ones (namely Forro, Upper Guinea Kriol, and the Capeverdean Crioulos). For instance, Compare mi ("I" in Cape Verdean Creole and Papiamento) or bo (meaning you in both creoles). Mi is from the Portuguese mim (IPA: [mĩ], me) and bo is from Portuguese vós (you). The use of "b" instead of "v" is very common in the African Portuguese Creoles due to their relation with Northern Portugal dialects. [1]

Papiamento is, in some degree, intelligible with Cape Verdean creoles and could be explained by the immigration of Portuguese Sephardic Jews from Cape Verde to these Caribbean islands, although this same fact could also be used by dissenters to explain a later Potuguese influence on an already existing Spanish-based creole. Another comparison is the use of the verb "ta" from vernacular Portuguese "tá" (from "estar", to be) with verbs where Portuguese does and with others where it does not use it: "Mi ta + verb", also the rule in the Cape Verdean Creoles. These issues can also be seen in other Portuguese Creoles (Martinus 1996; see also Fouse 2002 and McWhorter 2000).

Present status

Many Papiamento speakers are also able to speak Dutch, English and Spanish. Venezuelan Spanish is a constant influence today, especially in Aruba.

Dialects

Papiamento has three main dialects, one per island: Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire.

Sounds

Most Papiamento vowels are based on Ibero-Romance vowels, but some are also based on Dutch vowels like : ee, ui, ie, oe, ij, ei, oo, and aa.

Grammar

Vocabulary

Most of the vocabulary is derived from Portuguese and Spanish, and most of the time the real origin is unknown due to the great similarity between the two Iberian languages and the adaptations required by Papiamentu. Linguistic studies have shown that roughly two thirds of the words in Papiamentu's present vocabulary are of Iberian origin, a quarter are of Dutch origin, and the rest come from other tongues.

Examples of words of Iberian origin, which are impossible to label as either Portuguese or Spanish:

  • Por fabor = Please - Portuguese/Spanish por favor
  • Señora = Mrs, Madam, - Portuguese Senhora, Spanish Señora
  • Kua? = Which? - Portuguese, Qual; Spanish, Cual
  • Kuantu? = How much? - Portuguese, Quanto; Spanish, Cuanto

While the presence of word-final /u/ can easily be traced to Portuguese, the diphthongization of some vowels is characteristic of Spanish. The use of /b/ (rather than /v/) is difficult to interpret; although the two are separate phonemes in standard Portuguese, they merge in the dialects of northern Portugal, just like they do in Spanish. Also, a sound-shift could have occurred in the direction of Spanish, whose influence on Papiamento came later than that of Portuguese.

Other words can have dual origin, and certainly dual influence. For instance: subrino (nephew): sobrinho in Portuguese, sobrino in Spanish. The pronunciation of "o" as /u/ is traceable to Portuguese, while the use of "n" instead of "nh" (IPA /ɲ/) in the ending "-no", relates to Spanish.

Portuguese origin words:

  • sapatu = shoes - Portuguese sapato, Spanish, zapato
  • kachó = dog - Portuguese cachorro (dog), Spanish, cachorro (puppy)
  • bisiña = neighbour - Portuguese vizinho, vizinha, Spanish, vecino, vecina

Spanish origin words:

  • siudat = city - Spanish ciudad
  • sombre = hat - Spanish sombrero
  • karson = trousers - Spanish calzón, Portuguese calção

Dutch origin words:

  • apel = apple - Dutch appel
  • blòu = blue - Dutch blauw
  • buki = book - Dutch boekje
  • lesa = to read - Dutch lezen

Dictionaries

Writing system

There are two orthographies: a more phonetic one called Papiamentu (in Curaçao and Bonaire), and the etymological spelling used in Aruba (and formerly used on all three islands).

Examples

Phrase samples

NOTE: These examples are from the Aruban Papiamento, not the other Papiamentu

  • Bon dia = Good morning, Portuguese Bom dia; Spanish Buenos dias
  • Mòro = The short way of saying "Good morning" from Dutch "(Goede) morgen"
  • Bon tardi = Good afternoon, Portuguese Boa tarde, Spanish buenas tardes
  • Bon nochi = Good night (Portuguese, Boa noite; Spanish, Buenas noches)
  • Con ta bay? or Con ta k'e bida? = How are you? or How is life?, Portuguese, Como vai?/Como está com a vida?; ta is the vernacular Portuguese of verb to be, 'tá instead of está, Spanish ¿Cómo te va?)
  • Mi ta bon, danki = I am fine, thank you, vernacular Portuguese, Eu (mim) (es)tou bom/bem
  • Tur kos ta bon = everything is alright, Portuguese tudo está bem (bom) (kos = coisa)
  • Hopi bon or Tremendo = very good
  • Trankilo = calm, Portuguese/Spanish, tranquilo
  • Hopi calor = very hot/warm, Portuguese/Spanish calor/caliente (hopi = Dutch hoop, lit. a heap, a lot)
  • Con yama bo? or Kon bo nomber ta? = What's your name?, Portuguese Como você se chama? / Como te chamas?
  • Ami yama Raul or Mi nomber ta Raul = My name is Raul, Portuguese, Me Chamo Raul / Meu nome é Raul; Spanish, Mi nombre es Raul/Me llamo Raul
  • Di unda bo ta? = Where are you from?, Portuguese, De onde você vem?
  • Mi ta bin(i) di… = I come from…, Portuguese Eu venho de…
  • Mi ta biba na… = I live in…, Portuguese Eu vivo na…
  • Por fabor = Please, Portuguese/Spanish por favor
  • Danki = Thank you, Dutch, Dank u
  • Di nada! = it was no trouble at all! (or it was nothing!), Portuguese/Spanish De nada
  • Hende hòmber = Male, Portuguese, Homem; Spanish Hombre
  • Hende muhé = Female, Portuguese Mulher; Spanish Mujer
  • Hende = mankind, or people, in Papiamento "female" and "male" attribute is referred externally
  • Si = Yes, Spanish Sí; Portuguese Sim
  • No = No, Spanish No; Portuguese Não
  • Ainda no = Not yet, Portuguese Ainda não
  • Ayo! = Goodbye!, Portuguese Adeus; Spanish Adiós
  • Te otro biaha! = until next time!, Portuguese Até outro dia
  • Te awero(Te' oro) = See you later!
  • Mi ta sinti bo falta! = I miss you!, Portuguese Eu (mim) sinto vossa falta!, Spanish me haces falta
  • Mi (ta) stima bo = I love you, Portuguese Eu (te) estimo (você) / Eu te amo
  • Awor / Aworaki = Now, Portuguese Agora; Spanish Ahora
  • Ayera = Yesterday, Spanish Ayer
  • Mi tin hamber = I am hungry, from Spanish tengo hambre
  • Mi tin sed = I am thirsty, Spanish tengo sed, Portuguese Eu tenho sede
  • Laga nos ban sali! = Let's go out!, Spanish ¡Vamos a salir!
  • Te mañan!, Te mas awero!(Te' oro), Te despues! =Until tomorrow!, see you later!, Till the next time!, Portuguese Até amanhã, Até logo, Até depois)
  • Pabien! = Happy birthday! (also means congratulations!), Portuguese Parabéns!
  • Bon Aña! = Happy new year!, Portuguese Feliz ano novo or Bom ano; Spanish Feliz año nuevo
  • Bon pasco (di nasemento)! Bon pasku (di resurecion) = Merry Christmas! Happy Easter!, Portuguese, Boa Páscoa
  • No lubida! = Don't forget!, Spanish, No olvides
  • Corda skibi mi bèk mas lihe posíbel! = Write me back as soon as possible!
  • Mener = Mister, Portuguese Senhor; Spanish Señor; Dutch Meneer
  • Señora = Mrs, Madam, Portuguese Senhora, Spanish Señora
  • Jùfròu = Miss, Ms., Dutch, juffrouw
  • Mi number di telefòn ta… = my phone number is…, Spanish Mi número de teléfono es…
  • Yama'mi = Call me (by telephone); Spanish Llámame.
  • Holoshi = Clock /watch, Dutch: "horloge", Spanish: "reloj", Portuguese: "relogio"

References

  1. ^ http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8709/8709.ch2.pdf
  • Efraim Frank Martinus (1996) The Kiss of a Slave: Papiamentu's West-African Connections. University of Amsterdam Press.
  • Gary Fouse (2002) The Story of Papiamentu. New York: University Press of America
  • John H. Holm (1989) Pidgins and Creoles Volume One. Theory and Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  • John McWhorter (2000) The Missing Spanish Creoles: Recovering the Birth of Plantation Contact Language. Berkeley: University of California Press.


See also

External links

Papiamento edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Template:Official Languages of South America

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