Sound interesting? For this blog post I'm going to be looking at Creole through the eyes of anthropologist Douglas Carl Reeser's article, "Language and Everyday Life in Belize". Douglas Carl Reeser is a doctoral candidate at the University of South Florida. He is currently working on his dissertation based on research in southern Belize, examining the intersection of State-provided health care with a number of ethnic-based traditional medicines.The term Creole comes from the Portuguese word, crioulo, which meant literally a slave born in the master's household. In the 16th century, the term came to include any French, Spanish, or Portuguese settlers in the West Indies and Latin America (Caver and Williams 2006). Many of the original Creoles were French who fled Haiti during a slave insurrection and landed on the northern Gulf Coast, they are the ancestors of people who still today live in northwestern Florida and the Mississippi and Louisiana coast, most notably in New Orleans.
Today there are many Creole languages. In fact, Creole languages are spoken widely on every continent except for Antarctica. The language began as a mixture of French, Spanish, and Portuguese but when Louisiana Creoles mixed with English speaking Americans, after the Lousiana Purchase, the language adapted again and became a mix of Creole and English. Creole thus becomes a pidgin language in it's adaptability, it is a language that simplifies the languages of 2 or more groups in order to have a basic line of communication.
Douglas Carl Resser did his language research in Belize where he was trying to learn about basic fundamentals of everyday life. His research took him to a finer understanding of Kriol (the form of Creole spoken there). "There are plenty of English words in any given Kriol sentence or two, but they are surrounded by words unfamiliar and foreign, such that many visitors to Belize do not understand the language" (Reeser 2013). He felt his time there was giving him plenty of information and a mastery of the language but every once and a while there would be whole sentences he wouldn't understand, or pieces in sentences that just left him baffled.
The answer to his riddle led within Proverbs. Proverbs are quotes of wisdom that are considered to be a cultural universal, meaning every community around the world has them. Resser was told from one of his informants, "You fas like crofi?" (Reeser 2013) and he didn't even know how to respond. This was a Belizean proverb meaning he was overly inquisitive. Proverbs don't have easily created translations across languages and so he began to realize that his gaps in knowledge within the language were coming from a wide use of proverbs.
"Proverbs help explain complex, difficult, or ambiguous situations by relating them to phrases that are often just as difficult to understand – unless you have intimate knowledge of the language, history, and culture from which the proverb originates. In contexts where language use is thick with proverbs, learning the language is then only one step towards understanding it" (Reeser 2013).
The title of this work, "Crab Walk 'til e meet Kiss Kiss" is a Belizean proverb referring to the trappings of life. Kiss-Kiss is the name of tongs that they use in their crabbing techniques. The crab walks freely with no cares in the world until it is snatched up by kiss-kiss. Who else out there is getting hungry? What are some other languages that have evolved over time? Has the English language? Along with proverbs what are other aspects of language that are easily lost in translation?
References
Caver, Helen Bush and Williams, Mary T. 2006. Creoles. Countries and their Cultures. http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Bu-Dr/Creoles.html. Accessed April 23rd, 2013.
Reeser, Douglas Carl. 2013. Language and Everyday Life in Belize. Anthropology News. http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2013/04/16/speaking-in-proverbs/. Accessed April 23rd, 2013.
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