Saramaccan language

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Saramaccan ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is a creole language spoken by about 58,000 people of West African descent near the Saramacca and the upper Suriname River, as well as in Paramaribo, capital of Suriname (formerly also known as Dutch Guiana). The language also has 25,000 speakers in French Guiana and 8,000 in the Netherlands.<ref name=Price2013>Template:Cite journal</ref> It has three main dialects. The speakers are mostly descendants of fugitive slaves who were native to West and Central Africa; they form a group called Saamacca, also spelled Saramaka.

Linguists consider Saramaccan notable because its vocabulary is based on two European source languages, English (30%) and Portuguese (20%), and various West and Central African languages (50%), but it diverges considerably from all of them. The African component accounts for about 50% once ritual use is taken into account, the highest percentage in the Americas. When ritual use is excluded, 35% English-derived, 25% Portuguese-derived, with 35% derived from one or another African language.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is derived from Niger–Congo languages of West Africa, especially Fon and other Gbe languages, as well as Akan and Central African languages such as Kikongo.Template:Sfn

OriginsEdit

The language is derived from Plantation Creole, which is nowadays known as Sranan Tongo, but the branches diverged around 1690 and evolved separately.Template:Sfn The Saramaccan lexicon is largely drawn from English, Portuguese, and, to a lesser extent, Dutch, among European languages, and Niger–Congo languages of West Africa, especially Fon and other Gbe languages, Akan, and Central African languages, such as KiKongo. The African component accounts for about 50% of the total.Template:Sfn

Saramaccan phonology has traits similar to languages of West Africa. It has developed the use of tones, which are common in Africa, rather than stress, which is typical of European languages.

Over a fourth of words are from English. It is generally agreed that the Portuguese influence originated from enslaved peoples who lived on plantations with Portuguese masters and possibly with other slaves who spoke a Portuguese creole. The masters might have brought the latter in migrating to Suriname from Brazil.Template:Sfn Saramaccan originators began with an early form of Sranan Tongo, an English-based creole, and transformed it into a new creole via the Portuguese influx, combined with influence from the grammars of Fongbe and other Gbe languages.Template:Sfn

DialectsEdit

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }} Saramaccan is divided into two main dialects. The Upper Suriname River dialect and the Lower Suriname River dialect are both spoken by members of the Saramaccan tribe. And by the Surinamese people who are living in the 12 English-speaking Caribbean nations of which all 12 have a foreign relationship with the Republic of Suriname: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

MatawaiEdit

Template:Anchor The Matawai tribe has its own language, which is related to the Saramaka language.Template:Sfn The language is derived from Plantation Creole, which is nowadays known as Sranan Tongo. However, the branches diverged around 1700 and evolved separately.Template:Sfn Matawai is spoken in the villages in Kwakoegron and Boven Saramacca. However, code-switching with Sranan Tongo, other Maroon languages, and Dutch is common. The language is considered endangered.Template:Sfn

PhonologyEdit

VowelsEdit

Front Back
Close Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Close-mid Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Open-mid Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Open Template:IPA link

Each oral vowel also has a corresponding nasal vowel. There are also three vowel lengths: {{#invoke:IPA|main}} "red", {{#invoke:IPA|main}} "belly," {{#invoke:IPA|main}} "bread."Template:Sfn

ConsonantsEdit


Labial Dental/
Alveolar
Palatal Velar
plain Labial
Nasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Plosive plain Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
prenasalized Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Implosive Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Fricative Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Approximant Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link

{{#invoke:IPA|main}} are more specifically dorso-postalveolar, but the palatal fricative {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is dorso-palatal.Template:Sfn

ToneEdit

The language has two surface tones: high and low. Stress in European words is replaced by high tone in Saramaccan.Template:Sfn

OrthographyEdit

VowelsEdit

  • a - [a]
  • e - [e]
  • ë - [ɛ]
  • i - [i]
  • o - [o]
  • ö - [ɔ]
  • u - [u]

Long vowels are doubled or tripled.

ConsonantsEdit

  • b - [b]
  • d - [d]
  • dj - [ɟ]
  • g - [g]
  • gb - [ɡ͡b]
  • h - [h]
  • j - [j]
  • k - [k]
  • kp - [k͡p]
  • l - [l]
  • m - [m]
  • mb - [mb]
  • n - [n]
  • nd - [nd]
  • nj - [ɲ]
  • p - [p]
  • s - [s]
  • t - [t]
  • tj - [ç], [c]?
  • v - [v]
  • w - [w]<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

LexiconEdit

Saramaccan's vocabulary is 30% derived from English, 20% from Portuguese. It is one of the few known creoles to derive a large percentage of its lexicon from more than one source (most creoles have one main lexifier language). Also, it is said to be both an English-based creole and a Portuguese-based creole.Template:Sfn

About 50% of the vocabulary of Saramaccan is of African origin,Template:Sfn the largest percentage of any creole in the Americas. Source languages for these words include Kikongo, Gbe languages, and Twi.Template:Sfn

ExamplesEdit

To English-speakers who are not familiar with it, Saramaccan's English basis is almost unrecognizable. Here are some examples of Saramaccan sentences that are taken from the SIL dictionary:

De waka te de aan sinkii möön.
"They walked until they were worn out."

U ta mindi kanda fu dee soni dee ta pasa ku u.
"We make up songs about things that happen to us."

A suku di soni te wojo fëën ko bëë.
"He searched for it in vain."

Mi puu tu dusu kölu bai ën.
"I paid two thousand guilders to buy it."

Examples of words originally from Portuguese or a Portuguese creole are mujee ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "woman", womi ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "man", da ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "to give", bunu ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "good", kaba ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "to end", ku ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "with", kuma ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, cf. vernacular Brazilian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} for {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, "come again?") "as, like", faka ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "knife", aki ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "here", ma ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "but", kendi ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "hot", liba ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "above", and lio ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) "river".

LiteratureEdit

Saramaccan has a rich history of published works, including the following dictionaries: Christian Schumann's 1778, Saramaccanisch Deutsches Worter-Buch,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Johannes Riemer's 1779 Wörterbuch zur Erlernung der Saramakka-Neger-Sprache, a copied and edited version of Schumann,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Jan Voorhoeve and Antoon Donicie's 1963 wordlist, De Saramakaanse Woordenschat,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Antoon de Groot's, Woordregister Nederlands- Saramakaans met context en idioom (1977)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and his Woordregister Saramakaans-Nederlands (1981),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Glock (ed) Holansi-Saamaka wöutubuku (Nederlands-Saramaccaans woordenboek)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Instituut voor Taalwetenschap has published tens of literacy books and collections of folktales written by Saramaccans and a complete translation of the New Testament.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Two books written by Richard Price have now been published in Saamakatongo: Fesiten<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Boo go a Kontukonde.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Alison Hinds of Barbados based her up tempo soca song "Faluma" on the language. <ref>Alison Hinds, Faluma, Monday, June 1st, 1998, via YouTube</ref> The Saramaccan orthography created by the Summer Institute of Linguistics is not in universal use.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Linguist Vinije Haabo is developing a Saramaccan dictionary based on an improved orthography, which he intends to publish online.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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SourcesEdit

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External linksEdit

Template:Languages of French Guiana Template:Languages of Suriname