English Sociolinguistics PEC1

November 2022

Research Activity 2 on Chapter 3.

Essay on San Andres-Providence Creole English

Kriol dah fi mi langwij

Dah fi mi, mii baan wid ih,
Ih deh iina mih blod, deh iina mi skin
Mi kyahn taak ih ahn sing ih

(Creole es mi idioma
Es mío, yo nací con él,
está en mi sangre, está en mi piel
Lo puedo hablar, lo puedo cantar)

Adel Christopher Livingstone

As it is characteristic of the Caribbean creoles, the Saintandrewan, an English based language

spoken in the archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina (Colombia),
developed from the contact between European colonisers and African slaves, most especially
during the XVIII and XIX centuries. From a sociolectal perspective, it shows two main varieties,
being the native language spoken in San Andres considered a basilect or broken English with
loads of traces of Spanish, while Providence speakers tend to an acrolect closest to Standard
English.

San Andrés Creole English (SACE), also known as Islander, resulted from the evolution of the
pidgin that arose in the plantations of cotton, sugar and tobacco, in communities where the

1/4
blacks were not able to learn the language of their English rulers properly. The new lingua
franca evolved to the extent to be assumed as mother tongue by the descendants of the
African slaves, as the creolisation progressively occurred. How this process took place? Firstly,
we should take into account that the African workforce at the colonial territories was not
homogeneous, and neither was their contact with the European domineers; there were
different degrees of interaction, depending on the tasks and function that was carried out by
the worker. Moreover, it is possible to distinguish between the native slaves, who already had
the creole as their first language, and those born in Africa and brought to America (the
bozales), that spoke an African language as their mother tongue. The later took charge of
transmitting the new contact language to the former. Thus, the Saintandrewan retains
features from African languages, when it comes to vocabulary (including some compounds as
anya uku, derived from the igbo “big eye”, which in SACE means “greedy”) and also at a
phonetical and grammar level (for example, the 2nd person plural is said like the igbo “unu”).

Other two factors are thought to be influential in the characterisation of the Saintandrewan:
on one side, the internal migration, most especially from Jamaica, which allowed for the
contact with other Caribbean creoles, and, secondly, the transfer of power between English
and Spanish colonisers over the centuries, that later on entailed a major shift in the lexifier
language of the native community. From the beginning of the XXth C,. a process of
Hispanicization took place, after Spanish language had been made the national one in
Colombia in 1886, and until 1991 the native languages were not considered official by the
Constitution. As a result of this linguistic contact, many Spanish loanwords are common within
the Saintandrewan, such as bwelta (‘stroll’), egzamen (‘exam’) or mansana (meaning a ‘block’,
a space unit). It should be said that a majority of these words are widespread into the
Caribbean Creole continuum, some of them being of little use today in Spain, as it is the case of
komadri/kompadri (referred to someone with whom the speaker has a close relationship).

The migratory flow from and towards Continental Colombia contributed to strengthen the
presence of Spanish vocabulary in the San Andrés Creole but, essentially, it is an English based
language, with a number of English archaisms, like the word koropshon (corruption), meaning
‘pus’, and many other terms derived from the phonetical expression of the English original, as
taak (talk), rait (write), tiich (teach) or laarn (learn).

At a grammar level, SACE resembles English in the use of auxiliars for marking the time (wehn,
for past simple; de, for present progressive; and wi/wuda, for future tense), as well as
permission, probability, willingness and obligation, expressed by particles like beg, kyan/kuda,
niid, waan, hafi, between others. Also, there is no grammatical distinction for gender, which
can be marked by using the pronoun shi/hi before the name.

At a textual level, a number of features of the Saintandrewan make it easy for us to

understand given that quite a few words are written very nearly to how they sound in English.
There are many examples, like huol (whole), skuul (school), bikaaz (because), bul (bull), piipl
(people), mjuuzik (music), and also the definite/indefinite articles di/wan (the/one).

2/4
Other features are not as straightforward, like the use of an associative plural formed by
postposing the 3rd person plural pronoun dem, and also the particle fi to express duty (Mi fi
go/I should go) as well as possession (fi mi/mine).

Nowadays, in spite of the effort to educate in the three languages, the two later prevail in a
majority of formal situations to the detriment of the SACE. However, 4 out 10 of the
population of the Archipelago are said to speak the creole, which purports a situation of
diglossia. The Saintandrewan is also spoken by islanders who move to the mainland and at
some territories of Panama and the US, due to migration, and thus contribute to spread it
somehow.

Thus, Standard English (SEng) is taught at schools as L2 and used for liturgical purposes at
Baptist churches, while the Spanish language has been socially extended thanks to the
migration exchange with the continental Colombia. The claim for the retrieval of the raizal
culture has entailed a campaign for the normalisation of the creole language at every stage,
with the help of the media. For example, the national public radio station of Colombia
broadcasts cultural programs in indigenous language, as well as a podcast series is provided by
the Piknini Foundation to promote the use of the Saintandrewan, both in formal and informal
settings where SACE was replaced by the Spanish during the last century.

In addition, some spelling conventions were recently adopted, in order to fix its own
phonemical system. As a result, a number of inhabitants of San Andrés can read properly in
Saintandrewan. One of the most striking examples of this strategy is the Creole translation of
religious texts, such as the New Testament, that were traditionally transmitted in English or
Spanish within the Church. The need for a standardized orthography to make it easy for the
islanders to read in their native language has ensued an overall simplification; for instance,
there is no duplication of letters representing the same sound, except when it is compulsory to
express long duration of the phoneme, like in haat (heart).

To sum up, Creole languages give evidence that linguistic evolution is a fact, and that its use is
not only fuelled or restricted by the number of speakers and situations but also according to
social conditions and political decisions. Some scholars agree that the Caribbean Creoles
constitute a speech community that has specifically contributed to the theoretical basis of
several linguistic phenomena, such as standardization, second language learning, the relation
between movability and linguistic contact and non-linguistic systems of social cohesion1.

Today, the claim for a recreolization in many territories, such as the archipelago of San Andrés
and Providence, goes beyond the recovery of a language; it is more like the desire of a people
to strengthen their multicultural identity by means of their cuisine, music and dances as well as
the way they speak up about their feelings and own reality.

1
Robert CHAUDENSON. ‘Le Mystère des créoles espagnols’. In Revista Abehache.
https://revistaabehache.com › article › download

3/4
Bibliographic resources

· Angela BARTENS (2013). San Andres Creole English

In: Michaelis, Susanne Maria & Maurer, Philippe & Haspelmath, Martin & Huber, Magnus
(eds.) The survey of pidgin and creole languages. In "The survey of pidgin and creole
languages". Volume 1: English-based and Dutch-based Languages. Oxford University Press.
Consulted online at: https://apics-online.info/surveys/10

· Carlos PATIÑO ROSELLI. “Sobre las dos lenguas criollas de Colombia”. Universidad Nacional
de Colombia
In: Lingüística y lenguas criollas. Cuadernos del Caribe, nº 3
Downloaded at: https://revistas.unal.edu.co › article › download

· “Patrimonio Ilustrado 2016”. Podcast series of Piknini Foundation. Consulted at:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ94jxtiglwv0wiIquPc7KNSomlyAPuDj

· New Testament in San Andrés Creole Language. Website: Scripture Earth, Resources in
Thousands of Languages
Consulted at: Scripture Earth: Islander Creole English[icr]

· Podcast series: “En nuestra lengua creole”. Broadcasts Radio Nacional de Colombia.
Consulted at: https://www.radionacional.co/podcast/en-nuestra-lengua-creole

· David Leonardo GARCÍA LEÓN (2011). LAS LENGUAS CRIOLLAS DEL CARIBE: ORÍGENES Y
SITUACIÓN SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA, UNA APROXIMACIÓN. Forma y Función, 24(2), 41-67.
Retrieved November 20, 2022, from
http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0120-
338X2011000200003&lng=en&tlng=es

· Sebastián ACOSTA ALZATE: “¿Por qué se habla creole en San Andrés y Providencia?” Article
on Señal Colombia RTVC.
Consulted at: https://www.senalcolombia.tv/cine/por-que-se-habla-creole-en-san-andres-y-
providencia

· ‘Di kriol Man’ (a poem by Adel Christopher LIVINGSTON). Performed by Shanelle Kay Roca
Hudgson. Universidad de los Niños EAFIT. In Youtube: https://youtu.be/64FXovE6hVc

4/4