St. Lucian French Creole (Kwyl)

Ed Ford and Leonie St. Juste-Jean
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

This paper is dedicated to the memory of many courageous people, some of whom, before the arrival of the European explorers, inhabited the Caribbean Islands between what is now known as North and South America, and others who were brought there, against their will, from their native Africa.
Despite much adversity, using their creativity, intelligence, and perseverance, these varied peoples constructed a language, thus, enabling communication and forging a cultural identity.

The paper is intended to give a brief introduction to the Caribbean Lesser Antillean island of St. Lucia, its history, various sociocultural factors existing on the island, and its vibrant language. The reference list can direct the interested reader to further information, but we suggest that you visit the island itself to experience its cultural mix and friendly people.

Table of Contents

Scenic Beauty of St. Lucia

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Map of the Caribbean

Map of St. Lucia

Select from the following areas of interest:

• I. The history of St. Lucia
  • A. Indigenous people
  • B. European colonization
  • C. African influence
  • D. The road to independence

• II. A sociolinguistic profile of St. Lucia
  • A. French Creole
  • B. St. Lucian English

• III. Descriptive analysis of the language
  • A. Phonology
  • B. Orthography
  • C. Lexicon
  • D. Syntax

• IV. Language samples
  • A. Oral
    • A. WAV format
      • A. One
      • A. Two
      • A. Three
    • B. AU format
      • A. One
      • A. Two
      • A. Three
    • The oral speech samples are courtesy of the Folk Research Centre of St. Lucia.
  • B. Written

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History of St. Lucia

Pre 1400's	Carib and Arawak peoples had spread throughout the Caribbean islands. The Arawak and Carib names for St.Lucia were Iouanalao and Hewanorra.
1492	Columbus arrived in the Bahamas.
1500s	Spanish exploration and settlement on the larger Caribbean islands forced Caribs to flee to some of the smaller islands, including St. Lucia.
1639	The first European settlers, British, arrived in St. Lucia (Breen, 1844).
1651	First sustained French settlement established in St. Lucia.
Mid 1600s	African slaves were brought into St. Lucia.
1670s - 1803	English and French fought repeatedly over control of the island.
1794	As a by-product of the French Revolution, the slaves were freed.
1814	St. Lucia was officially ceded to the British.
1924	First representative government established.
1958	St. Lucia became member of the Federation of the West Indies.
1967	St. Lucia became member of the West Indies Associated States (Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia, 1993-1995).
1979	St. Lucia gains status of an independent state.

Indigenous People

The distinction between the Carib and Arawak races is somewhat tenuous anthropologically (Hulme and Whitehead, 1992) with both groups coming north from South America sometime before the arrival of the Europeans. Rogozinski (1992) reports that the languages were mutually intelligible and there were many cultural similarities, including fishing and the cultivation of root plants. Arawaks in the Greater Antilles told the Spanish of being chased northward by fiercer groups, who were called the Caribs. The Caribs also tended to offer more resistance to European domination.

Those peoples inhabiting St. Lucia at the time of the arrival of the first Europeans are considered Caribs. The Carib culture maintained a distinction among Caribs, other humans, and nature (Gullick, 1985). The Carib village consisted of communal houses for the men at the center, ringed by huts for the women and children, with cultivated land at the edge of the village. Men and women tended to be involved in all activities, such as fishing and crop-raising, but there was a distinct division of labor. The Caribs had cultural habits which were seen as markers of "civilization", distinguishing them from others and nature, such as bathing, cutting and grooming their hair, and cooking their food. Some suggest that the men and women spoke different dialects,with that of the women being Arawak-based. The Caribs may have driven out the Arawaks, capturing and inter-marrying with Arawak women.

Because of the results of European colonization, few native Carib peoples exist on St. Lucia today.

European Colonization

While Spanish explorers, led by Columbus, were the first Europeans into the Caribbean area, there is no record of the Spanish coming to St. Lucia. Exploration parties may have passed or briefly stopped; however, the first permanent European settlement was a group of British arriving in 1639 (Breen, 1844). Very early, hostilities erupted between the Caribs and the English and, as a result, a permanent English colony did not flourish.

In 1642, France ceded all possessions in the Americas to the French West India company. Then, in 1651, this company gave control of St. Lucia, Grenada, and Martinique to a group of dissident shareholders.

For the next 150 years, rights to the island was disputed. Many successive battles between the British and the French saw control passing back and forth between the two groups. All of this was, from early on, quite detrimental to the native Caribs, who were also decimated by diseases brought from Europe, for which they had no immunity. The European plantations took away land from the Caribs and their agricultural practices.

African Influence

Very soon after the arrival of Europeans in St. Lucia, sugar was introduced into the islands. Due to the opposition of the Caribs to European control, as well as the toll taken by European diseases, the plantation operators were seeking additional sources of labor.

As in most of the New World, a majority of the plantation slave labor came from the interior of Western Africa, north of the Congo River. Individuals from various tribes and language groups were mixed together to discourage organizing against the plantation masters. The St. Lucian situation was no exception.

Life on the plantations was hard and many slaves attempted escape. Those who were successful often mixed with the remaining Carib populations. Also, probably because its mountainous terrain offered less possibility for detection, runaway slaves from other islands often found refuge on St. Lucia.

During the very limited time in which the African slaves were allowed away from their work, they carried on many of the traditions brought from Africa. Carnivals involving singing and dancing evidenced sociocultural and religious practices brought from Africa. Abrahams and Szwed (1983) describe the African concept of "play" as being publicly displayed yet allowing the development of individuality. This is somewhat different than the European view and allows the African some release from the structured, private discipline of the home and family. St. Lucia has the time-honored festivals of the Roses and the Marguerites.

Dalphinis (1985) suggests that, due to the alternating control of the French and British, the slaves may have had to alternately relexify the Creole between English and French, but maintained a continuity and identity through keeping the West African syntactic structure. Also, after the English finally managed to maintain control for an extended period of time through the 1800s, the Creole may have settled upon French lexicon in order to maintain some independence and distinction from the colonial government. Another possible reason for the primacy of French influence upon St. Lucian Kwyl is that the French role in the colonies tended to be somewhat different than the British. The French plantation masters did not see themselves so directly tied to the home country and offered some opportunity towards assimilation.

The Road to Independence

At the time of the French Revolution in 1792, St. Lucia happened to be in control of the French. Those French on the island tended towards support of the Republic rather than the monarchy. In 1794, the victorious Republicans freed the slaves.

More battles between the British and French occurred over the next twenty years, with the British finally gaining control in 1814. Subsequent years saw the British government gradually giving up control to a locally based government.

Representative government was introduced in 1924. From 1958 to 1962, Saint Lucia was a member of the Federation of the West Indies. Then, in 1967, it became a member of the West Indies Associated States (Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia, 1993-1995), with full internal self-government.

On February 22, 1979, Saint Lucia became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations. Sir Arthur Lewis was the first St. Lucian to win a Nobel Prize. He received this award for Economics in 1979. In 1992, another St. Lucian native, the poet Derek Walcott, won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

A Sociolinguistic Profile of St. Lucia

Language is the product of history. It is constantly experiencing change - loss, addition and invention of new forms. The language situation of St. Lucia is no exception.

St. Lucia has a population of approximately 200,000. The language situation can be seen as a continuous spectrum of speech varieties, ranging from a French-based Creole (Patwa) to "standard" English. Most St. Lucians speak varieties along this continuum between the two languages, with variations in the degree of competence in either language. The two languages which were once functionally exclusive now have shared domains of usage.

English, the official language of the island, is the language of prestige, the high language, while Patwa, although the principal vehicle of communication for the majority of the population, is the low prestige language.

Patwa, a promoted but not official language is, according to Isaac (1986), spoken by 90% of the population. It is widely used internally in both formal and intimate communication situations and often as a medium of instruction at the elementary school level. English, on the other hand, is used both internally and externally and as a medium of instruction at all school levels. Approximately 80% of the population has some competence in English.

At intermediate points on the continuum between French Creole (Patwa) and Standard English, one can find St. Lucian basilect (a calqued form of French Creole, which may be referred to as an anglicized equivalent of French Creole, which gradually decreolizes toward Standard) and St. Lucian mesolect or Creole English, which has many similarities with both Standard English and French Creole (DeCamp, 1971; Isaac, 1986). Speakers command a span of this continuum, rather than a point within it. The more informal the conversation is, the lower on the continuum it will be.

French Creole

French Creole is spoken throughout the island. The language has been classified within the group labeled Antillean, which also includes the French Creoles of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago (Isaac, 1986; Holm, 1988). It also shares features with other Creoles of the region which have European-based lexicons (Bickerton, 1981). Because it has been influenced by its co-existence with English rather than French, it lacks the French sociolects found on Martinique and Guadeloupe (Holm, 1988).

French Creole forms an important part of religious services, especially in the Roman Catholic Church. The use of French Creole is traditionally associated with the Catholic church whose membership is about 80% of the population. According to Breen (1844), the early administrators were French and the use of Creole greatly enhanced communication between laity and clergy. The Seventh Day Adventist church also conducts a religious program in French Creole on radio and television.

Likewise, the language is also used in the legal system, with the clerk of the court usually acting as an interpreter for monolingual Patwa speakers. More recently, the use of the interpreter is often a mere formality in order to comply with court procedure, since most members of the judiciary are native St. Lucians who can both understand and speak Patwa.

The use of Patwa has extended to education, although no formal edict has been given. Teachers find it useful in the initial stages of instruction for monolingual French Creole students, sometimes using it as an effective tool for disciplinary action.

Native songs, stories, proverbs, dances, festivals and customs have continued to use French Creole as their medium. With the gradual enlightenment that has taken place over the years, poetry, hymns, and calypsos are being written, read, and sung in that medium. Once a year, on the last Sunday in October, International Creole Day (Jounen Kwyl) is commemorated throughout the French Creole speaking communities of the world. On that day in St. Lucia, an entire church service is conducted in French Creole and activities are organized to promote and foster awareness and pride in the language.

St. Lucian English

Varieties of English have developed as a result of the mixing of French Creole and English. These varieties are often judged as to their closeness to "standard" English.

According to Isaac (1986), the basilectal (anglicized form of French Creole) is the speech of persons who have not had much educational opportunity and are generally illiterate, but who have acquired some competence in spoken English to gain employment or play a meaningful role in their own business transactions. This area merges into the mesolectal area, which is described by Isaac (1986) as the language that the majority of St. Lucians are comfortable with and which is used in informal situations where Creole is not used.

The acrolect represents St Lucian Standard English. The language of formal and official communication, it is used by a relatively small number of speakers (Carrington, 1984; Isaac, 1986). It is also the language of international formal and national communication and is the closest approximation to what is understood as "standard" English or internationally accepted English.

St. Lucian native Derek Walcott (1964), the winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature, describes the linguistic profile of St. Lucia quite well.

I who am poisoned with the blood of both,
Where shall I turn, divided to the vein?
I who have cursed
The drunken officer of British rule, how choose
Between this Africa and the English tongue I love?
Betray them both, or give back what they give?
How can I face such slaughter and be cool?
How can I turn from Africa and live?

Thus is the dilemma of many St. Lucians, in whose hearts lie both the fiery passion of the "langaj mama nu" and the language of their colonizers.

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References

Abrahams, Roger D. and Szwed, John F. (1983). After Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Bickerton, Derek. (1981). Roots of Language. Ann Arbor: Karoma.

Bickerton, Derek. (1984). The language bioprogram hypothesis. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7, 173-221.

Breen, Henry H. (1844). St. Lucia: Historical, Statistical, and Descriptive. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.

Carrington, Lawrence D. (1984). St. Lucian Creole: A Descriptive Analysis of its Phonology and Morpho-Syntax. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.

Carrington, Lawrence D. (1990). The instrumentalization of St. Lucian. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 85, 71-80.

Dalphinis, Morgan. (1985). Caribbean and African Languages: Social History, Language, Literature and Education. London: Karia Press.

DeCamp, David. (1971). Towards a generative analysis of a post-creole speech continuum. In Hymes, Dell (Ed.), Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Evans, Glenna. (1989). Ki Manny Mwen Genyen A Bout Lap. In S Kon Sa I Ft. Vieux Fort: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Fontaine, Marcel D. and Weekes, Allan. (1994). Kwyol: A Basic Guide. Castries, St. Lucia: Folk Research Centre.

Gullick, C. J. M. R. (1985). Myths of a Minority: the Changing Traditions of the Vincentian Caribs. Assen: Van Gorcum.

Holm, John. (1988). Pidgins and Creoles, Volumes I and II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hulme, Peter and Whitehead, Neil L. (1992). Wild Majesty: Encounters with Caribs from Columbus to the Present Day. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Isaac, Martha. (1986). French Creole Interferences in the Written English of St. Lucian Secondary School Students. Unpublished Master's thesis, University of the West Indies.

Louisy, Pearlette and Turmel-John, Paule. (1983). A Handbook for Writing Creole. Castries, St. Lucia: Research St. Lucia Publications.

Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. (1993-1995). Saint Lucia. Microsoft Corporation & Funk & Wagnalls Corporation.

Mondesir, Jones E. and Carrington, Lawrence D. (1992). Dictionary of St. Lucian Creole. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Rogozinski, Jan. (1992). A Brief History of the Caribbean: From the Arawak and the Carib to the Present. New York: Facts on File.

Walcott, Derek. (1964). Selected poems. New York: Farrar, Straus & Company.

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