KaripĂșna French Creole language
KaripĂșna French Creole | |
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KaripĂșna Creole French | |
Native to | Brazil (in the Uaça Indian Reservation in the state of Amapå) |
Native speakers | 1,726 (2001)[1] |
French Creole
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
kmv |
Glottolog |
kari1301 [2] |
Linguasphere |
51-AAC-cdd |
KaripĂșna French Creole language is spoken by the KaripĂșna community, which lives in the Uaçå Indian Reservation in the state of AmapĂĄ, on the Curipi and Oyapock rivers.[3] It is mostly French-lexified except for flora and fauna terms, with a complex mix of substratum languagesâmost notably the extinct Tupian KaripĂșna language.
Ethnologue considers KaripĂșna French Creole to be "threatened," with a rating of 6b on the Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS).[4] This designation seems generally due to the waning use of KFC as a mother tongue, and the steadily decreasing transmission rate. Anonby notes that Portuguese tends to be the mother tongue for speakers under 60 in the KaripĂșna community, and KaripĂșna French Creole is the mother tongue primarily only for speakers over 60.[5]
History
The KaripĂșna community includes a mix of ethnicities to such a degree that at times (such as in the early 1930s) doubt arose as to whether or not the KaripĂșna should be referred to as Indians.[5] Alleyne and Ferreira explain that "today, the KaripĂșna people are a highly mixed group, comprising not only descendants of Amerindians, but also of Africans, Asians and Europeans, and mixtures thereof."[6]
John Ladhams offers what is probably the best description of the migration and formation of the current-day KaripĂșna population. Members of the Arawak, TupĂ, and Carib linguistic trunks were in contact with European explorers since the 16th century, and around 1830 to the 1840s, due to the Cabanagem Revolt, a group of Amerindians from the ParĂĄ region moved to modern-day AmapĂĄ (which was, at the time, claimed by French Guinea) and joined with the present ethnic groups, thus coming into contact with French or Guyanais speakers.[3][7] Moving between French Guiana and Brazil in hotly contested territory from the Ounary river, to the Oyapock river, and finally towards the Curipi river where the KaripĂșna now live, these groups were joined by "members of the PalikĂșr and GalibĂ tribes, as well as Guianan Creoles, Arabs, Chinese, Europeans, and Brazilians" and eventually settled in the Uaçå area.[3] "These were âdisplaced Brazilians ⊠called KaripĂșnasâ."[6] Furthermore in 1854, due to a gold rush in Approuague, many "coolies, Blacks, Chinese, Martinicans and French adventurers" moved to the Oyapock and Uaçå rivers, where the KaripĂșna inhabited, further contributing to the broad ethnic mix.[3]
Ladhams explains the adoption of a French creole by the group as a result of the broad ethnic backgrounds of the KaripĂșna. "Since at least the 1840s," the KaripĂșna community was "a highly disparate group ... and that there would have been an immediate need for a medium for inter-ethnic communication. A prime candidate for this would have been Guyanais," as it was already used by parts of the Amerindian members and most of the non-Amerindian members of the KaripĂșna community.[3]
In December 1900, the AmapĂĄ region was ceded to Brazil from France,[3] putting the KaripĂșna community in Brazilian territory, and in the 1920s, "Brazilian authorities deemed it necessary to implement projects for occupying the formerly contested territory whose âfrenchifiedâ populations were seen as a threat to the country's territorial integrity." As a result the Oiapoque Colonization Commission was created in 1920. Later in 1927, an inspection commission commanded by the Ministry of War began to patrol the Oiapoque and report on the groups living there.[7] The reports were the first to use the term of "KaripĂșna" for the inhabitants of the Cupiri River, and has been the label employed since.[5] The intent of the Ministry of War was to "incorporate the Indians into society," and from 1934â37, and then from 1945 onwards, non-indigenous teachers were recruited by the government to teach in KaripĂșna villages. This education "played a fundamental role in formulating the contemporary identity of these groups, in the propagation of the use of Portuguese and in the configuration of the villages."[7]
The 1970s "were marked by greater political participation of the Uaçå leaders," including the KaripĂșna amongst the other three groups in the Uaçå reserve, "who began to act in more organized fashion." Particularly, they opposed the installation of the proposed route for the BR-156 highway, and this struggle resulted in further pressure to fight for the demarcation of their land. A new route of the highway was eventually accepted with "the hiring of indigenous heads to assist in the inspection of the borders of the indigenous territory."[7]
It was also during this period that the "KheuĂłl-to-Portuguese bilingual education programme was instituted, largely through the efforts of CIMI (the Catholic mission) and with the approval of FUNAI, and later MEC." Since this period, there has been a stated focus on promoting the maintenance of KFC as a second language and defending Amerindian rights while also providing a "bridge to the outside world," to a varying degree of success, often criticized, both by members of the community and linguistic anthropologists such as Jo-Anne Ferreira.[8] Only in the 1990s did indigenous teachers, however, begin to receive training first by CIMI, then by the Organization of Indigenous Teachers of Oiapoque established in 2005, and now "many of the teachers are KaripĂșna or Galibi-Marwono."[8]
Overall, KaripĂșna populations are healthily growing after the original migration from ParĂĄ that lessened populations drastically. Alleyne and Ferreira note that "the KaripĂșna population in 2001 is six times larger than it was in 1943."[6] However, despite the optimistic growth in population, the linguistic vitality of KaripĂșna French Creole is threatened.
Current Status
Today in the Uaçå Reservation there are three other Amerindian groups: the Galibi-Marwono, who also speak a French Creole language incredibly similar to KaripĂșna, and the PalikĂșr and Galibi do Oiapoque indigenous groups who speak their own non-creole languages. Members of the latter groups are often bilingual in AmapĂĄ French Creole, though only the KaripĂșna and Galibi-Marwono speak AFC natively. Anonby finds that "the differences between all the French Creoles do not pose a serious problem to intelligibility."[5]
The KaripĂșna people numbered 1,726 between 16 different villages in 2001. The largest, Manga, contained 465 people.[5] They are far more dispersed as compared to the Galibi-Marwono community in the same reservation, wherein 1,578 out of a total population of 1,787 Galibi-Marwono are concentrated in the Kumaruma village.
Linguistic Vitality
Ethnologue considers KaripĂșna French Creole to be "threatened," with a rating of 6b on the Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS).[4] This designation seems generally due to the waning use of KFC as a mother tongue, and the steadily decreasing transmission rate. Anonby notes that Portuguese tends to be the mother tongue for speakers under 60 in the KaripĂșna community, and KaripĂșna French Creole is the mother tongue primarily only for speakers over 60. Anonby paraphrases from interviews with speakers, that "although most people understand KFC," a KaripĂșna speaker "admitted about half of the people in the village of Manga cannot speak it. He said there were no monolingual KaripĂșna speakers."[5] Speakers of KFC tend to speak it as a second language, first learning Portuguese, and only learning KFC via a three-year KheuĂłl education primary school programme implemented by CIMI.[8]
Anonby notes that "generally, [KaripĂșna] people feel that the loss of KFC is not a good thing. They feel nostalgia for the time when they all spoke it. At the same time, people feel very positive about speaking Portuguese." Ferreira likewise confirms this, referencing the "discontent felt by many indigenous leaders" who feel as though the state of education in KFC is not of a sufficient standard to be beneficial for the maintenance of KFC.[8] This program was implemented in the 1980s by CIMI, the Catholic mission, but recently a new modified version of this program, the Projeto PolĂtico PedagĂłgico das Escolas IndĂgenas KaripĂșna e Galibi-Marworno, is in the process of being implemented, although the value of the new program in maintaining KFC is unclear.[8] Overall, due to the difficulty in transmitting the language to younger speakers as either a mother tongue or second language, KFC is justifiably in a threatened state.
Linguistic Origins
French creoles in Brazil form two sub-groups, both in the AmapĂĄ regions.[6] Southern AmapĂĄ consists only of "AmapĂĄ French Creole" (or "Lanc-PatĂșa") and is spoken mainly around MacapĂĄ, the capital of AmapĂĄ state. Northern AmapĂĄ consists of two (relatively mutually intelligible[5]) French-lexified creoles, both of which are considered "Amazonian French Creole," also often referred to as "KheuĂłl," "Crioulo," and "PatuĂĄ." The two languages are "KaripĂșna French Creole" (KFC) as well as "Galibi-Marwono French Creole" (GMFC)
Alleyne and Ferreira, inspired by Ladham's social history generally agree that KFC is a direct descendent of Guyanais, or Guianan French Creole. As noted above, Ladham interprets the language as a tool which the ethnically fragmented early KaripĂșna communities employed to meet an "immediate need for a medium for inter-ethnic communication."[3] This confirms that KFC's superstratum language is primarily French, but the other influences on the language are diverse and numerous. Alleyne and Ferreira suggest that the original "KaripĂșna" language â that is, that spoken by the original emigrants from ParĂĄ â "may or may not" have been a Tupi-Guarani language, and contributed to parts of the lexicon.[6] Chris Corne notes that the indigenous influence is "substantial, particularly in the vocabulary of flora and fauna.[9]
Despite the contact with African speakers[6] that GFC no doubt had in its creolization process, Corne explains that "the African contribution, on present information, is surprisingly small, including only a handful of words from Bantu, Kwa, and Senegambian languages," although the African influences in grammar are more obvious.[9] Lastly and unsurprisingly Corne mentions that "Portuguese has contributed basic vocabulary" of KFC for both lexical and functional categories of words. Some KheuĂłl words are even used in variation with Portuguese contributions to the lexicon, "for example, stilo and kanĂ©t (âpenâ), la nĂ©t and janĂ©l (âwindowâ)",[6] generally as a result of increasing sociohistorical pressures from the mid-1900s as the Portuguese education system began to erode the transmission of KFC.
Academic Literature
KaripĂșna do AmapĂĄ is referred to by a wide variety of names colloquially and in linguistic literature, including "KaripĂșna do Norte (KaripĂșna French Creole),"[10] KheuĂłl, Crioulo, PatoĂĄ, PatuĂĄ, PatĂșa, and Amazonian/AmapĂĄ/Amerindian French Creole (which all also include the closely related Galibi-Marwono French Creole language).[8] Ethnologue refers to the language as "KaripĂșna Creole French."[4]
Tolber provided what is apparently the first rigorous descriptive grammar of KFC.[11] His account includes a lexicon with around 300 words, phonetic description of KFC, and analysis of the grammar at sentence, clause, word, and morpheme-level. The description is in-depth, categorical, and provides examples for various basic and complex sentence structures and clause types, along with justification of the classifications made. Based on Tobler's description and elicitation test, a phonetic inventory was made available for KFC online.[3] Ladhams also notes that Monserrat & Silva published a grammar of KaripĂșna in Portuguese in 1984.[3]
Also, in the same decade, two KaripĂșna-Portuguese dictionaries were published by A.W. Tobler (1987)[12] and Montejo (1988).[13] Tobler's DicionĂĄrio Crioulo KaripĂșna is published in Portuguese and contains an (approximately) 2100 KaripĂșna words with their Portuguese translation, and vice versa, and also provides an IPA pronunciation guide for KheuĂłl orthography. Picanço's O nosso dicionĂĄrio PortuguĂȘs-Kheuol is apparently unavailable online.
Corne criticizes the "lack of serious lexicological research" for KaripĂșna French Creole and Guyanais in general.[9] Despite the relatively large focus on documentation in the 1980s, little other linguistic documentation appears to be available. Ferreira states that "the Catholic mission, CIMI, has been largely responsible for promoting a three year KheuĂłl education primary school programme." According to CIMI statements, the KaripĂșna and Galibi-Marwono have been working since 1978 to develop this educational process,[8] but the "materials [for language education]" are not readily available and are most likely used in the community for the three-year language education program. According to Anonby some of the KaripĂșna French Creole texts have been published and they are "mainly Biblical stories and folk tales," along with language "primers, such as those edited and organized by Fransisca Picanco Montejo (1985)."[5]
Documentation Projects
The majority of rigorous KaripĂșna linguistic documentation was done in the 1980s, with Tobler (1983), Tobler (1987), Monserrat & Silva (1984) and Picanço (1988). Present-day language documentation agencies (such as Soas, Museu do Ăndio, Museu Goeldi, and Dobes, amongst others) do not seem to have assisted in the documentation of KFC.
Anonby's A Report on the Creoles of AmapĂĄ[5] is the result of a joint study between SIL and the University of the West Indies to "investigate sociolinguistic aspects of the French-lexifier Creole languages spoken in the state of AmapĂĄ," albeit not funded by a particular major documentation project.
Ethnography
A series of anthropological analyses of the KaripĂșna community have been undertaken, especially in light of the KaripĂșna identity and schooling system. Tassinari and Cohn in 2009 critically evaluated, just like Ferreira,[8] the bilingual education program and demonstrated the caveats in the CIMI-organized three-year educational programme.[14] Ladhams is a well-cited and succinct socio-historical investigation of the KaripĂșna community's origins, which is generally accepted by anyone writing about KFC ethnography afterwards.[3]
Phonology
KaripĂșna French Creole has 32 phonemes â 22 consonants and 10 vowels. Its phonology is notably simpler than its lexifier language, French, as typically expected in creole languages.
Consonants
KaripĂșna French Creole's 22 phonemic consonants are shown in the table below.
KaripĂșna French Creole's consonants are relatively similar to French, with some exceptions. The palatal nasal stop, /ÉČ/, voiced uvular fricative, /Ê/, and labialized palatal approximant, /É„/, or /jÊ·/, all of which are present in French, are not in KFC. Furthermore, /t/ and /d/ from French are dentalized in KFC.[11][15] Lastly /h/ is present phonemically in KFC, despite having been lost in French due to historical sound changes.
Vowels
KaripĂșna French Creole has 10 phonemic vowels.[15]
Again, compared to French's 17 vowels, KFC is significantly less complicated, losing /É/, /ÉÌ/, /ÉË/, /É/, /Ć/, /Ăž/, and /y/. Nonetheless, the French influence is obvious. Like in French, only the open-mid and open vowels have phonemic nasalized variants. Alleyne and Ferreira note that this is consistent with other French creoles, and evidence for the hypothesis that all (or many) Atlantic French Creole languages descended from a common creole ancestor. MorphologyKaripĂșna French Creole is a morphologically simple language, as with most creole languages. Morphemes are either root forms or derivational affixes, and inflectional affixes are apparently not present. Tobler notes that most words are monomorphemic.[11] Verb CoersionThe "verbalizing" suffix /-e/ however can coerce some nouns into a verb class.
The "verbalizing" suffix /-e/ however can coerce some nouns into a verb class.
Pronouns in KFC form a two-number and three-case system, which is undergoing a regularizing change by analogy.[6] The /li/ pronoun, and /ka/ tense marker (see below), will elide with an adjacent verb.[11] The KFC lexicon on the whole is greatly derived from French[6] and has undergone a process more morphological agglutination and "article reduction." Ladhams suggests that the KaripĂșna community is historically composed of "French Guinean Blacks, Chinese, Arabs, and Europeans," although the extent of non-European influence, outside of flora and fauna words, appears to be minimal.[3] Arab and Chinese lexical influence is virtually nonexistent. Thus the generic open class of nouns involves morphologically reducing "la + noun" or "lâ + noun" to a monomorphemic word.[6] PronounsKaripĂșna French Creole's personal pronouns form a two-number, three-person system as in French, and are shown in the table below.[6][11]
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