KU ScholarWorks | The University of Kansas Central American Theses and Dissertations Collection http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu Tense and Aspect in Limon Creole: A Sociolinguistic View Towards a Creole Continuum Volume 1 by Anita Herzfeld Professor in Charge James W. Hartman Committee Members David A. Dinneen Choon-Kyu Oh The University of Kansas has long historical connections with Central America and the many Central Americans who have earned graduate degrees at KU. This work is part of the Central American Theses and Dissertations collection in KU ScholarWorks and is being made freely available with permission of the author through the efforts of Professor Emeritus Charles Stansifer of the History department and the staff of the Scholarly Communications program at the University of Kansas Libraries’ Center for Digital Scholarship. TENSE AND ASPECT IN LIMÓN CREOLE: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC VIEW TOWARDS A CREOLE CONTINUUM by Anita Herzfeld Submitted to the Department „ of Linguistics and to the ! 7 £T Faculty of the Graduate School r ,f ^ of the University of Kansas in f-JH ''^ partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of , Doctor of Philosophy in ^» I Linguistics. Dissertation Committee: James W. Hartman David A. Dinneen Choon-Kyu Oh RD01fl2 AD753 MAY 1978 Copyright 1978 Anita Herzfeld VOCATION Negro, little Negro, my little boy. Fruit-chewer in the potreros, carrier of a bowl of pepper mint on the train, singer of hymns in chapels. Big-bellied and friendly, with a smile and a flyesfl on his lips . Happiness to his grandmother; each one for the other and one else in the world. What are you going to be when you grow up? A White man, Mista, a White man! Translation from Abel Pacheco, Más abajo de la piel, 1972 Copyright 1978 Anita Herzfeld ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As I try to say uthank you" to all who made this study possible, the memories of pleasures and pains shared with many people whom I have loved and respected are relived. And as these images pass before me, the task of highlighting a few names out of a very long list seems, for all practical purposes, an impossible assignment. There are some people, however, who cannot remain anonymous for I owe them too much. Both the chairman of my dissertation committee, Professor James W. Hartman, and the chairman of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Kansas, Professor David A. Dinneen, who read, reread, and criticized drafts of this projecu, provided me with a certain confidence for which mere thanks are inadequate. They gave generously of their time, exercising patient guidance and painstaking instruction, as well as sympathetic understanding of the difficult conditions under which this study had to be pursued. I thank them for their sound advice and unfailing encouragement, without which the completion of my graduate studies would have seemed to me beyond the realm of possibil• ity. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to acknowledge here my indebtedness to many other mentors: Professor Frances Ingemann, who introduced me to the fieLd of linguis• tics and inspired me to persevere; Professors Ralph W. Fasold (SLI, 1971) and James W. Hartman who initiated me into the wonder and excitement of sociolinguistics; Professor Choon-Kyu Oh, in whose classes I learned to employ logical tools and who gave insightful comments on the dissertation; Professors Michael M. T. Henderson and Charles L. Stansifer, who accepted the task of reading the complete draft in the midst of finals; Professor Michael D. Olien, of the Univer• sity of Georgia, who provided me with the incentive to get started and with most enthusiastic encouragement throughout this undertaking; Drs. Poggio and Baumgartel, who unrav• elled the mysteries of statistics for me. This acknowledg• ment is but a small token of my gratitude for such positive influence. Costa Rica has been my second home for a number of years. My good tico friends' thoughtfulness has been a re• newed source of happiness. Professor Carlos Meléndez Chave- rri, one of the most accomplished Costa Rican historians, of• fered invaluable comments and shared his private collection of historical documents with me. Professor Carlos Raabe, of the National Planning Office, helped me devise an efficient statistical methodology, with the aid of the Dirección Gene• ral de Estadística y Censos. Don Mario Castro, Director of the Consejo Regional de Desarrollo in Limon, generously of• fered his library and files for my use. Drs. Maria Eugenia iv Bózzoli and Alvaro Wille stood by me during the entire pro• cess with sincere interest and constant help, advice and genuine affection. To all of them and many others, I am deeply indebted. Once in the field, those of us who study a language undoubtedly feel a first great debt towards those who speak it and gave samples of it graciously and unstintingly. I consider it a privilege and an insp iration to have lived in Limon. Having shared the joys and agonies of Lloyd Watson, Vera Sutton, Owen Hammond, Frank Perry and en fin, all my lifelong friends, I have been fortunate to be exposed to the intricacies and beauty of their way of life, the essence of language and communication. I am sure they know of my love for the Limonese culture. Research for this dissertation was supported at vari• ous times by grants from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright- Hays Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Program, and the Dan- forth Foundation whose sympathetic interest is hereby grate• fully acknowledged. Needless to say, no one but myself is accountable for the deficiencies of the finished work. I should also like to express my appreciation to Mrs. Ruth Hillers, not only for her diligent and careful typing, but also for her limitless patience and many kindnesses. Without the warm understanding and unselfish support of my dear parents and friends, I would not have been able to enjoy this work. It has been sheer exhilaration to share v with Dr. George R, Waggoner and Barbara Ashton Waggoner their commitment and concern for Latin America and the Caribbean. Through many a pleasant thinking session and common research projects, they have been an inspirational source of intellec• tual excitement and most thoughtful friends throughout the years. I owe everyone a great deal. My professors, informants, friends and family have taught me to think, to care, and much more; more, in fact, than one would suspect. /tai>k yu/ and Shalom! A. H. Fall, 1977 Lawrence, Kansas vi ABBREVIATIONS USED Ant--Ant er ior SLE--Standard Limon English C--Creole Stat--Stative Co—Consonant Temp--Temporal Cond--Conditional TESOL--Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages ESL--English as a Second Language UFCo--United Fruit Company JC--Jamaican Creole V--Verb LC--Limon Creole Vo--Vowel Loc--Locative VP--Verb Phrase ME--Middle English N--Nasal NEG--Negative No--Noun Nom--Nominative NP--Noun Phrase Pas--Pass ive Perf--Perfect Punct--Punctual S--Spanish SE--Standard English SJE--Standard Jamaican English vii To Limón and all whom I love viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page VOCATION ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii ABBREVIATIONS USED vii DEDICATION viii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I. BACKGROUND 8 General Information 8 Costa Rica 8 Limon Province and Port Limon 9 Ethnohistorical Background 15 Aspects of Limonese Culture 32 Concept of Culture 32 Life in Pert Limon 36 Family 38 Children 41 Education 42 Religion 44 Economy 47 Language 50 ix TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) CHAPTER Page II. RESEARCH TECHNIQUES 68 General Introduction 68 Creole Languages, Definition 69 Origin of the Creoles 72 Creolization in Limon 73 The Sociolinguistic Framework 76 The Sample and the Methodology 76 The Social Variables 82 Economic Status 86 Education 89 Place of Birth and Rearing 90 Age 91 Sex 92 The Selection of Informants 92 Field Procedures 106 The Interview 106 The Questionnaire 110 The Equipment 113 Summary 114 III. LC PHONOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW 117 Introduction 117 Review of Previous Research 118 Notational System 122 x TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) CHAPTER Page From Africa to America: Some Sound Relationships 123 From Europe to America: Some Sound Survivals 128 The LC Phonemic System 134 Consonants 134 Vowels 145 Suprasegmentals 155 Phonology and the Verbal System 158 Social Conditioning of Linguistic Factors. 159 IV. TENSE AND ASPECT IN LIMON CREOLE 168 Introduction: Theoretical Framework 168 The Basilect 174 Be 192 Did 203 A + Verb 210 Don 221 Negation 225 The Mesolect 235 Basilectal Features 237 -ed 240 -ing 249 Marginal Forms 254 Negation 2b0 TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) CHAPTER Page The Acrolect 262 Mesolectal Forms 263 Acrolectal -ed 266 The Perfect Tense 276 Number and Concord 287 Negation 289 Remaining Forms 292 Second Language Acrolect Replacement 299 Conclusion 310 V. THE SOCIAL CORRELATES OF LIMON CREOLE SPEECH VARIATION General Remarks 325 Social Factors and the Linguistic Study. 327 Linguistic Variables Correlated with Social Factors 331 The Basilect 331 The Mesolect 356 The Acrolect 371 Conclusion 376 BIBLIOGRAPHY 382 APPENDICES 409 xii LIST OF TABLES Number Title Page 1 Demographic Importance of Settlements. 10 2 Demographic Importance of Settlements in the Province of Limon 12 3 Comparative Cultural Structures .... 15 4 Racial Composition of CR, 1522 to 1801, Actual Number (Based on Thiel, 1902:8). 19 5 Estimated Net Immigration of Jamaicans: 1881-1921 22 6 Implicational Scale 82 7 Economic Status 86 8 Occupational Categories 86 9 Population Distribution 99 10 Black Population Distribution By Sex . .101 11 Distribution by Socioeconomic Class For Men 101 12 Distribution by Socioeconomic Class For Women 102 13 Implicational ISC Table - Class I - Male 104 14 Implicational ISC Table - Class I - Female 105 15 Implicational ISC Table - Class II - Male 105 16 Implicational ISC Table - Class II - Female 106 17 Consonantal Alternations in LC 130 xiii Number Title Page 18 Consonantal Phonemic System of LC 137 19 Vocalic Phonemic System of LC 151 20 Simple Vowels - SE System 152 21 Simple Vowels - LC 152 22 Vowel Glides - SE Complex Nuclei 153 23 Vowel Glides - LC Complex Nuclei 153 24 A Tentative Scale of LC Sound Change .