The Song of Kriol: A Grammar of the Kriol Language of Belize Ken Decker THE SONG OF KRIOL: A GRAMMAR OF THE KRIOL LANGUAGE OF BELIZE Ken Decker SIL International DIS DA FI WI LANGWIJ Belize Kriol Project This is a publication of the Belize Kriol Project, the language and literacy arm of the National Kriol Council No part of this publication may be altered, and no part may be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the author or of the Belize Kriol Project, with the exception of brief excerpts in articles or reviews or for educational purposes. Please send any comments to: Ken Decker SIL International 7500 West Camp Wisdom Rd. Dallas, TX 75236 e-mail: [email protected] or Belize Kriol Project P.O. Box 2120 Belize City, Belize c/o e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] Copies of this and other publications of the Belize Kriol Project may be obtained through the publisher or the Bible Society Bookstore 33 Central American Blvd. Belize City, Belize e-mail: [email protected] © Belize Kriol Project 2005 ISBN # 978-976-95215-2-0 First Published 2005 2nd Edition 2009 Electronic Edition 2013 CONTENTS 1. LANGUAGE IN BELIZE ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 AN INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 DEFINING BELIZE KRIOL AND BELIZE CREOLE ...................................................................................... 2 1.3 ENGLISH IN RELATIONSHIP TO KRIOL ..................................................................................................... 6 1.4 KRIOL LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND EDUCATION ..................................................................................... 7 1.5 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH .......................................................................................................... 9 2. THE SOUND SYSTEM OF BELIZE KRIOL ...................................................................................... 11 2.1 INTRODUCTION TO PHONOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 11 2.2 CONSONANTS ...................................................................................................................................... 11 2.3 VOWELS .............................................................................................................................................. 14 2.4 DISTRIBUTION OF PHONEMES .............................................................................................................. 21 2.5 SYLLABLE STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................................ 23 2.6 HIGHER LEVEL PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES ........................................................................................... 24 2.7 HISTORICAL CHANGES IN SOUNDS ....................................................................................................... 27 2.8 SOUND VARIATIONS AND WRITING ...................................................................................................... 31 3. THE WRITING OF BELIZE KRIOL ................................................................................................... 33 3.1 HISTORY OF WRITING BELIZE KRIOL ................................................................................................... 33 3.2 THE PROCESS OF ORTHOGRAPHY DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................... 33 3.3 THE BELIZE KRIOL WRITING SYSTEM ................................................................................................. 36 3.4 SENTENCE CONSTITUENTS AND KRIOL PUNCTUATION ........................................................................ 37 4. THE WORDS OF BELIZE KRIOL ...................................................................................................... 39 4.1 NOUNS................................................................................................................................................. 39 4.2 PRONOUNS .......................................................................................................................................... 43 4.3 ADJECTIVES ......................................................................................................................................... 48 4.4 PREPOSITIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 52 4.5 VERBS ................................................................................................................................................. 55 4.6 ADVERBS ............................................................................................................................................. 56 4.7 CONJUNCTIONS .................................................................................................................................... 69 4.8 INTERJECTIONS .................................................................................................................................... 71 5. SENTENCE STRUCTURE IN BELIZE KRIOL ................................................................................. 72 5.1 PHRASES .............................................................................................................................................. 72 5.2 CLAUSES.............................................................................................................................................. 88 5.3 SENTENCES ........................................................................................................................................ 103 6. DISCOURSE .......................................................................................................................................... 106 6.1 SOME DISCOURSE FEATURES............................................................................................................. 106 6.2 SAMPLE DISCOURSE EXAMPLE .......................................................................................................... 107 i CHARTS Chart 1: Consonant Symbol Correspondence ............................................................................... iii Chart 2: Vowel Symbol Correspondence ...................................................................................... iv Chart 3: Belize Kriol Vowels ....................................................................................................... 15 Chart 4: Previous research Vowel System Analysis ..................................................................... 17 Chart 5: English and Kriol Vowel Comparison ............................................................................ 20 Chart 6: Syllable Patterns ............................................................................................................. 24 Chart 7: Personal Pronouns .......................................................................................................... 44 Chart 8: Contrast of Kriol and English Personal Pronouns .......................................................... 45 Chart 9: Reflexive Pronouns ......................................................................................................... 46 Chart 10: Demonstratives ............................................................................................................. 50 Chart 11: Prepositions................................................................................................................... 53 Chart 12: Elements of the Noun Phrase ........................................................................................ 73 Chart 13: Possible Combinations of TMA Markers in Belize Kriol ............................................ 80 Chart 14: Constituent Order for Tense in English Verbs ............................................................. 81 Chart 15: Other Pre-verbal Phrase Ordering................................................................................. 82 Chart 16: Interrogative Words ...................................................................................................... 95 Chart 17: Subject-Verb Agreement in English ........................................................................... 101 Chart 18: Linguistic Description of Belize Kriol Phonemes ...................................................... 109 FIGURES Figure 1: Parts of the Mouth ......................................................................................................... 12 Figure 2: Relative Vowel Positions .............................................................................................. 15 Figure 3: Vowel Overlap .............................................................................................................. 17 Figure 4: Possible combinations of TMA markers in Belize Kriol .............................................. 79 ii Chart 1: Consonant Symbol Correspondence Phonemic1 Dictionary BK BK sample English Symbol Symbol2 Alphabet word translation b b b beed bead t͡ʃ ch ch cheet cheat d d d dayt date f f f fish fish ɡ ɡ g goat goat h h h hamadili armadillo d͡ʒ j j Joon June k k k keel keel l l l leek leak m m m mangroav mangrove n n n no no ŋ nɡ ng ring ring p p p paypa paper r r r reech reach s s s snayk snake ʃ sh sh ship ship t t t toad toad v