- Email: [email protected]
The theory and practice of Creole grammar.
REVIEWS
104
-
COMPTES-RENDWS
&
Finally, there is a third very rag-bag class of words - termed is that they are neither particles - whose defining characteristic verbs nor nouns. Included here are fifteen types of word ran&g from Pronominal, and Negative to Interjectory. An interesting point is that some forms which are the translation-equivalents of adverbs in European languages have different forms according to the number or person of the subject of the clause they introduce. E.g. Is feeox.. /qecepem.
. .I . ./
‘even. . . . (I)‘. ‘even.(you(pl))’
Lastly, we come t;; th_0 sGction on syntax. This is very small, as the de!;cription of syntax consists mainly of a statement of the ,---L:d..-d.,L
Ct.JIiSLiL~UtXlL
StT’iiCf’dTe
Of +Llie I~P;,X,IC v cu ~VUJ thmm,a W~WAUW’, nhrnce yaaAu.Jv-,
Plallcf?v VIII
,
=rnd _--_
senten.:e-constructions. Then, after a brief treatment of concord and agreement, the secti on is rounded off by a short text accompanied bjj a description in terms of phonemes, morphophollcnzs, morpheml?s and tactic types matched to a labelled IC analysis. All in all, with the exception of the few minor complaints mentioned above, this work is to be praised as a very worthwhile attempt to give as complete a picture as possible of a language. What is more and this is one of the author’s aims - it is highly suitable as a starting point for further work, either for testing various theories of de%zriptien or in the field of comparative and historical linguistics. Institute
of Gerteral Liqtiistics, U&e&v of A ms terdam , S@4z 21, hnsterdam, The Netherlands.
J.
J.
THOMAS,
The theory an.d firactice
Norval S. H.
SMITH
of Creole grammar.
With an introduction by Gertrud Buscher. Mew Beacon I3ooks Ltd., London and Port of Spain, 1969. 134 pp. 45 s. (hard), 17 s. 6 d. (soft). Neqrv Beacon Books has$ announced a series of photomechanical reprints of books with special Caribbean interest. As far as I know, the first two volumes chosen are reprints of the two buoks by John
REVIEWS
Jacob
T~OIIXIS,
-
COMPTES-KENDUS
IQ5
born in 1840 as the son of freed slaves on Trinidad, in i889 on a trip to England to prepare the publisecond book Froudacity. This first book (published, before its reprint, in Port of Spain, Trinidad) is the description of Trinidad Creole, the mother tongue of
and who died cations of his hundred years first and only the author. ‘Thomas was a remarkable character and the subject of his study equally remarkable: the French-based Creole of an English rulccl colony which has never been under French administration. Such an early linguistic description naturally has all the defects of early linguistics, except one : the Creole language is treated here as a language in its own right, and not as a debased form of French (as so many later scholars approached Crt_& langua;;es). The language is treated in four divisions. Ortlzo?&~(2nd orthagm~hy compares the Creole forms with their French mod&, and this presents a rather clear picture of the Creole sound-system and of the sound-correspondences with French. Efymology offers much more than ‘etymologies’, contains in fact a fairly complete morphology of Creole. Syntax (perhaps the most important part of the book) contains valuable remarks on the use and function of Creole forms. Finally, Inter~retat~olz-idioNzs contains C.reole idiomatic expressions, proverbs, and texts. It seems pointless to treat at length the virtues and defects of such an early description, although it is still the best description of the language we can consult. Gertrud Buscher says in her excellent introduction ‘Tc i- _zz, -?;T..!-tj;_~.z_r+ .~!_.~.~:_:T~~ys~ _ nf 2 $Trpncj; l
as it was spoken a hundred years ago, and of the interest shown in it by a most engaging personality nearly a century before Creole studies became fashionable - that we present this book to the reader of today’. This recommendation seems on the modest side. Thomas’ description is still the only source to get information about this threatened language. The original publication is extremely difficult to consult. I th;lnk this reprint serves a very useful purpose. r: T.&
U~9ive,~sity of Leydept, StatiompLein IO, Levden, The Netherlands. *
104
-
COMPTES-RENDWS
&
Finally, there is a third very rag-bag class of words - termed is that they are neither particles - whose defining characteristic verbs nor nouns. Included here are fifteen types of word ran&g from Pronominal, and Negative to Interjectory. An interesting point is that some forms which are the translation-equivalents of adverbs in European languages have different forms according to the number or person of the subject of the clause they introduce. E.g. Is feeox.. /qecepem.
. .I . ./
‘even. . . . (I)‘. ‘even.(you(pl))’
Lastly, we come t;; th_0 sGction on syntax. This is very small, as the de!;cription of syntax consists mainly of a statement of the ,---L:d..-d.,L
Ct.JIiSLiL~UtXlL
StT’iiCf’dTe
Of +Llie I~P;,X,IC v cu ~VUJ thmm,a W~WAUW’, nhrnce yaaAu.Jv-,
Plallcf?v VIII
,
=rnd _--_
senten.:e-constructions. Then, after a brief treatment of concord and agreement, the secti on is rounded off by a short text accompanied bjj a description in terms of phonemes, morphophollcnzs, morpheml?s and tactic types matched to a labelled IC analysis. All in all, with the exception of the few minor complaints mentioned above, this work is to be praised as a very worthwhile attempt to give as complete a picture as possible of a language. What is more and this is one of the author’s aims - it is highly suitable as a starting point for further work, either for testing various theories of de%zriptien or in the field of comparative and historical linguistics. Institute
of Gerteral Liqtiistics, U&e&v of A ms terdam , S@4z 21, hnsterdam, The Netherlands.
J.
J.
THOMAS,
The theory an.d firactice
Norval S. H.
SMITH
of Creole grammar.
With an introduction by Gertrud Buscher. Mew Beacon I3ooks Ltd., London and Port of Spain, 1969. 134 pp. 45 s. (hard), 17 s. 6 d. (soft). Neqrv Beacon Books has$ announced a series of photomechanical reprints of books with special Caribbean interest. As far as I know, the first two volumes chosen are reprints of the two buoks by John
REVIEWS
Jacob
T~OIIXIS,
-
COMPTES-KENDUS
IQ5
born in 1840 as the son of freed slaves on Trinidad, in i889 on a trip to England to prepare the publisecond book Froudacity. This first book (published, before its reprint, in Port of Spain, Trinidad) is the description of Trinidad Creole, the mother tongue of
and who died cations of his hundred years first and only the author. ‘Thomas was a remarkable character and the subject of his study equally remarkable: the French-based Creole of an English rulccl colony which has never been under French administration. Such an early linguistic description naturally has all the defects of early linguistics, except one : the Creole language is treated here as a language in its own right, and not as a debased form of French (as so many later scholars approached Crt_& langua;;es). The language is treated in four divisions. Ortlzo?&~(2nd orthagm~hy compares the Creole forms with their French mod&, and this presents a rather clear picture of the Creole sound-system and of the sound-correspondences with French. Efymology offers much more than ‘etymologies’, contains in fact a fairly complete morphology of Creole. Syntax (perhaps the most important part of the book) contains valuable remarks on the use and function of Creole forms. Finally, Inter~retat~olz-idioNzs contains C.reole idiomatic expressions, proverbs, and texts. It seems pointless to treat at length the virtues and defects of such an early description, although it is still the best description of the language we can consult. Gertrud Buscher says in her excellent introduction ‘Tc i- _zz, -?;T..!-tj;_~.z_r+ .~!_.~.~:_:T~~ys~ _ nf 2 $Trpncj; l
as it was spoken a hundred years ago, and of the interest shown in it by a most engaging personality nearly a century before Creole studies became fashionable - that we present this book to the reader of today’. This recommendation seems on the modest side. Thomas’ description is still the only source to get information about this threatened language. The original publication is extremely difficult to consult. I th;lnk this reprint serves a very useful purpose. r: T.&
U~9ive,~sity of Leydept, StatiompLein IO, Levden, The Netherlands. *