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MULTILINGUAL
EXPERIMENT IN FRENCH GUIANA
by Laurence Goury
French Guiana, a French overseas département, presents
a large multilingual situation where typologically different languages
are represented: Creole languages from two lexical bases (French
and English), Amerindian languages (from three linguistic groups:
Arawak, Carib and Tupi-Guarani), Hmong, Chinese, and others.
Since
French is the only official language, and no official place is given
to other languages, such a complex situation raises many problems,
especially in the educational field.
The
IRD (Institute for Research and Development - ex ORSTOM) has a Depart-ment
of Social Sciences where linguists are working on Amerindian
languages and the English based creoles
spoken by the Maroons, both in French Guiana and Surinam. In addition
to fundamental research on these languages, we try to suggest alternatives
to the problems of teaching in Non-French Speaking (NFS) communities.
We
are presently leading the ‘bilingual mediator project’
which is described below.
The
‘Bilingual Mediator Project’
The aim of this project is to take on some young people, native
speakers of an Amerindian language or speakers of the Maroons’
English based Creoles, and allow them to teach literacy in the mother
tongue for NFS communities, [by] sharing time and experience with
the teachers, and receiving a simultaneous training in linguistics
and pedagogy by some qualified researchers or teachers.
Profile
• native speaker of one of the Amerindian or the English based
Creoles from French Guiana
• qualification required: ‘bachelier’ (i.e. High
School diploma or A level) and/or cultural experimentation
• motivation for pedagogical and cultural work among the NFS
communities
(Special permission available in some cases where age or qualification
requirements are not met)
Aims
easier access to literacy for NFS children and experimentation of
bilingual teaching by:
• presence in the class room for literacy teaching in the
mother tongue
• production of classroom materials
Implementation
alternatively: linguistic and pedagogical training at the IRD, and
practice in the class room
1.
Training: in Cayenne (IRD Center), one or two, 2 week sessions per
term.
Activities:
• linguistics: introduction to phonetics and phonology of
the mediators’ languages; reflection about existing alphabets
(critics; changing); approach to comparative grammar
• pedagogy: methodology of literacy teaching and language
activities
• production of classroom material (hand-books for reading
training; handbooks for literacy teaching...)
The
experiment began with a two weeks training session:
• introduction to pedagogical and linguistic questions
• discussion about writing systems
• preparation of a first reading handbook
2.
Practice in the class room: into the community; under the teacher’s
authority, during eight to ten weeks per term:
Activities:
• literacy in mother tongue
• vocabulary exercises; language practice (mother tongue)
• experimentation of handbooks and class-room materials
Training staff
• linguistics: researchers working on the previously
cited languages, based in French Guiana or in metropolitan France
• pedagogy: two teachers (training masters)
• pedagogy of writing: specialists of the CEFISEM
(Organization for French as Foreign Language teaching)
This
kind of experiment is nothing new in the educational field, especially
in South America where different linguists of the Department have
already been working, with Amerindian languages and bilingual education.
But it might be something new in this specific multilingual context
which we want to become not an obstacle, but an opportunity for
cultural and linguistic enrichment.
Our
web site is still under construction, but I will give the address
when it is ready so that more people can share this fascinating
experiment.
Laurence
Goury
Centre ORSTOM-Cayenne
BP 165
97323 Cayenne cedex
FRENCH GUIANA
goury@cayenne.orstom.fr
ST
LUCIAN KWÉYÒL
NEW TESTAMENT
by David Frank
In St. Lucia people will sometimes say that (French) Creole is not
really a language; it doesn’t have any rules and couldn’t
be written down. I don’t hear that much any more, though,
because times have been changing. More and more the sentiment is
spreading here, as I heard the Minister of Culture say on television
last night, “Annou enjoy sa ki sa nou! Annou sélébwé
sa ki sa nou!” [Let’s enjoy what is ours! Let’s
celebrate what is ours!]
On
October 10, the St. Lucian Kwéyòl New Testament (Tèstèman
Nèf-la) was made available to the public, after about a dozen
years in the making. The publisher is the Bible Society in the East
Caribbean. SIL is now joining the Folk Research Centre in spreading
Creole literacy around the island. We have a booklet called Mannyè
Ou Sa Li Ek Ekwi Kwéyòl (English title: A Guide to
Reading and Writing St. Lucian Creole), and we are going around
the island teaching transitional literacy classes to those who can
speak Creole but so far can only read English. In addition, we have
developed a complete primer with 80 lessons for adult Creole speakers
who never acquired literacy, to teach them how to read and write
in their mother tongue.
St.
Lucian Creole has been basically a purely oral language, but as
more and more is being written, including folktales, oral history,
government notices, and the Bible, people are becoming more and
more interested in learning to read it.
Below
are some quotes from the Launching of the St. Lucian Kwéyòl
New Testament:
The
Hon. Damian Greaves, Minister of Culture and Ecclesiastical Affairs:
What
we are seeing today is of historical importance, linguistically-speaking,
because we are seeing a language that was once seen as something
that we should not respect come to full maturity on this particular
occasion. If the New Testament can now be translated into Creole,
then nothing can stop the onward march and progress of our Creole
language. When we have the Bible now being translated into the language
of the people, one cannot overstate the power and might that can
emanate from such an exercise. I want to express to all of you who
have contributed to this most important and significant event the
hearty gratitude of the government and people of St. Lucia. This
is an exercise which will have our people to understand the Bible
even better. And perhaps now there is a need for us to emphasise
the importance of teaching our people to read and write our Creole
language.
Her
Excellency Dame Pearlette Louisy, Governor General of St. Lucia:
Fwè ek sè, mwen asiwé tout jan Sent Lisi té
kay édé mwen wimésye tout sé moun-an
ki twavay asou twavay twadouksyon Bib sala. Lawout-la te lonng,
twavay-la pa té fasil, mé jòdi nou ka wé
ki sa twavay épi dédikasyon sa pwodwi. Twavay-la sé
sa nou, Tèstèman Nèf-la sé sa nou. Mwen
ka envité tout moun pou anbwasé twavay sala. Li pawol
di Dyé an lanng nou, an lanng jan Sent Lisi. Mwen asiwé
i ni adan moun ki jòdi-a pa sa li ek ékwi Kwéyòl-la,
mé mwen asiwé sa sé on bagay ki kay ankouwajé’w
apwann li épi ékwi Kwéyòl-la.”
[“Brothers and sisters, I am sure all Saint Lucians would
help me thank all those people who worked on this translation of
the Bible. The path was long, the work was not easy, but today we
can see what this work and dedication can produce. The work is ours,
the New Testament is ours. I invite everyone to embrace this work.
Read the word of God in our language, in the language of the St.
Lucian people. I am sure there are a lot of people today who cannot
read and write the Creole, but I am sure this is something that
will encourage you to learn to read and write the Creole.”]
Monsignor
Theophilus Joseph, Vicar General of the Castries Cathedral:
Apwézan tan-an vini pou nou jan Sent Lisi wéyalizé
enpòtans, pa jos an langaj, me enpòtans nou, kon on
pép. Atjwélman nou pa sa jos palé Kwéyòl-la,
nou sa li Kwéyòl-la. Pwenmyé twadouksyon-an
sé on twadouksyon ki enpòtan, épi an légliz
Katòlik nou kay fè tout sa nou pé pou enkouwajé
sé pép nou, pa jos pou achté on liv, mé
pou apwann li Kwéyòl-la, paski sé lanng manman
nou tout.” [“Now the time has come for us people of
St. Lucia to realize the importance, not just of language, but the
importance of us, as a people. Now we cannot just speak Creole,
we can read the Creole. The first translation is a translation that
is important, and in the Catholic Church we will do all we can to
encourage our people, not just to buy one of these books, but also
to learn to read the Creole, because it is the mother tongue of
all of us.”]
June
King-Frederick, Executive Director of the Folk Research Centre:
It gives me great pleasure to stand here this afternoon and to receive
this translation of the New Testament in Kwéyòl. Our
country is a bilingual country. Lanng manman nou sé Kwéyòl.
[Our mother tongue is Creole.] The Folk Research Centre started
about twenty-six years ago, and it started because of one little
man named Monsignor Patrick Anthony. He realised there was a majority
of people in our country who were being ostracised because of the
fact that their first language was Creole. Because of the fact that
they had no voice, and because of the fact that they were treated
with such contempt, the rich Creole culture in which those people
lived was in danger of dying. Therefore the Folk Research Centre
was formed so that we could ensure that we preserved the culture
of our people, and, of course, the language. This New Testament
makes me feel very proud because we are saying to the people of
the Creole culture that you are equal to everybody else. Your language
is an acceptable language internationally. It is not now only an
oral language. We are now working towards making sure it is a written
language. And ladies and gentlemen, I am going to implore you, our
programme within the next three years it to teach the language,
to make sure people read and write it. What we at the Folk Research
Centre are saying is, it is not either English or Creole, it is
both English and Creole, and therefore they should be treated equally.
You
shouldn’t get the idea from the wonderful things that were
said at the Launching of the Kwéyòl NT that St. Lucian
Creole is being accepted here now in a revolutionary way. We in
St. Lucia are way behind Haiti, Curaçao and Seychelles in
terms of the official acceptance and use of the Creole language,
and I don’t know that we will ever reach that point here.
The situation here looks better and better all the time, but it
is still very slow-going.
We
have a Creole publication house here called An Tjé Nou (In
Our Hearts) that is another exciting development in the past couple
of years. It is the vision of a well-known author of ESL books,
Michael Walker, living in St. Lucia in his retirement. We have made
a partnership with him, as we produce Creole materials and they
publish our materials as well as others they produce themselves.
The bad news is that the public and government response, while good,
has not been enough to keep this from being a tremendous drain financially,
and the future of this publishing house is in serious doubt.
In
addition to coordinating the translation of the Kwéyòl
New Testament, published by the Bible Society in the East Caribbean,
we have produced other Creole books that we published ourselves.
Here are the three most popular ones still in print:
Jou
Lavi Nou (Days of Our Lives), 1989, 41 pages: A collection
of 14 stories told by St. Lucians, written in Creole.
Sé
Kon Sa I Fèt (That’s How It Happened), 1989, 46
pages: A collection of 12 stories told by St. Lucians, written in
Creole.
Mwen
Vin Wakonté Sa Ba'w (I’ve Come to Tell This to
You), 1991, 90 pages: An alphabet storybook, with an animal story
told by Evans Leon for each letter of the Creole alphabet.
In
addition to the transitional primer called Mannyè Ou
Sa Li Ek Ekwi Kwéyòl (How You Can Read and Write
Creole), designed to be used as the textbook in a Creole literacy
class, we have a complete primer, still in draft, comprised of 80
lessons, also designed to be used in a classroom situation, for
illiterate adult Creole speakers. I have given away all my draft
copies of the latter and can’t tell you right now how many
pages it is, but it is quite comprehensive. It is in the hands of
St. Lucia’s Ministry of Education right now, and we understand
that they have plans to implement a program with that resource as
the foundation.
Also
we have in draft a unique textbook entitled Latè-a, Soley-la,
Epi Sé Plannet-la (The Earth, the Sun, and the Planets),
approx. 25 pages, which is supposed to be published by An Tjé
Nou. This is the first textbook written in St. Lucian Creole that
focuses on anything other than the language itself.
David
Frank
Box 1030
Castries, SAINT LUCIA
West Indies)
david_frank@sil.org
[Thanks go to Michelle Winn for help with preparing this report.
Ed.]
NEWS
FROM DA PIDGIN COUP IN HAWAI‘I
by Diana Eades
In Hawai‘i negative and misinformed attitudes to the local
creole language are pervasive. Like pidgin and creole languages
around the world, Pidgin (aka Hawai‘i Creole English or Hawai‘i
English Creole) has been denigrated since its origins earlier this
century. In 1921, curriculum materials for teachers in Hawai‘i
published in the Hawai‘i Educational Review included this
statement by an anonymous author: “Tell [children] that the
Pidgin English which they speak is not good English; that it is
not spoken by good Americans... .” Show the children, the
author continues, that “Pidgin English implies a sense of
inferiority.”
In
1987 a public controversy arose when the Board of Education attempted
to mandate against the use of Pidgin in school. In discussing this
unsuccessful attempt, and the public outcry which resulted in a
weaker position (encouraging teachers to model Standard English),
Sato (1991) points out that this was the first time that Pidgin
had received widespread public support and recognition. Perhaps
it is not surprising that Pidgin has received such support, as it
is spoken by a majority of people in the state of Hawai‘i,
and is recognized by linguists as a legitimate language, and local
writers as an important local language. Yet despite all of this,
there remains considerable resentment and misunderstanding about
Pidgin among all sectors of society, including educators and legislators.
Now
again in 1999, public attention is focused on issues surrounding
Pidgin and education. It began in September, when the Chairman of
the Hawai‘i State Board of Education, Mitsugi Nakashima, made
a statement implicating Pidgin in the poor results by the students
of Hawai‘i on national standardized writing tests. “I
see writing as an encoding process and coding what one thinks, and
if your thinking is not in standard English, it’s hard for
you to write in Standard English,” he said. He also said that
Standard English should be the norm in every classroom, because
“If you speak Pidgin, then you think Pidgin, and you write
Pidgin” (Honolulu Advertiser 29 September 1999).
The
Chairman’s statement sparked off a renewed public debate about
Pidgin and education, with the newspapers carrying numerous letters
about Pidgin, mostly negative and misinformed. Readers of this newsletter
can no doubt imagine the kinds of prejudice that are held by a wide
range of the population towards this creole language. An accountant
alleged that “Any child today who grows up speaking pidgin
English will never get a good job and never be able to afford a
house” (Honolulu Advertiser October 6, 1999). Another
person is quoted on the same page as saying: “Pidgin has degenerated
to a gutter language. Pidgin doesn’t work anymore”.
But
other letters to the Editor reveal more positive attitudes, and
call for a serious investigation of the cause of low national test
scores for Hawaii’s students. A high school student wrote:
“I disagree that pidgin English is the cause of low test scores.
I myself don’t speak pidgin English and I still don’t
do well because I don’t apply myself” (Honolulu
Star-Bulletin 1 November 1999). A community college professor
wrote: “The perennial debate about the use of pidgin English
in the classroom diverts the attention away from the real issues
and solutions concerning our students’ weak writing skills...
So can we stop talking about pidgin English and start talking about
class size, workload, and the enforcement of the Department of Education
writing standards that are forever being reinvented” (Honolulu
Advertiser 8 October 1999).
In
November the state Governor, Ben Cayetano weighed in to the debate,
saying: “The only time we should be using Pidgin English in
the public schools is when they’re studying Pidgin itself,
from a historical or cultural point of view.... They should never
use Pidgin in the public schools” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin
20 November 1999).
The
BOE Chairman’s statement was the catalyst for a group known
as “Da Pidgin Coup” to prepare a position paper on Pidgin
and education. Da Pidgin Coup comprises mainly University of Hawai‘i
faculty and students in the Department of English as a Second Language,
who have been meeting regularly since Fall 1998 to work on aspects
of Pidgin. The main focus of the group is on linguistic, applied
linguistic and educational linguistic issues in Pidgin and similar
stigmatized language varieties.
Our
position paper, titled “Pidgin and Education”, is intended
to form the basis of our discussions with education officials and
teachers, and our public education efforts. Our aim is to provide
well-researched advice about the complex relationship between Pidgin
and English, and the issues involved in discussing the role of Pidgin
in education.
Da
Pidgin Coup strongly questions assumptions and conclusions such
as those of the Education Chairman and the State Governor, and a
number of related statements being made about Pidgin. The introduction
to our position paper says (p 3): “There is no dispute as
to the importance of students learning Standard Written English,
but there is no evidence that Pidgin speakers are less capable of
learning to write, or that Pidgin can not be used to facilitate
learning. The notions that spoken or written Pidgin is inferior
“Broken English” and that children who use it are deficient,
are not only unjustified and biased, but also wrong.”
In
preparing the position paper, we drew on research around the world
to present information and discussion on the following main points:
1) an explanation of the origins and development of Pidgin, and
its linguistic status as a creole language,
2) a history of attitudes to Pidgin, showing how negative terms
to describe Pidgin have a powerful history in shaping island attitudes
towards the language and its speakers,
3) the concept of Standard English, rebutting the notion that it
is the best language, and showing the relevance of Lippi-Green’s
(1997) language subordination model to Pidgin in Hawai‘i,
4) why researchers in the fields of education and language support
the important role of language varieties such as Pidgin in the learning
process,
5) why writing is a ‘foreign language for everyone’,
and why there is no good reason to assert that Pidgin speakers are
held back in their writing development by their Pidgin language,
6) the myth that Pidgin is English, providing some examples to illustrate
features of Pidgin,
7) issues central to current concerns over Pidgin and testing, arguing
that the relationship between Pidgin and English is too complex
to suggest that we can raise students’ test scores simply
by eradicating Pidgin, and
8) recommendations about the important role that Pidgin plays in
the learning process.
The paper is written in non-technical language for the most part,
in the hope that it will be accessible to a wide range of people
in Hawai‘i who are concerned about Pidgin. In order to keep
the paper to a reasonable length, our treatment of each issue is
necessarily brief. Each of the 8 main sections each starts with
a myth and reality, followed by explanation and selected references.
Interested PACE readers may read this paper on the web at:
http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/esl/langnet/ (website of the Language
Varieties Network).
The
position paper is intended to be the basis for our dialogue with
state education officials, as well as for a number of public awareness
activities which we are planning. We are well aware that our discussions
with educators will not get very far unless we are also providing
widespread public information about Pidgin. Watch this space next
year for an up-date on developments.
References:
Lippi-Green, Rosina. 1997. English with an Accent. London:
Routledge.
Sato, Charlene J. 1991. Sociolinguistic Variation and Language Attitudes
in Hawaii. In J. Cheshire (Ed.), English around the World: Sociolinguistic
Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Diana
Eades
Dept of ESL
University of Hawai‘i
1890 East-West Road
Honolulu, HI 96822 USA
eades@hawaii.edu
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