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English-speaking in early Surinam?

  • Norval Smith
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Gradual Creolization
This chapter is in the book Gradual Creolization

Abstract

I assess the opportunities of English-learning for slaves in early Surinam. Under the gradualist approach no creole could develop until the population balance had shifted significantly in favour of the slaves. With the population figures given by Arends for the years 1675, 1684 and 1695, I calculate that a third of the population could still be English-speaking in 1684 suggesting no prior creolization. However Sranan has to have creolized before the emergence of Saramaccan, due to their many similarities. Arends notes massive slave imports between 1680 and 1689. Price identifies the formation of the Saramaccan tribe from 1690. The figures for 1684 and 1695 reveal that more than half the slaves escaped in this period, supporting Price’s position, and favouring rapid creolization.

Abstract

I assess the opportunities of English-learning for slaves in early Surinam. Under the gradualist approach no creole could develop until the population balance had shifted significantly in favour of the slaves. With the population figures given by Arends for the years 1675, 1684 and 1695, I calculate that a third of the population could still be English-speaking in 1684 suggesting no prior creolization. However Sranan has to have creolized before the emergence of Saramaccan, due to their many similarities. Arends notes massive slave imports between 1680 and 1689. Price identifies the formation of the Saramaccan tribe from 1690. The figures for 1684 and 1695 reveal that more than half the slaves escaped in this period, supporting Price’s position, and favouring rapid creolization.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Maps ix
  4. Introductory words
  5. One more cup of coffee: On Gradual Creolization 3
  6. Jacques Arends' model of gradual creolization 13
  7. Part 1. Linguistic analysis
  8. Productive bimorphemic structures and the concept of gradual creolization 27
  9. Gradual vs. abrupt creolization and recent changes in Daman Creole Portuguese 55
  10. Gradual restructuring in Ecuadorian Quechua 77
  11. A note on the process of lexical diffusion in the development of creoles: The case of double-object verbs 101
  12. Change in the possessive system of French Caribbean Creole languages 113
  13. The origin and development of possibility in the creoles of Suriname 129
  14. The Saramaccan lexicon: Verbs 155
  15. Development of a creole lexicon 173
  16. Gradualism in the transfer of tone spread rules in Saramaccan 189
  17. In search of a submerged phonology: The case of early Cape Dutch Pidgin 219
  18. Part 2. Sociohistorical reconstruction
  19. Bilingualism and creolization in Solomon Islands 245
  20. Lingua Franca in West Africa? An evaluation of the sociohistorical and metalinguistic evidence 257
  21. The formation of the Portuguese-based Creoles: Gradual or abrupt? 279
  22. English-speaking in early Surinam? 305
  23. The demographic context of creolization in early English Jamaica, 1655-1700 327
  24. The founder principle and Anguilla's homestead society 349
  25. Demographic factors in the formation of French Guianese Creole 373
  26. Index 389
https://doi.org/10.1075/cll.34.21smi

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Maps ix
  4. Introductory words
  5. One more cup of coffee: On Gradual Creolization 3
  6. Jacques Arends' model of gradual creolization 13
  7. Part 1. Linguistic analysis
  8. Productive bimorphemic structures and the concept of gradual creolization 27
  9. Gradual vs. abrupt creolization and recent changes in Daman Creole Portuguese 55
  10. Gradual restructuring in Ecuadorian Quechua 77
  11. A note on the process of lexical diffusion in the development of creoles: The case of double-object verbs 101
  12. Change in the possessive system of French Caribbean Creole languages 113
  13. The origin and development of possibility in the creoles of Suriname 129
  14. The Saramaccan lexicon: Verbs 155
  15. Development of a creole lexicon 173
  16. Gradualism in the transfer of tone spread rules in Saramaccan 189
  17. In search of a submerged phonology: The case of early Cape Dutch Pidgin 219
  18. Part 2. Sociohistorical reconstruction
  19. Bilingualism and creolization in Solomon Islands 245
  20. Lingua Franca in West Africa? An evaluation of the sociohistorical and metalinguistic evidence 257
  21. The formation of the Portuguese-based Creoles: Gradual or abrupt? 279
  22. English-speaking in early Surinam? 305
  23. The demographic context of creolization in early English Jamaica, 1655-1700 327
  24. The founder principle and Anguilla's homestead society 349
  25. Demographic factors in the formation of French Guianese Creole 373
  26. Index 389
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