The demographic context of creolization in early English Jamaica, 1655-1700
-
Silvia Kouwenberg
Abstract
Jamaica’s plantation economy was established during the final quarter of the seventeenth century, after an initial two decades during which the economy of English Jamaica was dominated by privateering, centred around the prize market established in Port Royal. Population figures for those first two decades show a low proportion of blacks to whites, as might be expected in an economy not dependent on slave labour. The demographic make-up of the island changes rapidly as sugar is established as a dominant crop during the final decades of the seventeenth century. I argue that the final quarter of the seventeenth century should be considered the formative phase of Jamaican Creole, and that ethnic diversity was characteristic of English Jamaica’s slave population from the start. I survey the linguistic models that may have been available during this time, and argue that the early black population of Jamaica may not have provided accessible models for the slaves who were to work the plantations, as there was little continuity between the black population of the pre-1675 period and the slaves who populated the sugar plantations after 1675.
Abstract
Jamaica’s plantation economy was established during the final quarter of the seventeenth century, after an initial two decades during which the economy of English Jamaica was dominated by privateering, centred around the prize market established in Port Royal. Population figures for those first two decades show a low proportion of blacks to whites, as might be expected in an economy not dependent on slave labour. The demographic make-up of the island changes rapidly as sugar is established as a dominant crop during the final decades of the seventeenth century. I argue that the final quarter of the seventeenth century should be considered the formative phase of Jamaican Creole, and that ethnic diversity was characteristic of English Jamaica’s slave population from the start. I survey the linguistic models that may have been available during this time, and argue that the early black population of Jamaica may not have provided accessible models for the slaves who were to work the plantations, as there was little continuity between the black population of the pre-1675 period and the slaves who populated the sugar plantations after 1675.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Maps ix
-
Introductory words
- One more cup of coffee: On Gradual Creolization 3
- Jacques Arends' model of gradual creolization 13
-
Part 1. Linguistic analysis
- Productive bimorphemic structures and the concept of gradual creolization 27
- Gradual vs. abrupt creolization and recent changes in Daman Creole Portuguese 55
- Gradual restructuring in Ecuadorian Quechua 77
- A note on the process of lexical diffusion in the development of creoles: The case of double-object verbs 101
- Change in the possessive system of French Caribbean Creole languages 113
- The origin and development of possibility in the creoles of Suriname 129
- The Saramaccan lexicon: Verbs 155
- Development of a creole lexicon 173
- Gradualism in the transfer of tone spread rules in Saramaccan 189
- In search of a submerged phonology: The case of early Cape Dutch Pidgin 219
-
Part 2. Sociohistorical reconstruction
- Bilingualism and creolization in Solomon Islands 245
- Lingua Franca in West Africa? An evaluation of the sociohistorical and metalinguistic evidence 257
- The formation of the Portuguese-based Creoles: Gradual or abrupt? 279
- English-speaking in early Surinam? 305
- The demographic context of creolization in early English Jamaica, 1655-1700 327
- The founder principle and Anguilla's homestead society 349
- Demographic factors in the formation of French Guianese Creole 373
- Index 389
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Maps ix
-
Introductory words
- One more cup of coffee: On Gradual Creolization 3
- Jacques Arends' model of gradual creolization 13
-
Part 1. Linguistic analysis
- Productive bimorphemic structures and the concept of gradual creolization 27
- Gradual vs. abrupt creolization and recent changes in Daman Creole Portuguese 55
- Gradual restructuring in Ecuadorian Quechua 77
- A note on the process of lexical diffusion in the development of creoles: The case of double-object verbs 101
- Change in the possessive system of French Caribbean Creole languages 113
- The origin and development of possibility in the creoles of Suriname 129
- The Saramaccan lexicon: Verbs 155
- Development of a creole lexicon 173
- Gradualism in the transfer of tone spread rules in Saramaccan 189
- In search of a submerged phonology: The case of early Cape Dutch Pidgin 219
-
Part 2. Sociohistorical reconstruction
- Bilingualism and creolization in Solomon Islands 245
- Lingua Franca in West Africa? An evaluation of the sociohistorical and metalinguistic evidence 257
- The formation of the Portuguese-based Creoles: Gradual or abrupt? 279
- English-speaking in early Surinam? 305
- The demographic context of creolization in early English Jamaica, 1655-1700 327
- The founder principle and Anguilla's homestead society 349
- Demographic factors in the formation of French Guianese Creole 373
- Index 389
