Workshop on Linguistics in Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Sponsored by:
UF’s Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures and The Bavarian Funding Programme for the Initiation of International Projects (BayIntAn)
Wednesday, 02 April, 2-5 pm, Pugh 210
2-2:30 pm
Transcription, Translation & Ethnography in R. Pané’s Relación acerca de las antigüedades de los indios
Hanna Lene Geiger, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
The “Relation of the Antiquities of the Indies“, written by Fray Ramón Pané between 1494 and 1498, constitutes a key document of the Spanish Conquest of America and the first ethnographic treatise written by a European in the Caribbean. In my presentation, I will examine Pané’s labor as a cultural mediator and translator, focusing on the linguistic, sociocultural and cognitive dynamics that may have had an influence on the discursive construction and representation of the Taino universe. In particular, I will examine the author’s approach to the voice of the Other, the usage of Taino lexemes and the semantic fields [indio] and [creencias].
2:45-3:15 pm
La frontera – ethnic difference, language contact and linguistic ideologies at the Haitian-Dominican border
Silke Jansen, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
In the vast amount of popular and folkloric literature which depicts everyday life in the rural Dominican Republic, Haitian characters are perpetually present. We propose to analyze humorous imitations of kreyòl speech and of Haitians’ attempts at speaking Spanish as metalinguistic documents, under the assumption that (popular) literature functions as one of the sites where identities and representations of racial and cultural differences are negotiated and linguistic ideologies are generated, discussed and diffused. In light of the semiotic processes of iconization, fractal recursivity and erasure as proposed by Irvine and Gal (2000), we will examine how borders between ethnic, cultural and racial affiliations are drawn by means of literary stylization, in order to shed some light on the history of language policies and ideologies in Hispaniola
3:30-4:00 pm
Decreolization phenomena in a contact situation between Spanish and Haitian Creole – the Samaná Kreyòl in Dominican Republic
Jessica Barzen, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
The Samaná peninsula in the northeast of the Dominican Republic is known for its fascinating multilingual panorama: Apart from the national language Spanish, the locals speak a variety of English and Haitian Creole (Kreyòl). The latter was first brought to Samaná by Haitian migrants over 200 years ago and has been handed down over generations to their Dominican born descendants. While the so-called Samaná English has been studied rather extensively, the contact situation between Spanish and Haitian Creole has not received great attention so far. In order to shed some light on the linguistic outcomes of this special contact situation, I conducted a field study in March/April and in August 2013 in which I interviewed Dominican Kreyòl speakers and collected structural as well as sociolinguistic data about the form and use of this Kreyòl. The results of the field study will be analyzed in the context of language attrition, which will enable me to discuss the concept of ‘decreolization’ under a new perspective.
4:15-4:45 pm
Historical Linguistic Dimensions of Spirit Migration in Haitian Vodou
Ben Hebblethwaite, University of Florida
Haitian Vodou’s lexical field contains many items that stem from West African languages like Ewe, Fon, Yoruba, and Igbo, in addition to Central African languages like Kikongo and Kituba. African lexical items in Haitian Vodou Rites, spirit names, and songs are a revealing part of the religion’s lexicon. The identification of the African lexical sources of Haitian Vodou shows the exact origins of Vodou traditions, sheds light on the history of the French slave trade, and provides clues about the way in which Vodou took form in colonial Saint Domingue and independent Haiti. Within Haitian Vodou, the phenomenon of “spirit migration” from the Rites of the Bight of Benin (West Africa) into the Rites of West Central Africa (Kongo) provides evidence of the early and pervasive influence of the traditions that originate in the Bight of Benin.