Should de authorities make it ah standard language..?

[Pro-Jayz]

I believe we Trinbagonians should acknowlege our Trini language as ah standard and seperate language (like spanish, English, French..etc)...Ah doh believe we language is English and people who keep on sayin dat eh facing reality...Haiti language is rooted from french but their authorities has classified it as ah sperate standard language because its not French..Ah lot of Trini words are not rooted from de English language....I do believe English should be taught in schools like Spanish because in dis day and age its beneficial to be bi-lingual.....De local media should start printin in we native tongue and someone should print ah Trinbagonian dictionary......Our language is one of de main tings dat seperate we from de rest of de world and something we should cherish and be proud about....wat is allyuh opinion?

[dcs]

I don't think the use of slang warrants a formal recognition of a new language.  Do you think it is more than just slang...like the constructs of the language?

Do you think people in Liverpool should have their own language?  I not being facetious, what about Antigua, Barbados, Grenada..... I'll concede JA 

[TriniCana]

hear nah...if its one day i staying in this thread just to hear the responses is today.
good thread problems

I LOVE meh trini slang/diaglect. But my diction is not as STRONG and RAW as some others.  I will not speak it or write it in my line of work.

I strongly believe there is a time and place for everything, and I can't see me speaking in my "native" tongue: "boy bring ya ass here nah" to meh peers or bosses.
I don't know how others "outside" trinis feel about this

meh 3 cents

[Pro-Jayz]

I don't think the use of slang warrants a formal recognition of a new language.  Do you think it is more than just slang...like the constructs of the language?

Do you think people in Liverpool should have their own language?  I not being facetious, what about Antigua, Barbados, Grenada..... I'll concede JA 

We native tongue is nuh slang....It have slang words used within we language...We native tongue is ah complete different languge to English...
When a foreigner ask yuh what is de standard language in yuh country..wha yuh say?....It cah be English!!

[Pro-Jayz]

hear nah...if its one day i staying in this thread just to hear the responses is today.
good thread problems

I LOVE meh trini slang/diaglect. But my diction is not as STRONG and RAW as some others.  I will not speak it or write it in my line of work.

I strongly believe there is a time and place for everything, and I can't see me speaking in my "native" tongue: "boy bring ya ass here nah" to meh peers or bosses.
I don't know how others "outside" trinis feel about this

meh 3 cents

Wha yuh sayin!...yuh cah speak yuh native tongue and not curse?

[Tallman]

...someone should print ah Trinbagonian dictionary...

We already have a dictionary:
Cote ce Cote la: Trinidad & Tobago Dictionary by John Mendes

[WestCoast]

I fully agree.....there is french, german, and many other languages, so I think we should have a TnT language.
but will only be used in TnT obviously....my polish buddy doh spek polish to me here in canada.....

...someone should print ah Trinbagonian dictionary...

We already have a dictionary:
Cote ce Cote la: Trinidad & Tobago Dictionary by John Mendes

I say that it should also be in the form of any other dictionary like the Oxford dictionary wherein Each citation has the following elements:
the word itself
an example of the word used in context
bibliographic information about the source from which the word and example were taken.
In other words Etymology

[TriniCana]

hear nah...if its one day i staying in this thread just to hear the responses is today.
good thread problems

I LOVE meh trini slang/diaglect. But my diction is not as STRONG and RAW as some others.  I will not speak it or write it in my line of work.

I strongly believe there is a time and place for everything, and I can't see me speaking in my "native" tongue: "boy bring ya ass here nah" to meh peers or bosses.
I don't know how others "outside" trinis feel about this

meh 3 cents

Wha yuh sayin!...yuh cah speak yuh native tongue and not curse?

yes i can...can you, can others ?
but my native tongue is english eh.

go to an interview for a job and speak your 'native' tongue, and let me know the outcome of it
a simple phrase "steups, hear nah" to be said in front of your potiental boss ??

[Pro-Jayz]

I fully agree.....there is french, german, and many other languages, so I think we should have a TnT language.
but will only be used in TnT obviously....my polish buddy doh spek polish to me here in canada.....

...someone should print ah Trinbagonian dictionary...

We already have a dictionary:
Cote ce Cote la: Trinidad & Tobago Dictionary by John Mendes

I say that it should also be in the form of any other dictionary like the Oxford dictionary wherein Each citation has the following elements:
the word itself
an example of the word used in context
bibliographic information about the source from which the word and example were taken.
In other words Etymology

Thank you!!..That's all I'm saying...Of course we cah speak we language to foreigners on foreign soil (because its difficult for dem to understand we language)..yuh doh see Haitians speaking french to their american employers at their jobs in the U.S!!...Trinidad and Tobago should acknowlege our native tongue as ah sperate language and it should be used exclusively at home

[Pro-Jayz]

hear nah...if its one day i staying in this thread just to hear the responses is today.
good thread problems

I LOVE meh trini slang/diaglect. But my diction is not as STRONG and RAW as some others.  I will not speak it or write it in my line of work.

I strongly believe there is a time and place for everything, and I can't see me speaking in my "native" tongue: "boy bring ya ass here nah" to meh peers or bosses.
I don't know how others "outside" trinis feel about this

meh 3 cents

Wha yuh sayin!...yuh cah speak yuh native tongue and not curse?

yes i can...can you, can others ?
but my native tongue is english eh.

go to an interview for a job and speak your 'native' tongue, and let me know the outcome of it
a simple phrase "steups, hear nah" to be said in front of your potiental boss ??

Of course you will have to speak the English language in a country that has English as their main language..That does not relate to this topic!!....I am talking bout our native tongue should be acknowledged as a language..and should be used exclusively in T&T...some Trinis livin in denial and sayin we native tongue is de same as de English language!!..

The authorities in Trini need to classify we language as we main language and de media should start publishing in we Trini language...we so quick to follow de English or American systems..Why cant we develop we own system?

[Tallman]

I fully agree.....there is french, german, and many other languages, so I think we should have a TnT language.
but will only be used in TnT obviously....my polish buddy doh spek polish to me here in canada.....

Yuh mean used between Trinbagonians as well as other Caribbean folk.

...someone should print ah Trinbagonian dictionary...

We already have a dictionary:
Cote ce Cote la: Trinidad & Tobago Dictionary by John Mendes

I say that it should also be in the form of any other dictionary like the Oxford dictionary wherein Each citation has the following elements:
the word itself
an example of the word used in context
bibliographic information about the source from which the word and example were taken.
In other words Etymology

De only ting it missing is de Etymology. It also has a section containing sayings such as "Sickness does come on horseback buh it does walk tuh go", "Where horse tie, is dere he have to graze" etc.

[Organic]

The difference with trini(english)which could support a case for being its own language is the blend of so many different languages into its own unique blend like no other. amerindian, spanish, french, portuguese, chinnese(at leats in the food nomenculture) hindi,english. The fusion has mad our brand of english its own.
Now our english has be watered down with american dialect and slang.
 We have words fused from 2 different languges (lecole biche). english is composed just liek that alot of latin and greek words come together to give english its present form.
Should it be offical maybe not but we cant let the dialect die cause its an integrl part of our heritage and identity.

[chinee boi]

and may i ask what do you propose we call our language???

[Girl Warrior]

http://www.roxcie.com/dictionary.htm

http://www.trinidictionary.net/

[Pro-Jayz]

and may i ask what do you propose we call our language???

in Japan they speak Japaneese..in England they speak English..so in Trinbago we speak Trinbagonian (or trinidadian/tobagonian)...and watevah name de language is called is nuh de most important ting on de agenda..

Wen a foreigner ask me what language do we mainly speak in my home country .I always say Trini..becuase I've learned the English language I know Trini and English is nuh de same (Its not pronounced and  not even writtten the same)..and alot of words in our language does not exist in de English language...but de older heads in authority still livin in denial...dem still holding on to dat colonised mentailty...for those who dont know ..we were independent since 1962...we could make our own rules..

[Organic]

http://www.roxcie.com/dictionary.htm

http://www.trinidictionary.net/

BC pires had a good one called the skettictionary.
but its no more sadly. people use to send in words / phrases and thier menaing.
was pure kicks

[dcs]

What are the Pros and Cons of this idea?

[Pro-Jayz]

What are the Pros and Cons of this idea?

That's my point it should not even be an idea...It's something that should have been done a long time ago....I understand its important for us to be bi-lingual hence the reason I will agree that English should be taught in our schools.....but English is NOT our first language in T&T....de authorities keep saying that the language we speak (our native tongue) in T&T is English.(and if you can speak English then you will know they are mis-leading the people)....and de media keep publishing in  English...wha wrong in printing in we own patriotic native tongue!....I dont think it will change anytime soon because we have men in authority who are stuck in that 1960's and 1970's mentality (colonised mentality) and think we have to follow other countries instead of seeing we have own own unique ting...

[Organic]

What are the Pros and Cons of this idea?

That's my point it should not even be an idea...It's something that should have been done a long time ago....I understand its important for us to be bi-lingual hence the reason I will agree that English should be taught in our schools.....but English is NOT our first language in T&T....de authorities keep saying that the language we speak (our native tongue) in T&T is English.(and if you can speak English then you will know they are mis-leading the people)....and de media keep publishing in  English...wha wrong in printing in we own patriotic native tongue!....I dont think it will change anytime soon because we have men in authority who are stuck in that 1960's and 1970's mentality (colonised mentality) and think we have to follow other countries instead of seeing we have own own unique ting...

but it not practical or appliciable really ina  world where alot of languages disspearing form use.
english has be come so dominant that alot of other languages fading fast.
we can make sure we preseerve the language for prosterity but in my opnion dais about it.
it eh really amke sense using it in any offical capacity.

[ribbit]

in france, i think they have a national academy that regulates the French language. for example, they recently introduced the french word "coureil" (sp?) meaning e-mail. the decision was that of the academy to add to the language in order to keep up with the times.

perhaps this model won't work in trinidad - we cyah agree with anyone on anything. how much hope is there for a common trinbagonian language?  

[dcs]

I want to hear from them experts on this subject. 

I not convinced there is this Trini native tongue thing that is much different from the evolution that occurs even in places within Britain itself....the US, Canada and wherever else.

So would you say Canada native tongue is not English (other than the French part).

I not familiar with the main difference between American English and British English other than some spelling.

Language is dynamic and I am all for studyng it and building up our knowledge base on it but I dunno about printing dialect in the papers (other than opinion pieces from people like Keith Smith if you like his style)

So what about the whole Ebonics debate then?

[Pro-Jayz]

I want to hear from them experts on this subject. 

I not convinced there is this Trini native tongue thing that is much different from the evolution that occurs even in places within Britain itself....the US, Canada and wherever else.

So would you say Canada native tongue is not English (other than the French part).

I not familiar with the main difference between American English and British English other than some spelling.

Language is dynamic and I am all for studyng it and building up our knowledge base on it but I dunno about printing dialect in the papers (other than opinion pieces from people like Keith Smith if you like his style)

So what about the whole Ebonics debate then?

YOUR PROBLEM IS YOU KEEP SAYING DIALECT!!..The authorities convince most people in T&T that we speak English but just with a dialect..If you know how to speak the English language then you will know that the English language and what we speak in Trini is not the same..and MY POINT is that we speak our own LANGUAGE...Go back and read my earlier responses where I said alot of words in our Language does not even exist in the English language. what we speak cannot be written or said in English either.....How old were you when you left T&T?..
Yeh and ebonics is 100% slang

[WestCoast]

can I direct some of you to please peruse the following website wherein you would find the Canadian Oxford Dictionary that contains words and phrases that are common only within Canada, but we speak English here........if we were to use these phrases in other parts of the world people would NOT UNDERSTAND what we are saying even thought that we indeed speak English.
http://www.oup.com/ca/genref/dictionaries/

Ok let me try another example

say in the UK when the Romans were there the language was what the Romans spoke but over the years the influences of all the other european languages crept into the day to day use of the average person there until we have what we have today and that is the Origins of English.

Man, I used to be sooo vex growing up and my step mother (she had been away from TnT for quite a few years) used to make it a point to tell me to "stop talking like that", as I used to say to myself eh eh this is My Country Language.

[Organic]

I want to hear from them experts on this subject. 

I not convinced there is this Trini native tongue thing that is much different from the evolution that occurs even in places within Britain itself....the US, Canada and wherever else.

So would you say Canada native tongue is not English (other than the French part).

I not familiar with the main difference between American English and British English other than some spelling.

Language is dynamic and I am all for studyng it and building up our knowledge base on it but I dunno about printing dialect in the papers (other than opinion pieces from people like Keith Smith if you like his style)

So what about the whole Ebonics debate then?

YOUR PROBLEM IS YOU KEEP SAYING DIALECT!!..The authorities convince most people in T&T that we speak English but just with a dialect..If you know how to speak the English language then you will know that the English language and what we speak in Trini is not the same..and MY POINT is that we speak our own LANGUAGE...Go back and read my earlier responses where I said alot of words in our Language does not even exist in the English language. what we speak cannot be written or said in English either.....How old were you when you left T&T?..
Yeh and ebonics is 100% slang

your right there. but the basis of our language is english u cant escape that. how i know cause we can communicate with other people who speaqk english rather eaisly cant we? 95% of what we say  can be comprehended by other meber s of the caribbean and other english speak countries.
we just have different intonations , speed and well de notorious sing song way of speaking.

ebonics is different i thing dcs. u cant forget most of trini words that arent stadard english have some basis in another langiage. ebonics is "made up words". words amde up to mean somehting that already have a meaning in english.

[Organic]

DCS  if u can ever get a chance to read these 2 books might help answer some ofn your mor pointed questions.
Publishing and Dialect in trinidad and tobago- Martin Orda
The language of tobago- gensis, structure and perspecives- Dr windford james and Valerie Youssef

[Blue]

I believe we Trinbagonians should acknowlege our Trini language as ah standard and seperate language (like spanish, English, French..etc)...Ah doh believe we language is English and people who keep on sayin dat eh facing reality...Haiti language is rooted from french but their authorities has classified it as ah sperate standard language because its not French..Ah lot of Trini words are not rooted from de English language....I do believe English should be taught in schools like Spanish because in dis day and age its beneficial to be bi-lingual.....De local media should start printin in we native tongue and someone should print ah Trinbagonian dictionary......Our language is one of de main tings dat seperate we from de rest of de world and something we should cherish and be proud about....wat is allyuh opinion?

So you think we should formalise a language that only 1 million people would speak and, by making it our first language, effectively separating us from the rest of the world (in your words) and making international communication and business near impossible?

Rather than learn a genuinely useful foreign language, we should just invent one?

[WestCoast]

So you think we should formalise a language that only 1 million people would speak and, by making it our first language, effectively separating us from the rest of the world (in your words) and making international communication and business near impossible?
Rather than learn a genuinely useful foreign language, we should just invent one?

You sound Ed Zachery like my Step Mother
 
U R right

[Pro-Jayz]

I believe we Trinbagonians should acknowlege our Trini language as ah standard and seperate language (like spanish, English, French..etc)...Ah doh believe we language is English and people who keep on sayin dat eh facing reality...Haiti language is rooted from french but their authorities has classified it as ah sperate standard language because its not French..Ah lot of Trini words are not rooted from de English language....I do believe English should be taught in schools like Spanish because in dis day and age its beneficial to be bi-lingual.....De local media should start printin in we native tongue and someone should print ah Trinbagonian dictionary......Our language is one of de main tings dat seperate we from de rest of de world and something we should cherish and be proud about....wat is allyuh opinion?

So you think we should formalise a language that only 1 million people would speak and, by making it our first language, effectively separating us from the rest of the world (in your words) and making international communication and business near impossible?

Rather than learn a genuinely useful foreign language, we should just invent one?

We do not have to formalise a language we already have our own language..its just not acknowleged as our main language..Its not like am saying everyone should go and learn how to speak what we already speaking everday in T&T LOL....The country is already speaking its native tongue but the authorities dont want to accept our native tongue as the main language...dem rather say "no we use to be colonised by england so our first languge will be English"...then our native tongue language will always just be spoken in websites like these and in party and fetes...But never in the newspapers or you will never hear a journalist speaking our native tongue on Television...(take a good look at Haiti and you will see how patriotic they are about their creole language)...and like I said before.. nothing is wrong with learning English because its beneficial to be bi-lingual...
Yeh and you dont see anything wrong with Trinbago using a foreign language as our main language?.(especially when we have our own native language) That's just a colonised mentality!!..

[Organic]

I believe we Trinbagonians should acknowlege our Trini language as ah standard and seperate language (like spanish, English, French..etc)...Ah doh believe we language is English and people who keep on sayin dat eh facing reality...Haiti language is rooted from french but their authorities has classified it as ah sperate standard language because its not French..Ah lot of Trini words are not rooted from de English language....I do believe English should be taught in schools like Spanish because in dis day and age its beneficial to be bi-lingual.....De local media should start printin in we native tongue and someone should print ah Trinbagonian dictionary......Our language is one of de main tings dat seperate we from de rest of de world and something we should cherish and be proud about....wat is allyuh opinion?

So you think we should formalise a language that only 1 million people would speak and, by making it our first language, effectively separating us from the rest of the world (in your words) and making international communication and business near impossible?

Rather than learn a genuinely useful foreign language, we should just invent one?

We do not have to formalise a language we already have our own language..its just not acknowleged as our main language..Its not like am saying everyone should go and learn how to speak what we already speaking everday LOL.....and like I said before said nothing is wrong with learning English because its beneficial to be bi-lingual...
Yeh and you dont see anything wrong with Trinbago using a foreign language as our main language...(especially when we have our own native language) That's just a colonised mentality!!..

Trinidad has a unique culture, very unique. A major and defining part of a culture is its language. Trini is a very unique language. With that i argree with you.I alos think it should be preserved. Should it be mainstream it already is ,d ais hwo we talk. We use standard enlgish to commuicate formally, we use trini everyday.
I cant see a colonial mentaility.  Trini is a native language your right, but its still in use. We cannot use trini to communicate formally dat doesnt make sense problem. especially when dealing with other countries.
not practical

[Pro-Jayz]

I believe we Trinbagonians should acknowlege our Trini language as ah standard and seperate language (like spanish, English, French..etc)...Ah doh believe we language is English and people who keep on sayin dat eh facing reality...Haiti language is rooted from french but their authorities has classified it as ah sperate standard language because its not French..Ah lot of Trini words are not rooted from de English language....I do believe English should be taught in schools like Spanish because in dis day and age its beneficial to be bi-lingual.....De local media should start printin in we native tongue and someone should print ah Trinbagonian dictionary......Our language is one of de main tings dat seperate we from de rest of de world and something we should cherish and be proud about....wat is allyuh opinion?

So you think we should formalise a language that only 1 million people would speak and, by making it our first language, effectively separating us from the rest of the world (in your words) and making international communication and business near impossible?

Rather than learn a genuinely useful foreign language, we should just invent one?

We do not have to formalise a language we already have our own language..its just not acknowleged as our main language..Its not like am saying everyone should go and learn how to speak what we already speaking everday LOL.....and like I said before said nothing is wrong with learning English because its beneficial to be bi-lingual...
Yeh and you dont see anything wrong with Trinbago using a foreign language as our main language...(especially when we have our own native language) That's just a colonised mentality!!..

Trinidad has a unique culture, very unique. A major and defining part of a culture is its language. Trini is a very unique language. With that i argree with you.I alos think it should be preserved. Should it be mainstream it already is ,d ais hwo we talk. We use standard enlgish to commuicate formally, we use trini everyday.
I cant see a colonial mentaility.  Trini is a native language your right, but its still in use. We cannot use trini to communicate formally dat doesnt make sense problem. especially when dealing with other countries.
not practical

That's why I said its good to be Bi-lingual ...so when it comes to dealing with other countries we will speak their language.(or get ah damn translator like what most countries do!)..I'm sure the Haitian President or Venezuelan President cant speak all languages...and ah man say we should not have our own language because we just have about one million people...now that's a very narrow-minded way of thiinking.... but when my generation reaches in authority all of this shit would change because we see ourselves as Trinibagonians first then everything else comes after...the way we speak and the way we live has to revolve around our traditions and culture..what other people or countries think is not more important...the authorities today were born in a different generation...they idolise the foreign way of thinking instead of just accepting that we have evolved into our own unique way of life (which includes the way we speak and live)