A language lost

[matapèl]

As a child I heard the song many times! and I translated it for point man not too long ago

I think there should have been more creole in this song. Now most Creoles in Trinidad listen to zouk from Martinique as we have not been able to develop our style of music yet. Calypso was once sung in Creole but that was long ago I long for the day when every one would speak Creole again. We are Trying our best to revive it.

That is good work, calypso sung in creole was the sweetest thing. The first record I ever listened to when I was about 9 years old was Jourvert by The Roaring Lion. The music  has a haunting melodic feel that fits right at home with all the old legends of LaDiablesse, soucouyant and I swear I could smell fresh country breeze and seaspray when I hear it.

Matapel is there an organized movement to conserve patois in T&T, like a historical society? Have documentaries been made about the language and people that still speak?

Sadly no, we have been very neglected by the government of our own country and that is why the culture and language has been suffering a slow death.  For the past 3 years I have been working on a dictionary for our Creole that now stands at more that 6000 words! I have also been collecting our folk-tales proverbs and information on creole dances such as the Belaire Contique, Vieux Croix Djouba and the Famous Calinda!

the martial art of Stick fighting came from the Creole speaking population which at one time included most of Trinidad's African population; I am collecting info on that as well. I am working with a few people but It far from a movement. The UWI university has been doing some work on the Creole of Paramin, Arima and Morne Carbrite and there has been some some success the number of creole speakers is on the rise so that's a small victory but we need all of the help we can get to save the culture and language from death!

[matapèl]

 just a taste of Creole music, this is what I grew up on, it helped as I was growing up because I knew there were millions of people out there  all across the Caribbean who spoke just like me so I was one of those who spoke French and Creole openly in Trinidad even at school did not care what the teachers said it is my language and I love it!

the band is Kassav they came to Trinidad a few times!


the name of the song is chiré (she+ray) which in creole means waisted! in the sense of being high

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/kassav/video/x3hruq_kassav-chire-live_music

ENJOY!

[WestCoast]

there you go!
http://books.google.com/books?id=a4oSAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:0XyNPTATxMZdRdV0LbU
Be careful as some of the syntax and Vocabulary has changed since this was written, our Creole has been influenced by The Martinique and Saint Lucian varieties. However, thanks to this book I was also able to detect Guadeloupian and to a lesser degree Haitian influences as well in verbs like tini (to have) and so on! this book was the first of its kind for French Creole languages of the Caribbean Makes me proud to be a creole speaking Trini!
Creole forever!

I found this book also to contain some creole words
http://books.google.ca/books?id=PmvSk13sIc0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Dictionary+of+Caribbean+English+Usage&sig=64RKV6LJKfeCKkkSni6r77l3M4U

ever been to this site Matapèl
 http://www.scl-online.net//pages/sclhome.html

[matapèl]

thanks I have visited these!

[Deeks]

Matapel,
                i listen to a lot of Zouk, Kizomba and compas. Nice music. I was some of them soca artistes would collaborate with the creole speakers  to compliment want they doing right now. I notice that the Haitian, Cape Verdians, Angolans and some Brazilians doing some nice work together.

[matapèl]

well the melody for party animal came from the kassav song zouk la se sel medikaman nou ni so zouk is sneaking into calypso

[ribbit]

just heard about the rosetta project which is a collaborative project with a mandate of archiving all human languages. still finding my way around their site but this seems like a good means by which native speakers can contribute source materials to (1) disseminate and (2) preserve the language.

[Bakes]

well the melody for party animal came from the kassav song zouk la se sel medikaman nou ni so zouk is sneaking into calypso

I think you mean the 'riddim'... not melody per se.  That example may more prove the exception rather than the rule though.

[matapèl]

just heard about the rosetta project which is a collaborative project with a mandate of archiving all human languages. still finding my way around their site but this seems like a good means by which native speakers can contribute source materials to (1) disseminate and (2) preserve the language.

Well I know that there has been some documentation of our Creole in villages such as  Morne La Croix, Biche, Bois Jean Jean, Bois Bandé and Paramin but to be honest I fear that it is not enough. Most of those who are attempting to document the language cannot speak it by their own admittance. Can you provide a link to that site for me? thanks   

[matapèl]

I created an msn group to promote our creole

http://groups.msn.com/KreyolPalpagay

I will answer any questions that u may have, hope to see you there!

[ribbit]

just heard about the rosetta project which is a collaborative project with a mandate of archiving all human languages. still finding my way around their site but this seems like a good means by which native speakers can contribute source materials to (1) disseminate and (2) preserve the language.

Well I know that there has been some documentation of our Creole in villages such as  Morne La Croix, Biche, Bois Jean Jean, Bois Bandé and Paramin but to be honest I fear that it is not enough. Most of those who are attempting to document the language cannot speak it by their own admittance. Can you provide a link to that site for me? thanks   

look it here boss:

http://www.rosettaproject.org/

yes, that's a good point - there are dialects that do not have accurate source material translations. that is a significant loss - i wish i knew more about this area. when it comes to collaborative online projects, an analogy that comes to mind is the one between encyclopedia brittanica - for a long time an authoratitive reference - and wikipedia. a comparison of the accuracy of the two sources was surprisingly good. maybe there is a little bit of hope here.

[matapèl]

thanks the creole group already has about 22 members, spread the word! I have hope the our Creole can be brought back each person that learns a least a little can help in the effort