Everything about Belizean Kriol Language totally explained
Belizean Creole, known as
Kriol by its speakers, is a
creole language closely related to
Miskito Coastal Creole,
San Andrés and Providencia Creole,
Limón Coastal Creole,
Rio Abajo Creole,
Colón Creole, and
Jamaican Patois. Kriol has about 350,000 speakers, in
Belize (where it's the
lingua franca and is spoken by 70% of the population) and in the Belizean
diaspora, mostly in the
United States.
Kriol was historically spoken by the
Belizean Creoles, a population of mainly African and British ancestry. However, many Belizean
Garifunas,
Mestizos,
Maya, and other ethnic groups speak Kriol as at least a second language, and is the only true common language among all groups.
Linguistic biography
Belizean Creole is a
creole language deriving mainly from English with only recent, and minimal influence from
Spanish. Its
substrate languages are the Native American language
Miskito, and the various
West African languages which were brought into the country by slaves. The
pidgin that emerged due to the contact of English landowners and their West African slaves to ensure basic communication was extended over the years.
Jamaicans were also brought to the colony, further adding to the vocabulary, and eventually it became the mother tongue of the slaves' children born in Belize.
This creolization occurred around 1680-1700, when the British were firmly settled in the Caribbean. It was not, however, the Belizean Creole known today, but the so-called Mískito Coast Creole which developed into the Belizean Creole, or Kriol, over the years.
Today, Belizean Creole is the native language of the majority of the country's inhabitants. Many of them speak standard English as well, and a rapid process of
decreolization is going on. As such, a
creole continuum exists and speakers are able to
code-switch among various
mesolect registers between the most
basilect to the
acrolect ("
Mid-Atlantic") varieties. It should be noted that the acrolect, much like the basilect, is rarely heard.
Phonology
Kriol shares similarities with many
Caribbean English Creole dialects as far as phonology and spelling are concerned. Also, many of its words and structures are both lexically and phonologically similar to English, its superstrate language.
Phonologically, Belizean Creole is a perfect example of creole languages in the Caribbean and, partly, everywhere else. It uses a high amount of nasalized vowels, palatalizes non-labial stops and prenasalizes voiced stops. Moreover, pidgins have a general tendency to simplify the phonology of a language in order to ensure successful communication. Many creoles keep this tendency after creolization. Belizean Creole is no exception in this point. Unlike most creoles, Kriol has a standardized orthography.
| Vowel |
Example |
Gloss |
| /ei/ |
/beik/ |
'bake' |
| /i/ |
/gi/giv/ |
'give' |
| /a & aa / |
/la(a)ng/ |
'long' |
| /uu/ |
/buut/ |
'booth' |
| /ii/ |
/tiif/ |
'steal' |
| /ai/ |
/bwai/ |
'boy' |
| /oa/ |
/coal/ |
'cold' |
| /o/ |
/don/ |
'done' |
| /au/ |
/baut/ |
'about' |
1. Like most creole languages, Kriol has a tendency to an open syllabic structure, meaning there are a lot of words ending in vowels. This feature is strengthened by its tendency to delete consonants at the end of words, especially when the preceding vowel is unstressed.
2. Nasalization is phonemic in Belizean Creole, caused by the deletion of final nasal consonants. The nasal feature is kept, even if the consonant has been dropped.
3. Many Kriol speakers tend to palatalize the velar consonants /g/ and /k/. Sometimes they also palatalize alveolar consonants, such as /t/, /d/, and /n/.
4. Like all other creoles, Kriol also has a tendency to reduce consonant clusters no matter where they occur. Final consonant clusters are almost always reduced by dropping the second consonant. Initial and medial occurrences are reduced much less consistently.
5. When /r/ occurs finally, it's always deleted. When it occurs in the middle of a word, it's often deleted leaving a residual vowel length.
6. Although its
superstrate language, English, makes extensive use of dental fricatives (/θ/ /ð/), Belizean Kriol doesn't use them. It rather employs the alveolars /t/ and /d/. However, due to the ongoing process of decreolization, some speakers include such dental fricatives in their speech.
7. Unstressed initial vowels are often deleted in Kriol. Sometimes this can lead to a glottal stop instead.
8. Vowels tend to be alternated for the ones used in English, f.i. /bwai/ or /bwoi/ (
boy) becomes /boi/, /angri/ (
angry) becomes /ængri/ and so on.
Consonants and vowels
Kriol uses three voiced plosives (/b/ /d/ /g/) and three voiceless plosives(/p/ /t/ /k/). The voiceless stops can also be
aspirated. However, aspiration isn't a constant feature, therefore the aspirated and non-aspirated forms are
allophonic. The language employs three nasal consonants, (/m/ /n/ /ŋ/). It makes extensive use of fricatives and, both unvoiced (/f/ /s/ /ʂ/) and voiced (/v/ /z/ /ʐ/. Its two liquids, /l/ and /r/, are articulated alveo-palatally. The tongue is more lax here than in American English, its position is more similar to British English. Kriol's glides /w/, /j/, and /h/ are used extensively. Glottal stops occur rarely and inconsistently. Belizean Creole makes use of eleven vowels; nine monophthongs, three
diphthongs and
schwa [ə]. The most frequently occurring diphthong, /ai/ is used in all regional varieties. Both /au/ and /oi/ can occur, but they're new additions and are viewed as a sign of decreolization. The same is perceived of four of the less productive monophthongs.
Morphology
Tense
The present tense verb isn't marked overtly in Kriol. It also doesn't indicate
number or
person. As an unmarked verb, it can refer both to present and to past. Equally, it isn't necessary to mark past tense overtly. The English past tense marker |d| indicates acrolectal speech. However, there's the possibility to mark
preterite tense by putting the tense marker |mi| before the verb. Overt marking is rare, however, if the sentence includes a semantic temporal marker, such as "yestudeh" (yesterday) or "laas season" (last season).
The future tense is indicated by employing the preverbial marker |wa| or |a|. Unlike the marking of past tense, this marking isn't optional.
Aspect
The progressive aspect
The preverbial marker |di| expresses the progressive aspect in both past and present tense. However, if the past isn't marked overtly (lexically or by using |mi|), an unambiguous understanding is only possible in connection to context. |di| is always mandatory. In past progressive, it's possible to achieve an unambiguous meaning by combining |mi| + |di| + verb.
Progressive action in the future can be expressed by using |bi| in conjunction with |wɑ| . The correct combination here would be |wɑ| + |bi| + verb.
The habitual aspect
Belizean Creole doesn't have a habitual aspect in its own right. Many other creoles have a general tendency to merge the habitual with completive, progressive or future, Kriol however, doesn't clearly merge it with anything. Thus, we can only assume that the habitual is expressed through context and not through morphological marking.
The completive aspect
The completive aspect is expressed either without marking, that is, by context only, or by the use of a completive preverbial markers, such as |mi|, |don| or |finiʂ|.
Mood and voice
Conditional
The conditional mood is expressed through the conditional verbs |wuda|, |mi-wa|, and |mia|. The short version, |da| is employed only in the present tense, past tense requires the longer forms.
Passive voice
There is no overt lexical marking of active and passive in Belizean Creole. It is only the emphasis of a sentence which can clarify the meaning, together with context. Emphasis can be strengthened by adding emphatic markers, or through repetition and redundancy.
Verb usage
Special verbs
There are four forms of "be" in Belizean Creole: |de|, |di|, and the absence of a marker. The equative form |di| is used as a copula (when the complement of the verb is either a noun or a noun phrase). |de| is the locative form which is used when the verb's complement is a prepositional phrase. No overt marking is used when the complement is an adjective. |di|, finally, is used in the progressive aspect.
The verb "to go" is irregular in Belizean Creole, especially when set in the future progressive. It doesn't use the progressive marker |di| but is exchanged by the morpheme and |gwein|. In past tense, this is similar: instead of employing |mi|, it uses the lexical item |gaan|.
A verb which is used extensively in each conversation is |mek|. It can be used like a modal in casual requests, in threats and intentional statements, and, of course, like the standard verb "to make".
Noun usage
Plural formation
Plurals are usually formed in Kriol by inserting the obligatory postnomial marker |de|. Variations of this marker are |den| and |dem|. As decreolization is processing, the standard English plural ending |-s| occurs far more frequently. Sometimes, the |de| is added to this form, f.i. in "shoes de" - shoes.
The absence of a plural marker occurs rarely.
Loan words
Many Spanish, Maya, and Garifuna words refer to popular produce and food items:
» panaades
garnaches » tamales
hudut » wangla
janny kake (Actually an English loan - from johnny, or journey, cake)
» reyeno
Grammar
The tense/aspect system of Belizean Kriol is fundamentally unlike that of English. There are no morphological marked past tense forms corresponding to English -ed -t. There are 3 preverbial particles: 'mi' & 'did' for the past, 'di' as an 'aspect marker', and a host of articles to indicate the future ('(w)a(n)', 'gwein', 'gouɲ'). These are not verbs, they're simply invariant particles which can't stand alone like the English ‘to be’. Their function differs also from the English.
According to Decker (1996), the progressive category is marked by /di~de/. He claims that /doz/ marks the progressive and that the habitual aspect is unmarked but by its accompaniment with verbs like 'always', 'usually’, etc (for example is absent as a grammatical category). Mufwene (1984) and Gibson and Levy (1984) propose a past-only habitual category marked by /juustu doz/ as in /weh wi juustu doz liv ih noh az koal az ya/ ('where we used to live isn't as cold as here')
For the present tense, an uninflected verb combining with an iterative adverb marks habitual meaning as in /tam aalweiz noa entaim keiti tel pan hii/ ('Tom always knows when Katy tells/has told about him').
- 'mi' is a 'tense indicator'
- 'di' is an 'aspect marker'
- '(w)a(n)', 'gwein', 'gouɲ') are used to indicate the future
/Ai mi ɹon/
- I run (habitually); I ran
/Ai di ɹon/
/Ai mi di ɹon/
/Ai mi ɹon/ or /Ai gaan ɹon/
/Ai gouɲ ɹon/, /Ai wa(n) ɹon/ or /Ai gwein ɹon/
- I am going to run; I'll run
Like many other Caribbean Creoles /fi & fu/ has a number of functions, including:
Directional, dative, or benefactlve preposition
- /den di fait fu wii/ ('They are fighting for us')
Genitive preposition (that is, marker of possession)
- /da buk da fu mii / ('that's my book')
Modal auxiliary expressing obligation or futurity
- /hi fi kom op ja/ ('he ought to come up here')
Pre-infinitive complementizer
- /unu hafu ker sontiŋ fu deŋ garifuna fi biit deŋ miuzik/ ('you (plural) have to contribute something to the Garifuna People for playing their music')
The pronominal system
The pronominal system of Standard English has a four-way distinction of person, number, gender and case. Some varieties of Kriol don't have the gender or case distinction, though most do; but usefully, it does distinguish between the second person singular and plural (you).
I = /Ai/ (occasionally mii in negations)
me = /mii/ (expection is Ai, as in, "Mek ai tel yu")
my, my, mines (possevive) = /mi; mai; mainz/
you, you (singular) = /ju/
he, him = /(h)i(i)/ (pronounced as [i] in the basilect varieties)
she, her = /ʃi/ or /i/ (no gender distinction in basilect varieties)
him, her = /a/ (no gender distinction in basilect varieties)
we, us = /wi ;wii/
us (3 or more)= /alawii/
our, ours = /fuwii ;wai ; wainz/
you (plural) = /unu & alayu/
they, them = /de(ŋ)/
those = /dende/
Interrogatives
The question words found in Kriol are:
What? = /Waat?; Wah?/
Why? = /Wai?/
Where? = /Weh?; Wehpaat?/
Who? = /Huu?/
Whose? = /Fihuu?/
The supporting That = /Weh/
Copula
the Kriol equative verb is also 'da'
- for example /Ai da di tiitʃa/ ('I am the teacher')
Kriol has a separate locative verb 'deh'
- for example/wi deh da london/ or /wi de iina london/ ('we are in London')
with true adjectives in Belizean Kriol, no copula is needed
- for example /Ai haadbak nau/ ('I am old now')
Negation
/no/ is used as a present tense negator:
- /if wa kau neva noa hau i kudnt swalloh wa pia siid, i neva mia trai it/ ('If the cow didn't know that his throat was capable of swallowing a pear seed, he wouldn't have tried it')
/kiaa/ is used in the same way as English can't
- /i da wa po tiŋ weh kiaa maʃ ant/ ('It is a poor thing that can't mash an ant')
/neva/ is a negative past participle.
- /dʒan neva tiif di moni/ ('John didn't steal the money')
Syntax
Syntactic ordering
The construction of sentences in Belizean Creole is very similar to that in English. It uses a Subject-Verb-Object order (SVO). All declarative and most interrogative sentences follow this pattern, the interrogatives with a changed emphasis. The construction of the phrases follows in many ways Standard English.
Locatives
Locatives are more frequently used in Belizean Creole and much more productive than in Standard English. The general locative is expressed by the morpheme |da| ('at' or 'to'). It is possible to use |to| or |pon| ('on') instead. This is either an indication of emphasis or of decreolization. Another morpheme which is more specific than |da| is |ina|/ ('into'). It is used in contexts where |da| isn't strong enough.
Together with the verb "look", however, |da| isn't used and denoted as incorrect. To express "to look at", it's wrong to say "look dah". The correct version would be "look pon" or "look-at".
Noun plus pronoun
In a noun phrase, Belizean Creole can employ a structure of both noun and pronoun to create emphasis. The ordering then is noun + pronoun + verb (f.i. "mista filip kno di ansa" - Mr Philip knows the answer).
Adjectives
Adjectives are employed predicatively and attributively. They can be intensified either by the postposed adverb modifier |bad|, by iteration, or by the use of the adverb modifier |onli|. Iteration is here the usual way. Comparatives and superlatives are constructed according to morphosyntactic rules. A comparative is made by adding |-a| to the stem ("taal" - "taala" - tall). The morpheme |den| is employed to form comparative statements, f.i. "hî tɑlɑ dan shee" - He is taller than her. Superlatives are created b adding |-es| to the stem. In all cases, the use of the definite article |di| is obligatory. The copula is present if the superlative is used predicatively. An example could be: "She dah di taales" - She is the tallest.
Adverbs
Adverbs are used much like they're in Standard English. In almost all cases, they don't differ from adjectives in form, but in function. There are, however a few exceptions, such as "properli" (properly), "errli" (early) or "po:li" (poorly). Adverbs can be intensified by reduplication.
Conjunctions
Most Kriol conjunctions are very similar to English and employed in the same way. The main difference is that Belizean Creole allows double negation, so that some conjunctions are used differently. Some examples for Belizean conjunctions are: "an" (and), "but" (but), "if" (if), "o:" (or) etc.
Questions usually take the same form in Belizean Creole as they do in Standard English: question word + subject + verb. The "do-support" doesn't occur here either. The rising intonation at the end of the sentence may increase even more if no question word is necessary. Thus, most declarative sentences can become interrogative with the right intonation. "Which" has various translations in Belizean Creole. If the speaker means "which", he uses |witʂ|, but he can also use |witʂ wan| for "which one".
Examples
My name is...: (mesolect) /Mai neim da...// or (basilect) /Ai neim...//
What time is it? /Hau moch yu claak?// or / (Da) Weh taim nau?//
I don’t know: /Ai noh noa or Mii noh noa//
What is it?: /(Da) weh dis?//
Where am I?: /(Da) weh ai deh?//
I don't understand : /Ai noh andastaan or Mii noh andastaan//
Where's the bathroom?: /Weh di batruum deh?//
What is your name?: (mesolect) /Waat da yu neim?//;(basilect) /Hau yu neim?//; /Weh yu neim?//Further Information
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