Geography and Sociolinguistic Characteristic of the Carribean
I Chapter – Geography and Sociolinguistic characteristic of the Caribbean.
According to Baptiste (1995) the thing which is very important and helpful in understanding the Caribbean English and where that language comes from is studying the history, geography and sociolinguistics of the Caribbean. Humanities, social science and natural science need to be taken into account to know what varieties of English are spoken in Caribbean, how this language developed and what kind of connection has the language with people who live there.
1.1 Location and definition of the Caribbean
The location of the Caribbean can be simply defined as the area ranging from certain parts of Florida to the northern coast of South America. As Baptiste (1995) assumes, it should be mentioned that the Caribbean geography is very complicated and the reason of that complexity is the European colonialism, which made barriers and divisions between the islands. The number of effects of the European colonialism was extensive, as for example slavery and infectious diseases but finally left the area split into British, Spanish, French and Dutch totality. At least 7,000 isles, cays, bars and islets can be numbered among that region. There are multiple uses of the word Caribbean. Its principle ones are historical, geographical, philological and the others are social. The Caribbean can also be extended to contain territories with strong cultural and historical connections to slavery, European colonisation and the plantation system. Caribbean Basin proposed by Lewis (2005) is the term which is the most extensively used to denote all the islands and islets of the Caribbean area, and includes:
- The sovereign countries of Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad-Tobago, Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Antigua-Barbuda, St. Kitts-Nevis, The Bahamas, Suriname, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines - The UK dependencies of Montserrat and British
According to Baptiste (1995) the thing which is very important and helpful in understanding the Caribbean English and where that language comes from is studying the history, geography and sociolinguistics of the Caribbean. Humanities, social science and natural science need to be taken into account to know what varieties of English are spoken in Caribbean, how this language developed and what kind of connection has the language with people who live there.
1.1 Location and definition of the Caribbean
The location of the Caribbean can be simply defined as the area ranging from certain parts of Florida to the northern coast of South America. As Baptiste (1995) assumes, it should be mentioned that the Caribbean geography is very complicated and the reason of that complexity is the European colonialism, which made barriers and divisions between the islands. The number of effects of the European colonialism was extensive, as for example slavery and infectious diseases but finally left the area split into British, Spanish, French and Dutch totality. At least 7,000 isles, cays, bars and islets can be numbered among that region. There are multiple uses of the word Caribbean. Its principle ones are historical, geographical, philological and the others are social. The Caribbean can also be extended to contain territories with strong cultural and historical connections to slavery, European colonisation and the plantation system. Caribbean Basin proposed by Lewis (2005) is the term which is the most extensively used to denote all the islands and islets of the Caribbean area, and includes:
- The sovereign countries of Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad-Tobago, Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Antigua-Barbuda, St. Kitts-Nevis, The Bahamas, Suriname, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines - The UK dependencies of Montserrat and British
References: Baptiste, A-J. (1995) “Caribbean English and the Literacy Tutor” Beckford- Wassink, A Hughes, G. (2006) “An Encyclopedia of Swearing: the social history of oaths, profanity, foul language and ethnic slurs in the English-speaking world” Lewis, A Partridge, (2008) “ The new Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English” Sebba, Mark (1997): Contact Languages: Pidgins and Creoles Williams, J. (2010) “Euro- Caribbean English Varieties: The Rutledge Handbook of Sociolinguistics around the World” Youssef, V [1] See Youssef (2010:52) [2] Available at http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-RASTATALK.html