English Teacher
Páginas: 2 (479 palabras)
Publicado: 9 de noviembre de 2012
BLACK ENGLISH
During the early years of American settlement, a highly distinctive form of English was beginning to develop in the islands of the West Indies and the southern part of the mainland,spoken by the incoming black population. The beginning of the seventeenth century saw the emergence of the slave trade. Ships from Europe travelled to the West African coast, where they exchanged cheapgoods for black slaves. The slaves were shipped in barbarous conditions to the Caribbean islands and the American coast, where they were in turn exchanged for such commodities as sugar, rum,and molasses. The ships then returned to England, completing an 'Atlantic triangle' of journeys, and the process began again. Britain and the United States had outlawed the stave trade by 1865, but by thattime, nearly 200 years of trading had taken place. By the middle of the nineteenth century, there were over four million black slaves in America.
The policy of the slave-traders was to bring people ofdifferent language backgrounds together in the ships, to make it difficult for groups to plot rebellion. The result was the growth of several pidgin forms of communication, and in particular a pidginbetween the slaves and the sailors, many of whom spoke English. Once arrived in the Caribbean, this pidgin English continued to act as a major means of communication between the black population and thenew landowners, and among the blacks themselves. Then, when children came to be born, the pidgin became their mother tongue, thus producing the first black Creole speech in the region. This CreoleEnglish rapidly came to be used throughout the cotton plantations, and in the coastal towns and islands. Similarly, creolized forms of French, Spanish and Portuguese emerged in and around the Caribbean.
QUESTIONS
1. Match the following words with the suitable definition or synonym.
emergence | trade | rum | molasses | outlaw | growth | landowner |
| Proprietor, farmer. |
|...
During the early years of American settlement, a highly distinctive form of English was beginning to develop in the islands of the West Indies and the southern part of the mainland,spoken by the incoming black population. The beginning of the seventeenth century saw the emergence of the slave trade. Ships from Europe travelled to the West African coast, where they exchanged cheapgoods for black slaves. The slaves were shipped in barbarous conditions to the Caribbean islands and the American coast, where they were in turn exchanged for such commodities as sugar, rum,and molasses. The ships then returned to England, completing an 'Atlantic triangle' of journeys, and the process began again. Britain and the United States had outlawed the stave trade by 1865, but by thattime, nearly 200 years of trading had taken place. By the middle of the nineteenth century, there were over four million black slaves in America.
The policy of the slave-traders was to bring people ofdifferent language backgrounds together in the ships, to make it difficult for groups to plot rebellion. The result was the growth of several pidgin forms of communication, and in particular a pidginbetween the slaves and the sailors, many of whom spoke English. Once arrived in the Caribbean, this pidgin English continued to act as a major means of communication between the black population and thenew landowners, and among the blacks themselves. Then, when children came to be born, the pidgin became their mother tongue, thus producing the first black Creole speech in the region. This CreoleEnglish rapidly came to be used throughout the cotton plantations, and in the coastal towns and islands. Similarly, creolized forms of French, Spanish and Portuguese emerged in and around the Caribbean.
QUESTIONS
1. Match the following words with the suitable definition or synonym.
emergence | trade | rum | molasses | outlaw | growth | landowner |
| Proprietor, farmer. |
|...
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