Vida

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Linguistic biography
The lingua franca of Belize is Kriol. Belizean Kriol is a creole language deriving mainly from English. Its substrate languages are the Native American language Miskito, and the various West Africanlanguages which were brought into the country by slaves. These include Akan, Igbo, and Twi.[2] The pidgin that emerged due tothe contact of English landowners and their West African slaves to ensure basic communication was extended over the years. The actual creolization occurred around 1680–1700, when the British were firmly settled in the Caribbean. It was not, however, the Belizean Kriol known today, but the so-called Mískito Coast Creole which developed into the Belizean Kriol over the years. Jamaicans were alsobrought to the colony, further adding to the vocabulary, and eventually it became the mother tongue of the slaves' children born in Belize. Other languages include Caliche slang, Spanish, and Garifuna.[1]
In the Chicago Tribune newspaper in 1987 travel guide, it said that Belizean Kriol is “a language that teases but just escapes the comprehension of a native speaker of English.”
Today, BelizeanKriol 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, acreole 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 thebasilect, is rarely heard.[3]
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[edit]English taught in Belizean schools
English taught in the schools of Belize is based on British English.
Belizean people speak English/Belizean Kriol and oftentimes, Spanish, while learning the English system of writing and reading in schools. It is a slightly different system of communication from the standardforms.[3]
1999 Ministry of Education: School Effectiveness Report (p. 84) notes “Creole is spoken as the first language in most homes.” Kriol is “di stiki stiki paat” that holds Belize together
in a 2000 Belize Census, 24.9% claimed Kriol ethnicity and 33% claimed Kriol as first language
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[edit]Phonology
Kriol shares similarities withmany Caribbean English Creoles 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.[3]
Phonologically, Belizean Kriol 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 prenasalizesvoiced 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 Kriol is no exception in this point. Unlike most creoles, Kriol has a standardized orthography.[3]
Vowel | Example | Gloss |
/ei/ | /beik/[dubious – discuss] | 'bake' |
/i/ | /ɡi, ɡiv/ | 'give'|
/a & aa / | /la(a)nɡ/[dubious – discuss] | 'long' |
/uu/ | /boot/ | 'booth' |
/ii/ | /teef/ | 'steal' |
/ai/ | /bwai/ | 'boy' |
/oa/ | /coal/[dubious – discuss] | 'cold' |
/o/ | /don/ | 'done' |
/au/ | /bout/ | '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 isstrengthened by its tendency to delete consonants at the end of words, especially when the preceding vowel is unstressed.
2. Nasalization is phonemic in Belizean Kriol, 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 /ɡ/ and /k/. Sometimes they also palatalize alveolar...