Language in Exile: Three Hundred Years of Jamaican Creole

Contents

I11ustrations Preface Abbreviations Introduction Part One I. The Colonial Crucible 2. Source Materials Contents Early Jamaican Creole 3. Reconstructing the Sound System 4. Morphosyntax and Lexicon 5. Language Variation 6. Implications of the Data Part Two Data and Commentary 7. The Late Seventeenth Century Text 1. Sir Hans Sloane, A Voyage to . . . the Islands Madera, Barbados, ... andJamaica A. Angolan Chant B. Koromanti Chant VlI Xl X111 XVll 6 37 47 68 79 99 127 128 128 Vlll Contents 8. The Eighteenth Century Text 2. The Importance ofJamaica to Great Britain Considerd in a Letterto a Gentleman 129 Early Fragment 129 Text 3. A ShortJourney in the Wert Indier 130 A. An Old Man of the Late Eighteenth Century 130 B. White Creole Child 131 Text 4. J. B. Moreton, Wert India Customs andManners 131 Song: Hipsaw! My Deaa! 131 9. The Early Nineteenth Century Text 5. Captain Hugh Crow, Memoirs 133 Song Made by the People of Colour in Jamaica on Captain Hugh Crow 133 Text 6. Walter Jekyll, Jamaican Song andStory 137 Brother Annancy and Brother Death 137 Text 7. Montgomery; or, The Wert Indian Mventure 140 The Slave and the New Buckera 141 Text 8. Matthew G. Lewis, Journal ofa Wert India Proprietor 142 A. Eerie 142 B. Song at Cornwall Estate 143 Text 9. Song. "Quaco Sam" 143 Text 10. Cynric R. Williams, A Tour through the Island of Jamaica in the Year 1823 146 A. Sermon at a Funeral 146 B. Song. Hi! De Buckra, Hi! 147 Text 11. Marly, or a Planters Life in Jamaica 148 A. Kirstening 148 B. Sermon 149 C. Song: ''The Woodpecka" 152 Text 12. Michael Scott, Tom Cringle's Log 152 A. A Black Sailor 153 B. The Black Pilot 154 Text 13. [Bernard Martin Senior], Jamaica os It Was, os It Is, and os It May Be 156 Arguing with Massa 157 Contents IX Text 14. James M. Phillippo, Jamaica: Its Past and Present State 157 A. Letter from John Duglass 159 B. Letter from Richard Bullock 159 C. A Deacon's Prayer 160 Text 15. Richard Robert Madden, A Twelvemonth Residence in the West Indies 163 A. The Language of Flattery 163 B. Mathew's Oration 163 Text 16. James Williams, Narrative ofthe Cruel Treatment. . . ofa Negro Apprentice 165 An Apprentice's Testimony 165 10. The Later Nineteenth Century Text 17. Henry G. Murray, Manners and Customs ofthe Country a Generation Ago 169 Mudfish and Watchman 169 Text 18. [Henry G. Murray], in "Creole Folklore from Jamaica" 171 A. The Origin of Woman 171 B. Song. Oh! What Do My Buddy, O! 172 Text 19. William George Hamley, Captain Clutterbuck's Champagne 173 A. A Black Sailor's Yarn 174 B. A Brown Nurse 176 Text 20. Captain Mayne Reid, The Maroon 179 A. The Myal Man and the Parlormaid 180 B. The Myal Man and the Jew 183 Text 21. Thomas Russell, The Etymology ofJamaica Grammar 184 Text 22. C[harles] Rampini, Lettersfrom Jamaica 201 Love Letters 202 Text 23. Mary Pamela Milne-Home, Mamma's Black Nurse Stories 205 Anansi and Alligator 206 Text 24. Cumina Chant: "Tange Lange Jeni" 207 Cumina Chant 209 The Odamttens' Glosses 210 Vincent Odamtten's Verse Translation 213 x Contents Notes 217 Glossary 223 Bibliography 233 Index 251 ...