The Papiamento Language

Papiamento

Papiamento is a creole language that is spoken on the Dutch Antilles and Aruba, and of course everywhere else where the people from Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao live, like in the Netherlands and the US. Over 200,000 of the 250,000 inhabitants of the Dutch Antilles and Aruba speak Papiamento as their first language; over 14,000 speak it as their second language. In the Netherlands another 60,000 people speak Papiamento. As a Creole language it has reached a high status: it is the official language in education and (next to Dutch) in government. It is being spoken in all social classes and is widely used in the media. It also has a rich literary history. The first written account in Papiamento is from 1776, a letter from a Curaçao Jew to his mistress (also of European Jewish descent). The first Papiamento-Dutch dictionary (van Ewijk) appeared in 1875.

Papiamento with an o is the Arubian name; on Curaçao and Bonaire the language is called Papiamentu. From this fact it could be deduced that the language has two official ways to spell it; in fact it has. On the Dutch Antilles a phonological spelling is used, where everything is written like it sounds, while Aruba has an etymological spelling in which the forms of the words resemble languages that contributed to it. In Dutch it is called Papiaments.

The language is a Iberian-based creole, which means it is based on Spanish and Portuguese. It appears to preserve a sixteenth century Spanish pronunciation. It also contains elements of Dutch, African languages, English, French and traces of native Caribbean Indian. About two-thirds of its words are derived from Iberian words, a quarter is from Dutch, and the rest is from other sources.

Some words to illustrate this:

Portuguese : bai (to go), preto (black), bringa (to fight, from P brigar)
African: flengeflenge (skinny), gutu (parrot fish)
Dutch: pushi (cat, D poes), spiel (mirror, D spiegel), wak (to see,
from Dutch waken, stay awake, standing guard) 
English: djonikek (Johnny-cake), djump (to dive)
native Indian: some geographical words, like Arikok, Basiruti, of which the meaning is long lost

Some of the syntax of African languages (the substrate languages) has remained, although through a process of relexification, the words have been replaced by lexicons of other languages, mostly Spanish. Serial-verb sentences like "Core bai haci esey" (run go do that), or highlighters fronted before question words "Ta kico e ta haci?" ((it's) what does he/she do?) are typical African syntax. Also, very unlike the European languages, the plural marker nan, which, like in many atlantic creoles is equal to the third person plural pronoun, 'they' in Papiamento.

Books on Papiamento

Learning Papiamento
- Goilo, E.R.,Papiamento Textbook, de Wit Stores Curaçao 1972.
- Goilo, E.R.,Hablemos Papiamento, de Wit Stores Curaçao 1974.
- Goilo, E.R.,Papiaments Leerboek, de Wit Stores Curaçao 1951.
- Kook, Hetty, De structuur van de papiamentse taal, KONDESA Curaçao 1986.
- van Putte, Florimon and van Putte-de Windt, Igma, Dos plak'i boka, Papiaments Beginnerscursus, Walburg Pers Zuthphen 1992.
Grammar
- Dijkhoff, drs Marta, Gramatika Moderno di Papiamento, ILA/KOMPA, Willemstad Curaçao 1990.
Dictionaries
- Dijkhoff, Mario, Dikshonario Papiamentu-Ulandes, De Walburg Pers Zutphen 1991.
- Joubert, Sidney M, Dikshonario Papiamentu-Hulandes,Fundashon di Leksikografia, Curaç 1991.
- Joubert, Sidney en Debbie, Papiaments op reis, Curaçao 1994.
- Mansur, Jossy M., Dictionary English-Papiamento, Edicionnan Clasico Diario, Oranjestad Aruba 1991.
- Marugg, Tip, Dikshonario Erotiko Papiamentu, Drukkerij Scherpenheuvel, Korsou 1992.
Language interest
- Maduro, Antoine J., Papiamentu inagando i ilustrando,Korsou 1991.
- Maduro, Antoine J., Papiamentu di un palu pa otro,Korsou 1992.
- Martinus, Frank e.a., Homenahe na Raul Römer, ILA Departement van Onderwijs Willemstad NA 1989.
Poetry
- Claassen, Anton, De navelstreng van mijn taal, Poesia bibo di Aruba, In de Knipscheer Amsterdam 1992.
Prose
- Bayle, Constantino S.J., Alonso de Ojeda (traduci na Papiamentu pa E.R. Goilo), Thieme Zutphen 1953.
- Hoefnagels, Peter en Hoogenbergen, Shonwe, Antilliaans Spreekwoordenboek,Thomas Rap Amsterdam 1992.
- Tromp, Jossy, Cetilalma y otro cuentanan arubiano, VAD Aruba 1988.
Also of great interest:
- Holm, John, Pidgins and Creoles, Volume I, Theory and Structure, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1988.
- Holm, John, Pidgins and Creoles, Volume II, Reference Survey, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1988.

Papiamento on the Internet

Even though this language is spoken by over 250,000 people, there is not much information about it on the Internet compared for example to the in-depth coverage of the Klingon language (of Star Trek fame) which of course is artificial. Some links I found are the Papiamentu page of Radio Nederland Wereldomroep and a tourist page of Bonaire.

In the CIA World Fact Book page on Aruba Papiamento is listed as a dialect. Although some scholars also incorrectly hold this view and regard it as a dialect of Spanish, it was identified as a creole language over a century ago.

The language is listed in the Ethnologue Database, under Papiamentu.

You can also link to my collection of Palindromes in Papiamento.


rvjansen@xs4all.nl