Bon
Bini - Welcome
Papiamentu
is the local language of the ABC Islands -
Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao
Papiamentu
is a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, and it also has
some Arawak Indian and African influences. Papiamentu is one of the few Creole
Languages of the Caribbean that has survived to the present day.
Papiamentu
is predominately a spoken language among the local people of Curaçao, Bonaire,
and Aruba. The official language is Dutch, and the written Papiamentu is limited
to some local newspapers and literature. Also the schooling system is Dutch, and
people typically don't get any formal training in their language. There have
been some discussions about introducing Papiamentu to be taught at schools as
well.
Compared
to other languages, Papiamentu is spoken by very few people: less than one third
of a million in total. Papiamentu is also a fairly simple language, and it is
quite common that certain expressions or more complicated grammatical constructs
have to be simplified in order to be translated into Papiamentu.
From
island to island, small variations in Papiamentu mainly in spelling and
vocabulary can be observed. Some efforts have been made to standardize
Papiamentu and its orthography, however, Aruba decided for a spelling that is
closer to Spanish, whereas the other islands tried to stay closer to the roots
in that respect. As a result, some words may still have more than one way of
spelling it, e.g. Papiamentu - Papiamento, Korsou - Korsow, kwater - cuater,
sinku - cincu, etc. In general, words are spelled exactly as they are pronounced,
e.g. "flet tair" for flat tire.
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Papiamentu is spoken in the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, and even found its way to The Netherlands
Papiamentu
is the local language of Aruba and the two Leeward Islands of the Netherlands
Antilles, namely Bonaire and Curaçao. These three islands are located in the
South Caribbean off the coast of South America.
Papiamentu
also plays an important role on the Windward Islands of the Netherlands Antilles
- St. Maarten, St. Eustatius, and Saba. People from these islands came to Curaçao
and especially to Aruba for work and their children grew up speaking Papiamentu.
Returning to their home islands they took with them their knowledge of
Papiamentu. Some natives from Curaçao were also attracted by the expanding
tourism in St. Maarten and reinforced the position of Papiamentu there.
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Papiamentu was influenced by the slave trade and has connections with West Africa
The
common view on the origin of Papiamentu is that it is an Afro-Portuguese creole
(the Proto-Afro-Portuguese creole theory). However, due to the
considerable Spanish influence on Papiamentu, a group of authors considers
Papiamentu a Spanish-based creole (the Spanish hypothesis).
The
Proto-Afro-Portuguese creole theory is the most widely accepted
hypothesis about the genesis of Papiamentu. After the Dutch conquest of Curaçao
in 1634, Curaçao served as a slave depot that provided Spanish colonies with
slaves. The importation of slaves started after the conquest of the Portuguese
strongholds in Angola in 1641 by the Dutch, bringing slaves from mainly Guinea
and Angola to Curaçao. The basic claim of this theory is that slaves learned
the Afro-Portuguese during the long periods of time that they were kept in
Afro-Portuguese speaking slave depots before they were shipped overseas.
Initially, this theory assumed that all Atlantic Creole languages, including
Papiamentu, derive from one language, namely the Afro-Portuguese pidgin-creole
that originated as a result of the first encounter between Portuguese settlers
and native inhabitants on the west coast of Africa. Currently, several
variations of the Afro-Portuguese creole theory exist. One of the main
discussions is about whether or not the initial Afro-Portuguese had already
developed into a creole, or if it was still a pidgin when it was transmitted to
the Caribbean. In Curaçao, Papiamentu underwent Dutch influence, mainly
contributing to the vocabulary. Through Dutch, also English and French elements
entered Papiamentu. Later on, the influence of the Spanish speaking environment
caused a hispanization of Papiamentu.
Papia
is the Papiamentu verb for 'to speak' and -mentu is the suffix that forms
a noun, meaning approximately 'the way of doing something'. Papiamentu
translated would then be something like 'the way of speaking'.
The
verbs papia or papea are also found in other Creole languages such
as the Cape Verdean creole, Guiné-Bissau creole and Saramaccan. It is probably
derived from the Portuguese verb papear 'to chatter', which in turn
probably goes back to the French verb papier 'to stammer' or simply 'to
speak'. Connections have been made between the French papier and the
Egyptian/Arabic papiros, e.g. 'to read from papyrus'.
Papiamento
is another way to spell Papiamentu. Sometimes the noun forming morpheme -mentu
is spelled -mento like it is done in Spanish and Portuguese.