Ritual Language formation and African Retentions in

Suriname-Robert Borges.

Da Tano Losa in his Kumanti shrine in Mainsi, Februari 2008. (photo, Thoden van

Velzen)1

aims:• Overview of ritual languages in question

• Hypotheses about West African retention

• Illustrate language “mixture” and independent innovation in Kumanti of Ndyuka informants.

• Relate my work with some other work done on Kumanti

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ritual languages

• Some Afro-Caribbean populations have ritual languages - languages which are not used in daily contexts, but rather which most often serve a predominantly religious function.

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ritual languages• Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico

- Lucumi

• Haiti, Louisiana - Vodun (Yuroba/Fon)

• Jamaica - Maroon spirit languge (EMC), Kromanti (Akan)

• Suriname - Kumanti (Akan), Papagadu(Fon), Ampuku, Luangu

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• Ritual languages have been presented as preserved West African Languages - Akan, Efik, Gbe, Igbo, Yoruba

Shrine to the first Runaways and their African ancestors in Benanu, 1978 (photo, W. van Wetering).

hypotheses

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hypotheses

• Herskovits & Herskovits 1934 - 17thC Africa can be found in the bush of Suriname.

• Morton Kahn. 1939. Africa’s Lost Tribes in South America: An On-the Spot Account of Blood-Chilling Rites of 200 years ago Preserved Intact in the Jungles of South America by a Tribe of Runaway Slaves. Natural History. 43: 209-214, 231-232.

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hypotheses

Captain André Pakosie and a komfo from Kokofu. After making an offering at the komfo’s shrine in which Captain Pakosie spoke Surinamese Luangu, the

komfo was surprised to learn that Pakosie was not Ghanian

since he could understand everything which was said.

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hypotheses

Ndyuka chief Gazon Matodja

greets Ashanti king Otunfuo Opoku

Ware II in Kumanti, stimulating a short

conversation.

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“Kromanti is an Akan language closely related to the

languages of the Akan language/dialect cluster, notably Twi and Fante, important languages in modern day Ghana.”

hypotheses

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my hypothesis• While ritual languages may contain higher

percentages of African lexemes than their speakers’ daily (creole)language, ritual languages are just as “mixed” as other contact languages

• Kumanti as spoken by Ndyuka maroons provides clear evidence of language mixture and innovation

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examples:

Ndyuka Kumantidasi ana'nakediamakediampõ ... da iniiwan dompo tata, thanks God ... then each old father

iniiwan ablowa mama, iniiwan adyaabi, iniiwan mando fu each old mother each ?? each ?? atakla, iniiwan odwabladinfonu, iniiwan kotokoiboi, ?? each ?? each youngster

iniiwan mlekuboi, iniiwaan pipli... each baby each people

“wi e bedi masaa gadu jeova e wi gi en gaantangi...da ala den gaan sama mannengee anga uman ogii wan efu buuwan guduwan anga kotiwan ala gaansama fu kondee ala jonkuman ibiiwan libisama”

‘We thank God... all the ancestors, men

and women, evil ones or pleasant ones, ?? ones, all the elderly,

youngsters and babies, all people..’

Da André Pinas

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examples:

Ndyuka Kumanti

bantifo pipli hofasi hankra Kumanti people how be

‘Kumanti men, how are you?’

Da André Pinas

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examples:

Ndyuka Kumanti

hoo u hankala gini na basi nana grin ponu oh 1pl be.at here on god green earth

“dati wan taki u de mooi a ini a libi makandii gadu goontapu”

‘We’re here on god’s green earth’

Da André Pinas

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examples:

Ndyuka Kumanti

‘I sat on the bench already’

mi hankara brobi na mintô1sg be.at already on stool

“mi be sidon na bangi kaba”

Da Tano Losa

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examples:

Ndyuka Kumanti Da Tano Losa

wáámu sabalabasa-bu fanga biiku1pl.neg.must mistake-? receive fall

“te u meke fowtu wi o go saka”

ʻIf we donʼt act properly, we (Ndyuka society) wonʼt surviveʼ

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examples:

Ndyuka Kumanti

mîntawô hankra adankagri nanga ôkumudja earth be.at confusion and evil

‘There is confusion and evil in the world’

Da André Pinas

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examples:

Ndyuka Kumanti

tata ôkôkôlo troki fu abeenkuma father rooster sing of daybreak

“dati wan taki kaka foo e bali peesi kiin”

‘The rooster crows’

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Da André Pinas

examples:

Ndyuka Kumanti

troki m sa ndama talk 1sg shall hear.understand

“dati wan taki taki mi sa yee dus ndama na yee, na fustan”

‘I’ll understand what’s being said’

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Da André Pinas

examples:

Ndyuka Kumanti

mi o seemba 1sg fut go

“da sama fustan w'e taki oh, mi o gwe”

‘I will go’

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Da André Pinas

examples:

Ndyuka Kumantitata otyuwa hankaa tin a fo osònu ma afather dog have four foot but 3sg nái dablamaningete tin a fo amainsaneg.prog walk four path

“dati wan taki a dagu abi fo futu ma a nái waka a fo pasi”

‘A dog has four feet, but only walks one path’21

Da André Pinas

examples:

Ndyuka Kumanti

basi nana ákrobi mîntuwa îniba god son earth come

“masaa gadu pikin kon a goontapu”

“God’s son came to earth”

Da André Pinas

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preliminary conclusions:what Ndyuka Kumanti tells us

• Kumanti is full of Ndyuka elements, non-West Afican innovations and elements borrowed from other languages like Dutch and (old)Sranan• Ndyuka elements: da then, ibii each, á negation, nái negated progressive, mu modal ‘must’, na locative, some verbs

• Innovative elements: nouns - mlekuboi, baby; numerals - ndyuka numerals where 10=0;

• teli nen 23

additional points indicating mixture / innovation

• Kumanti evolution within Suriname:

• Prof. Thoden van Velzen presented Price’s work on Kumanti to Da Tano - 80% of lexemes from a Saramaccan informant acceptable.

• Da Pinas says clearly that Kumanti isn’t the same in non-EMC groups.

• Multiple West African language input24

Price’s etymologies

Niger Congo

Atlantic Congo

Volta Niger Gbe EweEweEweEwe

Niger Congo

Atlantic Congo

Kwa

Tano Central Tano

TwiTwiTwi

Niger Congo

Atlantic Congo

Kwa

Tano Central Tano FantiFantiFanti

Niger Congo

Atlantic Congo

Kwa

Tano Central Tano

BiaBia AnyiNiger Congo

Atlantic Congo

Kwa

Nyo Ga Dangame

Ga Dangame GaGa

Niger Congo

Atlantic Congo

Benue Congo Bantoid Bantu zone

Hzone

H kiKongo

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conclusions• Multiple African language mixture + Surinamese

language mixture & innovation ≠ preserved West African language

• Kumanti as a mixed language???type of element noun verb functional

non-Ndyuka yes yes minimal

Ndyuka no minimal yes

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Acknowledgements

• Bonno Thoden van Velzen

• Fund for endangered languages

• European research council

• Pieter Muysken, Margot van den Berg

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ReferencesBilby, K. 1983. How the ýolder headsý talk: a Jamaican Maroon spirit possession language and its relationship to the creoles of Suriname and Sierra Leone. New West Indian Guide/ Nieuwe West-Indische Gids 57: 1/2, Leiden, 37-88Devonish, Hubert. 2005. Kramanti. Caribbean Indigenous and Endangered languages. http://www.mona.uwi.edu/dllp/jlu/ciel/pages/kromanti.htmHerskovits, Melville & Frances Herskovits. 1934. Rebel Destiny: among the bush negroes of Dutch Guiana. New York: McGraw Hill.Kahn, Morton. 1939. Africa’s Lost Tribes in South America: An On-the Spot Account of Blood-Chilling Rites of 200 years ago Preserved Intact in the Jungles of South America by a Tribe of Runaway Slaves. Natural History. 43: 209-214, 231-232.Pakosie, André. 2000. Een Etymologishe Zoektocht naar Afrikaanse Woorden in de Ndyuka Taal. Siboga 10:2, 2-12.Price, Richard. 2007. Travels with Tooy: History, Memory, and the African American Imagination. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Thoden van Velzen, H.U.E. & W. van Wetering. 2004. In the Shadow of the Oracle: Religion as Politics in a Suriname Maroon Society. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press.Thoden van Velzen, H.U.E. & Wim Hoogbergen. 2011. Een Zwarte Vrijstaat in Suriname: De Okaanse Samenlevering in de 18e Eeuw. Leiden, KITLV.Winford, Donald & Bettina Migge. 2007. Substrate influence on the emergence of the TMA systems of the Surinamese creoles. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 22.1:73-99.

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Gaantangi

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