A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Language Ideologies in the San Andrés (And Old Providence) Raizal Community on the Way to Democracy
Authors: Bartens A.
Publisher: Uusfilologinen Yhdistys (Modern Language Society)
Publication year: 2019
Journal: Neuphilologische mitteilungen
Journal name in source: Neuphilologische Mitteilungen
Volume: 119
Issue: 2
First page : 393
Last page: 418
Number of pages: 26
ISSN: 0028-3754
This paper focuses on San Andrés-Providence Creole, an English-lexifier creole spoken on two Colombian islands located off the Nicaraguan coast. In section 1, I present the sociohistory and recent sociolinguistic situation including language ideologies and attitudes in order to situate the language community in the context from which the issues discussed in this paper arise. In section 2, I give an overview of recent language development, empowerment and democracy from the perspectives of the new media, reinstalling and reinventing traditions, and revisit the crucial issue of writing. Based on the previous considerations, I offer a discussion and some conclusions in section 3. This community is of interest for the radical change in attitudes which has occurred over the past years and also the fact that, despite promising signs – the creole is increasingly being used in writing and surfaces, for instance, in both physical and virtual linguistic landscapes, discussed in 2.3. below – the language is endangered. I argue that San Andrés-Providence Creole should be seen as a resource to be exploited for granting the members of the community their linguistic, human, and democratic rights. The data for this paper were gathered since 1999 and consists of recordings (over fifty hours), numerous interviews, field notes, and approximately 400 photographs.