A Newfound Spanish Creole
The New York Times online has a slide show about a small village in northern Colombia where there is what is believed to be the only Spanish-based Creole in Latin America. It’s called Palenquero and can be found in the village of San Basilio de Palenque. The town’s history goes back centuries to when it was first founded by runaway slaves.
The article and accompanying slide show are fascinating and couldn’t have come at a better time. Migration, modernization and increased exchanges with the outside world have all led to the near extermination of the language. Now, not even half of the town’s 3,000 habitants speak Palenquero, although most can understand it and put together phrases.
Linguists say that Palenquero has its roots in the Kikongo language of Congo and Angola and in Portuguese, the language used by the slave traders who brought African slaves to Cartagena in the 17th century.
The article includes a sampling of Palenquero in wiritng: “Palenge a senda tielan ngombe ri nduse i betuaya,” says the local schoolteacher. This translates to “Palenque is the land of cattle, sweets and basic staples.” The article later explains that the word ngombe (cattle) comes directly from Kikongo.
Rutsely Simarra Obeso, a linguist who was born in this same village, is now compiling a lexicon and other are compiling a dictionary to be used in the local school system. Many members of the community are prepared to fight for the survival of their language, just as they’ve fought for centuries. “Our ancestors survived capture in Africa, the passage by ship to Cartagena and were strong enough to escape and live on their own for centuries,” said Mr. Salgado, the schoolteacher. “We are the strongest of the strongest. No matter what happens, our language will live on within us.”
You can learn more here.
Photo: Scott Dalton, NY Times
July 9th, 2009 at 11:53 am
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