Creoles & Language
Rights
LG474 notes
Language Rights
Peter L Patrick
Univ of Essex
Two Creole Cases
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Contrast 2 situations
• Jamaica: large majority of Creole speakers
with no guarantee of non-discrimination on
grounds of language (based on Brown-Blake 2005)
• Nicaragua: small minority of coastal Creole
speakers with problematic conception &
implementation of language rights on ethnic
grounds (based on Freeland 2004)
The Caribbean
Creole & English in Jamaica
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JamC a language of ethnic and national identification
Formed c1700 from African & British English inputs
Other language groups now very small & bilingual
2.5m speakers of JC in Jamaica, 20-50k+ overseas
>90% of population of African origins, <2% “white”
Under 10% are native speakers of Standard JamEng
Ie societal bilingualism – but not for many individuals
Std Eng= language of school/govt/media til 1970-80s
Diversity – not diglossic, bilingual or bidialectal, but a
Creole continuum linked to social stratification
Mural at University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica
Status of Creole & English
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English, JamC are not recognized as official languages in law
But English is presumed to be the national language, eg
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Art. 20 of the Jamaican Constitution provides for assistance of
interpreters in court for suspects who cannot understand English
Legislative review of Bill of Rights (2001) proposed to include
language as grounds for prohibiting discrimination.
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Does not yet exist in any Commonwealth Caribbean constitution,
though most are based on European Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom – which does have it
Is it because JamC is not perceived as distinct from English?
Pre-Independence debates considered recognizing “some African
language” for heritage reasons in Constitution – no mention of JC!
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Compare LPP #29: “Selling National Language Ideology”
Grounds for discrimination
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Jam. Const’n prohibits discrimination on grounds of
“race, colour, place of origin, political opinion, creed”
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Revised Charter of Rights plans to add sex, class
Arguably mother tongue is immutable like race, sex, etc.
One can alter one’s linguistic identity – so too other grounds
(political views, religion) can be easily changed
Committee strongly favored outlawing discrimination
based on language in comparable situations, but had
...reservations about the state being vulnerable if it
failed to give equal prominence to Creole in all contexts
2 theories of discrimination, I
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Direct discrimination (US law= disparate treatment)
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Objective: to promote equality of treatment
People distinguished on specific ground may not be treated
differently in the same context, resulting in (dis)advantage
Negative duty: the state must simply not discriminate
• Ex: equal opportunity hiring practices
(Proving disp. treatment in US law requires evidence of intent)
Matches definition of discrimination in Jam. Constitution
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Not burdensome or costly for state to put into practice
What then is the problem? Why the reservations? Can’t
language be incorporated in Charter of Rights?
2 theories of discrimination, II
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Indirect discrimination (US law= disparate impact)
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Objective: to promote substantive equality of outcome
Formally equal treatment may lead to unequal results
Such practices may be prohibited where they result in
disadvantage to a protected group
(No need to prove intent to discriminate under US law)
Positive duties may be required of the state
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Principle: treat different groups differently to achieve
comparable results – movement toward equality over time
• Ex: affirmative action hiring practices
May impose high costs on state to achieve social goals
Direct vs indirect discrimination
Nature of the reservations
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Must the state provide translation/interpretation from/
into JamC in all public forums and communications?
Is official bilingualism required to support said rights?
How can it work if most Jamaicans don’t recognize
that JamC is a language distinct from English?
What are the consequences for the school system?
Are other-language speakers entitled to said rights?
No action taken, pending clarification and language
planning work – see Jamaican Language Unit
Comparable case in US law
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Lau v Nichols (1974): 14th Amendment equal protection
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Court argued all children had the same educational opportunity,
hence it did not illegally discriminate: no duty to give special aid
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2,856 Chinese-dominant schoolchildren needed language help
63% received no translation or ESL class; only 15% full-time help
Ie, the deficiency “lies within the children themselves… in failing to
learn the English language… the Constitution offers no relief”
US Supreme Court moved analysis to Civil Rights Act Title VI:
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students “received fewer benefits” from school, & were “deprived…
of a meaningful opportunity to participate” – mark of discrimination
School must take steps to rectify the language deficiencies of
children belonging to a minority group based on national origin
Court did not endorse bilingual education (but Lau Guidelines by
HEW and Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1974 did – for a time..)
Can indirect cases be won?
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Lau and the EEOA invoked positive duties of (US) state
Since most Jamaicans are Creole monolingual/dominant
and JamC is historically associated w/class and colour,
A monoglot policy of public education and communication
in English creates disparate impact, advantaging English/
bilingual group over Creole monolinguals
Creole-dominants are excluded from full participation in
activities and processes sponsored and required by state
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English-only is policy but already not reality in classrooms
Reservations not legally well-founded since new Charter
only outlaws direct discrimination – indirect type unlikely
to succeed in litigation (acc. to Brown-Blake)
Political basis for opposition?
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Social stratification historically marked by race/colour but
competence in Std Eng is the most overt marker today
Middle-class bilinguals inherited political hegemony from
colonial govt. – nation-building via education
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MC act as language brokers for lower class dealing w/officialdom
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Outlawing indirect linguistic discrimination could redress
limited access of WC to state info/institutions/control, thus
Threaten source of political and economic power of MC
Reservations of Committee may thus be ideological and
protective of self-interest
JC remains a (90%+!) “minority language”: not a means of
vertical mobility or full participation in national institutions
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The way forward in Jamaica
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Language planning (corpus, status & acquisition LP)
in order to remove objections to legislative changes
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Implement orthography for JamC – 1 Std, or many NStd?
Develop mass literacy in it – alongside StdEng literacy?
Develop admin./technical JamC terminology for officials
Expand mass-media and publishing domains for JamC
Language policy initiatives
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Define employment criteria in terms of language needs
Monitor provision of state services w.r.t. bilingual materials
Educate the public (& legislators) on language issues
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Ultimately:
Endorse both English & JamC as official national languages
What has been happening re LRs
in the Caribbean?
• 2001: proposal to include language as a basis for nondiscrimination in the Constitution of Jamaica
• 2002: Establishment of Jamaica Language Unit pursuant
to report by parliamentary committee which had
considered the proposal.
• 2011: Charter on Language Rights and Language Policy
in the Creole-speaking Caribbean adopted by Kingston
conference
• Significance:
– One of few international documents dealing exclusively with
language rights
– Regionality
– Recognises the particular linguistic environment of Caribbean
Creoles ie they are majority languages w/o official recognition
– Deals with all languages (including indigenous, endangered
and sign) within the linguistic space of the Caribbean Creolespeaking territories
Plans, Problems and Politricks I
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Ministry of Education Youth and Culture (MOEYC)
has set options for bilingual education in Jamaica:
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“1. Declare the Jamaican Language situation bilingual ascribing
equal language status to SJE and JC. Tailor instruction to
accommodate this status and permit instruction and
assessment in both languages. Produce printed materials in
both languages, and permit teaching in both languages using
appropriate instructional strategies.
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“2. While retaining SJE as the official language, promote the
acquisition of basic literacy in the early years (eg. K – 3) in
the home language [=JC] and facilitate the development of
English as a second language.
Plans, Problems and Politricks II
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“3. Maintain SJE as the official language and promote basic
communication through oral use of the home language in
early years while facilitating development of literacy in English”
(Draft Language Education Policy, 2001 p. 20)
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...MOYEC has adopted Option 3, despite reservations as it
was viewed as the most feasible. The objections to Options 1
and 2 are on the grounds that they are
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‘… not immediately feasible as there is no agreed orthography
for Jamaican Creole... Issues such as funding for the adequate
supply of literacy materials as well as political and social
attitudes to Creole as a medium of instruction (Bryan 2000),
particularly the latter, present obstacles difficult to overcome’.
Jamaican Patwa in mass media
Comparing Creole Cases
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Problems of JamC are typical African diaspora ones
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State goals: nation-building, modernization, social/economic
progress, participatory democracy, social inclusion
Herderian myth of 1 people (“Out of many, one people”), 1
national identity, 1 (official, standard) language= poor match
with post-slavery, creolized, syncretic Caribbean realities
Similar issues in very different context: Nicaragua
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African-descent English Creole in Spanish-dominant state
Size/scale contrasts: instead of 95% of population, now 1%
Regional links with indigenous peoples of coast
Both: sociolinguistic factors crucial to interpreting
law, securing/implementing language rights
Caribbean 1730 – Miskito Coast
Nicaragua: Miskito/Creole
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Miskito Coast of Nic.: pop. 118,000 (Foladori et al 1982)
Eng Creole spoken by various coastal ethnic groups
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Creoles, African-European ancestry – MCC L1 – 50k/20%
[Negro/Creole racial divide, upward assimilation > Creole]
Indigenous peoples: Sumu (4%), Rama (0.5%) – MCC= L1
Post-slavery ethnicities: Garifuna African-Indian (1%), L1;
and Miskito – African-Indian-European ancestry (57%), L2
[Also Ladinos – Spanish-speaking mestizos (15%), L2]
Spanish conquest 1520; British in Providence 1631
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Pacific region the focus of Nic., Hispanic mestizaje state:
cultural, economic, linguistic assimilation of indigenes
Caribbean coast: multilingual, interethnic w/indigenous
cultures, English influence, tradition of regional autonomy
Mestizaje & Indigenismo
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Nic. inherits Latin Am. liberal indigenismo philosophy
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After Sandinista revolution, plans to develop Coast’s
economy and foster local culture, esp. language
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Languages need revitalizing and rescate.
Accepts definition of culture as bounded by national
or ethnic lines and internally homogenous
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Indigenismo a benign form of mestizaje (assimilation),
with an essentialist focus on group identity
separates material culture from non-material practices
Idealizes indigenous past, little knowledge of present
Sees culture/identity as best expressed in language
Sandinista vs(a-vis?) Costeño
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Costeño identity= all on coast, focus on indigenous
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All distinguished from Mestizos, ‘usurpers’ of local power
Traditionally marginal to Hispanic colonial process
How did 1979 Sandinista revolution affect Costeños?
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Region never effectively incorporated into Nic. state
Distrust of mestizo interventions, different assumptions
Shared goal of ending racial and ethnic discrimination
Sandinismo version of indigenismo: blend indigenous &
European cultures into new Latin American one
But S. distrust Anglo culture, ambivalent re: African identity
Purist focus on revitalizing indigenous languages/cultures
Sees cultural change = loss of authentic identity
Attempt to split Creoles from Miskitu, Sumu & Rama
Transnational creole Identities
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Creoles have triple identity, each trans-national:
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Negros – African diasporic heritage out of slavery; <
Jamaica via Rastafari, Garveyism, US identity politics
• Creoles – Anglo diasporic focus on English, elite; < ‘free
people of colour’ – independent, Protestant, literate
• Costeños - autochthonous (“c”) creole group, (blood)
links to indigenes, resistance to Spanish/Sandinistas
Focus on “Creole” asserts (nationally-/racially-derived)
non-inferiority, status, via education; devalues “Negro”
Focus on “Costeño” asserts affiliation with indigenous
peoples, claim to Nic. roots/citizenship; undercuts Anglo
Focus on “Negro” asserts African & class awareness,
reminder of colour, class divisions w/in Anglo Creoles
Mixing peoples > language
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All mark distinction from usurping Mestizo group
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Irony: “C/creole” ~ “mestizo/aje” opposed, but both are
ways of naming cultural syncretism, change and invention
Recent identities, unvalidated except at state level
Reflect conflict b/w European powers/languages: “Creole”
recalls English struggle vs Spanish, resists Sandinistas
Common investment in Miskito Coast Creole language
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English-lexicon Creole w/early Miskito (flora, fauna) and
later Spanish (modern/public life) borrowings; Spanish
bilingualism > syntactic calques (Holm 1978, 1988)