Language and its Importance in the Caribbean

Seminar paper from the year 1998 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: very good, University of Salzburg (Anglistics/ American Studies), course: Caribbean Prose and Poetry, language: English, abstract: Almost every inhabitant of the European continent has sometimes dreamed of the Caribbean or the West Indies as a possibible holiday destination. It is quite common in Europe to think in images of the West Indies. In peoples' minds, the Caribbean equals white beaches, palm trees or drinking Piña Coladas in the shadow of a tree with big leaves. The common image, though, also has another side: for most Europeans, the 'islands in the sun' also mean poverty, a bad economic situation, underdevelopment and backwardness in many respects. Almost nobody over here knows that most of these islands have had a history, wars, and conflicts with other nations, especially with the colonising ones. What should not be neglected here is that all these factors of the islands' history have had an influence on the development of their languages both written and spoken. In this paper, I would like to deal with some of these factors and their influence on the language of the Caribbean people and their literature. On the one hand, I chose the topic 'Language' for my final paper since my own interest within the English language lies within the field of linguistics, on the other hand because never before have I been in contact with the Caribbean variety of English which, in my opinion, deserves much more attention and research in the near future from a linguistic point of view. 'Language And Its Importance In The Caribbean'-a title of a paper which might suggest that the topic is only treated from a linguistic point of view. Generally speaking, this paper tries to introduce a few of the varieties and dialects spoken in this area of the world, but also focuses on the importance of language in the daily lives of the Caribbean people and in their literature. Furthermore, I try to show the importance of language in literature by giving some references to certain books. At the beginning of this paper, I would like to deal with a topic which is basic for the understanding of language in the West Indies. The following chapter deals with the variety of 'Creole English'.