Pumped

This morning I took care of my bike. I oiled up the axels and gears with some WD-40, and pumped up the tires (and the jam, thanks to my iPod). I took it for a test spin, and got ready for tonight. Then this afternoon, Dominique took me to work, where the students in quatrième (ages 13-15) were travelling around the school to hear different people talk about their careers. She invited me to join her in her presentation, so I got to tell all the kids what I did (after they stopped giggling at my accent), and specifically what I was doing in French Guiana. We asked the kids whether they spoke Haitian Creole, and some said yes. There was one group that was particularly stunned that their variety of Haitian was not identical to what is spoken in Haiti. They asked me to say something in Haitian Creole, so I said, M chita bò Dominik ‘I’m sitting next to Dominique’. They quickly corrected me, saying that I should have said, M asiz bò Dominik. They had no idea that the word was borrowed locally and not used in Haiti, rather than just being one of the many common words between the two creoles. I told the kids I’d be there in the library all week if they wanted to come talk to me. We’ll see if any of them take me up on my offer, but in any case, Dominique took me to meet other people in the school who speak the local creole, so even if the recruitment of kids is unsuccessful, I’ll still meet people who might be able to help me.

I should also mention that it’s not just the kids who don’t realize the influence of other creoles. I met a group of adults who were able to talk quite eloquently about the mixture and changes in the local creole. For example, they mentioned a change in progress in Guianese (the local Creole) in which kids were starting to use the singular in place of the plural, and the example they sought to contrast the kids’ version with — the example of ‘good’ or ‘correct’ creole— was actually a version that had been borrowed from Martinican Creole into Guianese. When I asked for clarification, and provided them with a chance to accept the traditional form or the Martinican form, they said ‘Oh they’re equivalent. There’s no real difference.’ Even those with extreme sensitivities to language and proper speech cannot know everything about the history of their language, but it was nice to see the lack of awareness in such different groups. It makes me think I made the right decision in coming here.