International Creole Day (Jounen Kwéyòl Entennasyonnal), St.Lucia

International Creole Month is celebrated in St. Lucia with a month of differing activities, spearheaded by the Folk Research Centre. The celebration began this year on September 30^th and will culminate on October 30^th the Saint Lucian Creole Day, Jounen Kwéyòl Sentlisi. International Creole Day, Jounen Kwéyòl Entennasyonnal, is celebrated October 28^th.

Creole Month festivities include story telling in lyrical Kweyol or Fèsten Kont épi Listwa, Fèt Magwit (La Marguerite Flower Festival), Creole dance Fiesta, Creole Tea Party, Creole Fashion Show and Creole Film Festival. There will be community awareness events in the form of Creole Programme for Students, Cultural Literacy Workshop for Adults, Creole Art & Craft Exhibition and Kwéyòl Literacy Course. There will also be the Konpétisyon Lawenn Kwéyòl, the Creole Queen Pageant and the Konpétisyon Jennès Kwéyòl (Creole Youth Pageant).

Konpétisyon Woulélaba or Woulélaba Competition is one of the highlights of  the celebration. Woulélaba is a local version of cricket though less formal and increases excitement in the local spectator. The game is usually played between two communities. There are several activities which surround the game such as cultural performance of cultural traditions, informal betting on teams, sale of food and drink and often a public dance at the end of the day. At any of these celebrations, visitors and locals can also enjoy tasty dishes such as fishcakes, bwapain woti (roasted breadfruit) and the national dish, greenfig and saltfish.

Dr. Kentry D Jn Pierre, Executive Director of the Folk Research Centre (Plas Wichès Foklò) states: Jounen Kwéyòl is celebrated in St. Lucia every year on the Sunday which is closest to International Creole Day (October 28^th). It represents the grand climax of Creole Heritage Month during which there is a national programme of cultural and education activities in various communities. The main activities usually take place in four communities that are specifically selected as host communities for the particular year. Thousands of people flock these communities to participate in the celebration. Standard activities in each host community include a Creole Mass; a massive Creole Food and Drink Fair; an indoor exhibition of Creole technology, equipment and items depicting the folk life of the ancestors of modern day St Lucians; outdoor demonstrations of traditional technologies and other folk traditions; cultural performances throughout the day, and; other community-specific spontaneous activities. On that day St. Lucians are also encouraged to speak the Creole language as much as possible.

In order to showcase, now and in the future, authentic St. Lucian heritage, the Folk Research Centre attaches much importance to the documentation of the events on Jounen Kwéyòl. Such documentation facilitates the Centre’s ongoing programme of cultural education and the development of St Lucian people and communities.

HISTORY TODAY

THE CHARTER ON LANGUAGE POLICY AND LANGUAGE RIGHTS

IN THE CREOLE SPEAKING CARIBBEAN

Implications for Language Education in Guyana

Contributors

Charlene Wilkinson & Kencil Banwarie

University of Guyana

Department of Language & Cultural Studies

Faculty of Education &the Humanities

In January of this year, a landmark conference in Jamaica concluded with the presentation to members of the public of the final draft of The Charter on Language Policy and Language Rights in the Creole Speaking Caribbean.   Participants at this conference -- linguists, educators and policy makers -- from fifteen Caribbean States, the United States, the United Kingdom met to finalize this document which had its inception in the work of Caribbean linguists begun more than five decades earlier. Current Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Lawrence Carrington, world-renowned linguist, was a keynote speaker at the conference. Two Guyanese lecturers from the University of Guyana, Kencil Banwarie and Charlene Wilkinson were also participants and proud signatories to the Charter along with the other participants. They returned home to introduce it to their peers in the Faculty of Education and the Humanities with the expectation that the University would appreciate the strategic advantage of this historic document and recognise its leadership role in the re-visioning of Guyana’s language policy.

The Charter is built on the foundations of previously established Human Rights treaties: The Charter of the United Nations--The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966; and the American Convention on Human Rights of 1969.  From the point of view of education, it is a promising beginning to the formulation of a response to the challenges of teaching in the Caribbean because it recognizes the Caribbean Creoles as ‘territorial languages, separate from the European languages from which they derive their vocabulary’. 

What are the implications of having a Charter on language policy and language rights for language education in Guyana?

Although there is, in some quarters, an increasing sense of ownership that suggests a growing pride in the use of Guyanese Creole (Creolese), there is a basic assumption in the society at large that everyone ought to speak English.  The idea that an educated person might be able to use Creolese to express intellectual concepts and important ideas still is, generally, an unthinkable thought.  In fact, a person who does not master English is often derided for aspiring to or accepting positions in the leadership hierarchies of Guyanese society. They often become targets for people who judge their intellectual capacity by their ability to use English. Such privileging of English speech and de-valuing of Creole speech is a consequence of the inheritance from the British which linguists call the ‘English Mother Tongue Tradition’. With respect to language teaching, what this tradition translates to in the ex-British territories of the Caribbean is a notion that learning occurs in a ‘fixed sequence leading to an ideal, arbitrarily defined competence’ which is modelled in books written by speakers of English.

The reported practice in schools of principals forbidding children to speak Creolese and the incontestable evidence that many children and adults feel ashamed because they cannot speak English properly are two of the psychological consequences of this tradition.  In general, there is a ‘dumbing down’ of Creole speakers because of the perception that ‘good’ language teachers always speak good English and that teaching is a process of altering natural (Creolese) speech and  replacing it with the sounds and syntax of English.  Nowhere in the Guyanese education system is there the opportunity for students to develop Creolese in the same way that a French student or a German student would develop French or German.

Language assessment procedures in schools are quite firmly established in a curriculum that renders Creolese both invisible (unwritten) and illegitimate. When students fail to produce good English speech or writing or when they show weaknesses in the comprehension of English, this is usually attributed either to their lack of literacy skills, lack of intelligence, the incompetence of their teachers, or other social, psychological, and even economic problems.  The resulting poor grades, lowered expectations, lack of appreciation for teachers’ efforts, and political fervour about creating social and economic equity in the society are the result of a meritocracy based on English competence reproduced over and over again in the education system.  The personal and social dimensions of experience, and the innate cognitive capacities of students which find expression in the varieties of Creole students speak have no valid place in education. An interesting point to note is the Ministry of Education’s introduction of a policy of remedial English classes for students who underperform in the subject. It would be worthwhile to check on how students are deemed eligible for remedial classes. Is it just because they have low grades? Is any consideration given to the influence of the first language on the students’ learning of English? Are remedial classes truly remedial where they seek to fill in the gaps or “correct” Creolese?

What the Charter makes possible is ‘a truly regional process’ for validating the Creole languages across the Caribbean through the collaboration of governments, the exchange of skilled persons, the collective reform of curricula and the creation of teaching materials. Indeed, the reality that these languages are not the creation of deficient and inferior subjects of European Imperial rule, but of resilient makers of history in response to their new experience still has to be embraced even by the Creole speakers themselves. This public awareness and confidence would be more effectively achieved through a regional process. 

Statistical evidence indicates that the challenges of English language learning faced by students are common to the entire ex-British Caribbean.  In a survey conducted during the 1990’s, a comparison of the performance in English examinations by fifth formers from the Caribbean and fifth formers from England demonstrated that, in spite of comparable high rates of school attendance, the English proficiency of Caribbean students was far below that of native English-speaking students of the same age group.  Linguist and educator, Dennis Craig, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, attributed this paradox to the Creole-influenced vernacular situation of the majority of Caribbean children.  Furthermore, his observations of language teaching practices in schools led him to make three significant pronouncements about language education:

(a)     ‘In nursery and primary education, the fact that many children can communicate only in Creole is hardly reflected in a critical area such as the teaching of reading.

(b)   There is nothing to indicate, in most cases in schools, that English has the status of a second language for most Caribbean children.

(c)    The education of teachers is usually not designed to give them the necessary linguistic understanding of both English and Creole—an understanding which they need in order to function efficaciously in CIV [Creole influenced Vernacular] situations.’

It is now nearly sixty years since the 1953 United Nations’ stated position about the practical value of teaching literacy in mother tongue, and more than a decade since Craig published his text for teachers,  Teaching Language and Literacy: Policies and Procedures for Vernacular Situations’ (2000). [quoted from above] Craig’s text heralds a significant shift in perspective about the use of language and about language teaching in societies where Creoles are territorial languages. Importantly, Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) has embarked on creating a Linguistics module for use in its Associate Degree programme which began this year. Designed by Kencil Banwarie and Dr. Victorine Solomon, such a module is a step in the right direction in not only raising awareness about our unique linguistic situation in Guyana, but will equip teachers with the right knowledge as they encounter sometimes seemingly complex linguistic scenarios in their classrooms.

This is what the charter says, in summary, about education in schools:

A.    “Education must help to foster the capacity for linguistic and cultural self-expression of the language communities of the territory where it is provided. 

B.     Education must help to maintain and develop the languages spoken by the language communities of the territory where it is provided. 

C.     Initial instruction in one’s first language is crucial as it enhances conceptual development, language acquisition and development, learning in general, and education of the child. 

D.    Everyone has the following rights: 

a.       –to at least initial instruction and literacy in their first language;

b.       –to learn the territorial languages of the territory in which he/she resides; 

c.       –to learn any other language. 

E.     All language communities are entitled to have at their disposal all the human and material resources necessary to ensure that their language is present to the extent they desire at all levels of education within their territory.”

Guyanese linguist, Hubert Devonish, Coordinator of the Jamaican Language Unit at Mona, chaired the Conference.  He pointed out that three major activities were envisioned:  (a) A Regional Council of Language Policy and Rights would be established; (b) Governments, the corporate sector and civil society groups in the various territories would adopt the Charter; and (c) Caribbean Creole Day would be launched.  October 28^th has now been designated for the observance of that day.  The Guyanese Ministry of Education  mission ‘to eliminate illiteracy, to modernize education and to strengthen tolerance’ now certainly appears to be more clearly in sight. It would be interesting to find out, in this election season, which of our competing political parties would be willing to embrace a policy of linguistic democracy which truly validates the voices of all our citizens, as they make promises to lead us into full participatory democracy.

October 20, 2011

The Fifty-Fifty Research Project and Conference

For some Commonwealth countries, August 2012 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of their Independence from Great Britain, and while fifty years is a short time in a nation’s history and development, it is ample time for reflection and review of failures and successes. At the half century mark, new nations can evaluate the progress made or failed in terms of quality of life for their citizens, justice and issues of crime as well it provides a clear springboard for the future with guidance to dissuade repetition of mistakes.

 With this background, the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), UWI Mona, has organized the Fifty-Fifty research project, with the suiting tagline ‘Surveying the past to inform the future.’ The project will include a series of seminars and thematic studies aimed at reviewing the past fifty years of independence and will culminate with a grand conference on August 20-25, 2012, in Kingston, Jamaica, under the theme Fifty-Fifty: Critical Reflections in a Time of Uncertainty.

The ICCLR has been charged with the Caribbean Language Rights and Policy issues cluster with Professor Hubert Devonish as chair. This is an opportunity to bring much needed light to the topics/issues which are overlooked but so vital to every person of the region. Subsequently, persons actively involved in language research and policy are encouraged to submit abstracts.  The themes for the Language Panels will be (i) language rights and language politics in the Caribbean, and (ii) language, culture and identity.

The dates for submission are below. Please email abstracts to Arlene Supersad:

Arlene.supersad@uwimona.edu.jm

Deadline for submission of abstracts:  December 15, 2011

Notification of acceptance of abstracts:   February 1, 2012

For more information, check the SALISES conference website: http://thesalises5050project.blogspot.com/

ICCLR PARTNERS WITH SARGASSO

On the heels of a successful Language Policy conference, the ICCLR has been receiving tremendous accolades and messages of support from various sectors across the region. This reception to our initiative has encouraged members of the Working Group and has strengthened our resolve to push forward our mandate on regional language policy reform.

One offer of collaboration came to the ICCLR from the Sargasso journal, which is published by the University of Puerto Rico and covers areas such as Caribbean Literature, Language and Culture. Mr. Don E. Wallicek, one of the journal’s editors, made the contact and offered the Working Group an opportunity to publish a special issue of the journal highlighting the Conference and subsequently relating issues.    

 The special issue will contain papers presented at the Language Policy Conference held in January, on issues surrounding the Charter of Language Rights document and more general papers on Language, Language Rights and the Law in the Caribbean. Editorial duties will be shared between Mr. Wallicek and Mrs. Celia Blake of the ICCLR. 

The ICCLR would like to publicly thank Sargasso and Mr. Wallicek for approaching us with the offer of a special issue of their journal. We are confident that it will be as special as the name suggests.  We hope that the Special Issue would be out in time for the 50/50 Conference (see here) in which the ICCLR and its associates hope to play a major role.  

JUNIOR RESEARCHERS’ PROGRAMME UNDERWAY

In our first newsletter, the ICCLR spoke of its intention to run a twelve month programme that would help junior researchers in the areas of Caribbean Language and Linguistics, to convert their academic research into publishable articles. The programme aimed to provide each selected candidate with a mentor from the wide pool of distinguished Linguists associated with the ICCLR. This would give the candidate not only a chance to collaborate with a renowned linguist and produce a journal article, but also a rare learning opportunity.

Since then, we have advertised the programme, received submissions from interested candidates from across the region and the United States (much more than we had in fact expected), completed the selection process and got the programme on the road!! Seven candidates were selected and at present are being coordinated by Dr. Karen Carpenter and Professor Hubert Devonish.

The course of the programme has taken a slightly different turn to what was originally conceived. Instead of their academic research, the selected candidates will work with their existing supervisors to write an article for publication. This change has met the approval of the candidates and so the next step is the candidates’ submission of the articles to be vetted and approved by Dr. Carpenter and Prof. Devonish. Following this, the articles will then be submitted to the Society of Caribbean Linguistics (SCL), for peer review and publication as part of their Occasional Paper Series.

The programme, at this point, is moving along the new pathway as outlined and it is expected that at the end of the process, we would have:

1) A satisfied group of junior researchers whose skills at writing for publications would have been sufficiently honed and

2) An elated ICCLR team who will be looking to expand the programme even more the next time around.

International Creole Day 2011

October 28^th will be celebrated as International Creole Day.  This is a festival currently celebrated across the French Creole speaking countries of the world, in the Caribbean as well as in the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius, Reunion and the Seychelles.   The January 2011 conference adopted International Creole Day as a day for the celebration of all the Creole languages of the Caribbean Region.  The festival’s aims to raise the awareness of Creole languages while celebrating the creole culture and identity of the host country. The festivities include music, dance, cultural foods, as well as a strong element in support of the use of the languages in public communication, formal domains and the education system.   

The ICCLR, as a follow up to the Conference decision, are reminding all our associates in the Creole-speaking Caribbean to begin planning for the commemoration of International Creole Day.  In order to coordinate this celebration regionally, we need to receive information, by 1^st September, 2011, as to the specific territorial plans of each of the territories in which our associates are active.  

Pesky Linguists and Language Planning in the Caribbean

Generally speaking, the average person does not understand exactly what a linguist does. Certainly in Jamaica where I grew up, and in the wider Caribbean region to a large extent, confusion abounds as it relates to the work of a linguist. Some think we specialise in the teaching of many (European!) languages or serve as some kind of special police force for the enforcing of proper punctuation and grammar. Our most unflattering label though would be something along the lines of “those pesky academics who are hell bent on promoting those substandard Creole languages.” Unflattering indeed. So generally speaking, the average person does not see the linguist as doing anything useful, let alone being an activist. But it was in fact activism which brought together some of the most prolific linguists in the Caribbean for the first ever “International Conference on Language Policy in the Creole Speaking Caribbean”, January 13 -14th, at the University of the West Indies, Monai.

When tourists think about the Caribbean, they think about white sand beaches, scrumptious spicy food, great music and world class hospitality. Not necessarily rich linguistic heritage. And even when people do recognise this diverse linguistic heritage, they hardly ever think of it as under threat. Indeed, quite a number of these languages come under threat from two main forces (i) the natural attrition of native speakers (without any accompanying interest by the new generation to preserve the language) and (ii) a complex network of socio-political discrimination and public indifference on the matterii. Linguists who lobby for language rights are interested in addressing both of these forces, with a special emphasis on the latter – that of discrimination.

The Caribbean is an interesting milieu of multiethnic and multilinguistic heritage which was largely borne out of a very long history of colonial legacies. For the most part, this intricate mosaic of different nationalities, ethnicities, races, cultures and sub-cultures get along quite well. Nevertheless, it is all too easy to find someone in the Caribbean who has suffered some form of discrimination. Discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, race, religion, gender and political affiliation, while unconstitutional in all Caribbean jurisdictions, does in fact occur from time to time. There is not much mention, however, of discrimination on the grounds of language.

What exactly is linguistic discrimination? Well, imagine that you are calling a potential landlord to inquire about the availability of an apartment which you noticed was vacant. You place the call, tell the landlord about your occupation, family composition and level of income and the unfortunate response is that the apartment is already gone. A friend of yours calls back a few hours afterwards, same family make-up and same income but with a different accent and voila! The apartment is now ready for him to move in. Don’t believe it happens? Well Prof. John Baugh of Washington University in St. Louis has documented the issue of linguistic discrimination in the USA and a public service announcement inspired by his research can be seen hereiii. But how does this relate to the Caribbean?

As I have pointed out above, the Caribbean is an area which can be characterised by its rich linguistic diversity. While there is a tendency to label some Caribbean territories as simply “English-speaking”, “French-speaking”, “Spanish-speaking” or “Dutch-speaking” this only acknowledges one facet of this linguistic diversity. It ignores the fact that almost all Caribbean territories have a Creole language such as the English Creoles “Patwa” in Jamaica and “Creolese” in Guyana and some have an indigenous/aboriginal language such as Lokono, an Amerindian Language spoken by the indigenous people of Suriname and Garifuna spoken by the indigenous inhabitants of Belize. As it turns out, in most of these Caribbean territories it is the European languages which have prestige and command respect. The other languages, which in some cases have the numerical majority in these territories, are seen as having low prestige, unstructured and uncultured, and generally have little or no intrinsic value. What makes this situation distressing is that the same attitudes towards a particular language are usually extended to the speakers of the same language. When this happens, it’s now a human rights problem.

It was with this concern in mind that linguists from all over the world with a common interest in language rights in the Caribbean decided to gather on the campus of the UWI, Mona in January. The purpose of the gathering was to create and critique a Draft Charter on Language Rights for the Creole-Speaking Caribbean. And not just linguist. This time around we managed to get input from legal minds, heads of state, educators and, most importantly, the general public.Academics are often criticised for their eagerness to forge ahead with idealized plans without so much as even a memo to the general public. Well, I think we managed to steer clear of that mistake with this conference. The questions, criticisms and recommendations coming from the large contingent of non-linguists in attendance served as a counter-weight to any hyper-idealized plans we linguists might have been tempted to implement.

The format of the conference had one significant addition to the usual modus operandi of academic conferences. While there were panels, presenters, and question and answer segments the main focus of the conference was for participants to work towards one common goal. Our aim ultimately was to critically scrutinise and make the necessary adjustments to a charter of rights for the speakers of Caribbean creoles. The charter focused on four main areas:

1.  Public Administration: The general focus in this area was to outline the rights offered to the territorial languagesiv in the Caribbean as it relates to the legal and soci-economic sphere

2.  Education in Schools: This section detailed how the territorial languages of the Caribbean should be handled with respect to public formal education

3.  Education out of Schools: The specific aim here was to highlight the freedom of accessibility given to members of all language communities in the various Caribbean territories to learn the history and evolution of their languages outside of public education

4.  Culture: The final area dealt with the right for all language communities to use their languages in all forms of cultural expression as they see fit

While there was heated debate about whether particular sections of the charter were practical, or even legally sound for that matter, there was general consensus among all those present that such a charter was needed. And the reason behind it is simple. It is unacceptable that a law- abiding tax-paying member of the electorate in a Caribbean territory should be denied certain fundamental rights on the grounds of language. It would spark widespread outrage if the government of a territory discriminated against members of said territory on the grounds of their race, gender or religion and language should be no different. One’s language is as intricately linked to one’s identity as is their ethnicity, cultural heritage and overall worldview. When you discriminate against a person’s language, you discriminate against the very element which makes

that person human.

But is it practical? Can governments across the Caribbean be assured that as soon as the charter is accepted that members of various language communities will not turn out in legion to file lawsuits for linguistic discrimination? Participants at the conference had this same apprehension in mind. It was determined that as a precursor to accepting the charter each territory which intends to be a signatory should undertake research. The research findings, which would be guided by a local committee set up to handle the task, would do two things. It would firstly determine to what extent the particular Caribbean territory was already in violation of the charter. Secondly, it would determine the kinds of steps which would be needed for the territory to rectify these breaches and the potential time frame to accomplish this. All this would be done BEFORE the charter would be accepted. As much as language advocates would love to see such a charter accepted, it serves no one if at the moment of implementation a jurisdiction becomes bogged down by claims of discrimination. The last thing needed is a bureaucratic nightmare triggered by the first serious attempt at a regional language policy.

It stands to reason then that it would be better to hold off on implementing the charter until all the necessary research is done to determine the best and most efficient manner of moving forward. This is of course no barrier to accepting the charter in principle and pledging to carry out the task of implementation once the research is completed. And this is precisely what the participants at the conference did in a symbolic signing of the charter at the end of the conference. Even members of the public who had been invited to attend the public forum on the final day registered their support for the initiative and offered their signatures. The research will indeed precede full implementation, but an opportunity delayed is an opportunity denied. Those of us who are familiar with Caribbean-style activism know all too well of great ideas which never somehow managed to leave the ideational realm. The energy and enthusiasm of the participants at the International Conference on Language Policy in the Creole Speaking Caribbean makes me hopeful that the charter on language rights will not be one such idea.

It is important at this point to dispel a misconception which might be brewing in the minds of those who still look at linguists with a “side-eye”. What is the “hidden agenda” of these academics? The most common theory I have come across is that us Caribbean linguists are secretly advocating a kind of radical “Creole revolution” which will ultimately overthrow the established European languages in the region. This will permanently severe the language bridge which extends from the Caribbean to the rest of the world and ostensibly plunge the region into a kind of post-apocalyptic regime where linguists rule. The humanity! Needless to say, nothing could be further from the truth. The charter on language rights is meant to give equal treatment to all territorial languages within a particular Caribbean region. This obviously means the European languages as well. It was never the intention to overtake and replace English with Jamaican Creole in Jamaica, Dutch with Papiamentu in Curacao or French with Kweyol in St. Lucia. On the contrary – the charter is meant to recognise and preserve the linguistic diversity of the Caribbean region. But for this to be a reality a large part of that linguistic diversity will have to be put on equal footing with the historically established European languages. Linguists believe that legislation may be an important step in accomplishing this.

Legislation is important, but the final frontier in addressing language issues in the Caribbean region has always been attitudes. If legislation is not complemented with a change in attitudes towards language, then any kind of meaningful transformation of the linguistic situation is impossible. To be sure, attitudes towards language in the Caribbean have been slowly improving in the last few decadesv. Creoles and indigenous languages from the region have gradually extended their influence beyond the boundaries of entertainment and have seeped into new domains such as education, the media, the legal context and even religion. This gradual change in attitudes has even prompted some Caribbean territories to establish language planning agencies, units or committees to improve the prestige of low status languages much to the chagrin of those who would rather preserve the status quo. Indeed, the road towards linguistic equality in the Caribbean is filled with twists and turns and is hardly ever paved well enough for smooth sailing. But yet still those of us who think such an ideal can become a reality still press on.

Looking ahead it is clear that the journey has just now started for those of us who gathered at that conference in January. We all left feeling a great sense of accomplishment but at the same time were fully aware of the kind of hefty task which lies ahead if we are ever to achieve full implementation of the charter on language rights. Any exercise in language planning is also normally an exercise in changing perspectives and world views. But, as one conference participant admitted, she is not a professional linguist, but she just “loves language”. This is where it has to start: a genuine love for and appreciation of the quintessential human characteristic – language. I love languages too, and that is why I work to preserve them.

Acknowledgement:

I would firstly like to acknowledge the Dean’s office in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University, for providing me with the funding for attending this conference. I would also like to thank Denise Banks of the Jamaican Language Unit, University of the West Indies, Mona for providing the pictures used in this article.

-Clive Forrester 

i  The conference website can still be viewed  here.

ii A video clip of some of the dying languages of the Caribbean and the linguistic diversity in the regionncan be viewed  here.

iii Additionally, Baugh has discussed the issue of linguistic profiling extensively along with the Ebonics debate in

“Beyond Ebonics: Linguistic Pride and Racial Prejudice” 2000, Oxford University Press.

iv The term “territorial language” as outlined in Article 1 of the charter, refers to (a) Creoles, (b) Indigenous languages, (c) European languages designated in the territories as official languages and (d) Any other language

which may be designated or determined by national consensus.

v  The Jamaican Language Unit at the University of the West Indies, Mona carried out a Language Attitude Survey in

Jamaica in 2005. The main aim of the survey was to gauge the current attitudes of Jamaicans to the language

situation. An explanation of the sampling and results and be accessed  here.