Sociolinguistic Research on Attitudes and Use of Creole, English and Spanish Languages to Support the Departmental Language Policy

By ZORAIDA FIQUIARE ESCALONA B.A in Bilingual Education in Project Management

This paper is about the research done on the Social and Linguistic situation of the three languages (Creole, Spanish, and English) in contact on the Archipelago of San Andres, Old Providence and Santa Catalina.

In the year 2011, the government of San Andres began to work on a Language Policy for the entire Archipelago. With the support of the National University, INFOTEP (a post-secondary technological institute) and other institutions, they began a research Project called the Language Policy of the archipelago of San Andres, Old Providence and Santa Catalina.

In spite of the neglect of many governmental officials, this Project began in 2011 and ended with a final report in 2013.

It all began with the planning of research activities. We started by receiving training courses using a Methodological guide on how to research for specific information.

I was fairly new to work on this type of research so I started by translating to Creole the questions that would be asked at each Meeting held for the purpose of approaching the different communities.

We had meetings with people from the community, including elders, leaders, women, younger children. In these meetings we asked questions, and opened a space for discussion. We taped these discussions and then transcribed the information obtained for further studies.

We studied several facts, such as:

FACT 1 The intergenerational transmission of the three Languages.

How di nyuu ginarieshan laan di Langwij? (pikniny an yong pipl)

What was our interest?

Wid dis kweschan: da how di langwij de paas dong tu di nyuu ginarieshan? das wai di impuortant fi dem explien how yo laan di langwij, if yo laan ih huom chruu yo granpierans, yo pupa, yo muma or enibady fahn di komunity, da skuul or wid wan fren, or if dis no de hapm, explien wai di no de hapm.

FACT 2 Numbers of speakers in comparison with the whole population.

Huu da di pipl dem ina di komunity weh taak di Langwij?

Ya so wi hafi ansa, weh ginarieshan taak di langwij, if di granpierans, pierans, pikniny or aal di pipl dem fahn di komunity stil taak ih. Yo hafi explien klierly weh iej a pipl (granpierans, pierans, pikniny) yuuz di Langwij fi komunikate.

FACT 3 What are the changes in the use of the languages?

Weh  an wen wii taak wi langwij?

Wid dis kweschan wi waah nuo weh an wen di pipl dem fahn dih komunity taak Creole, fi nuo how an wid huu dem taak ih, or if dem riplies ih fi Spanish or English.

Wid dis kweschan wih hafi ansa if dem yuuz fiwi langwij huom, da skuul, ina dem diely laif, wid di aatarity dem, ina miitin, or enywie els.

FACT 4 We wanted to find out: How important the Languages were in the Communication system?

Pipl taak truu internet, fuon, da skuul, da work, ina dem mada tong?

Eksplinieshan: wid dis kweschan wi waah nuo if wen dem yuuz fuon/internet dem yuuz wi mada tong.

FACT 5 An immediate task was to know what materials were on the island in Creole and what we could find in other creole speaking countries such as Jamaica.

Wi gat ritn matiiryal ina Creole Langwij?

Eksplinieshan: wid dis kweschan wi waah nuo weh kaina matiiryal wi gat ina creole; laik buk, stuoriz, vidios, eny ada matiiryal, an den ditormin, weh kain ah matiiryal wi deh yuuz ina edukieshan.  Dis da somting wih hafi gat klier if wi gat matiiryal or wi no gat non.

FACT 6 The attitude of the community members.

Fiwi Langwij impuortant fi wi komunity?

Eksplinieshan: wid dis kweschan wi waah nuo weh di langwij miin fi wih komunity. Di gud an di bad bihievia wid dih langwij, dat disaid if wi kiip di langwij. 

Dis kweschan wahn mek wi andastan how strang wi langwij an wah mek ih strang or if ih wiik wahn mek ih wiik.

FACT 7 ACTION PLAN

Weh wi wan du ina di lang, miidyum an shaat taim fi strentn di nietiv langwij?

Fi get up dis informieshan wi hafi si weh okieshan dem de propuoz fi kiip wi langwij laiv. Dis informieshan wi tek ih up chuu diely taak ina di komunity, skuul an huom.

The main task I had was to prepare Language explanations and data in Creole that were used for the focus groups. The focus groups are one´s through which we gathered voices and data to recommend a Language policy for the Department. The use of the three languages was a must in these scenarios.

The other task was to determine the Corpus of the Creole Language Publications. The idea here was to make an inventory of what has been produced in English based Creole Languages, indicating where these products are from: Jamaica, Nicaragua, Belize… It included: dictionaries, story books, text books, literature, books of the Bible, etc.  And, whether it was possible to find samples of what has been published by editing houses, or others. Some had been a result of individual efforts, others institutional.

My role in this Project was complemented by a number of other studies carried out by other experts and local institutions.  The result of the research were published by the Language Policy Commission in the form of a final document and presented to the local government for their approval and implementation. University

Unfortunately, the Final Report did not take into account the work done by the Christian University Corporation on the proposed orthography writing for Creole and material produced for pre-school and first grade in Creole and English denominated “Project 2000”.  Neither did it take into account research findings regarding community and youth opinions favorable to reading and writing in Creole.

Dr Keren Cumberbatch recipient of the UWI/Guardian Group Premium Teaching Award 2014

In a formal event held October 9, 2014, Dr Keren Cumberbatch received the UWI’s most important teaching award, the UWI/Guardian Group Premium Teaching Award 2014. The award was made by a panel of judges consisting of Chief Judge Dr Elizabeth Barkley (Foothill College, Los Altos, California, USA), who gave the keynote address at the event entitled “Striving for Excellence: Engagement and Today’s University Students”, and judges Dr Catherine Monaghan (Cleveland State University, Ohio, USA) and Dr Larry Martin (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA). The panel lauded Dr Cumberbatch, who has responsibility for the Caribbean Sign Language programme at UWI Mona, for her engagement with her students and her ability to motivate them to be active participants in teaching & learning. Dr Cumberbatch has been able to maintain her standing as a stellar teacher despite the challenge posed by the exponential growth in the introductory sign language course, which this year was taken by close to 180 students.

Check out the following Gleaner article for more details:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20141022/lead/lead64.html

M.Sc. Speech-Language Pathology to be offered at Mona

Members of the Linguistics Section of the Department of Language, Linguistics & Philosophy formed a steering committee for the Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology with members of the Faculty of Medical Sciences and practicing Speech-Language Pathologists. Supported by the Campus Coordinator for Graduate Studies and the Campus Principal, the committee designed and obtained approval for the Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology, largely based on a programme previously approved and currently offered at the UWI’s St.Augustine campus. Budgetary approval was given for the appointment of a Programme Director per January 2015 and a full-time Lecturer per August 2015, as well as part-time Associate Lecturers who will be needed for aspects of the teaching and clinical supervision required for the programme. The Programme Director will be charged with the establishment of a Speech-Language Pathology Clinic at UHWI, which will constitute an environment in which students in the programme receive clinical exposure, while at the same time providing much needed services to patients with communicative disorders. The programme will accept its first batch of qualifying students in August 2015, while the two-year Master’s programme will commence in August 2016.  The cost of the M.Sc programme is 1.8m per year for two years, while the cost of the qualifying year is the cost of normal full-time registration.

INFOTEP creates history in San Andres

The Instituto de Formación Técnica Profesional(INFOTEP) is a community college who recently launched out it's Language and Culture Center.  

The center seeks to provide the necessary tools to prepare our students and community in the preservation of our native language, and in the knowledge and mastering of native, national and international languages while allowing them to be competitive in education and workforce and being active participants in the world's global communication process.




 This is the first time in the island and Country that an institution of higher education teaches our native Creole language. The community's response has been very positive and we have had many requests from different companies that need their employees to know the Creole language.

 We have also started a small research project geared towards the teaching of languages to children. Because of the winter break we have created a vacation language course through which we are observing cultural development as we study the children's responses to the different methods of teaching a language though content areas such as arts and crafts, sports and dance. In order to do this, we have created the following classes:
 

•  Basketball in Creole
•  Arts and Crafts in English
•  Healthy lifestyle in French
•  Martial Arts and Japanese vocabulary
•  Dance and Portuguese

 The course is three weeks long, and while we know that it may not be possible to acquire a language in such a short time, we are however just observing the responses to the different language acquisition methods. With this course we are also looking to expose our children to the different languages and to therefore explore the cultural richness that our world and community provides; you see, San Andres and Providence islands are touristic destinations where these languages interact. Having completed only one week of this program, children have already expressed their interest in continuing to learn a second language.

Letter to the Editor by Silvaana Udz

September 15, 2014

To: Editor

Please allow me to publicly express support to the use of Garifuna and other local languages in public spaces. Above all, right now, kwik, fast and hurry—APOLOGIZE! Yes, you, First Caribbean Bank … you who have, admittedly, sponsored numbers of Kriol, Garifuna, and other local cultural functions in the 17 or so territories you operate in. But that just does not matter anymore. Why did you allow this linguistic hurricane to bubble and boil from what, perhaps up until your reaction you could have handled with far more sensitivity, humility, and, well, just good manners, man! You see, me, Silvaana Maree Udz (nee Woods), avid radio, newspaper, and local TV news viewer, can only critically respond to media reports, as I was not in Ms. Martinez’s shoes when you—First Caribbean Bank—were threading upon her dignity as a human being and when you were mashing up her right—her inalienable, fundamental, constitutional right—to use her language in public spaces. At the very, very least, publicly apologize to Ms. Martinez, to the Garifuna community, and to ALL Belizeans. Whether or not you feel culpable, or whether or not you feel protected by your own self-acclaimed inadequately-defined language policy, the reality is you have, whether advertently or not, hurt us. Not just “us” as your Belizean clients, but “us” as your Caribbean folk.

In January 2011, the Charter of Caribbean Language Rights was ratified at a historic meeting in Jamaica that culminated several months of pre-work by regional subcommittee members. The 2011 Charter on Caribbean Language Rights established this fundamental right to use one’s local and territorial languages in any public space as critical to the furtherance of democratic societies. It was signed unto on January 14, 2011 by three Belizean educators: Sir Colville Young, Belize’s foremost linguist; Dr. Rosalind Bradley, the then Literacy director at the Ministry of Education’s Literacy Unit, and by Dr. Silvaana Udz of the National Kriol Council. The Charter is promoted through the International Center for Caribbean Language Rights headquartered at UWI, MONA campus. The Charter draws on several UNESCO position statements in its call to have governments of the region create the enabling environment for establishing translation and other such mechanisms in organizations, companies, and forums that deal with health and hospitals, economic and financial transactions, political representation and discussion in the national assembly, and in cultural, educational, and other similar life processes. For more, go directly to:<http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/documents/CARIBBEANLANGUAGECharter.pdf>

So, this is my visceral reaction to the “rokshan” First Caribbean Bank has been causing in the minds and hearts of all Belizeans. Yes, the incident that sparked the ever simmering bubbling and boiling kettle of language and racial discrimination in Belize (“Who me? Racist? Luk ya, I have Black friends.”) Right. Like window dressing. Belize’s two traditional Black groups, Garifuna and Kriol, have been locked in an intimate dance of self discovery over the decades, and, check this: if out of the total disrespect and arrogance displayed by First Caribbean Bank in its response to what has emerged as clear-cut language discrimination against at least one employee (ok, allow me to be judge and jury here: I trust that Sandra Miranda, Roy Cayetano, Myrtle and all mi other Garifuna brethren and sistren already don check out di human rights violation information).

And di irony of it all … if I never know better, I would think that with a name like First Caribbean, such a bank would embrace all things Caribbean. But, they are based in Barbados ... so what else could one expect? (Ok, forgive that barb, my Bajan brethren and sistren … but , really, “dehn noh kaal unu “Little England” fu notn!”

The Dickie B. TV show of Monday Sept. 15, 2014, amplified some of the details of the incident regarding language discrimination, vis-à-vis Garifuna use by an employee at a First Caribbean Bank in Belize. “Disrespect and arrogance … This is a socio-political issue” said Mr. Swaso, who is also the current mayor of Dangriga. “This is a national  issue,” he reiterated. I certainly agree. Garifuna language da fu aal a wi; and eevn if we noh talk it, we dance to it, sing to it, love and laugh to it and sway eena St. Martin de Porres Church to the “Our Father” in Garifuna as we hold hands with our Garifuna brothers and sisters. And, on the same show, Sandra Miranda of the National Garifuna Council, spoke of the rational approach being taken to deal with this critically important issue to our national identify. Each cultural spoke makes up the Belizean wheel of life. As Miranda noted, “action points are developing … no divide and conquer.” She spoke of a coalition of Belizeans (count me in!) as “we won’t win the battle individually.”And Miranda clearly is not governed only by her rational mind on this issue; she also worked with the late, great patriot, Hon. Philip Goldson, so we know her heart is engaged too.

I feel so strongly about this issue because it impacts ALL of us in terms of our local language use. Yes, we need global languages like English and Spanish, but there is no need to stamp out our lovely, functional, beautifully expressive local languages in so doing. Of particular note: the Garifuna language is one of the critically important pieces of the Belizean multilingual fabric that defines us as a nation and is also an acclaimed part of UNESCO World Heritage designations. It is with pleasure that, on behalf of the language arm of the National Kriol Council, the Belize Kriol Project, I also take this opportunity to again publicly thank and acknowledge the National Garifuna Council and the late Mr. Augustine Flores for the very valuable advice and support the Garifuna Council gave to the start up of the National Kriol Council in the early 1990s. Moreover, Belizean icon the late Andy Palacio and so many other Garifuna musicians , teachers, artists, clergy and others, through their  continuous promotion of Garifuna culture and valiant efforts to preserve, use, and teach the Garifuna language, provided the National Kriol Council and its early stalwarts like Leela Vernon, Bro. David, the late Dr. Ruby Marith (Perriot), and the late Philip Goldson, with solid guidance on positive, effective ways to encourage all Belizeans to love their home languages even as they equally engage in learning the much-needed global languages today of English and Spanish.  Additionally, the sharing of expertise and Kriol literacy materials with the Kriol–speaking communities along Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast was as a direct result of the contact established between Andy Palacio and Roy Cayetano of the Garifuna Council and local Kriol Council members, a regional relationship that has strengthened the continued development with the Kriol dictionary and other publications.   Language is an integral part of a culture and when the language ceases to be or its use is threatened, the existence of the culture is in jeopardy.

I close by quoting from the press release sent out by the National Kriol Council last week: “The National Kriol Council of Belize … extends solidarity to its Garifuna brothers and sisters to endure the process of taking any means necessary to ensure the Garifuna language or any other language in Belize is never restricted from use. The use of one’s first language—the language of one’s home and community—is a language right, as indelible a right as the right to life, education, freedom of speech, religion, and all the other fundamental rights embraced in our Constitution.”

Sincerely,

Silvaana Udz            

Lover of Local Languages

THE PROCLAIMER: Gad wod ina fiwi langwij

The promotion of the Jamaican language got a boost with the Proclaimer Listening Groups Project being carried out by The Language Development Division of Wycliffe Caribbean in collaboration with Faith Comes By Hearing Ministries.

The Proclaimer

The Proclaimer is a digital player which is preloaded with an Audio Bible recording (usually a New Testament) for the one purpose of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ to the nations.

The inspiration for this device came during three days of fasting and prayer by the entire staff of Faith Comes by Hearing, and they consider the Proclaimer to be a gift from God. This tough little digital player is completely dedicated to proclaiming God’s Word in the heart language of its listener. This amazing tool was developed as a playback device for poor and illiterate people lacking the resources to receive God’s Word. With them in mind, it was developed with many features:

                                     

   

1. The installed microchip will not erase or wear out from frequent playing.
2. 3.      The battery can be charged through both the built-in solar panel and hand crank, or via an included AC adapter, and will play for 15 hours. It can be recharged enough times to play the entire New Testament more than 1,000 times.
3. 4.      The solar panel, in addition to charging the battery, will run the Proclaimer even without battery power as long as there is sunlight.
4. 5.      It contains a specially engineered speaker system that allows groups as large as 300 to hear God’s Word anytime, anywhere.

Jamaican New Testament: Listening Groups

One of the Bible recordings that is available on the Proclaimer is our own Jamaican New Testament and this enables us to listen to the whole New Testament in own Jamaican Creole.

The project started with a training workshop on March 8, 2014 with fifty persons representing thirty seven churches and communities from St. Thomas to Hanover. The training prepared these persons to use the Proclaimer as group leaders, and one proclaimer was given to each church or community based on a commitment to convene a listening group at their church or in their community for the purpose of listening to the whole New Testament in Jamaican Creole.

A listening group usually meets at least once each week to listen to the Scriptures. The participants listen and then take turns talking about what they have heard. Listening to the Scriptures, thinking about what has been written and interacting with others, are helpful activities that encourage spiritual growth and maturity.

Such listening groups have been convened in eight parishes across the island, meeting in various settings: church, school, verandah, barber shop, community centre, in the street, shops, bars, and also in the home. In the churches, the settings are equally diverse – in all aspects of the church, including:

youth fellowship, prayer meeting, Bible study, mens’ meeting, and even Sunday School. The listening aspect of the Proclaimer is an advantage, as it facilitates everyone, whether they are able to read or not.

Feedback from the users of the Proclaimer

General feedback indicates that the people are receptive to the Proclaimer and enjoy listening to it. Comments such as the following have been heard:

“church like that it is easy to understand.” departments.”

“Discussions have been very vibrant and exciting”

“People are eager to share how much they understand.”

“When she is at home, it is attractive to many passers-by and they often stop and listen as they pass.”

“They can relate to it better than the English Bible.”

Below are testimonies from three groups:

Comments from Group Leader

This group is from a rural community in St. Thomas. The group leader is the principal of the school and she is also the Pastor of a local church. The principal has employed the use of the Proclaimer in the morning devotional exercises as well as lunch time activities. Interestingly, the principal notes that at lunch time, the students are free to eat their lunches and play; however as long as the Proclaimer is being played they sit and listen attentively while they eat and if it is not played one day the students will ask fervently about it. The principal also uses the digital player as a medium to develop the students’ listening skills and promote literacy. The teachers on staff are supportive of the use of the Proclaimer and enjoy listening to it as well. They are also quite happy about the impact it is having on the lives of the students. The principal has noted improvement in the quality of behaviour in the students. She notes that more students have started going to church as a result of their constant interaction with the Word. Additionally as a result of the use of the Proclaimer students have become knowledgeable about the Word of God.

General Comments from Group Leader

This group leader uses the Proclaimer at a local barber shop in Yallahs, St. Thomas on Saturday nights of each week. The group consists of the barbers and their customers and can range from ten-thirty people on any given Saturday evening. There are some men who are staples of the group who are there consistently and others who drop in to listen while they cut their hair or are just passing by. Since introducing the Proclaimer in March 2014 I can see where God has been moving through the lives of the men. After the first few weeks of using it the men gained trust in me and even persons who would never have spoken before or have rough personalities started being engaged and even started referring to me as ‘Pastor’. Lively, strong-willed, thought provoking discussions take place each time the Proclaimer is played. Persons have expressed how clear the Word of God is to them now; many things that they had difficulty understanding before have now become quite easy to grasp because of the language the bible is being presented in. The Proclaimer is an asset to this work in getting people to know God and reaffirming the faith of those who already know Him. I would recommend the Proclaimer to other persons who are willing to start a group so that more people can truly understand what the Word is saying
.

Petition from Guyanese Civil Society translated into Guyanese by Charlene Wilkinson

Dis a wan pitishan wi mi sain fo tek part in di strogl fo diimakrasi in Gaiyana:

President Donald Ramotar:

Bring back di Parliament now and stap di govament from get aan laik se dem a dikteeta

Mondee, Novemba ten, President Donald Ramotar tel di Gaiyniiz piipl se ii sospen di Gaiyana Parliment. Wen ii kom pon di TV fo taak to di neeshan bout wa ii duu, ii se di Govament bin oblaij fo duu da, adawaiz di ten Parliment wuda had fo klooz dong. Bot ii na reelii telin di chruut. Ii sospen di Parliment fo mek di PPP govament hool an to powa.  Yu sii, kaaz ii sospen di Parliment, ii foors out di aposishan an ii na set no deet fo wen dem kud kom bak in di Parliment. So ii reelii tek we piipl raitz wa di Kanstichushan gi dem. In chruut an in fak, di sospenshan gon blak di ‘No Confidence’ voot wa di kombain aposishan bin wahn fo taak bout in di Parliment. Di President lef di hool konchri in wan big kanfyuuzhan kaaz piipl na shoor wen di PPP gon mek Parliament kaal bak ageen.

President Ramotar se ii na brok no laa. Aal di seem, ii chraiyin fo chrik piipl. If yu chek out wa di Kanstichuushan reeli miin, it na gi di President di rait fo sospen di Parliment jos so. Ii tek aan powa laik ii a wan king.  Da kain a powa na fo dis kain a govament wa wi gat in Gaiyana. Gaiyana bin duu we wid dem kain a powa set op we di President kyariiyin aan laik se I a wan king an we di ruulin partii gat powa ova di piipl repriisentativ dem.

Pon tap a da, in 2000 aal man in di Nashanal Asemblii bin agrii fo paas wan bil fo ad aan di NO CONFIDENCE klaaz pon di Kanstichuushan. If di apasishan tink tingz reeli niid fo sheek op an di konchrii niid fo get wan neks iilekshan, dat de klaaz wud lou da.  Reepu Daman Persaud self se da klaaz gon stap enbadi in di govament from get aan laik se dem a dikteeta. Reepu bin di Liida a di hous dem taim. If yu chek di parliment peepa fo Diisemba 15, 2000, yu gon fain wa ii (Dem da peepa a wa dem kaal di Hansard.) Reepu Daman Persaud se di klaaz wa ad in important bad, kaaz it gon help di konchrii fo ton moo demokratik. Bot heer wa nou! Dis ting wa Ramotar duu di ada dee (Novemba 10) an kleem se di kanstichushan lou im fo duu am, dat a wan bakward ting from di 1980 Kanstichuushan, an ii duu am fo porpos, fo blak di NO CONFIDENCE voot wa di nyuu 2000 Kanstichuushan bin lou.  Wach hou dis prorogation ting mek di nyuu Kanstichuushan luk laik schupitnis.  Di 2000 Kanstichuushan bin supooz fo gi aal awi mo powa, miin fo se, aal di biznis fo di konchrii kyari-aan in kleer deelait fo evri badi sii an di big wan dem kud stee kleer from koropshan. Bot nou, laik wi gaan rait bak in di koloniiyal deez wen di wait ruulaz dem bin sospen di 1953 Kanstichuushan fo kik out Cheddi Jagan out a di govament. Di seem ting aal ova ageen.   

Wel Ramotar se ii na brok no laa. Bot da no miin ii chriit di Gaiyniiz piipl rait. Ii no biiheev laik wan demokratik president. If yu rimemba di Herdmanston Accord wa CARICOM bin set op in 1998, dat a di agriiment wa bin mek di Kanstichuushan mo beta in 2001.  Nou dat wi na gat no Parliment, di minority PPP government eebl for duu wa eva dem wahn fo duu wid di konchri aal bai deself. Di apasishan kyaahn wach hou dem spenin moni, dem kyaahn diskos notn wid dem, an dem kyaahn stap di minista dem from kyari aan hou  dem wahn an uuz dem powa az dem laik. Di PPP ton wan reel dikteeta govament fo chruu, an dem no iivn chraiyin fo haid it.

Wen di PPP bin kom in powa in 1992, dem se dem gwain bring bak diimakrasi in di konchri. But Jagdeo bin kyari aan wid a hool set a breeznnis wen ii bin in powa, an nou Ramotar kom an put di aisin pon di keek. An yet ii se ii na brok no laa. Luk pon som a di tingz wa dem bin kyari aan wid:

• Dem na hool no lokal govament iilekshan sins 1994. Dis a wan kleer vaiyooleeshan a di Kanstichuushan;
• Dem na set op di Human Rights Commission;
• Dem na set op di Public Procurement Commission. Dis woda shoo piipl hou  di konchrii monii spenin;
• Wen di Nashanal Asemblii paas bil in di Parliment, di President riifuuz fo lou di bil dem fo paas. Wan man blak wa nof man grii to!
• Aal ova di eks-British Kyaribiiyan, wi get mark fo di moos korop konchri, an wi neem iivn gaan abraad. Transparency International se wi a wan a di moos korop konchrii in di hool worl.   
• A pyoor laalisnis aal ova di konchrii: Di polis kyaahn salv di kraim; dem so bruutal dat dem tarcharin di sospek dem, an nof taim dem doohn bada ares piipl fos, dem jos kil dem so.
• Di ministaz dem an som ada big wan vaiyooleet di Kanstichuushan nof taim; wach hou:

ü  Dem kech di Minista fo Fainans a spen monii aldoo di Parliament no aproov it, an

ü  Di Atornii Genaral vais ge kech pon a mashiin.  Ii bin a chretn Kaieteur News. Plos, ii se ii noo bout wan taim wen President Ramotar paas monii fo ge di laa pon ii an ii fren said.   

A nof mo breeznnis di PPP kyari aan wid 22 yeer nou, sins dem de in powa. Bot Novemba 10 bin di wos. Di konchri jos lef in limbo kaaz nobadi na noo wen Parliment gon kaal bak. Di PPP don wid diimakrasi. Hou yu kud gat diimakrasi if yu na gat no Parliament? Di PPP minority government tek dem aiz an paas di Gaiyniiz piipl. Dem plan fo stee in powa doohn keer wa.

Aal a wi wa sain dis ya petition a piipl wa konsorn bout di situueeshan in di konchrii. Wi wahn Gaiyniiz piipl wa de oom an dem wa de a farin fo stan pon wi said. Plos wi wahn ada piipl from di riijan an outsaid di riijan fo stan pon wi said. Wi wahn alyu  fo help wi kaal pon President Ramotar fo set op bak di Parliment laik hou wan diimakrasi supooz fo wok an na wees no moo taim.  A hai taim dem staat fo streetn out di kanstichuushan fo mek shoor no mo govament kyaahn plee dikteeta!

(Ms. Wilkinson is currently a lecturer in the Department of Language and Cultural Studies at the University of Guyana.  Her chief areas of interest are in the literary arts and teaching creative writing and drama. She is now actively involved in language rights advocacy.)

The following link contains an audio file for the the written petition.

https://soundcloud.com/bertitude/guyanese-citizens-petition-for-the-return-to-democracy-in-guyana