Creolizing Globalization: Pan-Cultural Identities and Language in Saint Lucia

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1. Verfasser: Aonghas St-Hilaire
Format: Artículo científico
Sprache:en
Veröffentlicht: Universidad de Puerto Rico 2013
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author Aonghas St-Hilaire
author_facet Aonghas St-Hilaire
contents Creolizing Globalization: Pan-Cultural Identities and Language in Saint Lucia Aonghas St-Hilaire Estudios Culturales culture language identity Saint Lucia creolization Saint Lucia, like much of the rest of the Caribbean, is a Creole soci- ety. Due to unique historical circumstances, Antillean Creole cultural identity is fluid, fragmentary and multiple. Saint Lucians perceive cultural commonalities between their island, on the one hand, and the Francophone, French Creole-speaking and Anglophone Caribbean and wider world, on the other, and value the different languages of their colonial legacy—French, Kwéyòl and English—both for intan- gible reasons related to local and pan-cultural identities and for the access these languages open up for practical economic and life-chance opportunities. Under the influence of globalization, there is a definite hierarchy in the value-based ordering of these tongues. Saint Lucians hold English in highest esteem; it gives the greatest pay back in terms of socioeconomic mobility on and off the island. Islanders also value French, as a complementary, secondary global language and for com- municative versatility in neighboring, affluent Martinique and in their island’s tourist sector. Although most Saint Lucians profess the importance of their French-based Creole, Kwéyòl, as a unique symbol of Saint Lucian nationhood, this vernacular is the biggest loser in the postcolonial, global-era competition of languages. As a society in a globally-induced state of flux, the traditional cultural orientation of Saint Lucia is changing; English is supplanting the waning Kwéyòl. However, new cultural and linguistic forms are emerging. Vernacular English of Saint Lucia, itself a creolized English strongly influenced by Kwéyòl, has become the nation’s new lingua franca, particularly among the urban working class and youth island-wide. 2013 artículo científico 0008-6533 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=39229305001 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=392 Caribbean Studies application/pdf Universidad de Puerto Rico Caribbean Studies (Puerto Rico) Num.1 Vol.41
format Artículo científico
id redalyc_39229305001
institution Redalyc
language en
publishDate 2013
publisher Universidad de Puerto Rico
spellingShingle Creolizing Globalization: Pan-Cultural Identities and Language in Saint Lucia
Aonghas St-Hilaire
Estudios Culturales
culture
language
identity
Saint Lucia
creolization
Creolizing Globalization: Pan-Cultural Identities and Language in Saint Lucia Aonghas St-Hilaire Estudios Culturales culture language identity Saint Lucia creolization Saint Lucia, like much of the rest of the Caribbean, is a Creole soci- ety. Due to unique historical circumstances, Antillean Creole cultural identity is fluid, fragmentary and multiple. Saint Lucians perceive cultural commonalities between their island, on the one hand, and the Francophone, French Creole-speaking and Anglophone Caribbean and wider world, on the other, and value the different languages of their colonial legacy—French, Kwéyòl and English—both for intan- gible reasons related to local and pan-cultural identities and for the access these languages open up for practical economic and life-chance opportunities. Under the influence of globalization, there is a definite hierarchy in the value-based ordering of these tongues. Saint Lucians hold English in highest esteem; it gives the greatest pay back in terms of socioeconomic mobility on and off the island. Islanders also value French, as a complementary, secondary global language and for com- municative versatility in neighboring, affluent Martinique and in their island’s tourist sector. Although most Saint Lucians profess the importance of their French-based Creole, Kwéyòl, as a unique symbol of Saint Lucian nationhood, this vernacular is the biggest loser in the postcolonial, global-era competition of languages. As a society in a globally-induced state of flux, the traditional cultural orientation of Saint Lucia is changing; English is supplanting the waning Kwéyòl. However, new cultural and linguistic forms are emerging. Vernacular English of Saint Lucia, itself a creolized English strongly influenced by Kwéyòl, has become the nation’s new lingua franca, particularly among the urban working class and youth island-wide. 2013 artículo científico 0008-6533 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=39229305001 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=392 Caribbean Studies application/pdf Universidad de Puerto Rico Caribbean Studies (Puerto Rico) Num.1 Vol.41
title Creolizing Globalization: Pan-Cultural Identities and Language in Saint Lucia
topic Estudios Culturales
culture
language
identity
Saint Lucia
creolization
url https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=39229305001