The African Vocabulary of Palenque (Colombia): Part 1: Introduction and Corpus of Previously Undocumented Afro-Palenquerisms

Author: Schwegler, A.

Source: Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, Volume 15, Number 2, 2001 , pp. 241-312(72)

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

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Abstract:

Investigations into African linguistic and cultural remnants in Palenque have been anything but programmatic, and to this date there is no agreement as to just how profoundly African languages contributed to the formation of Palenquero speech. This three-part study is a first step toward remedying this situation by offering a systematic investigation of Palenque's African lexicon.

Part 1 offers a theoretical introduction, plus a collection of approximately 100 hitherto undocumented Afro-Palenquerisms. Usage of these words is often illustrated with accompanying examples. Part 2 (Schwegler, 1999a [in Spanish]) incorporates these new Afro-Palenquerisms into the previously published Afro-Palenquero lexicon (over 350 entries are given, many with a brief etymological discussion). Part 3 (1999b [in Spanish]) will examine in greater detail Palenquero Africanisms whose origins are either in doubt or have been given only summarily in Parts 1-2 of the investigation.

Together, these three studies focus on Bantu lexical survivals in the New World (especially Colombia) to strengthen the historical evidence supporting the linguistic connection between Bantu territories (particularly Kikongo-speaking regions) and the Spanish Caribbean (the Cartagena area in particular).

Keywords: Palenque; Palenquero; African influence; African substrate; lexical Africanisms; Bantu influence; Kikongo influence in America; creole; Caribbean Spanish; Black Spanish

Document Type: Regular paper

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.15.2.02sch

Affiliations: 1: University of California, Irvine

Publication date: 2001-01-01