stbartshopper
Senior Insider
(Note this may have already been discussed on other threads- if so I apologize).
On our little island, there are four separate languages spoken or were spoken- St. Barth Patois in Sous le Vent (leeward or western end), St. Barth Creole in Au Vent (windward or eastern end), Saline french and English in Gustavia? Each of these groups have people that have remained so distinct that they have different blood types. There are three different communities on the island- the seafarers, herdsman and farmers.
From Brill's Studies of Language, Cognition and Culture, Julianne Maher wrote a book in 2013- 'The Survival of People and Languages: Schooners, Goats and Cassava in St. Barthelemy, British French West Indies.
From the Smithsonian Magazine-
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/caribbean-island-galapagos-linguistic-diversity-180954481/
In The Survival of People and Languages: Schooners, Goats and Cassava in St. Barthelemy, French West Indies, Julianne Maher explains a rare linguistic anomaly, how a small homogeneous population of seventeenth century French settlers in the tiny island of St. Barth came to speak four separate languages. With a range of historical documents and eighteenth century eye-witness accounts, Maher reconstructs the island's social ecology that led to its fragmentation. The four speech varieties are closely examined and analyzed, using extensive native speaker interviews; with the impending demise of these languages such documentation is unique. Maher concludes that social factors such as poverty, economics, geography and small population size served to maintain linguistic barriers on the island for over two hundred fifty years.
From Amazon-
https://www.amazon.com/The-Survival-People-Languages-Barthélemy/dp/9004183264/?tag=smithsonianco-20
On our little island, there are four separate languages spoken or were spoken- St. Barth Patois in Sous le Vent (leeward or western end), St. Barth Creole in Au Vent (windward or eastern end), Saline french and English in Gustavia? Each of these groups have people that have remained so distinct that they have different blood types. There are three different communities on the island- the seafarers, herdsman and farmers.
From Brill's Studies of Language, Cognition and Culture, Julianne Maher wrote a book in 2013- 'The Survival of People and Languages: Schooners, Goats and Cassava in St. Barthelemy, British French West Indies.
From the Smithsonian Magazine-
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/caribbean-island-galapagos-linguistic-diversity-180954481/
In The Survival of People and Languages: Schooners, Goats and Cassava in St. Barthelemy, French West Indies, Julianne Maher explains a rare linguistic anomaly, how a small homogeneous population of seventeenth century French settlers in the tiny island of St. Barth came to speak four separate languages. With a range of historical documents and eighteenth century eye-witness accounts, Maher reconstructs the island's social ecology that led to its fragmentation. The four speech varieties are closely examined and analyzed, using extensive native speaker interviews; with the impending demise of these languages such documentation is unique. Maher concludes that social factors such as poverty, economics, geography and small population size served to maintain linguistic barriers on the island for over two hundred fifty years.
From Amazon-
https://www.amazon.com/The-Survival-People-Languages-Barthélemy/dp/9004183264/?tag=smithsonianco-20