Eastern Imaguan Creole

For the other creole language spoken on Imagua with the same name, see Western Imaguan Creole.

Eastern Imaguan Creole
Imagwa kio
Region	Imagua and the Assimas
Native speakers	32,105 (2011) L2: TBD
Language family	Estmerish-based creole Estmero-Arucian Pidgin Eastern Imaguan Creole
Writing system	Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	esc

Eastern Imaguan Creole (Imagwa kio) is an Estmerish-based creole language traditionally spoken in the eastern regions of the island of Imagua. Historically prevalent in eastern Imagua, where trade and settlement patterns meant there was little contact with Geatish colonies in present-day Eldmark and the Assimas Islands, Eastern Imaguan Creole has been undergoing decreolisation and language shift, as speakers shift to standard Estmerish and Western Imaguan Creole.

History

File:ImaguanCreoles.png

Map of the distribution of Western and Eastern Imaguan Creoles in 1911 by Edwin Wensley

Eastern Imaguan Creole is believed by linguists to have been a descendant of a contact language spoken around Estmerish trade posts in present-day Rwizikuru, with linguist Tinozivaishe Makwarimba from the University of Rwizikuru hypothesising that local Rwizi near Fort Graham wishing to trade with Estmere had to learn the Estmerish language, but due to Estmerish's complicated grammar, the Rwizi near Fort Graham simplified it to a point that they can comprehend it, while still getting the message across to the Estmerish merchants.

As slaves were imported onto the island of Imagua by Estmerish settlers after the island was seized in 1658, they bought their language with them, leading to the development of an Estmero-Arucian Pidgin on the island. On Imagua, the pidgin made contact with what would become Western Imaguan Creole: in areas where there was still trade with Geatish colonies in present-day Eldmark and the Assimas, or in areas with a high proportion of Geatish settlement, Western Imaguan Creole would be adopted by slaves, while in areas that did not trade with Eldmark and had a low proportion of Geatish settlement, an Estmerish-based creole would develop.

After slavery was abolished in 1771, many speakers of Eastern Imaguan Creole migrated to Cuanstad: due to Cuanstad's size and influence, speakers of Eastern Imaguan Creole tended to live separately from those who spoke Western Imaguan Creole. Some speakers would migrate to present-day Rwizikuru, where they would develop a distinct identity with a sister language emerging. However, from the nineteenth century onward, colonial authorities began to institute policies to crack down on Eastern Imaguan Creole, by prohibiting its use in schools and government offices, in order to promote the use of standard Estmerish in wider society.

This led to growing stigma against the use of Eastern Imaguan Creole, particularly in Cuanstad. However, as late as the early twentieth century, Eastern Imaguan Creole was still widely spoken east of what Edwin Wensley called in 1911 "the Geatish line," with Wensley noting that "the black population spoke a peculiar form of Estmerish: only those who came from those west of the Geatish line would speak their own language," and estimating that around 300,000 people poke "what I call eastern Imaguan Estmerish."

However, with the advent of radio and television broadcasts throughout the twentieth century, it allowed for the promotion of both the standard varieties of Estmerish, and Western Imaguan Creole across the island of Imagua, which led to a process of decreolisation and language shift. This was exacerbated by rural flight from the 1950s on, which led many who previously spoke Eastern Imaguan Creole to abandon it in favour of Estmerish or Western Imaguan Creole.

In addition, while attitudes towards Western Imaguan Creole have shifted to be more in favour, particularly from the 1980s onwards, Eastern Imaguan Creole has remained largely stigmatised as a form of "bad Estmerish" and its use has been declining: as of 2011, there were only around thirty thousand speakers, most of whom lived either in rural areas and/or were over the age of 60. There is little government support, although university courses are offered at the University of Cuanstad to teach and discuss Eastern Imaguan Creole.

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Labio- dental	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
				plain	whistled
Plosive	voiceless	p		t			k
	implosive	ɓ		ɗ			ɠ
Fricative	voiceless		f	s		ʃ
	breathy			z̤		ʒ̤		ɦ
Nasal	plain	m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Affricate	voiceless			t͡s		t͡ʃ
	breathy			d͡z̤		d͡ʒ̤
Approximant			ʋ			j	w
Lateral approximant				l

Vowels

Like Rwizi or Estuary Creole, vowels in Estuary Creole are pronounced like a, e, i, o, u, with vowels maintaining a consistent pronunciation: if a vowel is followed by another vowel, they are to be pronounced separately. However, unlike Rwizi, but like Estuary Creole, there are no tones in Eastern Imaguan Creole.

Grammar

Because of Estmerish-Arucian Pidgin's origin as a contact language between Estmerish and Rwizi, Eastern Imaguan Creole's grammar is simplified.

Estuary Creole's verbs default to simple present tense, with words used to modify sentences, with den used to indicate an action took place in the past, and sun for actions that will take place in the future.

• Me sliping (/me sli'piŋ/)
  • I am sleeping

• Me sliping den (/me sli'piŋ ɗen/)
  • I was sleeping; I had been sleeping

• Me sliping sun (/me sli'piŋ sun/)
  • I will be sleeping; I am going to sleep

Pronominal system

Eastern Imaguan Creole's pronominal system is radically simplified compared to standard Estmerish, as Estuary Creole lacks gender distinction.

• I, me - Me (/me/)
• You (form. sing.) - Du (/ɗu/)
• You (inf. sing.) - Yu (/ju/)
• You (form. plur.) - Dutsu (/ɗuˈt͡su/)
• You (inf. plur.) Yuwi (/juˈwi/)
• He, him, she, her, they, them - Dem (/ɗem/)
• Plural them (form.) - Demtsu (/ɗemˈt͡su/)
• Plural them (inf.) - Demwi (/ɗemˈwi/)
• Our, we, us (form.) - Tsu (/t͡su/)
• Our, we, us (inf.) - Wi (/wi/)

Copula

Eastern Imaguan Creole has only one copular form, bi (/ɓi/).

• Me bi fate (/me ɓi faˈte/)
  • I am a father
• Me bi tu Niu Tish sun (/me ɓi tu ɲu tiʃ sun/)
  • I will be going to Nua Taois
• Me bi yung den (/me ɓi juŋ ɗen/)
  • I was young

Negation

In Eastern Imaguan Creole, there are two negative tense indicators: no (/no/), and kant (/kant/). No is the general negative tense, while kant is used to permanently deny a request under any circumstances, or if someone is unable to do something because of poor health or because of a disability.

• Yu no go tu shopwi (/ju no tu ʃapˈwi/)
  • You may not go to the shops.
• Du kant mai dem (/ɗu kant maˈi ɗem/)
  • You will never marry him
• Dem kant tak (/ɗem kant tak/)
  • She cannot talk

Orthography

Traditionally, Eastern Imaguan Creole was seen as a "degenerated variety" of Estmerish: thus, most works which mention Eastern Imaguan Creole used eye dialect spellings. Academic works have tended to use the International phonetic alphabet.

Since 1998, a common orthography has been in use by the University of Cuanstad to transcribe Eastern Imaguan Creole, based largely off of Edwin Wensley's orthography for Western Imaguan Creole but adapted to fit Eastern Imaguan Creole sounds. Despite some efforts at promoting the orthography to write Eastern Imaguan Creole, few use it due to the continuing stigma.

Vocabulary

Most vocabulary used in Eastern Imaguan Creole comes from Estmerish and from Western Imaguan Creole. However, there are some loanwords from Bahia, most notably the plural marker -tsu and the word for us, tsu (t͡su), which derives from the Rwizi word isu.

Because Eastern Imaguan Creole developed from an earlier pidgin language used between the 17th and 19th centuries in present-day Rwizikuru, which developed into the Estmero-Arucian Pidgin, many Estmerish terms have their origins in Early Modern Estmerish, with the consequence that many of the words now mean something different in modern Estmerish, like respet (/resˈpet/, from Estmerish respect) referring to forethought and consideration, as opposed to deep admiration or due regard to another in modern Estmerish, and lising (/liˈsiŋ/ from leasing), referring to the ability to lie, as opposed to renting space from a business.

Terms for native flora and fauna on the island come from Western Imaguan Creole, such as hewe (/ɦeˈwe/) meaning snake, minkun (/minˈkun/), meaning potato, and hes (/ɦes/ for horse.

Examples

All examples below are presented in basilectal Eastern Imaguan Creole.

• Yu tak kio? (/ju tak kiˈo/)
  • Do you speak [Eastern Imaguan] Creole?
• At yu? (/at ju/)
  • How are you?
• Du kosta? (/ɗu kosˈta/)
  • How much does this cost?
• Fa Kwansta? (/fa kwanˈsta/)
  • How far is Cuanstad?
• Kosta tanti silingwi (/kosˈta tanˈti siˈliŋˈwi/)
  • It costs twenty shillings.
• Me nem... (/me nem/)
  • My name is...
• Yu nem? (/ju nem/)
  • What is your name?
• De lavati? (/ɗe laˈʋaˈti/)
  • Where is the bathroom?