Estuary Creole

Estuary Creole
Krio
Region	Rwizikuru
Native speakers	c. 100,000 (2011) L2: c. 6,000,000 (2011)
Language family	Estmerish-based creole Estmero-Arucian Pidgin Estuary Creole
Writing system	Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	esc

Estuary Creole (Krio) is an Estmerish-based creole language spoken among the Freemen in Rwizikuru.

Brought over from Imagua by Freemen, where their ancestors spoke Estmero-Arucian Pidgin alongside Western Imaguan Creole, it supplanted an earlier pidgin spoken around the Estmerish trading posts by the nineteenth century, and would by the turn of the twentieth century become prevalent along the coast of Rwizikuru, particularly around the estuary of the Rwizikuru River.

However, its status declined among the general Rwizikuran population, particularly after Rwizikuru gained independence from Estmere in 1946, who favoured Rwizi over Estmerish, leading to the creole's decline among the population. Today, it is still widely used among the Freemen and their communities in the diaspora, but is only used among older Rwizikurans.

Etymology

Estuary Creole derives from the estuary of the Rwizikuru River, where the language was commonly spoken. It was given that name in 1887 by linguist Augustine Walsham, to describe the language spoken "by the natives of Port Fitzhubert and its surrounding environs."

History

Estuary Creole is believed by linguists to have originated from 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 the language spread across Estmere's trade posts, the language was carried with slaves to Estmerish colonies, particularly the Colony of Imagua, where it was adopted as a pidgin language, and then as children grew up learning it, developed into a creole language. However, due to the presence of Western Imaguan Creole on Imagua, the nascent Eastern Imaguan Creole was in competition with Western Imaguan Creole. As this language further developed in Imagua, the Estmerish slave trade ceased in 1740, leading to a decline in the use of the original pidgin on the coast of present-day Rwizikuru, until by 1801, Fort Graham was abandoned, with linguists believing that the pidgin ceased to be spoken in Bahia by that point.

In the early 19th century, numerous Freemen migrated to present-day Rwizikuru under the auspices of the Saint Geoffrey's Company, bringing their language with them. Although the language was commonly used among the Freemen, it remained primarily a spoken language, with Freemen preferring to write in standard Estmerish and to teach the standard variety of Estmerish.

After the 1860s, Estuary Creole spread from the Freemen settlements to Port Fitzhubert, partially as many Freemen migrated to the city to work for the colonial government, and partially because native Bahians learnt Estuary Creole. By the 1880s, Estuary Creole had become the dominant language "spoken in the marketplace" of Port Fitzhubert, with linguist Augustine Walsham noting that "Rizis, Freedmen [sic] and Balisa, among many others in the Estuary of the Rizicuru [sic] river, have learnt a rudimentary form of Estmerish to communicate with the Estmerish settlers."

Estuary Creole would spread inland following the fall of Munzwa, and by 1900, linguist Alden Kersey said that the range of Estuary Creole "extended from Port Graham in the west to Saint Geoffrey's in the east," and was widely used by "all blacks" within the range. Kersey also noted that Estuary Creole was also present in the rest of the colony, "but was only used by merchants and officials wishing to communicate with the natives."

Estuary Creole remained a vernacular language until after independence, when the Rwizikuran government instituted policies that encouraged the Rwizi language to be used to the detriment of the Estmerish language. This meant that Estuary Creole became largely confined to older generations, to rural people, and to the Freemen, as younger people in urban areas switched to using Rwizi. By 1979, linguist Alan Terrell said that the Estuary Creole was only spoken "by younger people in the areas traditionally settled by Freemen, and by old people."

In the late 1990s, popular interest in Estuary Creole grew, with Silas Brannon and Fidelity Bradshaw sought to revitalise the culture of the Freemen, including the Estuary Creole. This led to the first publication of a book in Estuary Creole in 2001 by Bradshaw, and since then, usage of the Creole has grown as a sign of Freemen identity.

Phonology

Vowels

Like Rwizi, 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, there are no tones in Estuary Creole.

Consonants

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

^1 The /l/ sound is used among upper class speakers of Estuary Creole to speak as closely to the acrolect as possible.

Grammar

Due to the origins of Estuary Creole as a contact language between Estmerish and Rwizi, Estuary Creole's grammar has been largely simplified. Like Estmerish and Rwizi, Estuary Creole uses subject-verb-object order.

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 hunger (/me ɦuŋˈer/)
  • I am hungry

• Me hunger den (/me ɦuŋˈer ɗen/)
  • I was hungry; I had been hungry

• Me hunger sun (/me ɦuŋˈer sun/)
  • I will be hungry; I am going to be hungry

Pronominal system

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

• I, me - Me (/me/)
• You (sing.) - Du (/ɗu/)
• You (plur.) - Dutsu (/ɗuˈt͡su/)
• He, him, she, her, they, them - Dem (/ɗem/)
• Plural them - Demtsu (/ɗemˈt͡su/)
• Our, we, us - Tsu (/t͡su/)

Copula

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

• Me bi fater (/me ɓi p͡faˈter/)
  • I am a father
• Me bi tu Po Fitshubat sun (/me ɓi tu po p͡fit͡sˈɦuˈɓat sun/)
  • I will be going to Port Fitzhubert
• Me bi yung den (/me ɓi juŋ ɗen/)
  • I was young

Negation

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

• Dem no go tu padi (/ɗem no ɠo tu paˈɗi/)
  • She cannot go to the party
• Neva sa du mari dem (/neˈʋa sa ɗu maˈri ɗem/)
  • You will never marry her
• Dem kant wak (/ɗem kant wak/)
  • He cannot walk

Orthography

Estuary Creole orthography traditionally used the International Phonetic Alphabet, as most users typically wrote in standard Estmerish as opposed to Estuary Creole, due to Standard Estmerish's prestige among its speakers, with few writing in Estuary Creole. While some diaries from as early as 1844 include phrases in Estuary Creole, they were largely written as a form of eye dialect.

However, since the 1990s, an orthography has been developed by Fidelity Bradshaw and used by most people writing in Estuary Creole since then, including linguists. This orthography uses letters present in the basic Latin alphabet, with a total of thirty-two letters, including nine digraphs to represent sounds that otherwise would not be represented.

Letter or digraph	Pronunciation	Example word	Estmerish meaning
A	a	as	bottom (from Estmerish arse)
B	ɓ	buk	book (from Western Imaguan Creole book)
CH	t͡ʃ	chena	bright (from Rwizi word for white)
D	ɗ	dem	he, him, she, her, they, them
DZ	d͡z̤	dzima	shed (from Rwizi for houses)
E	e	Esmi	Estmere
F	p͡f	Friman	Freeman
G	ɠ	go	go, travel, went
H	ɦ	hunger	hunger, hungry
I	i	ilis	blind, invisible
J	d͡ʒ̤	jomp	jump
JV	d͡z̤ᵝ	jvene	purely (from Rwizi for purely)
K	k	kontri	country
L	l or ∅	lavatri	bathroom
M	m	mari	marry
N	n	nzu	elephant
NG	ᵑɡ and ŋ	ngoni	ghost (from Rwizi for sin)
NJ	ⁿd͡ʒ̤	njan	engine
NY	ɲ	nyu	new
O	o	oful	awful
P	p	Po	Port
R	r	run	to run, running
S	s	San-Jerman	Mambiza (from Gaullican Sainte-Germaine)
SH	ʃ	shiri	bird (from Rwizi for bird)
T	t	tas	to blame, to censure
TS	t͡s	tsu	our, we, us
U	u	unda	under
V	ʋ	vek	road (from Western Imaguan Creole wek, or road)
W	w	wata	water
Y	j	yung	young
Z	z̤	ziba	zebra
ZH	ʒ̤	zhip	sheep

Vocabulary

Most vocabulary comes from Estmerish, but Estuary Creole contains many loan words of Bahian origin, predominantly from Rwizi and Molisa, including the plural marker -tsu and the word for us, tsu (t͡su), which derives from the Rwizi word isu. However, a small portion of its vocabulary derives from Western Imaguan Creole, due to the fact that the direct ancestor of Estuary Creole was spoken in Imagua prior to repatriation. It is largely mutually intelligble with Eastern Imaguan Creole.

As Estuary Creole developed from an earlier pidgin language used between the 17th and 19th centuries in Rwizikuru, 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 tas (/tas/ from tax), referring to blaming someone or to censure someone, as opposed to a strain, heavy demand, or compulsory contribution to the state revenue.

However, many terms for Bahian flora and fauna are borrowed from Bahian languages, primarily Rwizi and Molisa: ntsu (/nˈt͡su), the Estuary Creole word for elephant, comes from the Rwizi nzou, while morara (/moˈraˈra/), meaning rasin in Estuary Creole, comes from the Molisa word for grape, morara.

Examples

The examples below are presented in basilectal Estuary Creole.

• Du tak krio? (/ɗu tak kriˈo/)
  • Do you speak [Estuary] Creole?
• Ha at du? (/ɦa at ɗu/)
  • How are you?
• Ha du kosta? (/ɦa ɗu kosˈta/)
  • How much does it cost?
• Ha fa Po Gehem? (/ɦa p͡fa po ɠeˈhem/)
  • How far is Port Graham?
• It kosta tanti dusin silingtsu. (/it kosˈta tanˈti duˈsin siˈliŋˈt͡su/)
  • It costs twenty thousand shillings.
• Me nem... (/me nem/)
  • My name is...
• Wa du nem? (/wa ɗu nem/)
  • What is your name?
• We de lavatri? (/we ɗe aˈʋaˈtri/)
  • Where is the bathroom?