On August 23rd I mentioned the Danish film Empire (Danish: Viften)was nominated for the Nordic council film prize. Today Kristoffer Riis Boegh emailed me to tell Empire actually won the prize!
The full article can be found here: https://www.norden.org/en/news/danish-film-empire-wins-2023-nordic-council-film-prize.
See IMDB about the film here.
Illustration from IMDB.com.
Een paar jaar geleden mocht ik enkele internationale studenten Neerlandistiek begeleiden. Heel toevallig kwam de webpagina van Sára Tóth en Meredith Alongi hierover tegen. Even zien wat ze gedaan hebben? Bezoek hun site dan hier. Hartelijk dank!
Although this website is originally dedicated to Virgin Islands Dutch Creole, information about the two closest relatives is too beautiful not to show or mention.
Today I was reminded that the International Court of Justice in The Hague (The Netherlands) holds public hearings in the case of Guyana versus Venezuela. In the nineteenseventees Ian Richardson, who discovered the last speakers of Berbice Dutch Creole and rememberers of Skepi Dutch Creole, was also looking in such a border conflict. Through his research I was directed to nineteenth century material in which, I think for the first time, the border between Guyana and Venezuela had to be established.
In this material a remarkable procedure was used. When the local people used Spanish as their contact language, the area was related to Venezuela. However, when Dutch Creole, or Dutch Patois, was used, the area should be a part of the Essequibo region of Guyana.
The last few years some extraordinary discoveries in the field of Skepi Dutch were done. A sentence from 1780 was found in the Letters as Loot Corpus of Leyden University (Van der Wal) and a nineteenth century diary of a missionary turned out to contain a huge list of sentences and words in this language (Jacobs and Parkvall 2020). And… there is more to come.
Here you will find a link to the nineteenth century description of the Venezuela-British Guiana boundary arbitration (1898):
https://archive.org/details/venezuelabritis00venegoog/page/656/mode/2up
In de tweede aflevering van deze podcast behandel ik drie onderwerpen. Ik begin met de brief van Arendt Heinderijcksz. Deze is verzonden vanaf St. Eustatius in 1672, maar kwam nooit aan. In deze brief staat de oudste Nederlandse aanwijzing voor de kolonisatie van St. Thomas. In het tweede deel laat ik twee teksten horen die te maken hebben met slavernij. De eerste is de enige uit de achttiende eeuw. Dit afscheidslied van een tot slaaf gemaakte is opgetekend door een bediende van plantage La Grande Princesse op St. Croix en is gepubliceerd in 1788. De tweede is vastgelegd door De Josselin de Jong in 1923. In het derde gedeelte van de podcast noem ik enkele websites waarmee historisch onderzoek met betrekking tot het Virgin Islands Dutch Creole en/of de geschiedenis van de Deense Antillen gedaan kan worden.
Veel luisterplezier! Opmerkingen, tips, vragen? Stel ze via deze website. Alvast hartelijk bedankt. Luisteren? Dat kan via Spotify, Apple podcast, Google podcast , maar ook via deze link.
Genoemde bronnen:
‘J Juel
A(nn)o 1672
Eersame ser Dichteten Groot Gunstiger
heer saluijt vl gelijft te weeten als dat
jck met mijn folck noch clock e(nde) gesondt ben
veerhoppende het selfde met mijn Groot
Gunstinger heer voors gelijft mijn heer te
weeten als daet jck hier ben den 9/19 Desemb(er)
ben geardiuert e(nde) legh hier e(nde) verwaght
ferro met smerten voors heb jck voorstaen
als daet ferro noch jn Nouember heft tot
Copenhagen gewest e(nde) hier js hoopen folck die
naer ferro voorlangen om mede te folgen nar
sint tomes voors weet jck mijn Groot Gunsti
ger heer niet mer te schriuen daen Godt befollen
e(nde) de groetnise aen al de Edel heerren de
Edel Coppanni
VL d(ienst)w(illige) D(ienaer)
Arendt Heinderijcksz.
Acttum den 26/5
feberuarij jnt jagt
De Gauden Cron
op de Ree vaen staecio.’
De werken van Westergaard (genoemd in relatie tot Heinderijcksz) en Knox (met de lijst van eerste kolonisten) staan in de linkerkolom van deze website.
2.1 De teksten waarin slavernij een belangrijke rol spelen zijn de volgende. Van het fragment van een rebellenlied (Schmidt 1788) staat een afbeelding in het boek Die Creol Taal. De link hiernaar staat in de rechterkolom van deze website. De tekst luidt als volgt:
Adjo my Mester Neeger, e — Samja
Da lob my lo lob, e – Samja
My nöy kan hau di uit mer &c
Di Blanco no frey, e – Samja
Adjo my Syssie, &c
Van Dag du Mandag &c
Adjo my Mama &c
Da lob my &c
Adjo my beer Maade …
Adjo m gud Friende &c
Adjo my Tata
Di Land no Frey &c
Adjo my Viefe &c
Lef frey met my Mama &c
Dünk op my altyt &c
My nu sae ferjet jou e – – Samja
2.2 De tekst die De Josselin de Jong heeft opgetekend tijdens zijn veldwerk in 1923 over de manumissie van de hond luidt als volgt. Hartelijk dank, Peter Bakker, voor jouw foto van deze tekst!
3. De genoemde websites zijn de volgende:
At the end of the eighteenth century the vernacular language of the Danish Westindies changed, to my opinion, quite drastically. Dutch and Virgin Islands Dutch Creole were replaced by English and Virgin Islands English Creole. The manuscript of Wied ‘Lieder, confirmationsunterricht u.a.m. teils in kreolischer, teils in englischer Sprache (1842-1847) shows a striking example. The first 60 pages are in Virgin Islands Dutch Creole. The remaining pages are in English. The author remarks: ‘In den 40er Jahren des 19. Jahrh. verschwand auf den Westindischen Inseln die kreolische Sprache und wurde durch die englische verdrängt.’ [In the 40s of the 19th century the creole language disappeared on the West-Indian Islands and was superseded by the English one.]”
However, Dutch Creole words and perhaps even structures, were preserved in the English Creole. In Lito Valls’s dictionary of Virgin Islands English Creole ‘What a Pistarckle!’ several words are marked as ‘dutch creole’, however often accompanied by ‘obsolete’.
Kristoffer Friis Bøegh and Peter Bakker (both Aarhus University) have been digging in this dictionary, excavating not only the marked words, but also the ones who were not recognized before as been originating from Dutch or Dutch Creole.
In an extensive, but very readable article of 38 pages their search and findings are presented. Although it is published as a digital article for Trefwoord on the website of Instituut voor de Nederlandse taal, it is in English. In the References section the forthcoming dissertation of Kristoffer Friis Bøegh is mentioned: a book to look forward to!
Last week the great Danish, however multilingual, linguistic blog Lingoblog posted an interesting item by Kristoffer Friis Boegh on Danish vocabulary in the Caribbean. He is an expert on Virgin Islands English Creole, did his field work on the US Virgin Islands recently and has a good entrance into Danish archival material. You can find the link HERE.
In my work on the provenance of Virgin Islands Dutch Creole words I was always focused on the influence of Dutch, mainly Zeelandic and West Flemish dialects. Of course I wondered why Danish vocabulary did not play a larger role, but I never really dived into this. To be honest: I found it quite hard to distinguish these words from others in the texts I studied: the eighteenth century translations by German translators.
Two cases in the study of twentieth century Virgin Islands Dutch Creole did point to the Danish linguistic influence. In the first place Frank Nelson’s visit to the Virgin Islands in 1936 was mainly triggered by his interest whether still elements of Danish were visible in the former Danish islands. When he found out a Dutch Creole was spoken, he started his field work. See my chapters on this in my thesis (Van Rossem 2017: 251-275 and 277-318).
The second case was in an interview by Gilbert Sprauve (and his students) in the early 1980s of Mrs. Alice Stevens. When he read to her the English translation of De Josselin de Jong’s version of the Bremen Town Musicians, she did not use the word nume or nomo ‘no more, nothing’, but the intin, which is derived from Danish ingenting (Van Rossem 2017: 255).
Unfortunately this Lingoblog post is in Danish, however the examples are clear and interesting! Several Danish scholars, and I include Peter Bakker, have already showed that knowledge of Danish as L1 has an advantage when studying Creole material. For istance Sebastian Dyhr shows that in his master thesis about Magens (2001) and Troels Roland (2016) in his article and remarks about using Magens in translation or in Danish. Perhaps the hardly studied missionary translations (Hvenekilde and Lanza, 1999) should get extra attention in this respect. (Looking forward to it, Kristoffer!)
Dyhr, Sebastian Adorján. 2001. J.M. Magens: Grammatik over det creolske sprog i en lingvistisk og historisk kontekst. Aarhus Universitet. >Resume at http://archive.is/7ELTA.
Hvenekilde, Anne & Elisabeth Lanza. 1999. “Linguistic variation in two 18th century Lutheran creole primers from the Danish West Indies”, in: Brendemoen, B., E. Lanza & E. Ryen (eds), Language Encounters Across Time and Space, Studies in Language Contact. Oslo: Novus Press. p. 271-292.
Roland, Troels Peter. 2016. ‘”Ju ben een Creol waer-waer”’. In: Kulturstudier 1 (Juli), pp. 159-187. >Digitally available at: http://tidsskriftetkulturstudier.dk/tidsskriftet/vol2016/1-juli/ju-ben-een-creol-waer-waer/
During the months following my promotion (on December 20 2017, some websites paid attention to my research. An article was published by Mathilde Jansen on Nemo Kennislink, a very informative website for Dutch speaking pupils (here), my introduction which I presented just before my Ph.D. defence was published on Caribisch Uitzicht, the website of Werkgroep Caribische Letteren by Michiel van Kempen (here) and I was interviewed by Berthold van Maris of NRC, an important Dutch newspaper.
My colleagues from Aarhus University, Peter Bakker and Kristoffer Friis Boegh surprised me with the Danish translation of Van Maris’s article, which was published in the Danish newspaper Weekendavisen on August 10. (here). Thank you!
Posted in Announcements and reviews, On the Internet
die creol taal 
Newly found Virgin Islands Dutch Creole sentence from 1790!
Only a few weeks ago Peter Bakker (Aarhus University) informed me that Poul Olsen (Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen) found a Dutch Creole sentence in a police report. He published it as a reply to the Lingoblog article from January 2024 about the six newly found Berbice Dutch Creole sentences.
His reply, in Danish, is the following. The Dutch Creole sentence is made bold by me:
Poul Erik Olsen, 21 June 2024
Mægler Kreutzfeldts gengivelse af kreolsk:
Rigsarkivet, København: St. Thomas byfoged. Sager til bytingsprotokoller 1790-1795.
[8/340]
J.H. Kreutzfeldt til politimester Stenersen, St. Thomas, 1. oktober 1790:
Ifølge Deres Velbyrdigheds Forlangende er min efterskrevne Erklæring alt hvad mig er vidende om den udi Fortet arresterede Neger Phelix.
Ved under den 12 September om Formiddagen imellem 12 og 1 at gaae need ad Byen, mødte mig frie Vagten med en Spansk Neger kaldende sig Juan Melise og da de kom ved Hercules Hassells Huus, kom ommeldte Neger Phelix dem i møde og betegnede da denne Juan Melise at det var Manden, hvorpaa Vagten gik med Neger Phelix ned ad Byen; Strax derpaa observerede at en Neger tilhørende Hr. Souffrain kom trekkendes med en Oxe ud af Hr. Hassells Plads, og dertil brugte disse Udtryk udi Creolsk (Ha, ha, tender ka thief you, men mi nu ka Krigh you Kanaille) disse Ord giorde mig Opmærksom, og gik derpaa hen og spurgte, hvad det var, hvorpaa der mig af en Barbarie blev svared at det var en Oxe som af en Neger, som Vagten gik med, havde stiaalet fra Hr. Souffrain og solgt til ham, og nu toeg Hr. Souffrain sin Oxe igien, hvorpaa jeg svarede at det ey kunde lade sig giøre, men at Oxen maatte forblive paa det forefundne Stæd indtil der var skeed Anmeldelse hos Hr. Byfogden, som da og skeede, derpaa forføyede mig need ad Byen, søgte PolitieBetienterne , men fant ingen, hvorpaa gik hen til Capt. Peter Tameryn, hvor Vagten var med forbemeldte Neger Phelix, jeg spurgte Capt. Tameryn, hvorfor han opholde og ey sendte denne Neger til Fortet, han svarede, at da Phelix havde declareret at Emanuel tilhørende Enken Madame Schwartzkopff var den der havde leveret ham Oxen, havde han sendt for Emanuel for der paa Stædet at examinere dem; Jeg sagde ham at her var ey Stædet til Examination, men at Hr. Byfgogden var ikkuns den, som dertil var berettiget, og at han kuns giorde best i at lade Negeren Phelix i fortet arrestere, hvilket han da og ordinerede sin Vagt til, jeg spurgte derpaa denne Neger Phelix hvorledes han var kommen til Oxen, han svarede mig , at Emanuel var komme og havde vogned ham ud af Søvn og sagt ham at han havde bragt en Oxe for ham fra Porto Rico, Jeg spurgte ham derefter om han ey vidste at Emanuel var en Slave og ey farede paa Porto Rico, det første besvarede ham med Ja! Men det sidste med Nei! Men at Emanuel daglig var vandt til at fahre, og blev bestandig ved at raabe paa Emanuel, ieg spurgte ham om den omtalte Neger Juan Mellise eller andre ey var med videre udi denne Sag som med Nei! aldeles besvarede, men at Emanuel, Emanuel, det var hans Mand; det haver nu viidere ligeledes hørt af Enken Madame Schmidts Negre at være blevet bekræftet, at virkeligen Emanuel er kommen og haver banket paa Porten for at opvogne Negeren Phelix, efter at han havde transporteret Oxen udi Savannen bag ved Hr. Friborgs Huus, og at Negeren Phelix have derpaa gaaet need ad Byen og siden kommen og med forhen meldte Barbarie som da og kiøbte bemeldte Oxe, hvorvel det var Nat og som da meget vel burde have vist at det var stiaalet Gods.
St. Thomas, 1 October 1790
Ærbødigst
J.H. Kreutzfeldt
This is a great find. The early sources of Virgin Islands Dutch Creole are mainly missionary texts by German or Danish translators and we only know a handful of texts which have a secular character. See for instance the following article in which seven newly found texts from the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Bøegh, Kristoffer Friis, Peter Bakker, Cefas van Rossem & Rasmus Christensen. 2023. “Seven newly discovered 18th and 19th century Virgin Islands Dutch Creole Texts”, in: Faraclas, N., R. Severing, E. Echteld, S. Delgado & W. Rutgers (eds) Caribbean Convivialities and Caribbean Sciences: Inclusive Approaches tot he Study of the Languages, Literatures and Cultures of the Dutch Caribbean and Beyond. Willemstad: University of Curaçao. pp. 93-116.
The most intersting one is probably the E-Samja farewell song from 1788 (Van Rossem & Van der Voort 1996: 224-226).
The Danish part of Kreutzfeldt’s report was only accessible for me with the help of Google Translate. The Creole sentence however, is clear and immediately gives context to the story of the stolen ox:
/ : ha, ha sender ka Thief you, men nu mi ka Krigh you Kanaille : /
Ha ha, 3PL PERF rob 2SG, but now 1SG PERF get 2SG, villain/rascal
‘Ha ha They have robbed you, but now I have got you, villain!’
Peter Bakker and Kristoffer Bøegh presented quite interesting information which clarifies the sentence, but also places it in its context. The spelling of Thief (instead of dief ‘to steal, to rob’) and you (instead of joe ‘you’) point to English as the language in which these words from Creole can be represented best. Peter Bakker mentioned that the use of Krigh (Dutch krijgen ‘to get’) instead of kri, which is the common pronunciation in the twentieth century, indicates the consonant at the end of the word was still in use. The use of men is somewhat unclear. I thought it to be a assimilation of ma nu (Dutch maar ‘but’ nu ‘now’) into men. My colleagues from Aarhus think that the use of Danish men ‘but’ is more obvious.
In Van Rossem & Van der Voort (1996: 227-229) some similar sentences from police reports are published, which were by the way found by Hein van der Voort and Poul Olsen. Although not dated in Die Creol Taal, I know from the photo copies they must have been found in the early nineteenth century reports.
Poul Olsen found this sentence like a needle in a haystack. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of pages of Police and other reports in the online archives of the Danish Westindies. Hopefully, many interested ones will also try to find some Creole sentences, for instance here.
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Posted in Danish sources, Historical corpora, Manuscripts, metalinguistic comments, On the Internet