LEXICAL (VOCABULARY) CONTRIBUTIONS TO TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO SPEECH
The Patois language is one of the contributors to the lexicon of the following domains (note that the spellings here are varied):
a) traditional Carnival: canboulé, chantwèl, Dame Lorraine, Dimanche Gras, jabjab, jab
molassie, Jouvert, nèg jardin, Pierrot Grenade, santimanitay, viey la cou, and cultural
elements such as La Reine Rivé, bois and more;
b) folklore: Lagahoo, Lajablesse, Mama Glo, Papa Bois;
c) flora: barbadine, bois bandé, bois cano(n), cerise, chataigne, chennette,
dasheen, ditay payee, fig, flamboyant, geritout, Gros Michel, grugrubef, immortelle,
mango doudous, mango long, mango Rose, mango vert, mango zabiko (and other
mangoes), pika, pois doux, pommecythere, pommerac, shadon beni, sikyé, Ti Mawi, topitambu, vetivert, zaboca, zikak;
d) fauna: battimamzelle, biche, corbeau/cobo, crapaud, jashwa, jep, keskidee, mapipire zananas, pag, shinney, zandolie, zebafam, zebapique;
e) some foods: kouveti pocham, paime, soupee, toolum and also macafouchette),
and
f) several aspects of everyday life in Trinidad: bazodee, bois bandé, bosi-back, cagoo, commesse, douxdoux, flambeau, jamette, lagli, lahey, maco, macomere, mamapoule, mauvais langue, maljo (also Spanish), Petit Careme, poto léglise, salop, shabine, tantie, toutoulbey, tout bagay, tout moun, vay-ki-vay, zafey and gran zafey, zwill, and more.
Tout bagay and tout moun have become almost symbolic of Patois among non-Patois speakers.
Some words from African languages, such as Igbo,
Ewe, Yoruba and Fon, came into our English and our English Creole via Patois. Examples are accra, baton
lélé, bèlè, big belly dun-dun, chak-chak, gangan, kalenda, lengay, nennen, soucouyant, bobolee,
callaloo, hototo, mook, sousou, toolum, tambou bambou, and maybe congoree.
Some words originally from Spanish and other languages took on a French and Patois pronunciation and/or French spelling, such as:
cascadura > cascadoux
español > panyol
gallera > gayelle
la ñapa > lagniappe
pastel > pastelle, and
sancocho > sancoche
Note that other words such as lappe and lambie are not French or Patois, but gained French spellings. All of these words and over one thousand others are recorded and analysed in the Winer 2009 Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago (DE/CTT).
Evidence of the reach of both French and Patois may be seen in the dozens and dozens of place names in Trinidad & Tobago, many originally French that now have Patois pronunciations. There are many street names, former estates, topographical features, and the hyphens in Port-of-Spain that all bear witness to the French presence in Trinidad. The number of Trinbagonian surnames of French and French Creole origin (including Corsican names) is great, and these names are born by individuals of a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Click for a list of place names and surnames of French and Patois origin in Trinidad.
GRAMMATICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Many Trinidadian students who speak Dialect (Trinidadian English Creole) have found it relatively easy
to learn Patois, since there are almost exact grammatical correspondences between the two languages.
Examples include direct translations/calques from French and French Creole:
‘It have’ (i ni),
‘She have 10 years’ (li tini diz an),
‘to make baby’ (fè ich/piti popo),
‘to make hot/cold’ (from i ka fè cho/fwèt), and
‘which part’ (ki koté).
The use of ‘does’ corresponds directly with ka (for example, ‘Ah does go market every day’ = Mwen ka alé laplas touléjou), and the use of ‘go’ corresponds to ké (for example, ‘Ah go marrid a nice woman’ = Mwen ké mayé yon bèl fanm), “outside woman” (fanm déwò), and more.
