Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T21:44:32.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fishermen, farmers, traders: Language and economic history on St. Barthélemy, French West Indies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2009

Julianne Maher
Julianne Maher
Affiliation:
Elon College, Elon College, NC 27244
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

St. Barthélemy, a small island in the northeastern Caribbean, is populated primarily by descendants of 17th century French settlers, and hosts seven language varieties. To explain the linguistic complexity of the island, this article reconstructs both its social history (using censuses, church records, and land registries) and its economic history, analyzing the effects of economic change on the island's population. The two offshoot communities on St. Thomas provide evidence of social fragmentation related to occupational differences. Functional explanations for St. Barth's linguistic diversity are inadequate; however, the social network theory of Milroy & Milroy 1992 proves useful in explaining the persistence of language differences in this small isolated community. (Social networks, life-modes, economic change, societal multilingualism, creole languages, French, West Indies, St. Barthélemy)

Type
Research Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , September 1996 , pp. 373 - 406
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ange, Michel Frere (1687). Rapport sur l'état des églises, 13 novembre 1687. Guadeloupe Departmental Archives (Basse Terre), Série St. Barthélemy, 1 Mi 177.Google Scholar
Anon. (1767). Rapport sur l'Isle de St. Barthélemy. Archives Départementales de la Guadeloupe, Série St. Barthélemy, 1 Mi 177.Google Scholar
Anon. (1785–1886a). Förtäckning pà de Personer somm under Kongl: Majestäts Protection äro hitkomne. Riksarkivet (Stockholm): St. Barthelemysamlingen XXVIII.Google Scholar
Anon. (1785–1886b). Registre Riksarkivet (Stockholm): St. Barthelemysamlingen I A.Google Scholar
Anon. (1787). Dénombrement. Riksarkivet (Stockholm): St. Barthelemysamlingen XVIII.Google Scholar
Anon. (1789). Extraits des Régistres du Conseil de l'Isle St. Barthélemy. Riksarkivet (Stockholm): St. Barthelemysamlingen I B.Google Scholar
Archambault, Jean (1972). De la voile au moteur. In Benoist, (ed.), 267–92.Google Scholar
Benoist, Jean (1964). Saint-Barthélemy: Physical anthropology of an isolate. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 22: 473–87.Google Scholar
Benoist, Jean (1972), ed. L'archipel inachevé. Montréal: Presses de l'Université de Montréal.Google Scholar
Benoist, Jean (1975). Anthropologic biologique de Saint Barthélemy. In Benoist, Jean (ed.), Les sociétés antillaises: Etudes anthropologiques, 72–88. Martinique: Centre de Recherches Caraübes.Google Scholar
Benoist, Jean (1981). St. Barthélemy. In Djian, Tony (ed.), Ľhistorial antillais, 1: 577–80. Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe: Société Dajani.Google Scholar
Benoist, Jean & Lefebvre, Gilles (1972). Organisation sociale, évolution biologique et diversité linguistique à Saint Barthélemy. In Benoist, (ed.), 93–105.Google Scholar
Bloomfield, Leonard (1933). Language. New York: Holt.Google Scholar
Champigny, (1742). Lettre au roi. Archives Nationales de France, Archives des Colonies, C 8A 54–55.Google Scholar
de Candace, (1925). Lettre au Ministre des Colonies. St. Barthélemy: Musée de St. Barthélemy.Google Scholar
de Clieu, (1747). Lettre à Caylus, 10 mai 1747. Archives Départementales de la Guadeloupe, Série St. Barthélemy, 1 Mi 177.Google Scholar
Deveau, Jean (1972/1976). Le peuplement de St. Barthélemy. Extrait du Bulletin de la Socéité d'Histoire de la Guadeloupe, no. 17–18 et no. 29.Google Scholar
Durat, le Chevalier de (1785). Observation sur l'Isle de St. Barthélemy. Riksarkivet (Stockholm): St. Barthelemysamlingen I A.Google Scholar
Ekman, Ernst (1975). Sweden, the slave trade and slavery, 1784–1847. Revue Française d'Histoire d'Outre-Mer 62: 226–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekvall, Sven, & Wijkström, Christer (1979). Resan till St. Barthelemy: Dr. Christopher Carlanders resejournal 1787–1788. Falköping, Sweden: Royal Academy of Science. Translated by Per Tingbrand.Google Scholar
Fahraeus, Edvard (1863–1865). Statistika upplysningar rorande Svenska kolonien St. Barthelemy. Statistiska Tidskrift 2: 8–14. Translated by Per Tingbrand.Google Scholar
Ferguson, Charles A. (1959). Diglossia. Word 15: 325–40.Google Scholar
Franzén, Gösta (1974). Svenskstad i Västindien. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Goodman, Morris F. (1964). A comparative study of Creole French dialects. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Gréaux, Frederic; Gréaux, Yannik; & Gumbs, Thierry (1992). Les migrations St. Barthélemy St. Thomas: Histoire d'une minorité émigrée. Concours de l'Historien de Demain. Lycée Reache, Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, MS.Google Scholar
Guillot, Father C. S. S. R. (1933). Report on the Cha Chas. Charlotte Amalie Library, St. Thomas, V.I., MS.Google Scholar
Guy, Gregory R. (1988). Language and social class. In Newmeyer, Frederick J. (ed.), Linguistics: The Cambridge survey, 4: 37–63. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Highfield, Arnold R. (1979). The French dialect of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Ann Arbor: Karoma.Google Scholar
Hojrup, T. (1983). The concept of life-mode. Ethnologia Scandinavica 1983: 1–50.Google Scholar
Hyrenius, Hannes (1977). Royal Swedish slaves. Gothenburg: Demographic Research Institute.Google Scholar
Ihre, Albrekt Elof (1841). Trés humble rapport. Riksarkivet (Stockholm): St. Barthelemysamlingen XXIII.Google Scholar
Jarvis, J. Antonio (1944). The Virgin Islands and their people. Philadelphia: Dorrance.Google Scholar
Jefferys, Thomas (1775). The West Indian atlas. London: Sayer.Google Scholar
Jones-Hendrickson, S. B. (1979). Institutional and social bases of rural development: Two French villages in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. St. Thomas: Caribbean Research Institute.Google Scholar
Labov, William (1966). The social stratification of English in New York City. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
LaRose, Serge (1972). Les pêcheurs de Marie Galante. In Benoist, (ed.), 59–74.Google Scholar
Lefebvre, Gilles R. (1976). Français régional et créole à Saint Barthélemy. In Snyder, Émile & Valdman, Albert (eds.), Identité culturelle et francophonie dans les Amériques, 122–45. Québec: Presses de I'Université de Laval.Google Scholar
Leslie, Paul W. (1980). Internal migration and genetic differentiation in St. Barthélemy. In Dyke, Bennett & Morrill, Warren T. (eds.), Genealogical demography, 167–77. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Leslie, Paul W.; Morrill, Warren T.; & Dyke, Bennett (1981). Genetic implications of mating structure in a Caribbean isolate. American Journal of Human Genetics 33: 90–104.Google Scholar
Lewis, Gordon K. (1972). The Virgin Islands. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Louisy, Pearlette, & Turmel-John, Paule (1983). Handbook for writing Creole. St. Lucia: Research St. Lucia.Google Scholar
Maher, Julianne (1990). Créole et patois à St. Barthélemy. Études Créoles 13: 45–55.Google Scholar
Maher, Julianne (1993). Antillean Creole on St. Barthélemy. In Byrne, Frank & Holm, John (eds.), Atlantic meets Pacific: A global view of pidginization and creolization, 409–17. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Maher, Julianne (1996). In search of a historical sociolinguistics for St. Barthélemy. MS.Google Scholar
Militias, (1786). Muster roll. Riksarkivet (Stockholm): St. Barthelemysamlingen I B.Google Scholar
Milroy, James (1992). Linguistic variation and change. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Milroy, Lestey (1987). Language and social networks. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Milroy, Lestey, & Milroy, James (1992). Social network and social class: Toward an integrated sociolinguistic model. Language in Society 21: 1–26.Google Scholar
Morrill, Warren, & Dyke, Bennett (1966). A French community on St. Thomas. Caribbean Studies 5: 39–47.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. (1993). Introduction. In Mufwene, Salikoko (ed.), Africanisms in Afro-American language varieties, 1–31. Athens: University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
Pares, Richard (1936). War and trade in the West Indies, 1739–63. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Pickwood, Lubin (1935). Social survey of the French settlements at Carenage and the North-side. Charlotte Amalie Library, St. Thomas, V.I., Ms.Google Scholar
Rayalin, Salomon Mauritz von (1787). Survey of habitations. Translated by Per Tingbrand. Riksarkivet (Stockholm): St. Barthelemysamlingen XXVIII.Google Scholar
Rickford, John R. (1986). The need for new approaches to social class analysis in sociolinguistics. Language & Communication 6: 215–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenstein, Pehr Herman Aurivillius Rosén von (1788). St. Barthelemy Census 1788. Riksarkivet (Stockholm): St. Barthelemysamlingen I B.Google Scholar
Saint, Barth (1796). Census. Riksarkivet (Stockholm): St. Barthelemysamlingen XXVIII.Google Scholar
Saint, Barth (1838). Census. Riksarkivet (Stockholm): St. Barthelemysamlingen XXVIII.Google Scholar
Sapir, Edward (1916). Time perspective in aboriginal American culture. Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau. [Reprinted in Mandelbaum, David G. (ed.), Selected writings of Edward Sapir, 390–418. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1949.]Google Scholar
Southey, Thomas (1827). Chronological history of the West Indies. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Tingbrand, Per (1989). St. Bartholomew - A Swedish venture in the Caribbean. Paper presented during La Quinzaine du Patrimoine, St. Barthélemy.Google Scholar
Ulrich, Bror Ludvig (1876). Letter to Nisbeth. Translated by Per Tingbrand. Piteá, Sweden: Piteà Segelsällskap Sjörulla [Piteà Yacht Club Magazine] 1993:119.Google Scholar
Williams, Eric (1984). From Columbus to Castro: The history of the Caribbean, 1492–1969. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar