An Ethnolinguistic Study of the Trinidadian Creole
community in Flatbush, Brooklyn
Keisha T. Lindsay and Justine Bolusi
Introduction
This paper gives a look into the Trinidadian
immigrant community of Brooklyn. Although this community is quite small
compared to the other ethnic parts of Brooklyn, its impact upon the lives
of the people living in the Flatbush area proves to show that the
community's contribution to the daily life of the residents is quite
large.
Flatbush Avenue spans from the Kings Plaza mall all the way to downtown
Brooklyn, with the majority of the Trinidadians living in this area
concentrated toward the middle, beginning from Beverly Road to Empire
Boulevard.
Within this ethnic community, the Language
Other than English (LOTE) is Trinidadian Creole. This language, spoken
all over the island of Trinidad, has many influences - all of them coming
from the colonization of the island by different European nations.
Therefore, within any sentence, you can hear a word originating from
France in its' broken form, or a Spanish word, pronounced in the
Trinidadian Creole. Within the Flatbush community, the language is, in
essence, the glue that holds the Trinidadians to each other and separates
them from their Jamaican, Haitian or Guyanese counterparts. The language
is used in the local shops and eateries as well as on the street, when one
Trinidadian is speaking to another Trinidadian, or even another West
Indian. Yet, many Trinidadians do not feel that their language is a LOTE
or a Creole. In fact, everyone who was interviewed replied in the same
manner to the question: Define or identify your language. "There is no
official Trinidadian language, just a variation of the English language,"
they replied. One man, described his language as a mix of English and
broken French. Another man claimed that the Trinidadian language could be
identified by one's accent and how fast a person spoke. A woman who was
interviewed agreed with the latter view, but said that the English she
used was more British than American.
Being seen and feeling like an outsider,
Justine did not speak as much while interviewing the community members of
Flatbush. When she did ask questions, they were very candid in telling
her of their language and how they saw themselves within the community.
Yet, she could not understand much of what was said, raising the question
of whether the Trinidadian Creole is just an accent, or a language if and
of itself. When Keisha approached the Trinidadians in the neighborhood,
they did speak to her very candidly, but once she informed them that she
too was Trinidadian, they hesitated to answer many of her questions
because "she should know."
Schools
For the child who recently migrates to the
United States, the Trinidadian Creole is still the most comfortable
language. Therefore, the child sees it fit to speak the Creole at home
and at school. Yet, as the child gets older, he or she soon realizes that
her language and way of speech is different, and speaks with the dominant
language at school, while speaking the LOTE at home. As one of the
members of the Trinidadian community (Ms. X) mentioned, "the assimilation
to the American language is not hard for the primary school kid." Yet,
there are some like Julia Dixon, an eight-year-old girl who was born in
America, but whose parents are immigrants and speak with the LOTE in the
home. Although Julia is American, she speaks Trinidadian Creole at home
and at school, often causing confusion for her teachers and peers.
The children who use the LOTE within the
schools of the community do not receive any ESL education. According to
Ms. X, these children are often placed into remedial English classes
because they would read with the wrong intonation or spell words such as
'color' or 'favorite' with the British spelling. Also, these children
have phonological markers, or accents, which speech pathologists have
previously labeled as disordered, but as cultural diversity within the
Speech-Language Pathology field become more and more important, it just
seen as different, not disordered.
Governmental Services
As a result of Trinidad Creole being
extremely close to American English in the way it is written, there are no
special services, such as the publication of special signs with the
written Trinidadian Creole. It is safe to say that all Trinidadian
immigrants speak English; although the way they might speak it varies from
the American English. As a result, there is no need for any special
provisions within government agencies such as interpreters in the courts
or the schools.
Medical Services
Once you get into the Trinidadian community
of Flatbush, one of the first things you notice is the amount of health
care professionals that have established practices in the neighborhood.
One such practice, Flatbush Physicians, is made up of about 10 doctors,
three of them being Trinidadian. This, and the other medical practices in
the area, provide healthcare for the over 1,254 immigrants from Trinidad
as well as the thousands more from other parts of the West Indies.
In addition, the New York State Department
of Health have established Child Health Plus, a health service for poor
children to ensure that they get the medical services they need to keep
healthy. This service is also provided for the Trinidadian immigrant
community. Although the mean income for this Brooklyn district (district
#17) is more than that of New York City in general (The Newest New
Yorkers), members of the Trinidad immigrant community use this resource.
Many of the medical practices, including Flatbush Physicians, accept this
health insurance, thus giving the parents of these children a choice as to
where they can receive healthcare.
According to the National Breast Cancer
Coalition, less African-American women are diagnosed each year with breast
cancer (compared to Caucasian women). Yet African-American women have the
highest mortality rate in breast cancer cases compared to their Caucasian
and Latina counterparts. The State University of New York at Brooklyn
recognizes this trend all throughout the Caribbean communities of
Brooklyn. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that the rise in breast
cancer mortality rates is one of the reasons why there has been a recent
surge of gynecologists in the area. Many hospitals in Brooklyn, such as
State University of New York at Brooklyn Hospital, have promoted
self-awareness classes in order to help women become more aware of the
risks of breast cancer and other gynecological diseases. There are no
interpreters at the local hospitals, but many of the nurses are of
Trinidadian descent, or immigrants themselves. According Ms. X, "it makes
it comfortable because someone from home is around."
The Flatbush YMCA also provides health and wellness services for its'
users, 25% of them being from Trinidad. There are various lectures given
as well as many classes, ranging from Tai Chi to the Outdoor Walking Club.
Religion
Trinidad and Tobago is a nation that prides
itself on its cosmopolitan mix of races as well as religions. From
Catholics to Muslims, Anglicans to Hindus, the average Trinidadian is well
versed in many of the practices, customs and beliefs of the religions by
which he or she is surrounded. Yet, in the immigrant community of
Flatbush, there was not one religious establishment that seemed to be
openly Trinidadian. While walking down Flatbush Avenue, one can see the
Haitian churches and places of worships, or hear the Baptist shouts coming
from a building draped with a Jamaican flag. So the question was, "Do
Trinidadians cease to openly practice their religion once they have
migrated?" Mr. Y, a man selling his variety of goods on the street gave a
possible answer to this question. "Trinidadians do not give up their
religions," he said, "they just practice with other West Indians, or even
join American churches." As for the Muslims and Hindus, they seem to do
the same, as they join the mosques and temples of other Hindus who are
East Indian or Guyanese.
Organizations
The main organizations that are
predominantly Trinidadian in the Flatbush community are mas camp
organizations. 'Mas' is the abbreviation for masquerade or the parade of
masqueraders taking part in a Carnival, much like the large Carnival in
Trinidad. Every year, Trinidad looks forward to its annual celebration
every Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The days are filled with
festivities and months before, mas camps, or the places where the costumes
for the masqueraders are prepared, serve as both working places and
tourist attractions for thousands of Trinidadians. The immigrant
Trinidadians have brought this tradition to New York, with the annual West
Indian Day parade every Labor Day. This parade brings all the West Indian
communities together for a day of festivity and celebration with lots of
music, costumes and food from each country. Thousands of Trinidadians
come out to Eastern Parkway each year for the celebration and they bring
their food, music and customs with them, sharing them with other West
Indians and Americans.
Another organization that is well known
within the community is the Trinidad and Tobago Women's Association.
Based in Manhattan and comprised of professional immigrant women, this
organization provides college scholarships for young women of Trinidadian
descent who excel in high school and are going on to college.
Stores and Restaurants
There are hundreds of stores and restaurants
that are owned by Trinidadian Creole speakers. In fact, upon observation,
it seems to be to a business owner's advantage if a speaker of Trinidadian
Creole conducts daily interaction with the Trinidadian community.
Trinidadian LOTE speakers own groceries, hair salons, flag shops and
especially, take-out food shops. All of these advertise and sell products
manufactured in Trinidad, thus giving their Trinidadian counterparts a
small way to remember home. The restaurants owned by Trinidadians sell
food such as roti, stewed chicken with rice and curried chicken. They
sell drinks that cannot be found in any other store, such as Solo Soft
Drink and sea moss and make sweets and pastries that are native to
Trinidad. Coupled with their "home talk" and their "sweet hand" in
cooking, the many immigrant Trinidadians find that these restaurants and
shops provide them with a feeling of being home, right in the middle of
Trinidad's capital, Port-of-Spain.
In addition, many Trinidadian Creole
speakers help to operate many of the other stores in the neighborhood,
such as the Korean stores, which sell many of the goods that are
manufactured in Trinidad and used to make many Trinidadian foods and
pastries. For these Koreans, having a speaker of Trinidadian Creole help
them to cross the language barrier in order to serve their community.
A growing business within the Trinidadian
Creole community is the travel agency business. Walking in a two-block
area along Flatbush Avenue, one would notice that the most frequent
business establishment is the travel agency. According to a
representative of Caribbean Travels, a travel agency on Flatbush Avenue,
"The Trinidadian always wants to return home." This demand has prompted
travel agencies to publish their deals and sales in newspapers and post
flyers all throughout the neighborhood. The heaviest travel periods
include Christmas, Carnival and the months of June to August when students
are out of school for the summer vacation. LOTE speakers operate all of
these travel agencies and many of these agencies have "home bases" or
affiliates on the island of Trinidad.
Publications
There are no publications in Trinidadian
Creole sold in the area. As said before, the Trinidadian Creole is not a
formal written language, but a spoken one. Nevertheless, there are many
publications that come from Trinidad, such as the Trinidad Guardian
newspaper or the PUNCH - a newspaper and magazine produced in
Trinidad. There are many free newspapers that are published for use in
the Caribbean community at large. These papers publish news that is
specific to the nations of the West Indies. Many Trinidadians use these
newspapers to get a short look at what is going on back in Trinidad, or,
more interestingly, to find which travel agencies are giving airline
ticket deals for the Carnival, Christmas and summer seasons.
Case Study
While doing an ethnographic study for a high
school class, I met Julia Dixon, an eight-year-old American girl who lives
in the Flatbush community. Although Julia was born in the United States,
her parents, sister and other relatives are all recent (approximately ten
years) immigrants of Trinidad. Julia's native LOTE is Trinidadian Creole
- the language she learned as a child. When Julia began pre-school in
Marine Park, Brooklyn, she often code-switched, thus showing competence in
both Trinidadian Creole and the American English. After first grade,
Julia visited Trinidad for two months during her summer vacation. As a
result of being placed into the Trinidad culture where Trinidadian Creole
is the predominant spoken language, Julia stopped code switching and spoke
pure Trinidadian-Creole. After her return to the United States after her
trip, her second grade teacher realized that Julia did not code-switch,
but continued to speak pure Trinidadian-Creole. Julia is now in the fifth
grade at a grade school in Marine Park. She writes perfectly, and
remembers to spell the words 'color' and 'favorite' correctly, according
to American English. Yet, she no longer code-switches and speaks with
pure Trinidadian-Creole both at school and in the home.
The way Julia speaks puzzles everyone she
meets, but her mother is not confused. Jaseah Dixon, Julia's mother,
claims that Julia only code-switched to feel more comfortable, but after
realizing that she did not feel as comfortable switching, she chose to
speak in her Trinidadian Creole. Julia is not in an ESL class, nor is she
in remedial English. She just chooses not to speak in the dominant
language of her peers.
Conclusion
Although the Flatbush community is one of
the largest Trinidadian Creole communities in New York City, this
community is quite small compared to the nearby Haitian and Jamaican
communities. Many might say that the reason the Trinidadian Creole
community is so small is because they have assimilated into the American
culture and have lost their Trinidadian customs and practices, language
being one of them. I beg to disagree. It is true that the Trinidadian
community has assimilated into the American culture, possibly more than
any other West Indian group. Yet, they have not done this at the cost of
their native Trinidadian culture. The ways in which they live in the
Flatbush community attest to that fact. Their Trinidadian food shops
coupled with their memberships in the American churches show that while
the Trinidadian Creole community is small and is assimilating quite
quickly, it is in no way near becoming extinct.
