In 1629, following a struggle for power between Hay-appointed Governor Charles Wolverstone and the Courteen brothers’ proprietor, John Powell, Sir William Tufton was appointed governor. Sir Tufton was instructed by Hay to establish a firm and loyalist administration. Though Sir Tufton’s governorship was short-lived, his appointment marks the beginning of the formation of what is commonly known as ‘Little England’. Sir Tufton’s successor, Henry Hawley, brought stability and order to Barbados. Via an advisory council of twelve men, Hawley implemented a legal and administrative system that looked very similar to that in England. All laws and rules, every paragraph and footnote, was written in English. Not only were all official papers written in English, it was a key ambition for Hay and later Proprietor Robert Rich, Second Earl of Warwick, to create a society that resembled England as much as possible.
Some might argue that written official papers had no significance to the large illiterate and unschooled part of Barbadian society, namely African and English slaves and simple farmers. While it is true that official papers might not have had any significance to seventeenth-century illiterates, living in a society permeated with English traditions, elitist culture and, even more importantly, language has its consequences, however. Of all the languages brought together in Barbados, English was the language that could lead to power and influence. All civil offices had English as their language of means. Though the African slaves unquestionably had a language or lingo of their own, it would have been of utmost importance to learn English in order to rise in the ranks and make a name for oneself.
Thus, we have a British colony, inhabited solely by people of English origin and slaves of African, Amerindian or European origin. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that in Barbados, the English language did not have any apparent alternative or competition. The lack of alternative languages is in sharp contrast with the weary status the English language endured in the later United States of America and Canada, where it had to manifest itself among other eligible contenders such as Spanish, Dutch and French.
Although English is presently the official language of Barbados, it does not have exclusivity. Bajan is a nonstandard language and slang. It is a creole dialect, which consists of a West African substrate and an English superstrate. Though similar, Bajan Creole is different from the Creole of neighbouring islands in the Caribbean. Each island has its own superstrate—for instance, Spanish, Scottish or Dutch, depending on their past colonial history—while the substrate is primarily from West Africa. However, though the English language has evolved and a parallel language has surfaced, it is, nevertheless, still the language of the written word. Today, approximately 93 per cent of the population of Barbados has African heritage. This vast majority of the population, originated from the original African slaves of the island, may have accelerated the spread and evolution of Bajan. Had a majority of the present population originated from the English colonists, the Bajan language evolvement might have been less immense.
Barbados is often referred to as ‘Little England’; the island, despite its vicinity to the United States, has kept English spelling rules, cars drive on the left side of the road, the school system and judicial system is still similar to those of England, cities and places still have their English names (e.g. Christ Church or Hastings) and, according to numerous tourist guides the Barbadian and English demeanour are quite alike. Despite attaining its independence from England in 1966, the population of Barbados in the whole has kept a lifestyle in strong accordance with their English roots.
It appears that the English language has had a rather uncomplicated consolidation in Barbados. Unlike the English, the population of Barbados did not suffer through centuries of war and instability before settling on a language. When John Powell initially set foot on Barbados, he was immediately inspired to create a prosperous agricultural adventure in the Caribbean. Later, the English settlement was established with the sole purpose of making profit from the fertile soil of the island. Barbados, though financially profitable, is merely to small to possess territorial prestige and value. In view of its limited territorial prominence, compared to the rest of the enormous New World, it is easy to understand why Spain, France, and Portugal might not have found any interest in Barbados.
Bibliography
References
Bajan 2011. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 10 November, 2011, from
Barbados 2011. CIA – The World Factbook. Retrieved 09 November, 2011, from
Barbados 2011. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 09 November, 2011, from
Monographs
Hilary McD. Beckles, A History of Barbados. From Amerindian settlement to nation-state. (Cambridge University Press 1990)
Larry Gragg, Englishmen Transplanted: The English Colonization of Barbados 1627-1660. (Oxford Scholarship Online 2010). From
George Hunte, Barbados. (Bristol Typesetting Co Ltd, 1974)
Edgar W. Schneider, The Dynamics of New Englishes: From Identity Construction to Dialect Birth, Language , Vol. 79, No. 2 (Jun., 2003), pp. 233-281. (Linguistic Society of America 2003). From
Clive Y. Thomas, The Poor and The Powerless. Economic Policy and Change in the Caribbean. (Third World Publications 1988).
Articles
‘Barbados, Caribbean's Little England, debates dumping the queen’. (The Associated Press 2000). Published on CNN 1st October 2000. From
‘Barbadosed’, Tangled Roots. Retrieved 09 November, 2011, from
Montreal Travel Agencies, ‘Barbados’. Retrieved 11 November 2011, from
Lonely Planet, ‘Barbados’. Retrieved 10 November 2011, from
Commentary
Given the seven day time constraint, it is neither possible to attain nor read every single document, monograph or website related to such a vast subject as linguistics development in Barbados. When writing an essay with a 1,500 word limit, it is not possible to elaborate on every detail in every aspect of the subject matter. I have chosen to focus on the exclusive English presence in Barbados as one of the key factors for the status of the English language there. I could have focused on slavery or the white emigration, but pursuing more than one path would, in my opinion, contribute to a too-superficial account of a complex topic. I have chosen my thesis because it seemed, given our allocated sources, to be the most plausible. Perhaps somewhere in the rather large pile of unread photocopies and books, or in one of the books that did not make it to Copenhagen in time, I would have discovered information that could convince me to prioritise differently. For instance, A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbados by Richard Ligon sounds interesting; however, it is still hidden somewhere at the Royal Library.
Eventually, I ended up reading and researching the texts that seemed immediately relevant. Most of the sources I ended up using, I found through references in works with a subject matter slightly deviating from mine. For instance, via a Wikipedia search on ‘Linguistics History in the Caribbean’, I found a reference to Hilary McD. Beckles’s book on Barbados. The reference on Wikipedia led me to search for it on www.kb.dk and I ultimately found it at the Royal Library.
I will now end my discussion of limitations and choices and continue with an account of our group-based information retrieval. Monday through Wednesday, we worked as group. We initially divided the different search platforms between us, before later sharing the various sources. Finally, we shared our findings and offered advice to each other during the writing process.
CIA – The World Factbook and ‘Barbados’, Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Hilary Beckles (chapter one) and Larry Gragg (chapter one).
Hilary Beckles (chapter two and four).
Hilary Beckles (chapter two).
‘Barbados, Caribbean's Little England, Debates Dumping the Queen’, The Associated Press, 2000.
Larry Gragg (chapter three).
‘Barbados’, Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Larry Gragg (chapter nine); ‘Bajan’, Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
CIA – The World Factbook.
Montreal Travel Agencies and Lonely Planet.