Cultural and Linguistic Ambiguity in a West Indian Village (Separata)

Reisman, Karl, Cultural and Linguistic Ambiguity in a West Indian Village, extract from Szwed and Whitten, Afro-American Anthropology. (signed by the author for Drs. Hoetink & Mathews)

See also Cultural And Linguistic Ambiguity: Some Observations On The Role Of English-Based Creole In An Antiguan Villagel:

English-based Creole on the island of Antigua exists and finds its identity not in any system of bi- or multi-dialectalism (or -lingualism), nor even in a system that can be characterized as a simple scale or continuum. Creole plays its role as part of a more general way of handling cultural symbols which maximizes and plays with ambiguities of cultural reference and of expressive and moral meaning. There is a duality of cultural patterning, both of Creole versus English speech and of ‘African’ versus English culture. But this underlying basis is denied and covered, and the two cultural strands are woven into a complex garment of cultural and linguistic expression.