Papiamento grammar

Papiamento grammar is the set of structural rules of the Papiamento language.

Papiamento is a creole language and its grammar shows many traits typical of creoles. These include the use of aspect markers instead of verb tenses, the lack of inversion in questions and the invariability of object, subject and possessive pronouns. However, it also demonstrates features that are untypical of creoles, such as the use of past participles and gerunds as well as a passive voice.

Scholars have long argued over the origin of Papiamento, but recent studies have identified extensive similarities between the grammar of Papiamento and that of Upper Guinea Portuguese creoles, especially Cape Verdean Creole.

Origin of Papiamento grammar

Papiamento is usually described by linguists as an Iberian-based creole language, as it is clear that it is a creole (a language which has developed from a pidgin) of an Ibero-Romance language, but the precise roles which Spanish, Portuguese and other creole languages played in its formation are a subject of debate. For this reason, its grammatical features have been analysed in depth, in hope that they will shed light on the language's origin.

Papiamento had developed on Curuçao by 1740, when it is first mentioned in historical documents, and spread to Aruba in the second half of the 18th century, then to Bonaire in around 1800. The key factor in its creation was the Dutch importation of West African slaves to Curuçao, who acquired, either in West Africa or the Caribbean, a pidginised form of Portuguese or Spanish.

Scholars have long disputed which Afro-Portuguese creole varieties contributed to Papiamento grammar or whether it developed independently as a Spanish creole on Curuçao. The discussion is complicated by the possibility that relexification may have occurred, with an original Afro-Portuguese creole having its vocabulary and, to a certain degree, its grammar, replaced by forms closer to Spanish.

Creole contribution to Papiamento grammar

Papiamento's grammar displays many features typical of creole languages. For example, it has a near complete absence of inflection of verbs, instead using particles to indicate time and mood of verbs. It also lacks grammatical gender, a common creole feature. In addition, like many other Atlantic creoles, it uses the same particle as the third person plural pronoun and as a plural marker. In Papiamento this marker/pronoun is nan, whereas in Jamaican creole, for example, it is dem.

Upper Guinea creoles

There are extensive similarities between the grammars of Upper Guinea Creoles, spoken in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, and that of Papiamento.

The system of pronouns in Papiamento, Guinea-Bissau Creole and Santiago Creole are near identical with the exception of the third person plural "they". This leads Bart Jacobs to conclude that all three derive from an early Upper Guinea creole that lacked a third person pronoun, with each language filling the gap by borrowing a pronoun from a different source. Cape-Verdean and Guinea-Bissau creoles also share Papiamento's distinction between emphatic and oblique pronouns.

+ Oblique personal pronouns in Papiamento, Guinea-Bissau Creole and Santiago Cape-Verdean Creole Papiamento Guinea-Bissau Creole Santiago Cape-Verdean Creole English 1sg mi mi mi "I/me" 2sg bo bo bo "you" 3sg e-el el el"he/him", "she/ her", "it" 1pl nos nos nos"we/us" 2pl boso bos nhos "youse" 3pl nan elis es "they/them"

The question words in Papiamento also show considerable similarity to those of Upper Guinea creoles.

+ Question words in Papiamento, Santiago Cape-Verdean Creole and Guinea-Bissau Creole Papiamento Santiago Cape-Verdean Creole Guinea-Bissau Creole English ken ken kin "who?" (na) unda (na) unde nunde "where?" ki ki ki"who/what?", "she/ her", "it" ki oraki diaki tempu ki oraki diaki tempu kal orakal diakal tempu"when?"

However, the forms for "why" and "how" do differ between the Upper Guinea creoles and Papiamento, although the archaic Papiamento kum ("how") has a parallel with Guinea-Bissau creole kuma.

Papiamento prepositions, which are unusually varied for a creole language, are identical to those found in the Gulf of Guinea creoles. In addition to this, unlike Spanish creoles, verbs of movement like "go", "come" and "arrive" do not take a preposition in either Papiamento or the Upper Guinea creoles.

+ Absence of preposition with verbs of movement in Papiamento and Guinea-Bissau CreolePapiamento: Mi ta bai Aruba."I am going to Aruba." Mi ta bai Aruba I progressive marker go Aruba Guinea-Bissau Creole: Mi na bai Portugal."I am going to Portugal." Mi na bai Portugal I progressive marker go Portugal

In view of these and other grammatical similarities, for example the similarities in time and aspect markers, Bart Jacobs concludes that the grammar of Papiamento is largely based on that of an early form of Cape-Verdean creole, probably from Santiago island. This creole was brought to Curaçao by enslaved people who were trafficked by Portuguese and Dutch slavers in the mid-17th century.

Gulf of Guinea creoles

The use of nan as a plural marker and a third person pronoun has a parallel in the creole languages of the Gulf of Guinea, rather than those spoken further north in Upper Guinea. Pronouns similar to nan are found in several varieties, with an identical form found in Annobonese. Various authors have noted this similarity, with creolist Phillipe Maurer suggesting it indicates that Gulf of Guinea creoles may be substrata of Papiamento, rather than its direct ancestor. Jacobs argues that nan was likely either borrowed into Papiamento from a Gulf of Guinea creole, or was added to Papiamento directly from a Bantu language.

Guene language

The Guene language, an extinct creole language or languages spoken on Curuçao and Bonaire, has been suggested to form part of the grammatical and lexical substrata of Papiamento. However, Guene, which may have shared features with both Gulf of Guinea and Upper Guinea creoles, seems to have died out in the 19th century, and the surviving evidence is too fragmentary to be certain of this.

Iberian influence on Papiamento grammar

Several features in contemporary Papiamento grammar are not found in typical creoles. These include non-finite verb forms (the gerund and the participle), a passive voice and more than three time markers. The origin of some of these untypical features may derive from direct Spanish input into Papiamento during its formation on Curuçao. However, linguist Bart Jacobs suggests that the passive and participle have roots in a proto-Upper Guinea creole.

During the 19th and 20th century, it was common for Papiamento speakers to view their language as a variety of Spanish, due to the degree of mutual intelligibility which exists between the two languages. This was particularly true in written varieties, where writers familiar with Spanish would introduce grammatical features such as gender and number agreement for nouns and adjectives and the use of subjunctive forms into their writing. These features were not part of the grammar of early Papiamento, which closely resembles that of contemporary Papiamento.

Syntax

The cardinal word order of Papiamento is subject, tense-aspect-mood marker, verb, indirect object, direct object, prepositional phrase. This order is typical for creole languages, but differs from Spanish and Portuguese, which do not usually allow the indirect object to directly precede the direct object. This order also holds true when pronouns replace the indirect and direct object.

+ Cardinal word order in PapiamentoMi a duna Maria e buki na skol."I gave Maria the book at school." Subject TAM verb Indirect object Direct Object Prepositional Phrase Mi a duna Maria e buki na skol I past marker give Maria the book locative preposition school

This obligatory word order does not apply when the tense-aspect-mood marker is lo, indicating future, conditional or unreal events. lo can precede the subject pronoun of the verb.

+ Comparison of word order with ta and loBo ta hunga futbòl."You play football/You are playing football" Subject TAM Verb Direct object Bo ta hunga futbòl You present marker play football Lo mi hunga futbòl."I will play football." TAM Subject Verb Direct object Lo mi hunga futbòl future marker I play football

Subjectless clauses

In some situations, verbs without subjects are necessary. These include phrases relating to time and weather:

+ Subjectless clausesTa den dia."It's daytime." Subject TAM prepositional phrase [Ø] ta den dia [Ø] present marker in dayTabata kayente."It was hot." Subject TAM adjective [Ø] tabata kayente [Ø] past imperfective marker hot

A subjectless verb is also necessary with the existential verb tin (translated in this case as "there is/there are", but literally meaning "have"), and its past form tabatin.

Tin un hòmber na porta. ("There's a man at the door.")

Focus

The standard word order of Papiamento can be altered to focus on different elements of the phrase. This can be done in three ways, either by fronting a complement or adverb, fronting a subject or object with ta or fronting and repeating a verb and preceding it with ta.

+ Fronting strategies in Papiamento Non-fronted order Fronted order Fronting without ta Mi ta kome awor (I am eating now). Awor mi ta kome (I am eating NOW [not some other time]). Fronting an object noun with ta Mi a kome keshi (I ate cheese). Ta keshi mi a kome (I ate CHEESE[not something else]). Fronting a verb with ta and repetition Mi a come e keshi (I ate the cheese). Ta kome mi a kome e keshi (I ATE the cheese [rather than throwing it away]).

Passive voice

Unlike other Caribbean creole languages, Papiamento has a passive voice (as in the English phrase She was helped by her parents). This is created by using an auxiliary verb, either wòrdu or ser, and a preposition, either dor di or pa.

+ Passive word order in PapiamentoE mucha aki a wòrdu mordé dor di e kolebra."This boy was bitten by the snake." Article Noun Proximal adverb TAM Passive auxiliary Participle Preposition Agent noun phrase e mucha aki a wòrdu mordé dor di e kolebra the boy here past marker passive marker bitten through of the snakeE projekto ta ser entregá pa un ferfdó."The project is handed in by a painter." Article Noun TAM Passive auxiliary Participle Preposition Agent noun phrase e projekto ta ser entregá pa un ferfdó the project present marker passive marker handed in for a painter E kas a wòrdu iferf."The house was painted." Article Noun TAM Passive auxiliary Participle e kas a wòrdu iferf the house past marker passive marker painted

Passive phrases can also be created using the verb keda and the participle. However, phrases with keda can only refer to completed actions.

E trabou keda conclui manera palabra. "The work was completed as agreed."

Negation

Negative statements are created by placing no directly before the aspect marker or, in sentences without a marker, the verb.

+ Negation in Papiamento No before aspect marker E kachó no ta kome karni (The dog doesn't eat meat) No before verb No tin hopi piská aki (There aren't many fishes here)

Other words can be used in negation; the nouns nada ("nothing"), ningun ("none") and ningun hende ("nobody"), and the adverbs nunka ("never") and ningun kaminda (nowhere). As in Spanish, double negation with nunka and no is possible. However, this differs in that in Papiamento, nunka appears at the start of the phrase, whereas in Spanish nunca must not precede no.

+ Comparison of word order with double negative in Spanish and Papiamento Spanish: No fui nunca."I never went." Negative Verb adverb No fui nunca Not "go" 1st psn. sing. past never Papiamento: Nunka mi no a bai."I never went." Adverb Subject Negative TAM verb Nunka mi no a bai Never I not past marker go

Questions