Well, I guess this mixes several different issues. On point one, yes, there are indo-portuguese creoles in India. For instance, that's the case of the language spoken by Catholic Damanese at home, and among the Catholics from Chaul. There are also the creoles of Sri Lanka, on all accounts part of India in cultural terms. I suspect that there were a lot more indo-portuguese creoles in India in the past but most of them vanished by now. Those that still survive will most likely vanish as well in the coming decades. Goa didn't produce a creole. Those that know portuguese know portuguese, not a creole variant. The reason is simple: Against what some nationalistic voices keep claiming the Portuguese never attempted to erradicate concanim. Since goans had their own language and were able to keep it, they didn't need a creole.
On point two, no, it is not a hangover of colonial times. Just look at Cap Verde, Reunion Island and Mauritius, Malaca, and so many other places where local people are protecting and defending their creole languages and you will see that it has nothing to do with hangovers on the part of the inheritant of past coloniser powers. The creoles of today are in the same relation to their mother languages than Portuguese, French, Spanish or Italian to Latin. Would that mean that the speakers of those languages are living today a hangover to the Roman colonial past? It makes no sense to think about hangovers of colonial times. It's a completely useless concept. Language is connected with politics and politics have a lot to do with demographics. Portuguese speaking countries like French speaking, Chinese speaking, etc. are trying to tap into the human resources and associated power base that the language provides. It has nothting to do with the past, it's all about the present. Yes, the spread of languages was always through colonisation - and still is. And colonisation used language as a tool. But the arithmetics of power today are different. On point three, what is a colonial country? France, Portugal, Holand, Spain and England? Or does it include China that has been colonizying East Asia since times immemorial (the most recent case of Chinese colonisation is Taiwan)? Java that before, under and after the Dutch has been colonising South East Asia? North India with its recent attempts to impose Hindi in the south of the subcontinent? The imposition of British India laws, language, economy and custums in former Portuguese India? There are plenty more examples. Colonisation is a very old process that must have been working ever since men developped independent societies. It didn't stop with the independence of former European colonies. Sergio -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Teotonio R. de Souza Sent: segunda-feira, 19 de Julho de 2004 1:02 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [goa-research-net] Calling upon GRN ethnolinguists /anthropologists (1) Would someone who is familiar and experienced in this matter clarify if indo-portuguese dialects can be called Portuguese creoles of India? Has Goa produced its own variety? S.R. Dalgado studied what he called "dialectos indo-portugueses". (2) Is the "creole" discourse and research-interest today a hangover of colonial times? Are the former colonialists and their scholars still seeking to "matar saudades" with relics of their languages that they could once impose worldwide and still feel proud in citing as languages spoken by "xxx" millions of people of the Earth? (3) Could the languages of non-colonial countries have their own creoles? Any instances of ongoing research? ------------------------------------------------------------------- To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from Goa-Research-Net ------------------------------------------------------------------- * Send us a brief self-intro to justify your interest in this "specialized" forum. This should be sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] (NOT [EMAIL PROTECTED]) * Leave SUBJECT blank * On first line of the BODY of your message, type: subscribe goa-research-net [EMAIL PROTECTED] or unsubscribe goa-research-net [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------------------
