Abridged Handbook of Grenadian Creole English and French Names

Book excerpt: The handbook includes elements of Grenadian folklore, proverbs, and sayings. Much more work needs to be done in those areas. In fact, the proverbs and sayings are already the object of a separate publication that is well underway. A special section on French names and their meanings has also been included for primary school pupils and teachers, as well as foreigners to our shores. It deals with the names of places, people, patois nicknames, and French-sounding names. Keywords, key expressions, or entries in the lexeme section and in other sections of the book are in bold type. Some of these terms may also be noted by an asterisk. The part of speech of the terms is noted, their pronunciation where deemed necessary for this particular publication, the origin of the term, and their meaning in SE/GCE. As a general rule, the most popular meanings of terms are in descending order of importance. The cultural and folkloric values of certain entries are noted in an effort to document such information and/or beliefs. Synonyms, antonyms, and cross references are given due prominence to show the richness of the language. Omitted from this work are terms considered to be too vulgar in nature, particularly the wealth of those referring to human sexual organs and expletives. A comparative grammar section juxtaposes grammatical similarities and differences between SE and GCE. It is a scratching of the surface and is intended to show, first of all, that GCE has a grammar of its own, where traditionally certain linguistic performances were and may still be seen or written off as errors. In fact, they may be standard grammatical features of GCE and Creole English. This section explores as well the nature and origin of some of the syntactic structures used by Grenadians with a view to facilitate the transition from SE to GCE, or vice versa.