File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_1996/96-12-06.070, message 146


From: FRAGANO S LEDGISTER <f.ledgis-AT-morehead-st.edu>
Subject: Re: Pedantic Postcolonial Point
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 96 15:19:14 EST


> 
> 
> >Just a point. Naipaul is a _Trinidadian_, his 'own language' is a creole
> >of English (and he has written in it, you should read _Miguel Street_).
> 
> I think that Naipaul has more than one language.  He certainly functions
> well in both standard english and creole.  To suggest that his "own
> language" is creole is to ignore the complexities of identity that his
> multi-lingual position and his writings explore.  Naipaul did not exactly
> embrace creole throughout his career, although he uses it in _Miguel
> Street_. But I do see some ambivalence in his use of nation language in
> _MS_.
> 
> karen
> 

'Nation language', eh. Fi yu miggle name mussi Kamau. :-)

I take your point (we could certainly add Bhojpuri to the list). However, in
defence of what I say above, I should note that by 'own language' I mean the
vernacular he grew up speaking and in which he thought his first thoughts.

You are correct to say that he 'did not exactly embrace Creole' (actually,
for a Trinidadian, English Creole is 'Dialect', the word 'Creole' being
reserved for the now all-but-extinct French Creole). But that's hardly sur-
prising given the social context of the vernacular, the racial context in
which it functions, and the high status of 'proper speech'.



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