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9 - Dominican Kokoy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2010

By
Michael Aceto
Edited by
Daniel Schreier ,
Peter Trudgill ,
Edgar W. Schneider  and
Jeffrey P. Williams
Daniel Schreier
Affiliation:
University of Zurich
Peter Trudgill
Affiliation:
Universitetet i Agder, Norway
Edgar W. Schneider
Affiliation:
University of Regensberg
Jeffrey P. Williams
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University
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Summary

Introduction

This article examines the grammatical features of Kokoy, a creole or restructured variety of English spoken on the island of Dominica in the eastern Caribbean. It is part of an ongoing project to document neglected or undocumented English-derived languages of the Caribbean via fieldwork (see Aceto and Williams 2003; see Aceto 2002a for a complete list of undescribed and underdescribed languages of the anglophone Americas). There is no published research focusing on Kokoy and references to the existence of this language variety are sparse. In fact, I only encountered my first reference to this language when editing Aceto and Williams (2003). Bryan and Burnette (2003) focused on language usage on the island of Dominica, and one of the languages mentioned was Kokoy. As a fieldworker interested in undescribed languages, this reference caught my eye and, on the basis of a generous faculty grant from my institution and help offered by Rosalind Burnette, I was able to carry out fieldwork in Kokoy-speaking locations for a few weeks in the summer of 2002. Subsequently, I have encountered two further references in the published literature by Christie (1990, 1994) referring to Kokoy or Cocoy (as it is sometimes spelled).

Dominica, an island in the eastern Caribbean situated between Guadeloupe and Martinique and sharing a partial francophone history, reveals at least three European-language-derived varieties.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Lesser-Known Varieties of English
An Introduction
 , pp. 171 - 194
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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References

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