Unraveling Caribbean Creole: The Power of Reduplication

Welcome to a captivating episode of the Dis A fi mi History Podcast, hosted by Wendy Aris. Today, we dive deep into Caribbean Creole linguistics with Silvia Kouwenberg, a renowned professor and dean at the University of the West Indies. This episode explores the typology of Caribbean Creole reduplication, unveiling its historical roots and complexity.

Silvia shares her journey in linguistics, emphasizing the misconception that Caribbean Creole languages are incomplete or broken. Instead, she reveals the intricacies of these languages, their deep historical connections to West African languages, and how they reflect cultural and familial heritage.

Join us as we uncover fascinating insights, from the roles of reduplication in storytelling to its evolutionary journey, and how it's intricately woven into the fabric of Caribbean identity. Immerse yourself in this enlightening conversation that challenges perceptions and celebrates the richness of Caribbean Creole languages.

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BIO                                                                                                          Ms Silvia Kouwenberg began teaching at the University of the West Indies (Mona Campus) in 1991, and have had primary responsibility there for courses in formal linguistics and creole linguistics. I have been a fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany), the Centre for Caribbean Studies at Warwick University (Coventry, UK), the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (Wassenaar, the Netherlands), and the University of Orléans (France), and I have received a Mona Campus Principal's Research Fellowship. I am currently Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the Mona Campus, an appointment which ends July 31st, 2025. Finally, as member of the Jamaican Caves Organisation, I have collaborated with fellow JCO members and visiting researchers in documenting the distribution of the larva of the predacious fly Neoditomyia farri in caves across Jamaica.

                                                                                                                                 

BOOK                                                                                                  https://www.amazon.com/Books-Silvia-Kouwenberg/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ASilvia%2BKouwenberg           History Podcasts https://blog.feedspot.com/history_podcasts/ • Caribbean History Podcasts https://blog.feedspot.com/caribbean_history_podcasts/ • Caribbean Podcasts https://blog.feedspot.com/caribbean_podcasts/ • History Podcasts For Historians https://blog.feedspot.com/history_podcasts_for_historians/

                                                                                                                                     

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