The discovery, nature, and implications of a Papiamentu text fragment from 1783
In this paper, we discuss the recent discovery of four letters written in 1783, one of which is written fully in Papiamentu, the other three comprising Papiamentu fragments. The data in these constitute one of the earliest written attestations of Papiamentu. We first provide a brief overview of the earliest attestations of Papiamentu and then present the Letters as Loot research programme, to which we owe the discovery of the 1783 letters. Following this, the article discusses the contents of the letters and the socio-historical context in which they were written. To close, we discuss the value of this new source for Papiamentu studies.
References (39)
Bartens, Angela. 1996. Die iberoromanisch-basierten Kreolsprachen. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bosch, Gerardus-Balthasar & Leonard Eduard Bosch. 1829. Reizen in West-Indië 1. Utrecht: Van der Monde.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Clements, Clancy J. 2012. The Spanish-based creoles. In José Ignacio Hualde, Antxon Olarrea & Erin O’Rourke (eds.), The handbook of Hispanic linguistics, 27–46. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Culpeper, Jonathan & Merja Kytö. 2010. Early modern English dialogues: Spoken interaction as writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Elspass, Stephan. 2012. The use of private letters and diaries in Sociolinguistic investigation. In Hernández-Campoy & Conde-Silvestre (eds), The handbook of historical sociolinguistics. 156–169. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eybers, G.J. 1916. E testament Nobo di nos Señor y Salbador Jesus Christo: Fielmente traduci segun e texto original. Amsterdam: Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fouse, Gary C. 2002. The story of Papiamentu. A study in slavery and language. Lanham: University Press of America.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Frijhoff, Willem & Marijke Spies. 1999. 1650: Bevochten eendracht. The Hague: Sdu Uitgevers.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Gelder, Roelof. 2006. Sailing letters. Verslag van een inventariserend onderzoek naar Nederlandse brieven in het archief van het High Court of Admiralty in The National Archives in Kew, Groot-Brittannië. Den Haag: Koninklijke Bibliotheek.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hartog, Johan. 1968. Curaçao, from colonial dependence to autonomy. Aruba: De Wit.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hernández-Campoy, Juan Manuel & Juan Camilo Conde-Silvestre (eds.). 2012. The handbook of historical sociolinguistics. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Israel, Jonathan & Stuart B. Schwartz. 2007. The expansion of tolerance: Religion in Dutch Brazil (1624–1654). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jacobs, Bart. 2012a. Origins of a Creole: The history of Papiamentu and its African ties. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Klooster, Willem. 1998. Illicit riches. Dutch trade in the Caribbean, 1648-1795. Leiden: KITLV Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Koch, Peter & Wulf Oesterreicher. 1985. Sprache der Nähe – Sprache der Distanz. Mündlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit im Spannungsfeld von Sprachtheorie undSprachgeschichte. Romanistisches Jahrbuch 361. 15–43.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kouwenberg, Silvia & Pieter Muysken. 1995. Papiamento. In Jacques Arends, Pieter Muysken & Norval Smith (eds.), Pidgins and creoles: An introduction, 205–218. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kramer, Johannes. 2004. Die iberoromanische Kreolsprache Papiamento. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kramer, Johannes. 2008. Die früheste Erwähnung und das früheste Wörterbuch des Papiamento. Romanistik in Geschichte und Gegenwart 14(1). 99–114.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kunst, Antonie Johannes Marie. 1983. Jean Rodier, Fransman, hugenoot en Gouverneur van de ‘eilanden van Curaçao’. In R.O.L. Palm, E.H.J. Martis, & Ernest Cohen Henriquez (eds.), Miscellanea iuridica antiliana, 71–88. Leiden: Societas Iuridica Antilliana.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lipski, John M. 2005. A history of AfroHispanic language: Five centuries, five continents. New York: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Maduro, Antoine J. 1971. Bon papiamentu (i un appendix interesante). Curaçao: author’s edition.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Martinus, Efraim Frank. 1996. The kiss of a slave: Papiamentu’s West-African connections. Amsterdam: Universiteit van Amsterdam dissertation.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Maurer, Philippe 1998. El papiamentu de Curazao. In Matthias Perl & Armin Schwegler (eds.), América Negra: panorámica actual de los estudios lingüísticos sobre variedades hispanas, portuguesas y criollas, 139–217. Frankfurt am Main:Vervuert.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nevalainen, Terttu & Helena Raumolin-Brunberg. 2003. Historical sociolinguistics: Language change in Tudor and Stuart England. London: Pearson Education.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Niewindt, Martinus Joannes. [1833]2002. PrefectoApostulico di Curaçao na Cristian di su Mision. Bloemendaal: Libri Antilliani.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nobels, Judith & Marijke van der Wal. 2012. Linking words to writers: Building a reliable corpus for historical sociolinguistic research. In Nils Langer, Steffan Davies, & Wim Vandenbussche (eds.), Language and history, linguistics and historiography: Interdisciplinary approaches, 343–361. Bern: Peter Lang.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Quint, Nicolas. 2000. Grammaire de la Langue Cap-Verdienne. Paris: L’Harmattan.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rupert, Linda. 2012. Creolization and contraband. Curaçao in the early modern Atlantic world. Athens/London: The University of Georgia Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Salomon, H.P. 1982. The earliest known document in Papiamentu contextually reconsidered. Neophilologus 661. 367–376. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sanchez, Tara. 2009. Papiamentu. In Keith Brown & Sarah Ogilvie (eds.), Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world, 835–836. Oxford: Elsevier.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van der Wal, Marijke. 2011. ‘Mie alma dousje & mi courasson’. Creools tussen Curaçao en Rotterdam. In Daer wij ul hoogelijck voor bedancken. Brieven belicht voor Wikiscripta Neerlandica, 31–37. Leiden: Brieven als Buit.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Wijk, Henri. 1958. Orígenes y evolución del Papiamentu. Neophilologus 421. 169–182. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wood, Richard E. 1971. The English loanwords in Papiamentu. Nieuwe West-Indische Gids 481. 173–189. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wood, Richard E. 1972. New light on the origins of Papiamentu: An eighteenth-century letter. Neophilologus 561. 18–30. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
www.brievenalsbuit.nl
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
FREITAS, Shirley, Gabriel Antunes de ARAUJO & Manuele BANDEIRA
2019.
OS JUDEUS SEFARDITAS EM CURAÇAO E SEU PAPEL NA FORMAÇÃO DO PAPIAMENTU.
Alfa: Revista de Linguística (São José do Rio Preto) 63:1
► pp. 11 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.