Finding Trinidadian Creole in Music, Literature and Media – Trinidadian Creole at York College

Trinidad Creole is the dominant language throughout the land. This creole language can be found in various part of their music, literature and media. While conducting my research something that stood out to me was the lack of literature in the creole language itself. I came across a book that combined made a total 80 fictional short stories; Trinidad Noir was put together by different authors from Trinidad. While briefly skimming through pages I was able to get access too I begun to realize that the creole language was reserved for the dialect between characters; while the rest of the novel was written in standardized English. It became clear that by writing the dialect in Trinidadian creole it spoke to the nature of the character and made it the background of the character more realistic as a reader. When looking at the media in Trinidad; I pulled up articles from a common newspaper in Trinidad referred to as The Guardian. Browsing through articles something was missing; that was the lack of creole language used. The majority of the articles were written in standardized English. News anchors surprisingly lost the dialect while reporting on news, in watching C News the individuals they approached to discuss their frustration with the Ferries having trouble the interviewer spoke with a very minimal accent while the interviewee spoke with an accent. When looking at the media and literature it made me realize that both played to the acrolect and mesolect language class or to those who had a vast educational background enough to be able to understand what was written in articles.

The music of Trinidad speaks wonders to individuals. It’s a form of rebellion and impacts those who listen to it. There are different genres of music in Trinidad which are soca, chutney, calypso and parang to name the few. Chutney music displays influence from India by using code switching between words from India and Trinidadian creole; majority of chutney singers who are from Trinidad are indo-Trinidadian whose family line descended from India. Calypso originated in Trinidad but the origin stems from West Africa. According to the National Carnival Commission Calypso music has been influenced by African roots which is displayed in the dialect and riddim of the music. Soca music was created after Calypso; it was created in fear of Calypso music dying out. Soca music today is extremely popular throughout the land and across the Caribbean as a whole. Soca brought together east Indian and African influence to create a genre of music to unify the land of Trinidad and Tobago. When listening to soca music it is evident that the creole language is being used with limited standardized English; however when looking at written lyrics code switching is evident which is not displayed in the audio. Trinidadian creole is clearly prominent in all genres of music originating in Trinidad. The music is meant to speak to every and anyone; when listening to artist like Kes the band, Machel Montano, Ravi B, Shall Marshal and many more its evident that the language used is something everyone in the land could understand whether or not you have a educational background. The language class ranges between mesolect and basilect and features from the acrolect language class is less evident. After conducting my research I’ve come to realize that the acrolect is standard English and it is the language class used when it comes to literature and media; however the music is a tad bit rebellious. Music was a way to unify the people of the land which is what soca music is all about; coming together and being one while enjoying the music; by using a language everyone could understand.

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