Endangered Language Profile

Kromanti

“Yo bia boto bi o casa no casa

casa ma fri o maati maati prapati

a fram butu kambado piki buobo kamadi”

 - Mr. Isaac Bernard (Maroon-Kromanti) *

           

            To be able to speak accurately about any endangered language is important to understand it’s painful history, culture, and the people who speak it.  According to the Webster dictionary, language is defined as the most common method of human communication, whether, spoken or written, used by a community, tribe, clan, or country.  Language is part of people’s identity, history, heritage, and culture and is the defining way to accurately describe a person’s personal story. 

While researching the topic of endangered languages, it was apparent that most of the languages in the world that were considered endangered or moribund, happened to come from groups of people who were disenfranchised, who belonged to minorities groups, and were forced by society to either abandon, forget, change, or keep their native language secret.

Racism, privilege, and economic status often determine the survival, death, or history of any language and can be the major factor that contributes to a language dying or disappearing.  My analysis helped me to discover a beautiful language named – Kromanti –  spoken by the Marrons of Moore Town, situated in the beautiful highland of the eastern side of the island of Jamaica with a history of courage, violence, racism, and persistence.  

The Kromanti language is spoken by the Maroons, which are direct descendants of former runaway slaves who became defiant against the British military force in 1655 while pledging to never get captured or becoming slaves again.  

An article in the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage of the Smithsonian Institution's describes how “For more than four centuries, thousands of enslaved Africans managed to escape from the plantations and mines of European colonizers throughout the Americas, searching for freedom in the wilderness. Between the early 16th and late 19th centuries Maroons challenged the colonial powers and violently resisted enslavement, striking hard at the foundation of the plantation economy of the Western Hemisphere.” (folklife.si.edu).  

The Maroons survived the colonizers and were able to preserve their language who is now considered endangered.  The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) describe Kromanti as a dying language that came from West African and derives from the Akan language, Native of Ghana dialect, with a family language from Niger-Congo, Central Tano, Potou-Tano, Kwa, Tano, Atlantic-Congo.  The Kromanti language was an essential part of Maroons’ heritage and pride and its use started to decline in the early decades of the 20^th century.

            Moreover, the significance of the importance of the language is the relationship with the Maroons rituals, religious practices, and ancestral ceremonies. As described in the Jamaican language unit “A critical feature of Maroon heritage is the Kromanti language, used in a ritual ceremony known as Kromanti Play. This is a ceremony used to invoke ancestral spirits, involving dances, songs and special styles of drumming, in which the language is used to address the ancestors. Kromanti Play, inclusive of the linguistic aspects, is the easily the most distinctive feature which marks off the Maroons of Moore Town from non-Maroon Jamaicans.” (Devonish, 2011).  

The language is part of the Maroons culture and ancestral ceremonies which provide a connection with their heritage and past.  It is unfortunate that Kromanti is currently considered a dying language and is only spoken by few elderly members of the Moore Town.

            

           Furthermore, the factors that have influenced the decay of the language is how the speakers treat it with long-established secrecy, their unwillingness to pass it down to the youth, and how they often used the Kromanti for their religious practices and ritual ceremonies. “UNESCO, in 2003, named the Maroon Heritage of Moore Town (Jamaica), as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.” A masterpiece that soon will die with their last elder and it would take with them the history, the pain, the culture, and the courage of runaway slaves. 

            Despite its longevity the Kromanti language is endangered and there are few organizations and individuals trying to revive and preserve the language.  Organizations such as the University of the west indies, the Caribbean Indigenous and Endangered Languages, MONA, UNESCO, and The Caribbean Language research among others are researching the language and working to record as much as possible of what is left of the language.  

Moreover, Hubert Devonish, Hubert Devonish. Dept. of Language, Linguistics & Philosophy University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica, research the kromanti language and was able to record videos with elders from the Moore town and much of the dialect has been recorded. 

Preserving a language is preserving history and culture; the kromanti language represents a painful heritage of runaway slaves that were able to be free and fight for the freedom while preserving their language.  

It's sad to see any language disappear, but it seems that as in any aspect of society privilege and social class always determines the outcome of any social issues, including but not limited to the preservation of languages such as the one spoken by the Maroon elder in the forgotten Moore town of Jamaica. 

Personal reflection:  

The Kromanti language should be saved and preserve for future generation to learn the history of runaway slaves and many other tribes that the world never heard about it.  After researching this language I'm convinced that most social conflicts come from a place of disadvantage and the lack of power.  Language is what defines us and the tools that can separate humanity or bring it together.  

Further research is needed to help preserve such important and historical language. 

                       

Reference:

Caribbean Indigenous Endangered Language. (2017). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from

            https://www.mona.uwi.edu/dllp/jlu/ciel/pages/kromanti.htm

Devonish, H. (2006). Kromanti. Retrieved April 13, 2018, from

            http://www.caribbeanlanguages.org.jm/node/52

F. (2015, June 24). Suriname Kromanti Language – Jamaica – A Closer Look. Retrieved April

/14, 2018, from https://surinameafricanheritage.wordpress.com/2015/05/30/suriname-

            kromanti-language-Jamaica-a-closer-look

Smithsonian. (1992). The Maroons and Moore Town Colonel C. L. G. Harris. Retrieved April

            12, 2018, from https://folklife.si.edu/resources/maroon/educational_guide/60.htm

"Life is the result of our choices" - Brava