Diglossia and Language Contact in Limón, Costa Rica1

(Diglosia y contacto lingüístico en Limón, Costa Rica)

Jorge Aguilar-Sánchez2

Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica

Abstract

This paper provides a description of the language contact situation in Limón, Costa Rica. It presents a theoretical account regarding language contact in this area and discusses why this linguistic situation leads to challenges for the definition of diglossia and bilingualism that have traditionally been used to describe it. The analysis concludes with support for the thesis that two varieties of English interact with a variety of Spanish in the Costa Rican area of Limón and result in a new variety of Spanish due to this language contact. This study highlights the need to explore these varieties of Spanish to fully understand this contact situation.

Resumen

Se desarrolla una descripción de la situación de contacto de lenguas en Limón, Costa Rica. Mediante un acercamiento teórico señala que esta situación lingüística muestra retos para la definición de los términos diglosia y bilingüismo que han sido utilizadas tradicionalmente para describirla. Concluye con apoyo a la tesis de que dos variedades de inglés interactúan con una variedad de español en el área costarricense de Limón, formando así una variedad nueva de español la cual resulta de esta situación de contacto, y sobresale la necesidad de explorar las variedades de español para comprender la situación de contacto en una forma más completa.

Keywords: Language contact, diglossia, bilingualism, multilingualism, language variation

Palabras clave: Contacto lingüístico, diglosia, bilingüismo, multilingüismo, variación lingüística

Introduction

Limón’s linguistic situation has been studied through three perspectives. Herzfeld,3 the most prolific, studied it through the perspective of Creoles (i.e., Herzfeld’s line of work), which has produced language descriptions, sociohistorical identity descriptions, attitudes, and sociocultural inclusion, among other topics. Winkler’s4 work focuses on the impact of Spanish on the native language of speakers of Limonese English in this multilingual community. Winkler examines the changes using token analysis of a naturally occurring corpus to determine which features have been borrowed into Limonese English and which represent examples of code-switching. Her study represents one of the first studies that fully examines the direct contact of Spanish and English in Limón contact-induced language change.5 She found that this contact situation also presents some interesting challenges because Limonese English exhibits contact-induced change on two fronts: borrowing from Spanish and strengthening from (SE) [Standard English].” The third perspective is that of Aguilar-Sánchez and includes standard English and attitudes towards the different language varieties in the study of the linguistic situation in Limón. He also includes the features of Spanish unique to Limón. His line of work offers a sociolinguistic as well as a quantitative view of attitudes found towards at least three language varieties spoken in Limón through a non-Creolist viewpoint.

The Contact Situation

Language contact is defined as the use of more than one language in the same place at the same time.6 From the beginning of modern sociolinguistics, a major goal of sociolinguists has been the study of speech communities characterized by language contact. Not only has language contact been conceived as an individual enterprise, but it also has been recognized as the historical product of social forces (Sankoff7). Using that statement as a keystone, I would like to provide a more thorough description of the language contact situation in Limón, Costa Rica. To discuss the issue, I begin with a description from a traditional language-contact perspective followed by a problematization of the term ‘diglossia’ in reference to its application to the language contact situation discussed in this paper. I continue with the presentation of the evidence found in previous studies regarding the historical, social, and linguistic characteristics of the contact situation found in Limón. I conclude with an analysis of what has been and needs to be done regarding language contact research and description in this area, and how this linguistic situation presents challenges for the definition of diglossia and the description of languages in contact that has been traditionally used to describe it.

English was introduced in Limón, Costa Rica, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the construction of the railroad to the Atlantic area. Workers were brought from Jamaica and other islands of the Caribbean both for the construction of the railroad and because of the opportunity to work on the plantations (Aguilar-Sánchez8; Herzfeld9; Meléndez Chaverri and Duncan10; Palmer11; Purcell12; Viales Hurtado13; Winkler14). English has been, and continues to be, the main language of intra-racial communication and a representative icon of the Afro-Caribbean ancestry for the population of the region (Aguilar-Sánchez15; Viales Hurtado16).

Figure 1 from Aguilar-Sánchez17 depicts, from a traditional language-categorization point of view, the languages found in Limón. Figure 2 illustrates what Aguilar-Sánchez18 views as the varieties resulting from the contact situation present in Limón. Any mention made of the standard varieties found in Limón in figures 1 and 2 refers to the lexicalizing varieties (i.e., varieties on which language textbooks or grammars are based) and not to the presence or lack of speakers of those varieties. Figure 1 shows the three language varieties found in this geographical area as separate entities while figure 2 theorizes on how the language contact situation found in Limon is represented when all three varieties are considered. We can see how two varieties of English, the standard and the vernacular, interact with a variety of Spanish resulting in a hybrid variety which is the result of the processes of contact of these languages in this context. This contributes to the complexity regarding attitudes, use, and function of these languages, addressed in the following sections. Figure 2 also serves as a visual representation of the result of the language-contact situation presented in this paper. The results can be of two types. The first could be what Thomason19 has termed as a case of asymmetrical bilingualism, in which a subordinate bilingual group (i.e., Limonese English speakers) is shifting to the language of a monolingual dominant group (i.e., Costa Rican Spanish), creating a new variety of Spanish called Limonese Spanish that coexists with the standard varieties of Spanish and English found in that area, among other combinations. The second one could be what Romaine20 calls a case of diglossia where Costa Rican Spanish, Limonese English, and Standard English (SE) specialize in specific societal and geographical areas and are kept as separate languages as in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Language Varieties found in Limón (Chinese and indigenous languages excluded) from Aguilar-Sánchez (2018)21

* Any standard language/grammar taught in schools in English speaking countries

** Any form of language within the Limonese English Continuum

*** Any form of language within the Costa Rican Spanish Continuum

Diglossia

Diglossia, as introduced by Ferguson,22 refers to a specific relationship, in different functions, between two or more varieties of the same language in a speech community. Within that definition, there is a superposed variety referred to as “High” or simply “H9,” and a variety referred to as “Low,” or “L.” The most important feature of diglossia is the functional specialization of H and L where, in one set of situations, only H is appropriate, while in another, only L is appropriate (Brown et al.23; Romaine24; Silva-Corvalán and Enrique-Arias25; Silva-Corvalán26).

However, because the term has become a categorizing tool for specific contact situations such as the one found in Arab countries, where a standard variety is used for official contexts and a vernacular for all other circumstances, it is not appropriate to apply this term to all societies in the world (Romaine27; Silva-Corvalán and Enrique-Arias28) even when the term seems to fit their description.

Figure 2. Contact situation found in Limón (Chinese and indigenous languages excluded), adapted from Aguilar-Sánchez (2018)

The term diglossia has evolved to include situations where two or more distinct languages are in contact. Siguán Soler29 argues that linguistic situations which are the result of unification or expansion processes and where one language is superimposed on another in a particular territory represent cases of diglossia. He concludes that this is true because one language has more prestige than the other. This case of diglossia is termed “diglossia with bilingualism” by Fishman,30 who distinguishes contexts where diglossia can be found without bilingualism, bilingualism without diglossia, and cases where neither exists. For him, diglossia differs from bilingualism because diglossia represents an enduring societal arrangement whereas bilingualism is an individual’s characteristic. This endurance was already present in Ferguson’s31 original definition where he defined diglossia as a stable process that tends to last several centuries or even more.

In Costa Rica, diglossia without bilingualism, according to Meléndez Chaverri and Duncan,32 was found in the early 20th century when the first Spanish settlers arrived at an English-speaking region, when English speakers did not have the need to learn Spanish. Bilingualism without diglossia can be traced back to the mid-20th century when speakers of Limonese English were educated in both Spanish and English as first languages (Purcell33). The last type of diglossia, bilingualism with diglossia, can be found in the present, because Limonese English and Costa Rican Spanish have specialized to be used in certain contexts but are still competing in some other contexts (Aguilar-Sánchez34). Furthermore, because Limonese English represents a language with a continuum from a basilect to an acrolect (Aguilar-Sánchez35; Herzfeld36; Winkler37) and Spanish also is found within its own continuum, the linguistic situation presents challenges to the linguists who try to frame it within the traditional definition of diglossia (Aguilar-Sánchez,38; Herzfeld39). The reason for this is that, as Aguilar-Sánchez40 found, two varieties of Spanish coexist in Limón, guided by different linguistic constraints. To set the foundation for this argument, I treat the linguistic contact situation in Limón as a case of bilingualism with diglossia, considering that two varieties of English and two of Spanish are in contact (Aguilar-Sánchez41). All descriptions are made from this perspective and comparisons among varieties of English or Spanish are made when necessary. Thus, the case of Limón, as stated above, represents a more complex linguistic contact situation than has been traditionally described (Aguilar-Sánchez42), and presents new challenges related to the definition of diglossia (e.g., Herzfeld43; Purcell44; Winkler45), addressed in this paper.

Challenges to the traditional definition of diglossia

Ferguson46 establishes nine areas in which contact languages may differ according to their specialization. These areas are stability, prestige, literary heritage, acquisition, standardization, grammar, lexicon, phonology, and language function. The extent to which these areas are specialized or compartmentalized (Ferguson47; Romaine48) is a function of the importance attached by community members to each language or variety. As each of these areas represents a vital component of the description of the language contact situation in Limón, I dedicate to each one a sub-section, providing historical, social, and linguistic evidence to support my argument, starting with the areas related to history and social factors, and ending with the areas related to linguistic characteristics found in Limón.

Stability

The linguistic situation found in Limón can be said to be a case of stable diglossia. Evidence of this is the fact that about 73% of Afro-Costa Ricans still speak Limonese English as a first language (Aguilar-Sánchez49; Purcell50), although the exact number cannot be updated since the Costa Rican Census does not collect or report language as a demographic. The situation is different from what it was five or six decades ago when English was taught as a first language because since the 1970s or earlier all policies about language education began to be dictated from a monolingual-Spanish-speaking-Costa Rica perspective (Aguilar-Sánchez51). Many teachers and politicians were not aware of the importance of English language in Limón. This was due to the lack of preparation in the field of English language education as a first language, and, as Purcell52 states, because of the hegemony of Spanish as the official language. The lack of training for teachers in the field of bilingualism or English as a first language education, the influence of Spanish as the official language, the migration of Spanish speakers to the province of Limón, and the migration of native-Limonese to the metropolitan area of the country led many native speakers of English to disregard English and adopt Spanish as their primary language. As a result, English stopped being the medium of instruction at schools. Furthermore, Limonese English began to be seen as a language with low social status. A total shift to Spanish, as predicted by Spence Sharp53 has not happened; on the contrary, Aguilar-Sánchez54 found that speakers of Limonese English are expanding their contexts of usage because of the importance that speaking Standard English has for upward mobility. Aguilar-Sánchez55, in his study of attitudes among residents of Limón, found that sixty percent of his informants reported using English only at home, fifteen percent reported using English at work, fifteen percent at both at work and at home constantly, and five percent each for those claiming use of English in the street and everywhere. These results are different from those of previous studies (Herzfeld56; Spence Sharp57; Winkler58) because they show an increase in the places where English is used, including at work, everywhere, and in the street with everyone. Thus, throughout the years, English and Spanish have shared most contexts; this, in turn, is a sign of stability of the bilingualism in Limón (Aguilar-Sánchez59; Herzfeld60; Purcell61; Winkler62).

Prestige

Even though the speakers of Limonese English are proud of their language as a cultural symbol (Aguilar-Sánchez63), Limonese English has the status of the low language within the traditional definition of diglossia. Aguilar-Sánchez64 found statistically significant differences regarding attitudes towards Limonese English. He used seven variables to predict positive and negative attitudes towards Limonese English. First, when participants were asked whether it was important to preserve indigenous languages, factors such as age, education, profession, and linguistic background favor the preservation of indigenous languages. To determine how other factors such as gender facilitate the prediction of a positive or negative attitude towards Limonese English, a variable rule analysis (VARBRUL) was carried out with negative attitudes as the application value. A total of 623 tokens were entered in the regression, 211 of which (33.33%) were tokens of negative attitudes and 412 (66.66%) were tokens of positive attitudes. All seven variables were introduced into the regression analysis. From these seven variables five were chosen as predictive groups and two were eliminated in the process with a Log likelihood of -362.879 and a significance level of .005. The variables eliminated in the process were ethnic group and profession. The variables chosen as predictors were, in order of importance, gender, age, education, language spoken, and language preference. He found that the variable gender was selected as the first predictor related to negative language attitudes. In his analysis males favor negative attitudes towards Limonese English. These findings are contrary to those in the sociolinguistic arena because women tend to be more conservative about language change. However, in this case we are talking about the attitude towards a language spoken in the community and women can be said to show more local identity than men (Labov65; Labov and Dingwall66) since they are the ones who spend more time in community activities such as parent-teacher meetings, religious activities, and preparations for local festivities while men tend to be exposed to the other varieties through the job market, but, as he states, this is an issue requiring further investigation. There was a generational difference regarding positive attitudes towards Limonese English. The younger and older generations favor positive attitudes towards the language while the middle generation disfavors its use. This trend seems to reflect the history of governmental language policies and the importance English has had for social mobility in the last four decades. Education also proved to help explain the different attitudes towards Limonese English. His results show that the higher the level of education, the more favorable attitudes towards Limonese English are because of the greater exposure to the lexicalizing varieties. Aguilar-Sánchez67 also reports that bilingualism is a factor that helps predict positive attitudes toward Limonese English because there was a statistical difference between those reporting to bilingual having more positive attitudes towards Limonese English than those reporting to be monolingual in Spanish.

Those who indicate Spanish as their preferred language of communication also show negative attitudes towards Limonese English whereas those who express not having a preference, show more positive attitudes towards it. Thus, the linguistic situation of Limón, with regard to prestige, can be seen from the point of view of the two languages spoken in the area and their varieties. First, Spanish has the prestige, because it is the official language in the constitution of Costa Rica. As a result, it remains the main language of communication for everyday life and has become the dominant language in Limón for education, government, business, and much of the social sphere (Aguilar-Sánchez68; Herzfeld69; Purcell70; Spence Sharp71; Winkler72). The perception of English and its relation to issues of race and prestige played a major role in this phenomenon, as pointed out by Purcell73:

The insistence on Spanish was more pronounced among young Black women. I frequently spoke to a young female assistant at a pulpería who always used Spanish. I had begun to assume that she did not speak English until I saw her, in the company of other females at a local Saturday night dance, speaking very expressively in Limón Creole. A fair conclusion: Spanish is a component of respectability, especially in formal situations.

… Young people, of high school age and older, having been schooled in Spanish, are more confident in its use, especially when speaking with outsiders. They have been led to think that Limón Creole (or “mek-a-tel-yu,” as they call it) is “bad” language – “banana language,” “braad talk.” Yet those who can speak Standard English display a proud willingness to use it in situations where others would opt for Spanish …

As a result of this process, at least two generations of Afro-Costa Rican children have now attended the Spanish public schools (Winkler74). However, though it seems that specialization of domains is present here, we must consider that the languages spoken in Limón seem to be guided by prestige rather than by situation. In other words, people use Spanish and Standard English when they want to be seen as educated and cultured, and they use Limonese English elsewhere. Furthermore, for upward mobility and access to higher education, Afro-Costa Ricans need a command of spoken Spanish. This attitude has promoted a trend in which many parents, who are bilingual, do not pass their language to their children. Some parents are also discouraging their children from using any form of English at all (Winkler75). Purcell76 even believes that no individual lacking a command of Spanish is likely to assume a position of leadership in the dominant Spanish community. Nowadays, although some schools are teaching English and children are encouraged to speak Limonese English in most social situations, Spanish is still the main means of communication for everyone in the region (Aguilar-Sánchez77; Herzfeld78; Purcell79; Winkler80).

The prestige of Spanish as a language of upward mobility is now being challenged by the presence of Standard English (i.e., non-Limonese English) as a language needed to enter the global market. The most recent study on attitudes, Aguilar-Sánchez,81 mentioned above, considered attitudes towards the three varieties (i.e., Spanish, Standard English, and Limonese English) and found that Limonese English is moving from a forgotten language or a language with limited use to a language whose use may benefit the community both culturally and economically. Aguilar-Sánchez82 states that it benefits the community culturally because it triggered a revitalization of the English variety found in Limón and, as a result, its adoption as the language of everyday use alongside Spanish. Limonese English is reported to be used at work and elsewhere more than in previous studies (e.g., Winkler83). It contributes economically because the revitalization of Limonese English helps people enter the work force in the area of tourism and in other industries which have found the region as a potential source of workers (Viales Hurtado84). However, the results of the study by Aguilar-Sánchez85 show that Limonese English is still regarded as an inferior language whereas British and American English are seen as important for upward mobility and success along with Spanish. He also found that there is a tendency to adopt standard varieties of English as prestige varieties, because American and British Englishes have a higher status than Limonese English. They are also endorsed by the government’s educational policies and by corporations offering jobs that require workers to be bilingual. This serves as evidence to postulate that Standard English is learned as a foreign language, instead of as a first language at school, whereas Spanish is learned as a first language everywhere else.

Literary Heritage

There is limited information on the literary heritage of Limonese English, because Standard English and standard Spanish are regarded as the standard varieties. Thus, most of the literature in either language is published or printed in Standard English and/or standard Spanish, or by artists and writers from the Central Valley. However, oral traditions are found through tales and music. Aguilar-Sánchez86 points out that more creative writers of Limonese English (e.g., Duncan) are emerging. Most teachers in the area are native Afro-Costa Ricans, and there are cases of media readopting English as their language for communication and broadcasting. Some of these works include historical accounts such as El Negro en Costa Rica [The Black in Costa Rica] by Meléndez Chaverri and Duncan87, and, most recently, McDonald Woolery.88

Acquisition and Standardization

Because acquisition of a language usually is affected by the process of formal standardization, these two subsections are treated here as one. Thus, regarding the acquisition of Limonese English and Spanish, there are no studies on the demographics based on language because since 1950 the Costa Rican census stopped asking questions about race and/or language (Aguilar-Sánchez89; Meléndez Chaverri and Duncan90; Purcell91; Winkler92). From the previous literature (Aguilar-Sánchez93; Herzfeld94; Purcell95; Winkler96), one can infer that Limonese English is learned primarily at home and among friends, Spanish is learned in all contexts, and Standard English (i.e., British, or American as lexicalizing varieties) is learned at school or at church. Because of the influence of foreign language teaching and the need to speak English for upward mobility, Limonese English has become a standard variety (Winkler and Obeng97) and it is now being learned at school as well (Aguilar-Sánchez98).

Grammar

The description of the Spanish spoken in Limón has not been attempted yet, with the exception of the study of copula choice plus adjectives by Aguilar-Sánchez.99 The situation of Limonese English is not parallel, as extensive descriptive work has been carried out, mainly by Winkler in 1999, and later by Herzfeld in 2004. However, because of the extensive work done by Herzfeld100 and Winkler101 on the grammar of Limonese English, I focus this section on the major differences in the description of Limonese English grammar. Aguilar-Sánchez102 has asserted that in Limón we find a continuum that goes from the basilect or vernacular Creole to a standardized variety of English, but since most of the literature has focused on the vernacular in this continuum, all examples given in this section refer to that end of the continuum. Comparisons with Spanish are made when necessary.

According to Herzfeld103 and Winkler,104 “Limonese English Creole” is a language variety like mesolectal Jamaican Creole in its syntax. The word order, they state, for all sentence types, including interrogative and negative constructions, is generally SVO. They also point out that the morphology is more developed than that of more radical creoles like Nicaraguan and Providence English Creoles (Bartens105), but it is less complex than that of Standard English. Both authors classified most of its structures as analytic, but they state that Limonese English also has some synthetic structures. Both authors agree that Limonese English presents a case of recent derivational and inflectional morphology development. They argue that in Limonese English the base of the verb is the most frequently used form, and a variety of markers and adverbials are employed for the expression of a full range of tense and aspect.

Noun Phrase (NP)

Herzfeld106 and Winkler107 describe the noun phrase word order to be the same as in Standard English:

NP (Det) (Adv) (Adj) N

Winkler108 also points out that certain elements in the NP, especially determiners and plural markers, are extraordinarily fluid in their positioning. This phenomenon indicates that the system is in continuous change.

Determiners and Pluralization

Both Herzfeld109 and Winkler110 describe Limonese English as having definite (di, da, and the) and indefinite determiners (a, an) like those of Standard English. Their usage, they argue, is different to a certain degree, and does not conform to that of standard English.

The description given by Herzfeld111 and Winkler112 includes the fact that pluralization is often expressed using the determiner dem (Standard English them) or by the addition of the plural affix –s to the root of the noun. The inflectional plural morpheme, they explain, can be added to nouns that are inherently plural in Standard English. The authors describe the plural marker dem being found in either pre- and post-position or both. The following examples taken from Winkler113 illustrate these phenomena.

Example of determiner use:

(1) I’ve picked up so much of the Spanish, so involved with the Spanish, that it is difficult for me to hold a real conversation in English, because I’ve always trying to put in the Spanish. I can’t get rid of the Spanish. [MFRH2] (9, p. 82)

Example of plural marking:

(2) All a dem, all dem choldrens, now dem maada av to go in an do fa dem. [MFRH2]

All of them, all those children, now their mother has to go in and do for them. (13, p. 82)

The definite or indefinite determiner and plural status of a noun are marked separately (Herzfeld114; Winkler115). In the following example the pre-posed singular definite determiner di is accompanied by the post-posed plural marker dem.

(3) Dat time you pap di English; di bad word dem not so sweet in Spanish. [MFRH2]

At that time, you pop in the English; the bad words are not so sweet in Spanish (14, p. 82)

Adverbs and Adjectives

The word order of NPs containing only Limonese English lexical items is the same as that of standard English, but the phonetic form and distribution of adjectives and adverbs may vary from speaker to speaker (Herzfeld116; Winkler117). See for example:

(4) So, defor, you av very little English-speaking persons in Limón. [OFR1]

So, therefore, you have very few English-speaking people in Limón. (17, p. 83)

The adverbial suffix –ly is frequently deleted and this phenomenon constitutes a very common feature of Limonese English (Herzfeld118; Winkler119); see for example:

(5) Dey are akin very violent. [OFRL1]

They are acting very violently. (19, p. 83)

Herzfeld120 points out that the adverb neba [never] alternates with never in more mesolectal speech and is not present in the acrolectal speech. The following example that captures this phenomenon:

(6) Dats da reason why dey neba go.Dey goin back home to Jamaica, dey neba did reach. [OMUM1]

That is the reason that they never went. They were going back home to Jamaica, but they never got there. (21, p. 84)

Grammatical Agreement

Herzfeld121 and Winkler122 agree that in Limonese English only third person singular agreement exists, and it rarely occurs. The third person singular –s is not used with verbs in utterances containing the pronouns he and she as is done in Standard English. This morpheme, as they state, appears from time to time with the first and third, singular and plural, persons. See the following examples of this structure:

(7) He study in the night, and he works. [MMRH1]

He studies at night and he works. (24, p. 84)

(8) I just knows him in pictures, foters, and so forth. [OMRM2]

I just know him from pictures, photos, and so forth. (27, p. 84)

In reference to pronouns, both Herzfeld123 and Winkler124 agree that Limonese Creole English shares similar subject, object, and possessive pronouns with Standard English. They also state that an additional set of possessive forms includes of mine and of yours. Limonese English speakers use these pronouns interchangeably; thus, the same pronoun may be used in subject, object, and possessive positions (Winkler125). The following are examples of this phenomenon:

(9) Dey av di feriada. Dem av di diays, but like say when dem come, dey go more to di beach. [MFRH2]

They have the vacation days. They have the days, but when they come, they usually go to the beach. (31, p. 85)

Reduplication

Herzfeld126 and Winkler127 found that reduplication is a common feature of Limonese English. They argued that this structure is mostly used in the place of the adverb very and serves to show intensification. They also state that reduplication can also have a predicative function with an iterative function. Winkler and Obeng128 attribute the use of this method to the transfer from the African languages that were spoken by the ancestors of the Limonese people. The following two examples show these two usages given for reduplication:

(10) My braada dem tall an sista dem big big! I di liklis one. [MFRH2]

My brothers are tall and my sisters are big! I am the littlest one. (154, p. 109)

(11) … all dem guy the Rasta dem dodging, dodging, dodging, dodging out to da door, one to the next waa see if dem could pick up something. [YMRH1]

… all the Rasta guys they are dodging dodging, dodging, dodging out of the door, out of the next door, to see if they could pick up something. (161, p. 109)

Other issues regarding grammar

Winkler129 states that both grammatically marked and unmarked past forms are found in the same speech sample. It is worth mentioning here that both Herzfeld130 and Winkler131 studied Limonese English from a Creole perspective and not from an English perspective; therefore, all explanations about the grammar are based on the Creole theory set forth by researchers such as Alleyne132. However, neither author denies the existence of a continuum with an acrolect as the standard and a basilect as the vernacular. On the contrary, both authors tried to explain and describe the features for each of the lects found in Limonese English.

Lexicon

Winkler133 explains that most of the lexicon in Limonese English is derived from the varieties of English and Jamaican Creole. Recently, however, there has been an influx of Spanish lexicon. Because of the close contact with Spanish, lexical borrowing is very common. She also points out that the meaning of the English and Spanish lexical items found in Limonese English differ from that of their corresponding standard forms. She attributed this phenomenon to the fact that Limonese English has maintained a more conservative meaning for a word than present day standard English. This is reflected in the fact that English-based lexicon retains earlier meanings or that they are assigned Costa Rican Spanish meanings (e.g. ‘moles’ [molest] has the Spanish meaning ‘to bother’ and not the English meaning ‘to molest’).

Phonology

Studies on the phonology of the Spanish spoken in Limón are also non-existent. This section is dedicated to the phonology of Limonese English which has been extensively studied by Herzfeld. Due to space limitations, a description is provided of the sounds that are more salient and that differ from standard English. Herzfeld134 states that Limonese English and Jamaican Creole, as described by Le Page (1957, 1958, as cited in Herzfeld135), are very similar.

Consonants

Comparing previous work done in the description of Jamaican Creole and her data on Limonese English, Herzfeld136 states that Jamaican Creole and Limonese English are also very similar. She adds that the Limonese English phonemes which are not part of standard English are more closely related to African forms. She describes these phonemes as labialized stops [bw], [pw], [kw], [gw], [tw], and [dw]; and palatalized alveolar and velar stops [ty], [dy], [ky], [gy], and [ny]. She states that other sounds that differ from standard English or that, in fact, are absent in the consonant inventory of Limonese English are [θ] and [ð]. However, she found that when speakers want to approximate standard English, these phonemes emerged in their speech. Furthermore, she indicates that these forms are in variation with /t/ and /d/ respectively because sometimes they are used by the same speaker to represent two different sounds as in [triy] ‘tree’ or [θriy] ‘three’, and [θey] ‘they’ or [dey] ‘day’, when they want signal that they are different words. She points out that neither phoneme exists in African languages. Table 1 shows a summary of Limonese English phonemes adapted from Herzfeld137; and Table 2 shows a summary of Standard English consonants according to Ladefoged.138

As we can see, other than the rounding of some of the consonants and the appearance of /ɲ/ as a phoneme, Limonese English consonants are also very similar to those of standard English with the absence of the sounds /θ/ and /ð / which may appear because of formal education in English (Herzfeld139).

Table 1. Limonese English Consonants, adapted from Herzfeld140

Table 2. Standard English Consonants, adapted from Ladefoged141

Vowels

Vowels are also very similar to those of Jamaican Creole which is the result of a synthesis process between the vowels of Kwa languages and English (Herzfeld142). One major difference between standard English and Limonese English is, Herzfeld143 points out, that instead of having nine simple vowels, Limonese English has only five with the presence of three diphthongs. Figures 3 and 4 show these differences. Thus, all low vowels from standard English have merged into /a/, and the other vowels are /aj/, /ow/, /ij/, /uw/, /ijh/, and /wowh/. Another vowel that seems to be absent is / ə/ ‘schwa’ which has been replaced by /o/, sometimes by /a/, and very infrequently by /ā/ (Herzfeld144).

Table 3 presents a summary of Limonese English vowels from which, unlike the consonants, the vowel system has more differences with Standard English and some of these vowels have been the product of synthesis between the Kwa language and the English language.

Table 3. Limonese English Vowel System, adapted from Herzfeld145

Figure 3. Simple Vowels: Standard English (Herzfeld146)

Figure 4. Simple Vowels: Limonese English (Herzfeld147)

Language Function

As stated by Sankoff,148 language contact has been recognized as the historical product of social forces. Therefore, I would like to close this paper with the historical background of the linguistic situation in Limón, which has been studied extensively (Aguilar-Sánchez149; Herzfeld, 150; Meléndez Chaverri and Duncan151; Purcell152; Spence Sharp153; Winkler154), and with how this history has helped shape the functions of each language within the community.

By 1927 most of the Jamaican workers in Limón had achieved at least a primary school education. The literacy rate for English of people nine years and older was around 77.4 percent (Viales Hurtado155). This high literacy rate was attributed to the large number of private English schools found in the region. According to the Dirección General de Estadísticas y Censos [Census Bureau] (1927 in Viales Hurtado156) there were thirty-three private schools—most of which with religious affiliation—whose medium of instruction was mainly English. These schools disappeared after the area became an important economic region for Costa Rica. This was caused by the implementation of the national education policies that established Spanish as the language of education in the region. Today the literacy rate for Spanish in the country is around ninety-three percent. Limón’s literacy rate for Spanish is comparable due to efforts from the government to provide formal education for every Costa Rican. This literacy rate is based on the knowledge of Spanish, which is Costa Rica’s medium of instruction by law. English literacy rates cannot be presented here because of the lack of statistical information; however, Aguilar-Sánchez157 presents an interesting characteristic of the population of bilinguals in Limón. He discovered that the higher the level of education, the higher the access they have to education in English. Several private schools have English as the medium of instruction and most public schools teach English as a foreign language beginning in first grade (Aguilar-Sánchez158). Thus, we can infer that the literacy rate in standard English varies according to the type and level of education (i.e., private, or public, elementary or higher) that the residents of Limón have.

The construction of the railroad and the growing number of plantations in the area triggered immigration from within Costa Rica in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Viales Hurtado159) while in the mid-20th century, several other factors prompted the migration to the region, among which we find the government’s interest in decreasing its economic dependency on one sole crop (i.e., coffee) (Aguilar-Sánchez160). Consequently, according to Viales Hurtado,161 the government implemented policies that served as the beginning of the banana plantation era. Viales Hurtado points out that the government was giving land and privileges to migrants as an incentive to move to the area, and that the railroad construction created new economic regions where people eventually settled. He adds that in the rest of the country, sustained population growth due to the coffee plantations forced people to migrate to Limón, this new land of opportunities. Thus, by the mid-20th century the population of Limón had increased greatly due to this internal migration. As a result, Spanish took over most of the domains that English once had.

Spanish and English are not the only languages that are in contact in the province of Limón. In this area, we also find languages such as Chinese languages and Bribri, an indigenous language. Because the focus of this article is on the contact of Spanish and English, the situation of these other two languages with Spanish and/or English is not covered here in detailed; however, the fact that other languages are in contact in this small geographical area should be regarded as important for future studies.

Because this contact situation seems to be in constant flux, it is necessary to reintroduce the predominant current situation of language use by English speakers in Limón according to the most recent study (Aguilar-Sánchez162) and compare it with the past situation. In the main city of Limón, Puerto Limón, as well as in the other cities along the railroad in the Atlantic region of Costa Rica, about 73% of Afro-Costa Ricans spoke both English and Spanish as a first language (Headly Mullins and Sandino163). In this region, speakers of English were moving towards adopting Spanish, the dominant language, in all social domains (Herzfeld164; Spence Sharp165; Winkler166), a phenomenon that Thomason167 calls asymmetrical bilingualism. This situation, however, is changing due to the recent growth of the importance of English as a means of social mobility that has surfaced in Costa Rica in the last two decades (Aguilar-Sánchez168). English speakers have become aware of the importance of education of English as their first language, resulting in a movement towards a total bilingualism with the aid of standard English and Spanish education (Aguilar-Sánchez169). Bilingual (English/Spanish) schools have sprouted because of the recent development of the tourist industry and the implementation of English as the first foreign language at all levels of formal schooling (Aguilar-Sánchez170).

In the past, Limonese English was reserved for intra-racial relationships, religion, use at home, and for working with tourists (Herzfeld171; Winkler172). Speakers of Limonese English have been using Spanish in almost all domains of everyday interaction with other Costa Ricans, for the government, and more recently for religious purposes (Aguilar-Sánchez173).

Schooling has undergone changes since the establishment of the province of Limón as an economic region in the early 20th century. Initially, all instruction was carried out in English; teachers were brought from Jamaica to conduct classes (Meléndez Chaverri and Duncan174; Winkler175). Then, with the intra-Costa Rican migration to Limón in search of land and opportunity, the government expanded its educational policies to include the entire province (Viales Hurtado176). This expansion triggered a shift from English medium schools to Spanish medium schools for everyone. Primary and secondary education has been taught predominantly in Spanish since that time. More recently, the need for bilingual education for social mobility has prompted the implementation of bilingual schools (Aguilar-Sánchez177). English, however, is being taught as a foreign language instead of as a first language.

Winkler178 states that in the last thirty years the great majority of Limonese English speakers have become bilingual in Spanish, but that Spanish has not replaced Limonese English. In addition, she states that the influence of Standard English has increased in this community. Twenty years have passed since Winkler’s statement, and it still holds true. Proof of that is that Aguilar-Sánchez179 has shown that Limonese English is going through different processes that strengthen it in the community. These processes induce change towards lexicalization that are caused by both attitudes and educational polices, along with the blossoming of the tourist industry.

These changes in language policies have created a complex linguistic context in which we can find people who are bilinguals from birth, bilinguals who learned their second language at school, and monolingual Spanish-speaking descendants of speakers of English; that is, they have shifted to the dominant language. This phenomenon is of special interest for a language contact researcher because these processes of change are accelerated by changes in the social status of a language over short periods of time (Thomason180). Therefore, it makes it easy to document phenomena that otherwise would take several hundreds of years to document. The linguistic context found in Limón has become a rich field and source of information for this type of studies.

Conclusion

As mentioned in the introduction of this paper, language contact is traditionally defined as the use of more than one language in the same place at the same time (Thomason181). In Limón, we see how some authors (e.g., Herzfeld182; Spence Sharp183; Winkler184) find what Thomason185 has termed as asymmetrical bilingualism in which a subordinate bilingual group (i.e., Limonese English speakers) is shifting to the language of a monolingual dominant group (i.e., Costa Rican Spanish). However, Aguilar-Sánchez,186 based on a survey on attitudes and self-reported use of Spanish, standard English and Limonese English, reports that due to indirect influence of the importance of English in the global economy and foreign language policies, Limonese English is going through a process of revitalization and competing with Spanish in more contexts. Aguilar-Sánchez187 presents the only study found on the linguistic features of the Spanish spoken in Limón and found that two varieties of Spanish coexist and are bound by different linguistic constraints and highlights the need to study these varieties in depth to understand how language contact affects the language varieties in Limón.

To conclude, I turn again to figure 2 in the section ‘The Contact Situation’ to recapitulate the language contact situation found in Limon. We can see how the two varieties of English described throughout, the standard and the vernacular, interact with a variety of Spanish, and result in a hybrid variety due to this language contact situation.

To fully understand the contact situation found in Limón, future studies should focus on gathering evidence to account for language change in real or apparent time, attempt to present a full description of the two varieties of Spanish that coexist in this area from at least four fronts—the Spanish of monolinguals, Spanish of English dominant bilinguals, Spanish of Spanish dominant bilinguals, and Spanish as a second language. Future studies should not only focus on English-Spanish contact, but also enrich the field with evidence from the other contact situations found in this area, for example Bribri-English-Spanish contact or Chinese-English-Spanish contact.