By Adeyinka Olaiya/Brazil
The Nigerian Igbo language is not just significant or spoken in Nigeria but also in some Islands in the Caribbean. It is no doubt that the language of the Eastern people of Nigeria is among other six languages that formed CREOLE SANTANDRESANA, an important language in the Caribbean Islands.
The Sanandresano Creole is an official language in the Caribbean island of Santo André ( Saint Andrews), an Island in the Colombian Ínsula department, the language is spoken in the province of Santa Catarina . It is the same spoken in the islands of Belize , a country in the Central America, it is also spoken in the coast of Nicaragua , the islands of Costa Rica and in the colons of Panama.
According to Article 10 of the 1991 Colombian Constitution, the Creole, Spanish and English are considered officials in the Caribbean Island of San Andre ( Saint Andrews) they are also spoken on the Nicaraguan Atlantic coast, the majority who speaks Creole are trilingual, they all practically dominate the English language and the Castilian which is a version of Spanish language.
The island has kept English language because of the church Bible readings and other church activities including the church programs, worships and songs.
The constant teaching of the Creole language through the satellite television encourage the families to learn and never to let the language off from every family, it has helped to reinforce the constant use of the Creole language as the means of communication in most homes.
The language is characterized by its own vocabularies which originated from the combination of several African languages including the Igbo language from Nigeria, English, Castelhano, Ewe language from the West Africa, Twi, Kwa, Mende and Mandinka.
It is not just a simple dialect with phonetics or lexicon, The Sanandresano Creole has its own grammatical constructions and it is taught in schools and colleges.
A complete mixture of African dialects with Spanish and English influence, the Republic of Colombia 1991 Constitution recognized the Creole language as a key language in the identity of the islanders. At present, Creole is in a vulnerable state, according to UNESCO.
Not only the population from the roots of the island speaks Creole, but also other inhabitants of the Caribbean. It is estimated that over 4 million people speaks the Creole language.
The transatlantic slave trade dislocated several families from Africa to the Americas , the first slaves from Africa arrived in San Andrés ( Saint Andrews) and Santa Catalina in 1629 in English slave boats and through the same route that the Spanish, French and the Portuguese traveled in the islands of the Caribbean.
Áfrican men, women and children from different regions and tribes in Africa spoke different languages and had their own music, culture and religion.
The slave traders wanted to uproot those customs so as not to allow uprisings, so they used to mix them up to prevent them from communicating with each other.
This need gave rise to a new language, known as Creole or Creole, with European and African languages, (English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Igbo , Ewe, Twi, Kwa ) and elements of other African dialects from the Central Africa.
It is obvious that practically all the root population in the Latin American Islands are having the African culture, tradition and religion in evidence.
The European slave masters though tried all possibilities to eliminate the traces of Africanism on the Islands but they could not succeed because of the insistence of the Afro-latinos.
