How the Creole Language Developed
- Mark Dworkin
- Jul 17
- 8 min read
John F. McKeon
Imagine a room full of people, each speaking a different language and needing to complete a task. How would these individuals connect and truly understand each other? People might use hand signals, point or mime actions to convey meaning. Individuals with some shared vocabulary might resort to using simpler sentence structures and avoid idiomatic phrases that might not translate. Despite best efforts, language barriers can easily lead to misinterpretations and frustration. A friendly gesture in one culture might be offensive in another, or a phrase could have a different nuance in a foreign language. Communication within a linguistically diverse group requires a simple and direct language, one that avoids complex sentence structures. In essence, a room filled with diverse languages is a microcosm for the Virgin Islands in the colonial period and demonstrates the need that arose to ‘bridge’ communication gaps and build understanding across the linguistic as well as the cultural divide
The primary languages now spoken in the US Virgin Islands are English and Spanish. Yet this was not always the case. During colonial times, the Danish West Indies were a multilingual society. Five European languages were spoken; German, Danish, Dutch, French, and English . Also spoken were hybrid creole languages Dutch and a form of English Creole. We also have to consider the many different African dialects, singular to a particular village, location or culture. The development and continuing roll of Dutch Creole as a ‘bridge language(1)was special, because it was spoken not only by people of African-Caribbean origin, but also by many Europeans on the islands. Most of these languages are no longer spoken in the US Virgin Islands. In the formative stages of the colony, the predominant language was Dutch .
The arrival of the Europeans to the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles led to a confluence of languages. Effective communication was difficult (if not impossible) without rudimentary understanding. To say that a language barrier existed is no overstatement. In response to this dilemma a form of Creole(2) began to emerge. This new form of language is called a ‘bridge language’.
What is a ‘bridge’ language?
Well, simply put, a bridge language ( or contact language) is one that emerges between two or more already existing languages. bridge languages happen between groups who don’t share a common language, and where a blending of the disparate languages occurs to enable a means of communication. These groups of languages can usually be characterized by similar properties such as; an unadorned grammar and vocabulary that sets them apart from their original languages. As well as the borrowing of words, sounds, and sentence structures influencing the developing tongue.
1. A bridge language, also known as a lingua franca, is a language used to facilitate communication between people who don't share a native language. It acts as a common means of understanding, whether in international settings, trade, or even in educational contexts. Essentially, it's a language that bridges the gap between different linguistic backgrounds
2. Creole’ can refer to people of mixed European and African descent or those with European ancestry who identify with a distinct culture. Creole languages are distinct languages that have evolved from merged languages used for communication between different language groups, becoming fully developed native languages
The language that developed in the Virgin Islands was designated Virgin Islands Dutch Creole or VIDC for short. VIDC(3)was a Dutch-influenced creole language spoken in the Danish West Indies. The language materialized as a bridge language among the international colonizers and enslaved Africans in the islands. Bridge languages ,are by nature, very young languages.
How Do we Know so much about the VIDC language?
VIDC (though not the only contact language) is the most well-documented. Since the mid-eighteenth18th century, Moravian and Lutheran missionaries have documented the language through the translation of religious texts. Dutch Creole was used and taught by missionaries in an effort to Christianize the enslaved of African descent.
3. Also historically known as "Negerhollands". It emerged on St. Thomas, likely a decade after the island's colonization in 1672. Early documents refer to it by names like "Carriols" or "Carriolsche". In the 2010s, the term VIDC became more common in the literature. While the language itself has developed over centuries, there isn't one specific person credited with "naming" it VIDC, but rather it's a term that gained currency within linguistics to refer to this specific language variety.
4. Julius Bernhard von Rohr (1688–1742) was a Prussian born and an immigrant to Denmark, and in 1757 was appointed as municipal buildings inspector and government land surveyor of the Danish West Indies, known for promoting natural or physico- theology through an appreciation of plants. His most famous book was Phyto-theologia (1740), historical records indicate that he likely authored a hymn in Virgin Islands Dutch Creole
The German missionary; Christian Georg Andreas Oldendorp (5) reported he had encountered a multilingual situation in the islands in the 1760s. He recorded his observations on the geography, population and his research on local languages. Oldendorp's linguistic work focused on Negerhollands,(6) a Dutch based Creole language that emerged in the Virgin Islands around 1700. It formed through contact between the varieties of Dutch and other Europeans and included the African dialects. Oldendorp compiled a dictionary in the late 1760s and engaged in interviews with enslaved Africans documenting their histories, providing further insight into the diverse linguistic landscape of the region. When Oldendorp’s work was finally published, he found that his ‘three thousand page manuscript had been cut by three quarters and thoroughly rewritten by the editor appointed by his principals, the church elders’.(7) This edited version was later corrected then translated by the work of noted historians High field and Barac in 1987. Reminding the reader: it is always prudent to keep in mind the motivation and bias (either intentional or not) regarding the source of the historiography in review.(8)
5. Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Bruder auf den Caraibischenz Inseln, S. Thomas, S. Croix, is a two-volume work published in 1777. The title translates into "History of the Missions of the Evangelical Brethren in the Danish West Indies". Christian Georg Andreas Oldendorp was an 18th-century German clergyman and writer known for his ethnographic work, particularly his writings about the Moravian mission in the Danish West Indies. His most significant work
6 Negerhollands (“Negro Hollandish”) used to be spoken on the islands of St. John, St. Croix, and St. Thomas
7. The Overly Candid Missionary Historian: C. G. A. Oldendorp’s Theological Ambivalence over Slavery in the Danish West Indies In: Critical Readings in the History of Christian Mission Anders Ahlbäck Anders Ahlbäck pp 421–446 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399594_004
8. ibid : The Overly Candid Missionary Historian: ‘A comparison of Oldendorp’s manuscript with the book published later in 1777 by editor, Johann Jakob Bossart (b. 1721), largely confirms the author’s lamentation that these are in many respects two different works’.
Another of these bridge languages, Papiamentu , originated from Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and West African, and also bits of English and French. Even the indigenous Arawakan languages.(9) may have added to Papiamentu's vocabulary. VDIC may have also incorporated some of Papiamento’s characteristics into its forming. Papiamentu is still spoken on the Dutch Caribbean Islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. Proof that not all Creole languages fall by the wayside
The Danish West Indies were characterized by trade and shipping. St. Thomas, was settled along with St. Croix’s agriculture and large-scale sugar plantations by the Danish. Many researchers believe VIDC arose first on St. Thomas, developing with the contact between Dutch colonists and enslaved peoples of African descent. Others researchers think it originated in St. Eustatius.(10)
VIDC became the dominant form of communication in the colony somewhere in the early eighteenthIslands century. This roughly coincides with the acceleration and merging of VIDC with the escalating use of English in the surrounding Caribbean. The evolution of VIDC incorporated any group that worked.
Since The US purchase from Denmark in 1917, American English became prominent in the territory of the US Virgin Islands. However, by that time, the population had long ago shifted to varieties of Virgin Islands English or Virgin Islands Creole English as the main language.
Unfortunately the VIDC language is now extinct, with the last known native speaker passing 11 away in 1987. Through assimilation and cross contact the language evolved to an English-based Creole and eventually Virgin Islands Dutch Creole faded into the mist of history and lost culture. Though VIDC is no longer spoken, fragments and remnants of it can still be found in the everyday language of the US Virgin Islands, especially in Virgin Islands Creole English. Its legacy portrays a significant chapter in the history of the Caribbean, and demonstrating the processes of the language that allowed the creation and evolution of colonialism through the contact between the diverse communities.
9. The Arawakan language, also known as Maipurean, is a group of languages spoken by the Indigenous peoples in South America and the Caribbean. It's one of the most widespread language families in South America, with its speakers inhabiting a vast area spanning from the Caribbean Islands down to the Gran Chaco and the Xingu River region in Brazil
10. Formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles, Sint Eustatius became a public body of the Netherlands in 2010. It is part of the Dutch Caribbean, which consists of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten. Together with Bonaire and Saba, it forms the BES Islands, also referred to as the Caribbean Netherlands
11. The last known speaker of Virgin Islands Dutch Creole was Mrs. Alice Stevens, who passed away in 1987. Her death marked the end of the spoken language now considered extinct.
Were there advantages to Bridge Languages?
Well, yes… as well as disadvantages. A common language allowed individuals from diverse backgrounds to communicate, even if superficially. This enabled them to convey basic messages, engage in trade more efficiently, and establish some level of interaction no matter how slight. Bridge languages played a vital role in facilitating commercial activities between colonizers and various groups within the region. The territory with its varied cultures needed a bridge language to convey instructions to diverse groups within the colony.
While they admittedly created imbalances of power and unequal class structures , the necessity of a bridge language led to at least some degree of cross-cultural interaction and transmission of ideas, although the nature of these exchanges was deeply shaped by the colonizer. However we cannot trivialize how the loss of native languages resulted in the loss of valuable cultural knowledge, oral traditions, and unique ways of understanding the world.
In conclusion, while bridge languages did serve as a means of communication between diverse groups, their presence within the colonial power structure also contributed in many ways to the marginalization of indigenous languages, while also creating social divisions, and established barriers to equal participation for the colonized populations. The new language divided as much as it unified.
Historian John F. McKeon lives on St. Croix USVI and in Southampton NY. He holds degrees from Trinity College Dublin, (MPhil with Distinction). and St. Joseph's University New York (Summa Cum Laude) B.A. East Asian History with a Philosophy Capstone Minor in Labor, Class and Ethics. John also has certificate from the Oxford University Epigeum Research Integrity Center. He is a current member of the Society of Virgin Island Historians.
Recommended Readings:
‘C.G. A. Oldendorp 's History of the Mission of the Evangelical Brthe Caribbean Islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John , Johan Bossard (ed.). English edition and translation by Arnold R. Highfield Vladimir Barac. Ann Arbor MI: Karoma, 1987.
Die Creol Taal: 250 Years of Negerhollands Texts By Cefas van Rossem 357 Pages, 1996
Discovered_18th and 19th Century Virgin Islands Dutch Creole Texts https://www.academia.edu/113321043/Seven Newly
Caribbean Convivialities and Caribbean Sciences: Inclusive Approaches to the Study of the Languages, Literatures and Cultures of the Dutch Caribbean and Beyond https://islandsinbetween.com/2022-volume-1/
