Beyond Tamil : Identifying the Indo-Portuguese layer of Pondicherry French

Beyond Tamil: Identifying the Indo-Portuguese layer of Pondicherry French Hugo C. Cardoso Universidade de Lisboa [email protected] Research supported by: -Pondicherry Eurasians (c. 1000 people); -Social and linguistic stratification: -Haut Créoles ‘High Creoles’: (claimed to be) descendants of Europeans exclusively; speak a variety of French close to Standard French; -Bas Créoles ‘Low Creoles’: (claimed to be) descendants of Europeans and Asians; speak a variety of French further from Standard French. Earlier known as Topas The Pondicherry Créoles Huillet (Jan. 1867) […] elle comprend quatres éléments bien distincts: les Européens et les descendants d’Européens ou Créoles, les Mixtes ou Topas ou gens à chapeaux, provenant du croisement des Européens et principalement des Portugais dont ils parlent encore la langue et portent les noms, avec les femmes indigènes de basse caste. Leur appellation ne vient pas, comme on le croit, de ce qu’ils on le droit de se vêtir à l’européene et de porter le chapeau ou “Topi”, mais d’après une autre étymologie que m’a communiqué Mr Ferrier, le mot “Topas” qui signifie “Canon” ; en effet, les descendants des Portugais qui étaient de classe mixte furent faits cannoniers sous le gouvernement français d’où “top-ha”. [The population] comprises four very distinct elements: the Europeans and the descendants of Europeans or Creoles, the Mixed or Topas or people in hats, originating from the mixture of Europeans, especially Portuguese, whose language they still speak and whose names they still bear, and indigenous women of low caste. Their name doesn’t come, as one believes, from their right to dress the European way and wear a hat or “Topi”, but from another etymology which Mr. Ferrier has explained to me, the word “Topas” which means “Cannon”; in fact, the descendants of the Portuguese who were of the mixed class were made artillerymen under the French government, hence “top-ha”. Vinson (Aug 24th, 1882) […] Il n’y a point de patois créole dans les établissements français de l’Inde ; on y parle, ou français ou tamoul (c. à d. ou français ou l’idiome du pays). Il ne s’est formé aucun langage mixte, composite, analogue au créole. Quelques mots indiens ont seulement passé dans le langage courant parmi les descendants d’européens et réciproquement. Les mulâtres parlent à peu près tous un dialecte indoportugais. […] There is no creole patois whatsoever in the French establishments of India; there, people speak either French or Tamil (that is, either French or the local language). No mixed or composite language formed analogous to a creole. Just some Indian words entered the language used by the descedants of Europeans, and vice-versa. Almost all mulattoes speak an Indo-Portuguese dialect. Kelkar-Stephan (2005: 70) In the course of the nineteenth century certain ‘topa’ families managed to get accepted by the ‘Creole’ society […]. However, their transition from ‘Topas’ to being accepted by the ‘Creoles’ was anything but smooth. They were alienated from the ‘White’ French-speaking population who did not consider them to be part of their community, due in part to the ‘incorrect’ French they spoke. Language shift from Portuguese (creole) to French (19th century) -Burr, Isolde. 1978. Notizen zum Französischen in Pondichéry. Zeitschriften für französische Sprache und Literatur 88(3): 254-264. -Tirouvanziam-Louis, Lourdes. 1994. Les “Créoles” ou descendants d’Européens à Pondichéry. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Pondicherry University. -Kelkar-Stephan, Leena. 2005. Bonjour maa. The French-Tamil language contact situation in India. Aachen: Shaker Verlag. Pondicherry French: Sources Portuguese lexicon Word Meaning Portuguese etymon Baffade/Baffat beef curry with spices and coconut milk Abafado ‘choked, stewed’ ? Cambra room Câmara ‘room’ Chéga a dance, also in the Mascarenes islands Sega ‘harvest’ ? Couzide/Kousid a type of vegetable soup Cozido ‘boiled’ Fé ugly Feio ‘ugly’ Fougade sautéed vegetables with shrimp or coconut Refugado ‘stir-fried’ Mestri chef, mason, craftsman Mestre ‘mason, craftsman’ Pandelo cake made of cashew nut and sugar Pão-de-ló ‘sponge cake’ Roda Wheel Roda ‘wheel’ Sapate shoe Sapato ‘shoe’ Toila napkin Toalha ‘towel’ Vasi plate, cup Vasilha ‘water container’ Vindail a curry made with vinegar Vinha de alhos ‘vinegar and garlic preparation’ Asian-Portuguese lexicon Word Meaning Cange tapioca boiled in milk with dried fruits Dodole/Dodol cake made of glutinous rice, sugar, butter, cashew nut, coconut milk and cardamom Kalkal small biscuit made of flour, eggs and sugar Molli a fish dish Vivika a cake made of rice paste, sugar and coconut milk -In Pondicherry French, Fr. preposition pour introduces: a) Indirect objects; b) Direct objects; c) Non-finite complement clauses. Preposition pour (3) a. Il a commencé [pour faire la table]. 3sm have.PRS.3s start.PTCP pour make.INF ART.SG.F table ‘He began to lay the table.’ (Tirouvanziam-Louis 1994: 212) b. Il aime beaucoup [pour jouer au tennis]. 3sm like.PRS much pour play.INF at tennis ‘He loves playing tennis.’ (Tirouvanziam-Louis 1994: 236) c. Je vais [pour voir un mariage]. 1s go.PRS.1s pour see.INF ART.INDEF wedding ‘I’m going to attend a wedding.’ (Tirouvanziam-Louis 1994: 236) 3. Non-finite complements (3) a. Il a commencé pour faire la table. 3sm have.PRS.3s start.PTCP pour make.INF ART.SG.F table ‘He began to lay the table.’ (Tirouvanziam-Louis 1994: 212) b. Il aime beaucoup pour jouer au tennis. 3sm like.PRS much pour play.INF at tennis ‘He loves playing tennis.’ (Tirouvanziam-Louis 1994: 236) c. Je vais pour voir un mariage. 1s go.PRS.1s pour see.INF ART.INDEF wedding ‘I’m going to attend a wedding.’ (Tirouvanziam-Louis 1994: 236) 3. Non-finite complements French: - Such complements are normally not preceded by a preposition: Il aime beaucoup [jouer au tennis]. 3sm like.PRS much play.INF at tennis ‘He loves playing tennis.’ - With some verbs, a preposition is required, incl. àand, in very few cases, pour: Il a commencé [à dresser la table]. 3sm have.PRS.3s start.PTCP àset.INF ART.SG.F table ‘He began to lay the table.’ Jeanne insista [pour venir]. Jeanne insist.PST.3s pour come.INF ‘Jeanne insisted on coming.’ (Batchelor & Chebli-Saadi 2011: 563) (3) a. Il a commencé pour faire la table. 3sm have.PRS.3s start.PTCP pour make.INF ART.SG.F table ‘He began to lay the table.’ (Tirouvanziam-Louis 1994: 212) b. Il aime beaucoup pour jouer au tennis. 3sm like.PRS much pour play.INF at tennis ‘He loves playing tennis.’ (Tirouvanziam-Louis 1994: 236) c. Je vais pour voir un mariage. 1s go.PRS.1s pour see.INF ART.INDEF wedding ‘I’m going to attend a wedding.’ (Tirouvanziam-Louis 1994: 236) 3. Non-finite complements French: - Such complements are normally not preceded by a preposition: Il aime beaucoup jouer au tennis. 3sm like.PRS much play.INF at tennis ‘He loves playing tennis.’ - With some verbs, a preposition is required, incl. àand, in very few cases, pour: Il a commencé à dresser la table. 3sm have.PRS.3s start.PTCP àset.INF ART.SG.F table ‘He began to lay the table.’ Jeanne insista pour venir. Jeanne insist.PST.3s pour come.INF ‘Jeanne insisted on coming.’ (Batchelor & Chebli-Saadi 2011: 563) Tamil: - In addition to nominalised complement clauses, Tamil also allows non-finite complements, which simply append to the left of the main verb (no overt subordinator): kumaar [amerikkaa.v-ukku.p poo.k-a]virumpu-kiṛ-aaṉ Kumar America-DAT go-INF want-PRS-3sm ’Kumar wants to go to America.’ (Lehmann 1989: 253) - Asian Portuguese-based creoles in general have syncretic dative-accusative [oblique] marking. In South Asia, marker derived from Ptg. preposition para ‘for’ or por ‘for, by’: (4) a. Par mi dá ung esmolá. OBL 1s give one alms ‘Give me alms.’ (Nagapattinam; Dalgado 1917: 44) b. isti kɔvəra-pə jɐ-olha sə… this snake-OBL PST-see COND ‘If we saw this snake…’ (Cochin; Cardoso 2007-2010) -------------------------------------- c. dezoytə an ye ali siris jɐ-faze. eighteen year 1s there work PST-do ‘I did work there for eighteen years.’ (Cochin; Cardoso 2007-2010) The Indo-Portuguese model - The Creoles of South India also use a morpheme cognate with the oblique case-marker to introduce non-finite complements: (5) a. October-sə mez-dæ trə [vini pə-fazæ]lɔ-princəpia. october-GEN month-LOC wine INF-make IRR-begin ‘They will start making wine in the month of October.’ (Cannanore; Cardoso 2006-2015; Krajinovic 2015: 55) b. eli tɐ-gɔsta [ungə bicycle pə-tæ]. 3sm IPFV.PRS-like one bicycle INF-have ‘He would like to have a bicycle.’ (Cannanore; Cardoso 20062015; Krajinovic 2015: 55) c. ki bɔmba tɐ-gɔsta [(pə)-kumæ]? what much IPFV.PRS-like INF-eat ‘What do (you) really like to eat?’ (Cannanore; Cardoso 20062015; Krajinovic 2015: 56) The Indo-Portuguese model -Batchelor, Ronald Ernest & M. Chebli-Saadi. 2011. A reference grammar of French. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. -Cardoso, Hugo C. 2006-2015. Corpus of Cannanore Indo-Portuguese speech. Unpublished. -Cardoso, Hugo C. 2007-2010. Corpus of Vypeen [Cochin] Indo-Portuguese speech. Unpublished. -Dalgado, Sebastião Rodolfo. 1917. Dialecto Indo-Português de Negapatão. Revista Lusitana 20. 40-53. -Huillet, (Dr.). 1867. Hygiène des Blancs, des Mixtes, et des Indiens à Pondichéry. Pondicherry : Imprimerie du Gouvernement. -Krajinovic, Ana. 2015. O sistema verbal dos crioulos indo-portugueses do Malabar. Unpublished MA dissertation, Universidade de Lisboa. -Lehmann, Thomas. 1989. A grammar of modern Tamil. Pondicherry: Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture. -Vinson, Julien. Letter to Hugo Schuchardt (August 24th, 1882), preserved at the Hugo Schuchardt Archiv (University of Graz, Austria), nr. 12444. References