Language and Slavery

“The rich account of Jacques Arends’ insights into the complex history of the Surinamese creoles provides an invaluable contribution to this exciting field.”

“Jacques Arends is renowned for his role in calling in an era of sociohistorically informed investigations into contact languages on the basis of careful comparison of available linguistic data in combination with metalinguistic information and socio-demographic data. This volume discusses largely underexplored historical texts in and on the Surinamese Creoles and offers in a typically lucid yet fine-grained and in-depth manner important insights on the earlier stages of these languages and the cultures of their speakers. I highly recommend it as it will be an invaluable resource for linguists, historians, anthropologists and literary scholars with an interest in Suriname as well as those interested in the emergence of new languages and cultures.”

“Jacques Arends has written an extraordinarily detailed examination of the history and peopling of Suriname from the start of European contacts with the wider area in which it is located. It draws on all relevant publications as well as unpublished manuscripts. This enables him to show that some of the accepted historical "facts" about the territory are misleading, entirely false, or were based on guesswork. The book as a whole provides the essential background to understanding the circumstances in which Sranan and the maroon creoles of Suriname evolved. It is the fruit of research carried out through most of his adult life – a life cruelly cut short by his early death.”

“Arends has rewritten the history of the Suriname creoles - and in so doing, he has rewritten the history of Suriname. ‘Language and Slavery’ manages to present the complex matter of the emergence of the Suriname creoles in a light, accessible style, drawing together the strands of Suriname’s history emanating from several continents and spanning over five hundred years. Unusual for creolist studies, it begins its historical discussion long before colonisation, making a case for the possibility of linguistic continuity between an early period of trading posts and the subsequent plantation era when Suriname became the multiethnic and multilingual society in which Sranan, Saramaccan, and other creole languages were formed. Arends frequently takes issue with earlier work, showing how primary historical sources throw a different light on linguistically important matters such as the transition from the English to the Dutch period, the formative period of Saramaccan, the social stratification of the plantation society, and the existence of strong social networks between maroon communities and the external world. Arends promises a synthesis of known data but delivers much more. This remarkable work is a rich source of insights for the benefit of creolists, philologists, historians, and also for the people of Suriname, whom Arends hoped to help arrive at a better appreciation of their languages.”

“With meticulous scholarship and in his characteristically clear prose, Jacques Arends presents a linguistic and social history of early Suriname that is remarkable in what it achieves. Arends, in considering the factors that bear upon the emergence of Surinamese creoles (and creoles more generally), displays an unmatched breadth. Moreover, he effectively challenges key elements of the received narrative on which linguists have built their theories of creole genesis in Suriname.”

“The book is a must read for students and scholars interested in Suriname Creoles, and a model of exemplary scholarship on creole genesis.”

“This book is a treasure trove of data and theoretical reflection that linguists, historians, anthropologists, and other researchers will appreciate alike. One of its most valuable achievements is how Arends assembles, contextualizes, and analyzes historical documents in detail, while at the same time keeping an eye on their relevance on the macro-level. On the one hand, he reflects on overarching theoretical implications, i.e. how the data fit models of language change, creolization,
and creole genesis, and on the other, he revisits and corrects earlier assumptions that have misguided researchers in this area. This shows that even though creolists might favor one approach over another, there are ways of finding a synthesis and fruitfully combine different views into our analyses.”