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Berbice Dutch Creole (Final Edit)

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Dote Te: Requiem for a Language is a short study of the woman who, in 2005, was the last known speaker of Berbice Dutch Creole. This language used to be widely spoken in the former Dutch colony of Berbice, part of what is now Guyana. Albertha Bell (d. 2005) was 103 years old when interviewed by Ian Robertson and a UWI linguistics research team in March 2004. As he called the names of those people who used to speak the language, she replied with dirge like monotony, 'Dote te' -- 'Dead', hence the title, Requiem for a Language. This video is approximately nine and a half minutes (9:58) long . The narrative incorrectly states that 'dote' meaning 'dead' is of Eastern Ijo origin. According to Silvia Kouwenberg, an expert on this language, it originates from the Dutch word 'doto'.

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19 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 113

@kbostic34 11 лет назад

This brought back so many memories...I was on that trip to Guyana with the UWI St. Augustine and Mona linguistic departments. That's my friend Candace sitting next to her... Thank you Dr Robertson for such a great experience.

@dkfsamurai 4 года назад

It's a real thing of beauty that language and research can now be preserved for as good as eternity due to the digital age. Great mini doc!

@richard594 2 года назад

I was born in Berbice, the last connection to my Dutch heritage was my great uncle Wilhelm who died in the 1970's, he was over one hundred years old. When I was a little boy there was an old lady who sold ground provisions and she could only figure out her payment in guilders, which is the old Dutch currency.

@Me50059 Год назад

The eastern Ijaw comprises Bonny (Okoloma), Opobo, Kalabari and Okirika. They understand each other and they can understand and communicate with people from western and southern Ijaw to some degree. I wished it was recorded. Nji is fish, Mingi is water etc.

@jemts5586 7 лет назад

I'm glad that people like this are investigating and recording minority languages, AND are looking into the African influences. Too often those influences are ignored or assumed to be of other (usually European) origin.

@TheSynergyChannel 5 лет назад

They are definitely not ignored in linguistic studies concerning pidgin/creole formation (would be rather tricky to try study it then) The fact that (several) African influences often functioned as substrate languages, in combination with a European-based language functioning as a superstrate, is based in the social/political context. A context we can't simply ignore and has to be acknowledged, sad as things were.

@klaverenvrouwke 13 лет назад

There is a Dutch book which mentions this language as well. It's called in Dutch "Het verhaal van een taal" which translates into, The story of a language. It is very interesting to read and might be of some help to people who want to learn more about this language and other Dutch creole languages.

@rvriesde 6 лет назад

klaverenvrouwke waar te verkrijgen?

@lazarocedeno5270 2 года назад

Thanks dear for sharing your beautiful experiences. Teaching us about our ancestors in the Americas. Such rich cultural heritage. I feel so proud. Knowledge is power. Thanks dear.

@miertjestoer9525 2 года назад

Ohhh the last creole Dutch speaker in Amerika! My blessings for this woman! The World would never forget you.

@idrisahmadu5699 Год назад

Interesting to hear. I'm a Kalabari and in the Kalabari language we say "O fi te" meaning "he has died." Do te te (as she said) - quite similar. Obviously, with the passage of time, other words have been removed or added to the language by our people in the Caribbean and I can definitely see the similarity.

@QueTixx 8 лет назад

The Kalabari language of the people of Southern Nigeria is the basis of this language, love the acknowledgement of that in this video

@IkesLionsDen 7 лет назад

interesting stuff

@jayrockstedy9890 2 года назад

Are you from Nigeria

@ekinematics Год назад

@@jayrockstedy9890 Kalabari is a major language in Rivers State, Nigeria.

@freetowntamaraukurou6156 Год назад

This is my tribe. Never heard of this wow

@OnariGeorgewillonari 10 месяцев назад

I am Kalabari

@richieperry6129 2 года назад

Wow i didn’t know it was recorded! My grandfather is from Berbice and He didn’t even know of this language.

@TomSpaapen 12 лет назад

My mother tongue is Dutch and I recongnized a lot of Dutch words.

@sunnyyonwei2378 4 года назад

"Fi" is death or to die in Kalabari. "Te" is a perfect tense like bo te which means "has come". I think "dote te" is a combination of Dutch and Kalabari. Dode is dead in Dutch and te is a perfect tense. So dote te means "has died".

@silviakouwenberg 4 года назад

Absolutely correct.

@obaiyilawson8314 2 года назад

Fi té

@pierredateme3751 5 лет назад

thanks for the video. as a Kalabari i know that the Dutch had lots of business dealings with us like 100 years ago. iit is possible that the languages influenced each other. minji is water in kalabari. It will also interest you to know that the Kalabari had Portuguese influence. The languages intermingled Dutch Creole, Kalabari and other languages and got modified over the years loosing some and "b" changing to "d" etc

@victorkanu8244 2 года назад

I am Kalabari in Abonnema,good to know this

@SavatreePunsammy 13 лет назад

Thank you for this video! This is truly amazing. Didnt know this exist!

@valval1547 11 лет назад

Dood (pronounced dode) is the Dutch for dead. I don't know of any Dutch word 'doto'. This is a beautiful documentary!

@tylersmith3139 3 месяца назад

Yeah, that's why he said that it came from Kalabari. It's "do-te-te", not "dood". "Te" means "has" and saying it twice emphasizes/intensifies the word in many West African languages, similar to how Europeans use swear/bad words to emphasize/intensify phrase like "Damn" in "Damn good" means "very good" or in Dutch, some say "kanker lekker" to mean "very cool" or "zeer goed" to mean "very good" even though "Kanker"(Cancer) is a sickness and feeling "Zeer"(Sore) isn't great either.

@foubreaker 13 лет назад

Very interesting, thank you for sharing this! I am Dutch living in Spain, and I can hear the various influences of the languages in what the old lady spoke.

@AfricaRiseTV 11 лет назад

i didnt really understand Doto in kalabari, but te' definately yes...haven said that it might have been as a result of my handicap in the understanding of kalabari language,but i am on a mission of fixing the language problem,and that how i found this video...

@ThomasRuhm 11 лет назад

I can't see a link. Maybe links are not showing here. If you like, I will explain some of the sound changes from Dutch to Berbice Dutch. I did not find out everything yet. Lately I am learning a bit of the old Virgin Island Dutch to find out if there are some parallel changes and to get more Dutch Creole vocabulary fit for Caribbean culture. Dutch words in Sranan are useful too, because some of them are just the same as in Berbice Dutch.

@GTBannah 9 лет назад

Truly a gem!

@OnariGeorgewillonari 10 месяцев назад

Mu to go.attend. When she said muteschool,she meant she attended school

@lloydmoore982 10 лет назад

Always nice to learn your heritage...

@stirrednotshaken4 6 лет назад

Very touching... thank you so much!

@natshoney3219 11 лет назад

Learned something new about Guyana

@badiansietemil0314 7 лет назад

Yes, dood means dead in Dutch... but why can't you imagine it might also be true that dote means dead in Kalabari? There's no monopoly on morphemes... and if you read a little about the development of a language you might realize that that even proves the point.

@ayebatarijuliapaxagiri2767 5 лет назад

Dead in Kalabari is "FI" . John is dead in Eastern Ijaw wud sound lik this :."Johnu fi te". So mixing Dutch and Kalabari or any of d eastern Ijaw dialects one wud arrive at : "John Dood te" meaning John is dead. Dood(dead) , Te (is) Eastern Ijaw

@zochbuppet448 8 лет назад

A few works carried over to the English creole. "Dood" became Dodo, which now means to sleep, and is still used in Berbice.

@vinny9868 5 лет назад

"Dodo" also means to sleep in French, though it is considered baby-talk.

@amrayabaptiste2933 4 года назад

my mom used do do for sleep also

@m.evenhuis935 8 месяцев назад

Dodo is Zeelandic, the european parent of Berbice Dutch, for sleep too. A loanword from French. It is only used by/speaking to children. “Dodo doee” = dodo do = to do dodo = going to sleep. I think it may have survvived into Guyanese creole because it sounds familiar in a lot of languages and it is a very “domistic” word.

@lordforareason6599 8 лет назад

This is mostly dutch language roots

@OnariGeorgewillonari 10 месяцев назад

Minji for water and yefi for food

@rubster1975 12 лет назад

yep. dote is from the Dutch word " dood" meaning dead.

@ralphone3444 5 лет назад

My home town burbice love home town

@OnariGeorgewillonari 10 месяцев назад

Good

@natepersaud21 6 лет назад

Quite an interesting vid, never know that much of my country thanks.

@kimby80 13 лет назад

Very Interesting

@silviakouwenberg 13 лет назад

very nicely done; unfortunate, though, that the long treatise on the origins of the word doto-te is misguided: doto is of Dutch origin.

@lordforareason9440 4 года назад

I was going to point that out. I have read a few of your articles on the Dutch creole languages in the Caribbean. I want to make my fellow young Caribbean people be aware of those languages.

@silviakouwenberg 4 года назад

@@lordforareason9440 Tell me more. Are you an educator?

@lordforareason9440 4 года назад

@@silviakouwenberg Oh no no I am far from that. I am but a humble university student. I love the history of the Caribbean my people and I have been disappointed that certain aspects such as Berbice Dutch Creole have been forgotten by most Guyanese (I even wrote a blog about it). I would usually read historical books/blogs/journals about the Caribbean and share them with my friends and relatives.

@ThomasRuhm 3 года назад

@@lordforareason9440 Would you like to take part in the revival?

@lordforareason9440 3 года назад

@@ThomasRuhm I'm interested, how can we revive such a language?

@ThomasRuhm 13 лет назад

It is hard to tell how it would sound if young people spoke that language.

@miertjestoer9525 2 года назад

I also belive ( it's understandable) that her predecessors could speak this language better.also, why did she get Dutch at school? Is this not unusual? Thanks for the tip!!

@TomSpaapen 12 лет назад

@Sood81 I think you are right.

@AfricaRiseTV 11 лет назад

Reuben,i dont think he ignored the Dutch language,you have to undertsand the purpose of this documentary,the berbice dutch creole just like he said is 40% Ijo,offcourse another African language tongue in ghana...so much has been said about the dutch influence on the language but very little is known about its African influence

@miertjestoer9525 2 года назад

Why did she get Dutch at school ?

@doctorsex19 13 лет назад

lovely video

@djt241 12 лет назад

yes i ba te (Have u woke up) I bo te (have u come)

@ayebatarijuliapaxagiri2767 5 лет назад

Right on point. I'm an Ijaw. Wot u said is correct

@caaalvinnn1824 2 года назад

So is the Creol dutch a mix of Dutch and Kalabari?

@DisChannelisMine 10 лет назад

"Dote et te" sounds a lot like Dutch "Dood ist'ie" which means "dead is he/she". I think there is less African language involved than proposed.

@zochbuppet448 8 лет назад

Well its the same with the English creole in the Caribbean. You cant say that though because you will get your head bitten off.

@cbenji07 6 лет назад

DisChanneliz Mïñē it said 40% is african origin

@TheSynergyChannel 5 лет назад

That seems a very narrow data set to base such a conclusion on. You simply do not know whether 'et te' has evolved from 'ist 'ie' or has some entirely different basis. That said, Dutch was the lexifier/superstrate language for this pidgin. If you are interested in the different features of Berbice and their respective origin (or of other pidgins/creoles), check out apics-online.info/contributions/28 Great source of information

@rareone6878 3 года назад

Is the Dutch Creole language spoken in the Danish West Indies ?

@tacticalwolf9119 4 года назад

I know a guy named shamar

@RambolifeCheesblocks 6 лет назад

Great video, but a few mistakes here and there. ''Bifi'' is most likely derived from the Dutch word ''bief'', meaning ''beef'. ''Doto'' is definitely derived from ''dood'' (Dutch for dead, like DisChanneliz mentioned) as Albertha's ancestors must have been threatened with death on numerous occasions by Dutch slavers a few hundred years ago. Back then Creoles were forced into speaking Dutch, so even if something sounds slightly African it's almost certainly derived from Dutch. You were actively looking for African linguistic roots where you should have looked for Dutch linguistic roots.

@OnariGeorgewillonari 10 месяцев назад

Bifi to speak or eat

@djt241 12 лет назад

it sounds like Ijaw Ibani

@ayebatarijuliapaxagiri2767 5 лет назад

Not necessarily Ibani. Eastern Ijaws lik Kalabari, Okrika,Nembe, Akassa and Bonny/Ibani all hv closely related dialects in d Ijaw language. All eastern Ijaws use d word "Te"

@ThomasRuhm 11 лет назад

Oh dear. I read 'link' instead of 'think'.

@1973Raido 13 лет назад

I am Dutch, but I've never heard of the word "doto", nor can I find it in any dictionary, apart from it referring to a certain type of sea slug. I was thinking more of a relation to the Dutch word "dood", meaning "dead". Or is this one of those cases where Deutsch (German for "German") is meant really?

@tylersmith3139 3 месяца назад

He said it came from Kalabari, a West African language, not Dutch. It's "Do-te" not "dood". "Te" means "has" and saying it twice emphasizes/intensifies the phrase as in many West African languages.

@mcyella0313 5 лет назад

Doto means dood i think im dutch its sound like it

@kreal1 5 лет назад

Is she still alive did they record here entire language documented

@ThomasRuhm 3 года назад

No, but she was one of the main informats for a grammar which was published in 1994.

@kreal1 3 года назад

@@ThomasRuhm how can I get that book

@ThomasRuhm 3 года назад

@@kreal1 The title is "A Grammar of Berbice Dutch Creole". It is quite expensive, but maybe you can get it from a library. The author lives in Jamaica. I have one. It is red. But the newer ones are green. But I can also help you learning. You can go to our Discord group on the revival of Dutch creoles to meet interested people and to get resources. I already posted a link to it under a question here.

@blacksultan85 11 лет назад

what country is that?

@amrayabaptiste2933 4 года назад

Guyana

@MrCraiggyc1 10 лет назад

Dutch sounds allot like English

@ninpobudo3876 5 лет назад

That's because English and Dutch are both Germanic langagues dumbass! 😆

@RisingEdge111 11 лет назад

Guyana

@blacksultan85 11 лет назад

oh.

@ThomasRuhm 11 лет назад

It is hard to be acknowledged as a distinguished people, if you lost your language. There is the same problem with European minorities.

@Cln2023 9 месяцев назад

Skepi

@angelalumwai6164 2 года назад

This study seems to be based on assumptions rather than facts. Like Trinidad Creole and patoise, it is not dead, but dying . Trinidad has many rural areas where pockets of creole and patoise are spoken . Imagine the size of Guyana (compared to little Trinidad ); I am sure in scattered remote and rural areas these traditional language still exist. We cannot make these blanket statement before rigorous and thorough research is done.