Language & Clothing

Language

The Garifuna language belongs to the Arawak group of languages. It is rich in tales, which served as an activity during wakes and large gatherings. Nowadays, because the language is being eroded the story-telling art is being lost at the same time. There is a strong link between the Garifuna language and the songs and dances which are associated with them. The melodies bring together African and Amerindian elements and the texts tell the history and traditional knowledge of the Garifuna, such as cassava-growing, fishing, canoe-building and the construction of baked mud houses.

One distinction of the Garifuna language is that male words are different from female words. In a conversation between a male and female they use different words to refer to the same thing.

Another unique thing about the Garifuna language is that it is spoken across borders of countries some of which do not have the same first language (e.g. Belize (English) and Honduras (Spanish).

The Sil Tradition

Unfortunately it has not been possible to obtain the phonemic analysis on which the SIL orthographic tradition is based.  Indeed, it does not appear that such an analysis has ever been published by the SIL, so that our examination of this tradition will necessarily be confined to the orthography itself as employed in some published Garifuna texts and the very brief orthographic note in “According to our Ancestors” edited by Mary Shaw.

Because the SIL fieldworkers did their study of Garifuna in Livingston, Guatemala, they use Spanish pronunciation as a basis for comparison when explaining Garifuna phonology, and the orthography of Spanish has a definite influence on their choice of symbols in writing the language.

Clothing

Most Garifuna wear modern Western-style clothing. Even among the older women, very few still wear the traditional costumes trimmed with shells. But they do wear brightly colored full skirts and kerchiefs, making them look very different from younger women, who wear jeans, tee-shirts, and tight skirts, much like young women everywhere.

The men also wear jeans, and the traditional straw hats have been replaced by baseball caps. Young people’s clothing has been influenced by the places where their parents have settled. In the towns one can see some young people in the latest fashions from New York, paid for with money sent by relatives living abroad.