Idiomatic Toponymic Phrasemes in Bajan: Evidence from Amateur Paremiography

Abstract

This study begins with the quantification of the paremiological inventory of Bajan, the English-based creole spoken in Barbados, by examining all the printed collections of proverbs, both amateur and professional, available to date. Consequently, by relying specifically on the amateur paremiographic work on Bajan compiled in 1987 by G. Addinton Forde, namely De Mortar-pestle: A Collection of Barbadian Proverbs, this article examines not just the proverbs but also the phrasemes which employ territorial place names found therein. In greater detail, this investigation is intended to show how the idiomatic use of such toponymic phrasemes yields cultural representations characterizing the unique worldview of Barbadians both within and outside the Anglophone Caribbean. Despite the fact that the colonial history of the island and the recollection of the slavery era are still undeniably evident in the toponymic Bajanisms considered, whose authentically local components are almost entirely drawn from the names of former plantations, the intrinsic Barbadianness that stands at their core is foregrounded.