Language, Lavway And Living In Trinidad And Tobago

We must believe in who we are, and the acceptance of one's language is more than essential; language is an vital part of culture, language binds a people together. Language is a uniting element within any population. If you don't know, language is a powerful centripetal force. Language can also metamorphose into lavway (from the French 'le vrai', which means 'the truth'). Lavway could mean several things: the subtle messages in the call and response of a chant, the sound of hunting dogs in the chase, the song and chant in a tamboo-bamboo band or the chanting that accompanies Kalinda or stick fighting in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).

Edited by Lise Winer, the Dictionary of English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago gave examples of what could be described as lavway. Here are a couple: i. “Bobby could hear the frenzied voices of the stickmen as they sang this lavway;“the length of my bois is the length of yuh coffin, way yay yo!” ii. “The lavway parang, a form of music combining elements of traditional calypso with parang. This...is best reflected in the repertory of the Mighty Scrunter (Irwin Reyes) in his Backyard Jam and Madame Jeffrey Oh. It is the lavway that is superimposed above that of the parang and that which lends the tardy infectiousness of the calypso beat to these songs.” So the lavway is only one part of the language extant in T&T.

Then there is the Trini dialect which to some extent includes some lavway, sexual innuendo, satire and a ton load of humor. Labelling people with nicknames will never end in T&T. An individual lost one of his arms from his elbow down. He ended up with the moniker 'Clock;' one short arm and one long arm. Then there was an old man in our village who was really bent over. His nickname was 'Pick-it-Up.' Whenever the boys on the block would tease him with the name, he would sort of straighten up. With rabid energy he would literally 'pelt' them with several expletives. Because he was tall and lanky, the name 'Lagoon Bud' (bird) stuck to this guy who hung around Cunapo, the central business district (CBD) in the town of Sangre Grande. At the corner of Park and Frederick streets in Port of Spain, there was a sneaky looking old man who asked everyone for ten cents. Everyone knew him as 'Ten Cents.'

Over the weekend, a Kenyan pastor hinted to me that he learnt a few Trini words, for example, 'ting,' which could mean anything. In our brief conversation, I told him“...allyuh like ting eh?” He responded by saying that Trini language is very colourful. A few years ago, when I visited Grenada, I heard people asking for“a Kiss and a Ting,” and indeed I displayed raised eyebrows. Afterwards, I came to learn that the 'Kiss' was a cake and the 'Ting' was a soft drink. The pastor also mentioned in his sermon that he learnt the words, 'maco' and 'macometer.' A maco in T&T is a person who makes it his or her business to mind someone else's business. Such a person is deemed to be 'farse.' A person peeping through the curtains to see the incomings and outgoings of neighbours is considered to have his or her macometer needle in the red; the macometer is high! Are there macoes in the other Caribbean islands?

I believe that the term 'melau' is appropriate to describe our wonderful Trini dialect. It is apt because of the cosmopolitan nature of our blessed country; such a wonderful and intriguing mixture of ethnicities and religions, faiths, flavours and festivals. Nevertheless, there are deep undertones of racism in T&T. I say this without any reservation. From what I heard in the past, and what I am hearing today, the ghost of racialism is hanging on, especially since the instatement of a newly elected government. As everywhere else, living in T&T has its ups and downs. Some people prefer 'instant gratification.' Some choose 'future gratification.' Kevin Birth pointed this out in his book titled: Anytime is Trinidad Time.

However, I am the product of such a place, and I am almost certain that my genetic makeup hails from at least eight different races of people; so why the fuss about racism. I am a Caribbean man, truly international; African, Indian, Chinese, French, Carib, Italian, German, and a smidgen of somewhere in Central Asia, all blended into this individual. Just check this out for a moment. I was christened a Roman Catholic, baptized at 11 years old in the Valencia River as a Seventh-Day-Adventist, attended the mosque to learn about Islam on Coalmine Road with my high school Muslim friends. I still greet my Muslim friends and associates with the greeting, assalamualaikum, was married into a devout Hindu family and greeted my in laws back then with Sita Ram or namaskar.

After that, my sojourn as a professor of geography in North Dakota saw me enjoying the culture of a bunch of lutefisk (codfish prepared in lye) eating Lutheran, Norwegian descendants, not to mention Native Americans and their appreciation of the Great Spirit. Now with my new wife, I recently took communion in the Morton Memorial Presbyterian Church in Sangre Grande. Trinidad and Tobago is a multiracial, multi-religious, polyrhythmic location on the face of the globe.

I love our people because God said to love your neighbor as yourself. God said to love but God also said to give everybody what they deserve. Be generous with love. Be fair! Deal with integrity. As I have determined and wrote (mainly Trini dialect) in my book titled: Sweet and Sour Trinidad and Tobago,“If yuh like tuh jumbie people well yuh go geh plenty jumbie in yuh tail,” because whatsoever yuh sow yuh bong tuh reap. Harassing people is not a noble thing! Don't R.I.D.E people. RIDE simply means: Ridicule, Insult, Discrimination, and Embarrassment. Yuh cyar sow corn and get peas. God say tuh give every man ah just reward...ah just weight and respect for all is wuh God love.” There you have it; it's about being educated.

Trust mih, I am truly educated and tolerant to all races and religions. And when I said educated, you have to understand that I don't mean that I have several degrees, diplomas and certificates. I have that. There is a definition for 'Education' that I love:“Fit to live and fit to live with.” Educator Dianne Ravitch in the American Educator (Summer of 2010) posits:“The goal of education is not to produce higher scores, but to educate children to become responsible people with well-developed minds and good character.” Ellen G. White in her book Education opined that education is the harmonious development of the spiritual, intellectual, and physical faculties.

Some people in T&T have this feeling that they are really educated because they obtained two or three degrees, but when you investigate them closely, they lack common sense. Common sense is not that common. My godmother used to counsel me:“Common sense make before book...and don't be couyon (stupid).”

I quote again from my book:

“Watch dem, dey cyar even plant ah fig tree. Dey cyar pong ah nail with ah hammer if dey eh pong dey finger. Some ah dem cyar boil ah pot ah water if dey life depended on it. Yuh think I eh know? Ah does see dem every day and just shake mih head when ah pass. Dey does give off ah kind ah...vibes; the absence of common sense...descriptive of people who does give off ah kind ah dotish behavior; ah particular kind ah nuance of pretence. Pretending tuh know wuh dey doh know; arrogance dat generates ah stupid vibration.”

No one has to tell me that I am educated. I know that. Growing up on the streets and sitting down in the 'University of Hard Knocks,' sometimes under the streetlight to do my high school home lessons, I really doubt that anyone right now in T&T could make such a boast. The children of today have everything so nice in T&T including 'Government Assistance for Tertiary Education' (GATE), free computer, fancy library, free bus pass, free food, and free books.

With all that“freeness” some are still turning out to be gun-toting bandits and criminals! Back to the book and mih Trini dialect:

“As mih good godmother use tuh say, dey ceaselessly laffing gip, gip, gip because dey doh want tuh feel genneh in company. ('genneh' maybe from the French 'je nais'...out of place, what is not. [Trinidadian Patois, 'genneh' (also spelled 'gennay') generally means feeling awkward, shy, or uneasy. It's a word used to describe a feeling of discomfort or embarrassment].

Nutten eh go make me genneh in any company because I have no inhibitions. I am so very immune to insult, ridicule, discrimination and embarrassment, it is ah shame. Nobody cyar make mih feel shame no more; ah pass dat stage breds...Do you know why I have become dis way? Leh mih tell yuh dis. Ah have one life tuh live and nobody, ah say, nobody eh go take mih lil piece ah happiness from mih. If yuh eh like mih, ah go move from in front ah yuh; if yuh doh like mih in the morning, you can't suddenly like me in the evening. Mih mudder used to tell mih,“Cockroach cyar stay in front ah fowl,” and“Whe horse ah reach, jackass ah reach.” I eh go force mihself on nobody and beg and beseech anybody tuh like mih...

Everybody have ah 'mind gate' inside dey head. Dat 'mind gate' have ah latch and dey does know when dey want tuh move di latch tuh close or open di gate. You as the outsider could never geh yuh hand on dat latch. Sometimes ah cyar understand why some people does just look at somebody and say:“Mih blood eh take him nah...” Prejudice killing some ah we and we eh know dat. Why can't we live in T&T with a free and peaceful mind for everybody?”

In conclusion, I want us all to know that I grew up with people who were pushing me around like a shopping cart, so feeling genneh is not part of my mental framework...genneh has been 'dustbinified!' I know that when you don't have a father with prestige and status, people will push you around; it's been my experience. So much for all that peacock talk and who educated, who like who, who have father and status, and all the bacchanal and blague that make up the T&T society. However, I submit that we should make an earnest effort to greet each other with the best language, to create the best lavway, to be generous and kind to one another, to generate happiness as we co-exist on these outcroppings of rocks in the Caribbean Sea.

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