OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says TT is being invaded by migrants and she predicts the impact of the Venezuelan migration to be very severe and all aspects of TT society would be affected. She made the claims earlier today outside of Parliament.
A PUNDIT has strongly condemned the recent racist rant of a medical doctor saying such behaviour, especially during the holy season of Divali, has brought shame not only to all Hindus but to all Trinbagonians of East Indian heritage.
Colonial archives are rarely in colour. Instead, history is documented in black and white – its grave epochs of colonial violence and inconsequential minutiae in the same repeating archival shades of grey. In the absence of colour, all violence is neutralised; the number of women murdered on a plantation is recorded in the same black ink as the ounces of tamarind and rice allocated as rations sailing on ships from Calcutta to the Caribbean.
Observing the stars is one of humankind’s oldest pastimes, as ancient legends about the constellations prove. And even in times of social distancing and COVID-19 self-isolation, the beauty and mystery of the night sky offer a sense of consolation. Social distancing has put stargazing parties on hold, but even if your vantage point is a window, you can still contemplate the wonders of the cosmos — and remember that beyond the twinkling clusters of stars, there are lots more objects deep in space, invisible to the naked eye.
Trinidad-born Dr Michael Pillai, 28, is one of the ‘heroes’ working on the frontline in a hospital in East Brooklyn, New York. Pillai, who is originally from Diego Martin, is an internal medicine resident and is in his second year of residency.
TODAY marks the 185th anniversary of the arrival of Portugese people in TT. The Stralhista sailed from Madeira with 28 passengers (25 males and three women) from Funchal, Machico, Santa Cruz, Calheta and Porto Santo, and arrived in Trinidad on December 7, 1834.
GREATER effort is needed to preserve French creole culture in TT.
This was the prevailing sentiment as the Department for Modern Languages and Linguistics (DMLL) at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine hosted celebrations on Thursday to observe International Creole Day 2019.
Nineteenth-century Trinidadian teacher, linguist, writer and public intellectual, John Jacob Thomas, was famous for Froudacity (1889), his published rebuttal to a colonial racist rant.
ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago. November 1, 2019 – After a nationwide call for names – ten final entrants have been chosen for the International Astronomical Union (IAU) NameExoWorlds Trinidad and Tobago Competition. Dr Shirin Haque, Senior Lecturer in Astronomy at the UWI St. Augustine Campus and National Outreach Coordinator, IAU is encouraging the public to vote for which names they think Trinidad and Tobago’s official exoplanet and its host star should be called.
A Trinidad, le créole à base lexicale française, très proche des dialectes saint-lucien et martiniquais, était parlé par l'ensemble de la population au 19è siècle et c'est d'ailleurs un Trinidadien, John Jacob THOMAS qui, en 1869, publia la toute première grammaire créole au monde.
Kréyol pres disparet nan péyi Latrinité (Trinidad) aloski an 19è siek-la, majorité popilasion-an sé sel lang yo té konnet palé. Sé adan yonndé ti koté kontel Paramin oben Maraval, ou ka jwenn yonndé viékò ka palé'y tou lé jou toujou.
Kidonk kréyol-la an danjé mé érez-di-bonnè, ni jenn moun ki désidé goumen pou sa pa rivé ek yo ka viré apwann timanmay lang-la kon nou pé wè adan vidéo-a ki pli ba-a. Légliz katolik ka pòté anlo mannev adan travay prézèvasion-tala.
Nan 19è siek-la, tout moun Latrinité kivédi Trinidad té ka palé pres menm kréyol ki ta Sent-Lisi ek Matinik.
Dayè, sé nan péyi-tala, ki primié gramè kréyol paret anba plim misié John Jacob THOMAS man lanné 1869. Malérezman, lang-lan koumansé chalviré-tonbé nan koumansman 20è siek-la ek jòdijou, sé apenn si rété 3.000 moun ka palé'y toujou, soutou granmoun. Mé dépi yonndé lanné, ni yonndé lengwis Linivèsité West-Indies ki koumansé travay anlè'y ek andidan pep-la ni anlo jenn moun ki désidé goumen pou sa tjenbé kréyol la doubout.
Kontel sé jenn manmay-tala adan vidéo-a ki pli ba-a...
Trinidad is the larger of the two islands which make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Originally inhabited by Amerindians, chiefly Tainos, it was visited by Christopher Columbus on his third voyage in 1498 and colonized by Spain in the course of the following century. It remained a Spanish possession until 1797, when it was captured by a British expeditionary force under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and was officially ceded to the British crown by the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. It remained a British colony until it became independent in 1962. Trinidad has hence never been French. Why then is a French-lexifier Creole among the languages spoken in the island?
Peu de gens savent que la toute première grammaire d'un créole qui est jamais été écrite fut l'œuvre d'un instituteur trinidadien, John Jacob THOMAS, ouvrage intitulé "The theory and pratice of creole grammar" paru en 1869.
The Chaconia Medal (Gold) may be awarded for long and meritorious service, tending to promote the national welfare or strengthen the community spirit in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. According to the Citation read on Republic Day, "Professor Lawrence Carrington, Professor Emeritus, University of the West Indies, in the spheres of language and development.
The nature of the mind of the post Emancipation African, particularly the intellectual, is an issue which has been characterised by both conjecture and suppositions. Did this individual abandon all that was known before the middle passage and totally assimilate or did resistance continue even after the formalisation of institutions of subjugation? Selwyn Ryan writing on the period 1838 - 1919, thinks that 'generally, the aim of the coloured strata was to penetrate as far as possible into the white society. They disparaged their ancestral past and strove to eliminate or conceal all evidence of their negroid origin.' This 'penetration' is differently worded by CLR James; he surmises that 'they showed a remarkable capacity to adapt themselves to the demands of a new civilisation... he set out to do that, to master not only the language but to master the elementary necessity of filling the posts that an underdeveloped country required.' No matter what the position taken by scholars of the period they all have to agree that the progress made by the race in the Post Emancipation period was astounding. In fact the period is punctuated by individuals whose achievements earned them international acclaim. The most prominent of them, in the nineteenth century, may well have been the Trinidadian intellectual John Jacob Thomas.
Exactly 150 years ago, in April 1869, John Jacob Thomas wrote the preface to his first book, The Theory and Practice of Creole Grammar, which was published in Port of Spain later that year. This remarkable book, by an equally remarkable man, deserves to be remembered.
