{"id":3845,"date":"2017-02-13T20:18:08","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T04:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/?p=3845"},"modified":"2025-11-29T16:09:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T00:09:16","slug":"3845","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/?p=3845","title":{"rendered":"Someni tongo \/ So Many Tongues"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Wan bon<br \/>\nsomeni wiwiri<br \/>\nwan bon.<br \/>\nWan liba<br \/>\nsomeni kriki<br \/>\nala e go na wan se.<br \/>\nWan ede<br \/>\nsomeni prakseri,<br \/>\nprakseri pe wan bun mu de.<br \/>\nWan Gado<br \/>\nsomeni fasi fu anbegi<br \/>\nma wan Papa.<br \/>\nWan Sranan,<br \/>\nsomeni wiwiri,<br \/>\nsomeni skin,<br \/>\nsomeni tongo.<br \/>\nWan pipel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&lt;\u00a0R. Dobru 1965 in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/writing\/sranan.htm\">Sranan Tongo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>***<br \/>\n<em>One of the first poems in a creole language which got me good. There is only one letter difference between artistic and autistic. If I am on the latter spectrum at all it is liminally, on the cusp of normalcy or more accurately normality. I do remain residually dyslexic and hence sensitive to things cognitively dissonant, such as the relationship between a standardized language and a creole \u201cderived\u201d from it. Hence my book\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Entwisted-Tongues-Comparative-Literatures-Comparative-Literature\/dp\/9042007370?ie=UTF8&amp;*Version*=1&amp;*entries*=0\">Entwisted Tongues Comparative Creole Literatures<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Entwisted-Tongues-Comparative-Literatures-Comparative-Literature\/dp\/9042007370?ie=UTF8&amp;*Version*=1&amp;*entries*=0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-3851 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_0878-150x150.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_0878-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_0878-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Review<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"a-expander-collapsed-height a-row a-expander-container a-expander-partial-collapse-container\" data-a-expander-collapsed-height=\"300\">\n<div class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\">\n<p>&#8220;[This] is a work of passion that conquers through its erudition, seduces through its interpretations, and convinces through its style&#8221; \u00a0<i>Research in African Literatures \u2013 Volume 33, Number 3, Fall 2002<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Dobru\u2019s own translation:<\/p>\n<p><em>One tree<\/em><br \/>\n<em>so many leaves<\/em><br \/>\n<em>one tree.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>One river<\/em><br \/>\n<em>so many creeks<\/em><br \/>\n<em>all are going to one sea.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>One head\u00a0<\/em><br \/>\n<em>so many thoughts,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>thoughts among which one good must be.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>One God,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>so many ways of worshipping<\/em><br \/>\n<em>but one Father.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>One Surinam,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>so many hair types,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>so many skin colours,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>so many tongues.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>One people.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For those who are native speakers of Dutch but also those who might still be able to\u00a0read it in the oblique way referred to above, here is\u00a0a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nl.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/R._Dobru\">wiki<\/a>\u00a0on R. Dobru (1935-1983), erstwhile nationalist political leader and Minister of Culture in the early years of independent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Suriname\">Suriname<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Among other things, Dobru plays on\u00a0<i>wiwiri<\/i>:<i>\u00a0<\/i>leaves, also hair, thread and wire\u00a0&lt;\u00a0the SIL Sranan-English\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www-01.sil.org\/americas\/suriname\/sranan\/English\/SrananEngDictIndex.html\">dictionary<\/a>\u00a0based on John Wilner\u2019s 1994\u00a0<em>Wortubuku fu Sranan Tongo.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"likebtn_container\" style=\"\"><!-- LikeBtn.com BEGIN --><span class=\"likebtn-wrapper\"  data-identifier=\"post_3845\"  data-site_id=\"56b78e2ba4c688a2131dca0b\"  data-style=\"\"  data-unlike_allowed=\"\"  data-show_copyright=\"\"  data-item_url=\"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/?p=3845\"  data-item_title=\"Someni tongo \/ So Many Tongues\"  data-item_date=\"2017-02-13T20:18:08-08:00\"  data-engine=\"WordPress\"  data-plugin_v=\"2.6.59\"  data-prx=\"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php?action=likebtn_prx\"  data-event_handler=\"likebtn_eh\" ><\/span><!-- LikeBtn.com END --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wan bon someni wiwiri wan bon. Wan liba someni kriki ala e go na wan se. Wan ede someni prakseri, prakseri pe wan bun mu de. Wan Gado someni fasi fu anbegi ma wan Papa. Wan Sranan, someni wiwiri, someni skin, someni tongo. Wan pipel. &lt;\u00a0R. Dobru 1965 in\u00a0Sranan Tongo. *** One of the first &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/?p=3845\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Someni tongo \/ So Many Tongues&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"likebtn_container\" style=\"\"><!-- LikeBtn.com BEGIN --><span class=\"likebtn-wrapper\"  data-identifier=\"post_3845\"  data-site_id=\"56b78e2ba4c688a2131dca0b\"  data-style=\"\"  data-unlike_allowed=\"\"  data-show_copyright=\"\"  data-item_url=\"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/?p=3845\"  data-item_title=\"Someni tongo \/ So Many Tongues\"  data-item_date=\"2017-02-13T20:18:08-08:00\"  data-engine=\"WordPress\"  data-plugin_v=\"2.6.59\"  data-prx=\"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php?action=likebtn_prx\"  data-event_handler=\"likebtn_eh\" ><\/span><!-- LikeBtn.com END --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24],"tags":[120,32],"class_list":["post-3845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post","tag-creoles","tag-translation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3845"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5502,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3845\/revisions\/5502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}