Think Piece (Tanty at the Oval)

“The awesome complexity of Caribbean life and culture, which ranges from language and religion to artistic manifestation in the literary, performing and visual arts, is more than the binary syndrome of Europe suggests,” University of the West Indies Professor Rex Nettleford has said. Paul Keens Douglas, is a renowned humourist and narrator who has been leading an exponent of the oral traditions in the Caribbean in a variety of fora. As one writer comments, “Paul Keens-Douglas celebrates our rich cultural amalgam and Caribbean landscapes like nobody else does. With a bubbling well of humour, humanity and heart, he reaches into the innermost crevices of ourselves and our cultures, and brings us back to joy feeling to the real sweetness of our societies." In light of this, his audio representation “Tanti at the Oval” encompasses thematic variations all centred around Caribbean life and culture. Hence, in the following essay I will examine and express my outlook on three themes such as; Caribbean dialect, humour and issues of gender which are seen as fundamental areas that should be conferred from this audio piece.

To begin with, from listening attentively to this audio piece one can instantaneously notice the distinct use of Trinidadian Creole which has been used coherently in this particular piece. Furthermore, the speaker is relating to the listener about his experience in taking his relative Tanti Merl to the oval to spectate a cricket match. The speaker narrates his experience in Trinidadian Creole. Some dialect words that were utilized in this piece are; “yuh, dat, teeteevaying, cuss, bhajon, and goin,” to name a few. A possible reason for this can be that these words are used on a daily basis by Caribbean people, therefor they are familiarized vocabulary which they empathize with. Aforementioned, the listeners or target audience are locals from the Caribbean where speaking in dialect is known as their patois. As a matter of fact, by listening to an excerpt...