Palenquero

Conjugate Verbs

Introduction

Entirely unintelligible to Spanish speakers. Linguistic influences from Kongo in Democratic Republic of Congo (I. Hancock 1987). Most members of the ethnic group speak Spanish as mother tongue, but some old people have limited proficiency in Spanish. 10% of those under 25 speak it (1998 Armin Schwegler) . Most speakers are older. Everyone values Palenquero. People are culturally distinct from nearby Spanish speakers. Investigation needed: bilingual proficiency in Spanish, attitudes toward Spanish. Grammar.

Palenque has gained national as well as international fame, and has become an academic tourist mecca of sorts. In 2005, UNESCO proclaimed Palenque as a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”.

The Palenquero Verb

Palenquero has markers for tense, aspect, and mood. The majority of these markers (e.g. temporal tan ‘future’, habitual asé, or modal aké ‘conditional’) occur in preverbal position

In contrast, aspectual -ba (past progressive, iterative, etc.) and “progressive” -ndo are always suffixed

Verblist

• lungá
• morí