From Tony Morton-Blake
Allen Counter really cannot be allowed to get away with the claim that the language of the Saramacca in Suriname can be understood by inhabitants of Ghana (2 February, p 44). It is reminiscent of wild statements by travellers in antiquity – such as the supposed ability, 500 years ago, of Irish sailors to communicate with indigenous North Africans.
The common speech form of the Saramacca is a pidgin whose vocabulary is 60 per cent English with some words derived from Portuguese and Dutch. There is indeed an influx of African vocabulary, estimated at about 5 per cent, and a tonal system inherited from west African languages; but it would be quite incomprehensible to any Ghanaian. I don’t believe there is any Afro-American speech form that is mutually comprehensible with an African language.
Blanchardstown, Dublin, Ireland
