Amerindian

The Amerindians are the descendants of the indigenous people of Guyana; they are broadly
grouped into coastal and interior tribes. The term tribes is a linguistic and cultural classification
rather than a political one. The coastal Amerindians are the Carib, Arawak, and Warao, whose
names come from the three language families of the Guyanese Amerindians. The population of
coastal Carib in Guyana declined in the nineteenth century, but Arawak and Warao communities
can be found near the Pomeroon and Courantyne rivers.

The interior Amerindians are classified into seven tribes: Akawaio, Arekuna, Barama River
Carib, Macusi, Patamona, Waiwai, and Wapisiana. The Barama River Carib, Akawaio, Arekuna,
and Patamona live in river valleys in western Guyana. Two Amerindian groups live in the
Rupununi Savannah region: the Macusi in the northern half and the Wapisiana in the southern
half. The Waiwai live in the far south of the country, near the headwaters of the Essequibo River.
All of the interior Amerindians originally spoke Carib languages, with the exception of the
Wapisiana, whose language is in the Arawak linguistic family.

By the 1990s, all of the Amerindian groups had undergone extensive acculturation. The coastal
Amerindians were the most acculturated, sharing many cultural features with lower-class Afro-
Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese. There had been considerable intermarriage between coastal
Amerindians and Afro-Guyanese. The Waiwai and the Barama River Carib were probably the
least acculturated of the Amerindians. Nevertheless, most Amerindians spoke English (or near
Brazil, Portuguese) as a first or second language. Almost all Amerindians had been affected by
missionary efforts for many decades. Finally, most Amerindians had been integrated in one way
or another into the national economic system, though usually at the lowest levels.
East Indian

Between 1838 and 1917, almost 240,000 East Indian indentured workers were brought to British
Guiana. The indentured workers had the right to be repatriated at the end of their contracts, but
as of 1890, most of the East Indian indentured workers had chosen to settle in British Guiana.

Although the great majority of the East Indian immigrants workers were from northern India,
there were variations among them in caste and religion. Some 30 percent of the East Indians
were from agricultural castes and 31 percent were from low castes or were untouchables.
Brahmans, the highest caste, constituted 14 percent of the East Indian immigrants. About 16
percent were Muslims. The only acknowledgment the colonial government and the plantation
managers gave to caste differences was their distrust of the Brahmans as potential leaders. East
Indian workers were housed together and placed in work gangs without consideration of caste.
Unlike the African slaves, the East Indian indentured workers were permitted to retain may of
their cultural traditions. But the process of assimilation has made the culture of the modern Indo-
Guyanese more homogeneous than that of their caste-conscious immigrant ancestors.
African

Descendants of the Africans, the Afro-Guyanese came to see themselves as the true people of
British Guiana, with greater rights to land than the indentured workers who had arrived after
them. The fact that planters made land available to East Indians in the late nineteenth century
when they had denied land to the Africans several decades earlier reinforced Afro-Guyanese
resentment toward other ethnic groups in the colony. The AfroGuyanese people's perception of
themselves as the true Guyanese derived not only from their long history of residence, but also
from a sense of superiority based on their literacy, Christianity, and British colonial values.

By the early twentieth century, the majority of the urban population of the country was Afro-
Guyanese. Many Afro-Guyanese living in villages had migrated to the towns in search of work.
Until the 1930s, Afro-Guyanese, especially those of mixed African and European descent,
comprised the bulk of the nonwhite professional class. During the 1930s, as the Indo-Guyanese
began to enter the middle class in large numbers, they began to compete with Afro-Guyanese for
professional positions.
Connectative

(of a word or expression) signifying or suggestive of an associative or secondary meaning in

addition to the primary meaning: the connotative meaning of a word includes the feelings and
ideas that people may connect with that word.

The following is a compilation of a relatively short list of Guyanese proverbs and

their approximate meanings. The proverbs are expressed in the Guyanese
Creolese language.

Updated December 4th. 2005

PROVERBS MEANINGS
1. All cassava get same skin but all nah taste Though people may look alike because of
same way. their mode of dress, they are different in
their ways.

2. Baby who ah cry ah house and ah door ah The same manner in which you treats your
same thing. child, you should treat another's.

3. Belly full behind drunk. After you have eaten and drunken much you
tend to become lazy.

4. Big tree fall down, goat bite he leaf. When a great man falls, he is no longer
feared and respected.

5. Bush get ears and dutty get tongue. Sometimes you think that what you do or
say nobody sees or hears, but yet your
secrets are known.

6. Cat foot soft but he ah scratch bad. Some people may seem friendly and
understanding but to your surprise it is not
really so.

7. Cuss when yuh ah guh, nah wheh yuh ah You must not curse the place that you have
come out. come from, because sometime in the future
you may have to return there.

8. Contrary breeze ah mek crow and eagle When there is trouble, enemies are
light on one line. sometimes forced to get together to solve
problems.

9. Cow deh a pasture he nah remember seh Sometimes when you think you are safe,
dog and butcher deh till he see am. danger is lurking nearby.

10. Cat a ketch rat, but he a teef he massa Good and evil come from the same source.
fish.
11. Clath ah easy fuh dutty but hard fuh
wash.
12. Dah mouth dat man tek fuh court
woman, ah de same mouth he ah tek an put
she ah door.
13. Don't mind how bird vex, it can't vex
with tree.
14. Dog buy rum, cow drink am, hog in sty
get drunk.
15. Every rope gat two ends.
16. Every fowl feed pon he own craw.
17. Every best friend get a next best friend.
18. Every bush a man night time.
19. Fish ah deh ah watah but nah ah dam
tap.
20. Fish ah play ah sea, he nah know watah
ah boil fuh am.
21. Fish and cast-net nah friend.
22. Good gubby nah ah float ah tap.
23. Hungry nah know bam-by.
24. If yuh finger get sore, nah tek am and
throw way.
25. If yuh eye nah see, yuh mouth nah must
talk.
26. If cow-man pass wild meat whah mek
me must pick up am.
27. It nah good to shove yuh foot in every
Having achieved a goal, it is difficult to retain
it.
When a man is courting a woman, he is very
concerned, kind and considerate, but when
the novelty of the relationship is over, he
finds faults and is unkind.
It does not matter if you are annoyed with
conditions at work, you have to return to
your job. Similarly, although you may be
frustrated with the situation in your
homeland, you may still have to return to it.
A matter may not concern someone, yet he
or she gets involved.
Every story has two sides.
Everybody has to learn and find out what is
good for himself or herself.
Your secrets are spread from best friend to
best friend to best friend.
Things seem worse than they really are
when we are afraid.
There are places where you can play an
important part, but here are other places
where you can be insignificant.
Sometimes when you are enjoying yourself,
unknown to you, trouble is brewing in the
background.
In life it is difficult for you to relate to
someone who may be unfriendly or hostile.
Good things do not come easily.
If you have a need, you grasp at everything
that fulfills it.
A member of your family may turn
delinquent but that does not mean that you
must disown him or refuse to help him.
You must see for yourself before you talk.
You should not go against the decision or
choice of a person you feel is qualified to
make the right choice.
You should not try to position yourself
stocking. everywhere or in everything.