Call for national hub to safeguard Bajan language

​An appeal has been made to create a national linguistic and heritage centre to preserve, document, and celebrate Barbados’ unique dialect and verbal traditions.

As Parliament moved a resolution to establish a permanent home for the National Art Gallery, St Andrew MP Dr Romel Springer insisted that formal, state-led efforts must extend to preserving the nation’s oral culture, noting that language forms the bedrock of identity.

​”In as much as a debate on acquiring a building [for the National Art Gallery] is about art, it is also a debate on our cultural heritage,” Dr Springer told the House of Assembly. “Language is an expression of our linguistic heritage and culture. It carries the history of Barbadians. You can learn or say a lot about a person based mainly on the language that they speak and their expressions.”