Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
An introduction to the language of West Indians -- Nonlinguistic methods of communication and transmission of information in the plantation slave society -- Aspects of oral culture in the slave population -- Political and social influences on the development of vernacular English -- Literate communication in the plantation slave society -- The rise of printing and publishing in the West Indies and its effects -- Intellectual and literary activity and its effects on literate English -- The rise of schools and their effect on English -- English language and literacy in the early schools --The legacy of colonial literacy in West Indies
Includes bibliographical references (p. [279]-295) and index
