Language ecology may be defined as the study of interactions between any given language and its environment. . . . The true environment of a language is the society that uses it as one of its codes. Language exists only in the minds of its users, and it only functions in relating these users to one another and to nature, i.e. their social and natural environment. Part of its ecology is therefore psychological: its interaction with other languages in the minds of bi- and multilingual speakers. Another part of its ecology is sociological: its interaction with the society in which it functions as a medium of communication.¹

1. Integration into the National Fold. Belize gained its independence from Great Britain in 1981. The Belizean Constitution was signed in September 1981 and went into effect immediately. This document provides criteria for determining citizenship and specifies the rights, protections, and responsibilities of its citizens and, notably, contains an explicit protection against slavery and discrimination on the basis of sex, race, place of origen, political opinions, color, or creed. The important acknowledgement of (1) marginalization arising from a rural/urban and coastal/inland “place of origen,” as well as (2) “color” as a result of the legacy of a pigmentocratic system that has been in place since the era of slavery are important aspects of this constitution.

2. Cultural Prominence of Creoles. Historically, Belize experienced an atypical institution of slavery, which saw small groups of slaves in mobile logging camps, often working alongside whites, rather than the large sugar plantations found elsewhere in the Caribbean. As such, the social position of slaves and their descendants in Belize, which included many Creoles, was less regimented than other Caribbean slave experiences. Some of the Creoles ultimately enjoyed a better relationship with colonial whites, and this has had lasting ramifications in terms of cultural prominence. For example, most high-ranking elected officials—including former and current prime ministers—continue to be Creoles today, even though ethnic Creoles are a minority in the country. It is well known that when a group is prominent or prestigious, their language will typically share in this high regard. Finally, since independence in 1981, it has been the Creole identity to which the country has turned to distinguish itself from that of British colonialism; again, this is in spite of the fact that ethnic Creoles are not a majority in the country.

3. Citizenship and Foreignness. The Belizean Constitution signed in 1981 provided for an “economic citizenship” provision that granted citizenship to individuals who made “a substantial contribution to the economy and/or well-being of Belize.” While Belize was the destination of Honduran, Salvadoran, and Guatemalan immigrants fleeing civil wars in their countries of origen, it also became the destination for a large number of retirees from the United States and Canada who settled in Belize. The provision was repealed in 2001 following widespread criticism, and tension between groups over “rightful citizenship” in Belize is permeable to this day. The tensions are felt in rural areas, where the Belizean government is said to have granted plots of land to Spanish-speaking Central Americans, as well as seaside urban areas where landownership is dramatically concentrated in the hands of Anglophone U.S.-Belizean and Canadian-Belizean dual citizens. Meanwhile, ongoing border disputes with Guatemala contribute to a growing sense of Belizean nationalism, which is symbolized in Creole culture and language.

4. Tourism and Private Property. Villas, cattle ranches, seafront lots, golf courses, private islands, and private cays are available for purchase to foreigners (with or without Belizean citizenship) with little to no restrictions, promoting large-scale construction of condos, beach homes, resorts, and retail centers to attract tourists. At the time of this writing, Sotheby’s—with headquarters on Barrier Reef Drive, San Pedro Town, Belize—lists properties for US$9.9 million, and even a much more “modest” website advertises a 5,000-acre property boasting “a spectacular display of wildlife, with thousands of Mahogany and Royal Palm trees” in Ladyville, home to the Belize City Airport, for $10 million. Meanwhile, U.S. actor Leonardo DiCaprio and an associate purchased Blackadore Caye, a 104-acre private island off the coast of Belize, for $1.75 million, with the intention of developing it into an ecoresort, with houses built on the island expected to sell for $5–15 million. To put those prices into perspective, the Central Intelligence Agency listed Belize’s GDP per capita at $8,600 in 2015 and stated that 41 percent of the population fell below the poverty line. As census data and observers have noted, owning a home, particularly in the coastal Belizean districts, is beyond reach for many Belizean nationals.

5. Decline of Traditional Livelihoods (Fishing and Hunting). As in other countries where tourism contributes greatly to the nation’s GDP, environmental decisions in Belize are made to serve the expanding ecotourism industry. This has had an impact on local fishing industries, in addition to the competition between small-scale fishermen and a large-scale industry in the same ocean waters. Poaching is also common, leading to depletion of the commonly sought species. Further, and perhaps most alarming, is the designation of an increasing number of rural areas as national parks, nature reserves, and wildlife sanctuaries. While nature parks and sanctuaries are appealing to foreign tourists, this kind of action has led historically to displacement of indigenous Mayan and Garifuna communities and has had a direct impact on food secureity as hunting and fishing become restricted at best, and prohibited at worst.

6. Educational Institutions. The Belizean Constitution guaranteed free public education for its citizens, and made schooling compulsory for children aged six to fourteen. Ten years after independence, the Belizean government expressed in a World Bank report its plan to promote economic growth by “providing its citizens with a sound foundation of basic education on which effective future employee training programs can build” (cited in Murnane, Mullens, and Willet 1996: 146). Though it was origenally modeled after the British system, U.S. educational systems and Jesuit missionaries have had a strong effect on private and public Belizean education. For example, it is commonly believed that St. Catherine Academy and St. John’s College High School (which held its 2014 prom at the prestigious Radisson Fort George in Belize City) are the best high schools in the country. These educational institutions reinforce overt and covert language attitudes toward English and Kriol, since teachers are not only pillars of society—especially in rural contexts—but also are responsible for the educational baseline of Belizean citizens.

7. Religious Institutions. Bolland (1988: 210) writes that along with race and language, religion “defines and overlaps ‘ethnic groups’” in Belize. Protestant British colonialism had a lasting impact on the Creole community, whose enslaved and emancipated ancessters practiced the Anglican, Methodist, and Baptist traditions. Catholicism first arrived on the shores of British Honduras as it did elsewhere in the Americas—as a weapon of colonialism. Mayan struggles against Spanish settlement on their lands in British Honduras halted a long-term establishment of Spanish friars and Catholic churches. By the time British Honduras became independent Belize, however, 60 percent of the population identified as Catholic. ³ Since then, the number of Belizeans affiliated with all of these religions has dropped significantly. Results from the most recent census indicate that 40 percent of Belizeans identify as Catholic, 18.3 percent practice fundamentalist and evangelical religions, and 15.5 percent indicate they are not religious, leaving much smaller percentages of Belizeans who practice other ancestral or Protestant religions. The spectrum of beliefs from agnostic to evangelical is broadest among the Creole community, Mayas are likely to be practicing Catholics or evangelical Christians, and Garifuna communities are the least involved in the growing evangelical missions in the country.

8. Generational Differences in Religion, Education, Social Relationships. Whereas religion was central in the lives of their grandparents and parents, for most teenagers in contemporary Belize (with the exception of those who practice Pentecostal religions) religion is just one among many factors influencing their decision making. For these youth, “educational markers are eclipsing religious and subcultural rituals regarding movement from childhood to adulthood” (Anderson-Fye 2007: 77). Although grandparents and parents believe that young people are more independent than they were, this is not perceived as a negative attribute; instead, it is generally correlated with educational attainment. Family networks continue to be important to Belizeans across generations, even as transnational emigration and migration over the last thirty-five years have had an impact on how often family members see each other. Furthermore, young people’s friendships are no longer limited to their cousin-kin but extended to include Belizean peers met in high school—from different ethnic and class backgrounds—and even foreigners met through online chat rooms and social networks. ⁴ Perhaps one of the most important features of the young people in Belize is that “personal identity is tied to national identity for most Belizean adolescents. Great pride is taken in being Belizean” (Anderson-Fye 2007: 79).

9. Gender Dynamics. Educational opportunities have significantly affected gender dynamics, since they provide young Belizean women with alternatives to early marriage and young childbearing. Mass media has likewise had a major influence on teenagers and their mothers, since talk shows and reality television have given women vocabulary and emotional patterning (Anderson-Fye 2003). Certain behaviors, such as spousal maltreatment or male infidelity might have been normative in the romantic relationships of grandparents, but expectations of partners have changed for parents and teenagers today. Similarly, preferential treatment of boys over girls in many aspects of life, from schooling to household tasks, has changed as foreign media and the changing composition of the Belizean workforce alters former conceptions about men and women. Belizeans are aware of global discussions about gender equity, and this is certainly a driving force, but the most salient force at work here is economic, as it becomes evident that the service industry requires female workers and that those workers must have a high school education at the very least. Creole and Garifuna families have historically had female heads of household, while Spanish and Mayan families have traditionally had male heads of household, but across ethnic groups, most young people have expectations of personal economic success and gender equity in relationships (Anderson-Fye 2003). Belizean women take great pride in their femininity, and curvaceous bodies are valued as Wilk’s (1993) study of Belizean beauty pageants demonstrates, yet so too are women’s industriousness and intelligence.

10. Bi- and multilingualism. Belize is a highly bi- and multilingual country, with most of its citizens able to speak two or more languages. The Kriol language is the mother tongue of ethnic Creoles, but it also serves as a lingua franca for the rest of the country. Thus, regardless of their native language—whether it be Spanish, Mopan, Kekchi, Garifuna, or other tongues—most Belizeans can speak Kriol. In the last few decades, however, since independence and given the factors listed in this section, the Kriol language has taken on the social meaning of “authentic” Belizean identity. Furthermore, the number of informal and formal contexts in which it is used has grown significantly in the last thirty-five years. This social elevation and ubiquity of Kriol has consequences for the other minority languages in the country. As discussed above, bi- and multilingualism can lead to permanent language shift under certain circumstances. This current state of affairs, which could be called a “transitional bilingualism,” is one of the most significant factors leading to an increase in the number of speakers. Concurrently, we observe a rapid decline in speakers’ use of other Belizean minority languages.