Team

CHARLENE WILKINSON, COORDINATOR

Charlene Wilkinson is the Coordinator of the Guyanese Languages Unit, Department of Language and Cultural Studies in the Faculty of Education and Humanities at the University of Guyana (UG). She joined the staff of UG first from 1983 to 1985 as lecturer I in the Department of Language and Cultural Studies and then again in 2008 as Lecturer II in the same department, a position she still holds. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from John Carroll University (Cleveland, Ohio, USA), a Master of Arts degree (English) from Windsor University (Ontario, Canada), and a Diploma in Education from Sam Sharpe Teacher’s College (Montego Bay, Jamaica). She is a language activist, creative writer and storyteller.

TAMIRAND NNENA DE LISSER, LINGUIST

Tamirand Nnena De Lisser is a Linguist, an Educator and former Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Education and Humanities, University of Guyana. She holds a PhD in General Linguistics from the University of Geneva; an MA in Linguistics and a BA double major in Linguistics and Language, Communication & Society, both from the University of the West Indies, Mona; and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education from the University of Guyana. Her main research area is first-language acquisition of syntactic systems in Creole languages. She has multidisciplinary research interests straddling Linguistics, Sociolinguistics and Education, and has scholarly presentations and publications in these areas. She is also a published translator for Jamaican.

EXTERNAL ADVISORS

Hubert Devonish is Professor Emeritus in Linguistics at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. He was the founding coordinator of the Jamaican Language Unit at that institution in which role he served for 15 years until 2018. He has published in the areas of Caribbean language and is an advocate of language rights for speakers of Caribbean vernacular languages, and in particular their right to education in these languages. 

Ian Robertson has served as Head of the Department of English at the University of Guyana, and of the Department of Teacher Education in the then-Faculty of Education at University of the West Indies St Augustine and as Deputy Dean and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education. He completed his PhD in Linguistics at St Augustine – the first PhD awarded in Linguistics at that campus. Over the years in academia his work has covered a number of areas including Creole linguistics, English language education in the Caribbean, the Caribbean oral traditions, the use of Caribbean Indigenous resources for language education and the sociolinguistic experiences of the Guyana colonies. The existence of Dutch lexicon Creoles in Guyana, a phenomenon whose existence had been rejected by Creole linguists was discovered and documented by him.

TRANSLATORS + COMMUNITY LIAISON

OVID WILLIAMS, TRANSLATOR + CHIEF COMMUNITY LIAISON

SHONDELL RODRIGUES, TRANSLATOR, TECHNICAL ASSISTANT + COMMUNITY LIAISON

SKEITHA THOMAS, TRANSLATOR + COMMUNITY LIAISON

Sabantho Oni AKA Skeitha Thomas is a language activist and Indigenous advocate.

GLORIA DUARTE, MAKUSHI TRANSLATOR AND RESEARCHER

CHARRO ALBERT, AREKUNA TRANSLATOR

RONDA THOMAS, CREOLE TRANSLATOR + TEACHER OF 24 YEARS

NAIOMI FRANCIS, WARRAU TRANSLATOR

Naiomi Francis is from Santa Rosa in Moruca. She is Warrau, Carib and Akawaio and speaks Warrau. She works with elders and communities to document Warrau culture and landscapes, including mountains, rivers, creeks, hills, artefacts and sensitive sites. She has also worked on documenting livelihood activities and collecting stories/legends for a book of stories. In the future she wants to hold sessions with those who wish to know more about Warrau culture and history, and pass on what she has learned.

TECHNICAL/OTHER SUPPORT

CARINYA SHARPLES, WEBSITE/NEWSLETTER EDITOR

TREVON BAIRD, COORDINATOR, AMERINDIAN RESEARCH UNIT