Datapoint Papiamentu/Domains of use: court
The following statement was made by a Dutch public prosecutor stationed in the Papiamentu-speaking island of Bonaire:
"Dutch is the official language of the judicature here. In fact, it could hardly be any different, since despite its richness, Papiamentu is not capable of representing all the subtleties of judicial language.
After six months [of learning and practicing Papiamentu] I took the jump and presented the indictment in Papiamentu. A month later I did the first summing up of a case in Papiamentu."
Ernst Wesselius (Public Prosecutor)
From: http://www.om.nl/over_het_om/om_magazine_archief/om_magazine_2001/716/720/ (my translation)
Wesselius first asserts the superiority of Dutch in the legal domain, claiming that Papiamentu is not rich enough to represent all the subtleties of the language of the judicature. However, he then outlines how he took the impressive step of presenting some of his own legal arguments in the cases in which he appears in Papiamentu. This suggests of course that it is, in fact, possible to represent the subtleties of judicial language in Papiamentu. It appears, however, that there is still a formidable barrier when it comes to the acceptance of Papiamentu as the language of judicature.
