Surinamese linguist and a leading expert on Surinamese Dutch, Mevr. Dr Renata de Bies passed away on May 13, 2024. Dr De Bies, who served as Dean of the subfaculty of Humanities at the Antom de Kom University in Suriname, had a longstanding affiliation with the Allsopp Centre, having served as one of the members on its Advisory Board.

She was also the lecturer for the Second Annual Richard Allsopp Memorial Lecture. She presented on the topic – The Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage: A Guiding Light in the Development of Caribbean Lexicography of the Twenty-First Century. Her talk focused on exemplifying the contribution of the Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage (DCEU) in the documentation of Caribbean English as well as other Caribbean languages (French, French Creole, Spanish, Dutch) since the dictionary contains several loanwords from amongst those languages and how the DCEU has laid the foundation for the macrostructure of future Caribbean dictionaries.

Dr Jason Siegel, the Director of the Allsopp Centre, had this to say about her selection: “In 2017, Barbados was to host the 21^st Biennial Dictionary Society of North America (DSNA) Meeting, which was the first time the conference was being held outside mainland North America. It was important to me that we make the conference feel like a truly West Indian event. The Allsopp Memorial Lecture was to serve the role of a keynote speech, which most DSNA meetings do not have, and I wanted the speaker to be a Caribbean linguist who could talk about bilingual and monolingual lexicography in the region. Dr De Bies was an easy choice, and she did not disappoint, linking the DCEU to her own work in a way that demonstrated the interconnectedness of our entire region.”

The Allsopp Centre is honoured to have worked with Dr De Bies throughout the years and acknowledges her contribution to the preservation of the Surinamese Dutch language. We are deeply saddened to hear about her passing and send condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.

Moge zij rusten in vrede.
May she rest in peace.