Anyone who plays the steelpan instrument is a ‘PANIST’ (with one ‘N’) according to Dalton Narine, the man who originally coined the word years ago.
The international and highly-respected, award-winning journalist and film maker explains that ‘PANIST’ is the proper spelling of the word based on the rules of English grammar - as opposed to writing ‘pannist’ with two ‘Ns’.
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It would be nice to know who posted this comment and where that person got that information from.
Did Mr. Dalton Narine speak to that person?
Is is hearsay?
When was the term first used?
It is important to document these things.
Does anyone know what year the term "panist" was coined by Mr. Dalton Narine?
It is important that these things be documented.
CVC stands for “consonant, vowel, consonant.” When the last three letters of a one-syllable word follow the CVC pattern, the last consonant should be doubled when adding the ending. Consider the examples below: 1 The word “drop” becomes dropped or dropping
we say that PANIST one n is d way 2 spell d word according 2 the rules of English grammar. then DRUGGIST should b one g,according 2 d rules of English grammar? I left school more than 50 yrs ago. I will spell it PANNIST. I have no work 2 b sent 2 b corrected. Who see my spelling an doh like it,too bad.
With all due respect for Mister Dalton Narine, an extremely competent journalist with in-depth knowledge of Trinidad and its culture, I humbly beg to differ from Mr. Narine’s spelling of the word “based on the rules of “English grammar” as stated in the article.
The rules of English grammar clearly state:
“When adding a suffix to a 1-syllable word following the C-V-C rule (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant), where the vowel is short, the last consonant should be doubled.”
Some examples:
ban – banner; gas - gassed; plan – planning; rob - robber; can – canned; win – winner; run – running
In the verb “to pan” – which means to wash e.g. gravel in a pan to separate out gold or other precious metals or gemstones – the present participle is panning (with the double consonant).
With the noun “a pan” – which is the instrument originating from Trinidad – the addition of the suffix “–ist” to describe the person playing the instrument would therefore require doubling the consonant.
If we are talking rules of English grammar, and NOT the colloquial vernacular commonly known in Trinidadian dialect as “talkin Trinidadian” then the correct spelling of the word should be “pannist” and not “panist”.
Bravo!
Don't study Narine. American that he is ,he would spell like them.Narine is referring to the rules of American English grammar. Americans never double the consonant.
jolene durrant,
Good post, we don't need Literacy lessons, what we need is involvement in topics that would move the steelband to the next level.
It is interesting seeing the enthusiasm intellectuals placed on the use of the "N" word. Did the steelband or panist/ pannist benefit anything here?
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