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Caribbean English is a broad term for the dialects of the English language spoken in the

Caribbean, most countries on the Caribbean coast of Central America, and Guyana.
Caribbean English is influenced by the English-based Creole varieties spoken in the
region, but they are not the same. In the Caribbean, there is a great deal of variation in the
way English is spoken. cholars generally agree that although the dialects themselves
vary significantly in each of these countries, they all have roots in !"th-century English
and African languages.
#he English in daily use in the Caribbean include a different set of pronouns, typically,
me, meh, or mi, you, yuh, he, she, it, we, wi or alawe, allyuh or unu, and dem or day. I,
mi, my, he, she, ih, it, we, wi or alawe, allayu or unu, and dem, den, deh for $them$ with
Central Americans.
%ther features&
Consonant changes like h-dropping or th-stopping are common.
ome might be $sing-songish$& #rinidad, 'ahamas
(hotic& 'a)an *'arbadian+, Guyanese
Influenced by Irish English dialects& ,amaican
An accent influenced by any of the above, as well as panish and indigenous languages&
Central American English dialects such as the 'eli-ean Creole *.riol+, or the /0skito
Coastal Creole and (ama Cay Creole spoken in 1icaragua
2owever, the English used in media, education and business and in formal or semi-
formal discourse approaches the internationally understood variety of tandard English,
but with an Afro-Caribbean cadence.
amples3edit4
tandard English& 5here is that boy6 7hw 8r - 9:t b 7
'arbados& ;5herr i- dat boi6; *3hwer - d:t b 4+ *poken very <uickly, is choppy, rhotic,
and contains glottal stops+
an Andr=s and >rovidencia& ;5er i- dat boi at6; *3hwer - d:t b at4+
,amaica, and Antigua and 'arbuda& ;5hierr i- daht bwoy dey6; *3hwe r - d t b 4+
*sporadic rhoticity? Irish and cottish influence+? or ;5ey i- dat boi6; 3we - d:t b 4
*non-rhotic? similar to the accents of south western England and 5ales++
'eli-e& ;5eh i- dat bwoy deh6; * 3weh - d t b de 4+ *'ritish and 1orth American
influence, deeper in tone+
#rinidad and 'ahamas& ;5ey i- dat boy6;
Guyana and #obago& ;5eyr i- daht boy7bai6; *urban+ or ;5ey dat boy dey6; *rural+ *3we
- d t ba 4+ */any variations dependent on urban7rural location, Afro or Indo descent or
area, and competency in standard English? poradic rhoticity +
aint @incent and the Grenadines& ;5ey i- dat boy dey6; *3we - d:t b de 4+ *1on-
rhotic+
'eli-e, 1icaragua, the 'ay Islands, AimBn, >uerto (ico, and the @irgin Islands& ;5ehr i-
daht booy6; *3we - d t bu 4+ *Cistinct, sporadic rhoticity, pronunciation becomes <uite
different from $Creole$ pronunciation.+
Cominica& ;5eh dat boy nuh6;7;5eh dat boy be nuh6; *poken harshly and with a deep
tone+
#he written form of the English language in the former and current 'ritish controlled
Caribbean countries conforms to the spelling and grammar styles of 'ritain.
(eceived >ronunciation/inority EthnicActivities
Caribbean English
Drom >idgin to Creole
#he varieties of English spoken in the 5est Indies give us a fascinating insight into the
way languages emerge and evolve when people from different cultures come into contact.
Drom the early !"EEs, thousands of people were transported as slaves to the Caribbean,
particularly from 5est Africa. As a result a number of pidgin languages developed. A
pidgin language is a linguistically simplified means of communication that emerges
naturally when speakers of two or more languages need to understand each other. Initially
workers on the colonial plantations in the Caribbean would have spoken a variety of
ethnic languages, but the language imposed on them by slave owners was English.
Among the workers themselves, however, a pidgin language would have been used,
based on the sounds, vocabulary and grammatical structures of all the contributing
languages.
Drom pidgin to creole
Crucially a pidgin language is not a mother tongue. #his means it has no native speakers.
'ut if the pidgin remains the main means of communication within a community for a
significant length of time F as, for eGample, on the plantations of the Caribbean - then it
becomes the first language of children within the community. At this point it begins to
increase in compleGity as it is spoken in a wider range of conteGts and adapts to serve the
purposes of a fully-fledged language. #his process produces what linguists call a creole.
A creole is a pidgin that has eGpanded in structure and vocabulary and has all the
characteristics of other languages. #his means it demonstrates two important factors&
(egional variation F hence the difference between, say, ,amaican >atois *often called
>atwa locally+ and 'arbadian Creole *known locally as 'a)an+
ocial variation F so we can define one speaker as using a broader variety of patois than
another.
Crucially, however, this creole generally competes with a closely related language that
has more prestige within the community. #herefore it often has an ambivalent status even
among its own speakers. #hroughout the Caribbean, for instance, tandard English, albeit
a Caribbean version, is the language of education, although ,amaicans, 'arbadians and
others are rightly proud of their local patois as an important eGpression of their cultural
identity.
Caribbean creole
In its most eGtreme form, a Caribbean Creole can appear unintelligible to outsiders. As
with dialects there are fine shades of differences between speakers, although there are a
number of elements that characterise most forms of Caribbean English. #he lack of the
verb Hto beI in statements such as she dreaming, where tandard English re<uires sheIs
dreaming, is typical of the type of structure that occurs in a creole. imilarly, pronouns
may not be marked for sub)ect7ob)ect distinctions and verbs might not always carry a
tense marker as in the statement him tell me dat yesterday for he told me that yesterday.
#he meaning is always clear, despite the apparent simplification - in fact creoles are )ust
as rule-governed as dialects and languages. Dinally, there are common elements of
Caribbean vocabulary, such as pickney, meaning Hyoung childI. #his word is particularly
intriguing, as it is known to eGist in several pidgin and creole languages across the world.
It is thought to originate from the >ortuguese word pe<ueno, meaning HsmallI, and
perhaps illustrates the role played by >ortuguese sailors and merchants in the early trade
routes down the 5est African coast at the time when #he lave #rade was at its height.
#he table below gives several eGamples of speakers using a number of pronunciations
and grammatical constructions that are typical of speech in the 5est Indies and among
speakers in the J.Is Caribbean communities. All the audio clips are taken from recent
''C interviews and come from spontaneous conversation. #hey therefore reflect the
natural refleGes of Caribbean English. #he left hand column lists each feature, while the
second column gives an eGplanation. #he list is by no means comprehensive, but by
clicking on the sound file you can hear an eGtract from a recording of a speaker using the
target feature.
/inority Ethnic
Asian English
Caribbean English
Caribbean English >honology
feature eGplanation sound file
#2-stopping
KthL in words such as think and three is pronounced using a KtL sound and in words such
as this and that using a KdL sound
so with me having, getting that bit of knowledge, things comes easy to me
2-dropping
initial KhL is deleted in words such as happy and house
they were in the process of, uhm, finding homes for people that )ust arriving, new arrival
in this country and, uh, helping them settle down and finding )obs
consonant cluster reduction
compleG strings of consonants are often simplified by deleting the final sound, so that
best becomes HbesI, respect becomes HrespeckI and land becomes HlanI
you realise how a detached house is, semi-detached and
rhoticity
the KrL sound is pronounced after a vowel in words like hard, corn and nurse
I start working as a conductor F I was one of the first black person to, uhm, start it on
the heffield #ramway
unreduced vowel in weak syllables
vowels in unstressed syllables are not reduced, so that speakers use a comparatively
strong vowel on words such as about, bacon or arrival and on grammatical function
words, such as in the phrases lot of work, in a few days and in the kitchen - a very subtle
feature that contributes to the characteristic rhythm or HliltI of Caribbean English
and then you )ust automatic, automatically got into the swing and accept what you;ve
seen here
DACE vowel
a similar vowel sound as that used by speakers in cotland, 5ales and the 1orth East of
England on words such as game, tray, plain, reign, they and great
back home in ,amaica each individual have their own home and spaces
G%A# vowel
a similar vowel sound as that used by speakers in cotland, 5ales and the 1orth East of
England on words such as home, show, boat and toe
we all have our own home F nice little home and we have great deal of land
Caribbean English Grammar
feature eGplanation sound file
-ero indefinite article
the indefinite article, a or an, is occasionally omitted
in M couple of days I foun, I got my own, I got a )ob
-ero past tense marker
verbs are left unmarked for tense, although other signals *adverbs of time, such as
yesterday, last week etc.+ often give linguistic clues about the timing of an event
I workM on that )ob for a few months
-ero plural marker
nouns are left unmarked for plurality
my relativeM, they were involve in this Community Association business

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