THE LINGUISTIC HISTORY OF

THE CARIBBEAN: THE ENGLISH

PRESENTED BY: AFI GORDON, BRITTANIA BRISSETT, ANDORRA GAYLE,

BRANDON SHAW, DARRYL BARNES, SHADAE STEWART
 HOW DID THE ENGLISH GET
HERE?

The varieties of English spoken in the West

Indies gives us an insight into the way
languages emerge and evolve when people
from different cultures come into contact.
Within a century of Columbus’ arrival in the
New World, English privateers and pirates
were active in the Caribbean and brought
the English language to the region and
fertilized the English language with
Caribbean vocabulary. The aim of entering
English into the Caribbean in the first half of
the 17th century was to break Spain’s control
in the New World and make wealth. They did
this by acquiring a hold of territory in the
region. The English accomplished to acquire
Leeward island territories such as: St, Kitts
and Nevis (1624), Barbados (1627), Barbuda
(1628), Antigua (1632), and Monsterrat
(1633) and this signaled the oversees
colonies by settlement. By their policies of
settlement and trade in the Caribbean, the
English greatly extended the scope of their
linguistic and cultural influence.
HOW DID THE ENGLISH GET HERE? (CONT’D)
The pattern of conquest and re-conquest by the rival European powers,
particularly in the Lesser Antilles, has resulted in the interesting multi-
lingual mosaic that is a feature of many of these territories. This is
particularly true for English territories. Because of this, we now have
countries that are multilingual (Aruba, Curacao), bilingual (St. Lucia,
Dominica, Grenada and the Netherland Antilles), monolingual (Barbados)
and some that have a post-creole language continuum (Jamaica, Guyana,
Antigua, Montserrat and St. Kitts and Nevis). Creole languages abound in
the English speaking territories particularly as a result of interculturation
among peoples of Amerindian, European, African and Asian descents
brought together by imperial policies of conquest, Atlantic slavery,
transportation and immigration. 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.
FROM PIDGIN TO CREOLE
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.
Crucially a pidgin language is not another
tongue. This means it has two native
speakers. But if the pidgin remain the main
means of communication within a community
for a significant length of time. At this point it
begins to increase in complexity as it is
spoken in a wider range of context and
adapts to serve the purpose of a fully-fledged
language. This process produces what
linguists call a creole. A creole is a pidgin
that has expanded in structure and
vocabulary and has all the characteristics of
other languages.
This demonstrates 2 important factors:
regional variation- (Jamaican patois is
different from Barbadian creole) and social
variation-(so we can define one speaker
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. Therefore it often has an
ambivalent status even among its own
speakers. Throughout the Caribbean, for
instance, Standard English, albeit a
Caribbean version, is the language of
education, although Jamaicans, Barbadians
and others are rightly proud of their local
patois as an important expression of their
cultural identity.
Some Types of Creole English in the Caribbean
Region

Name of Creole Territory: Caribbean Brief Description

English: Basin
Jamaican (Patwa/Patois) Jamaica Spoken in also the
Toronto, New York &
Britain diaspora.
Jamaican Maroon Spirit Jamaica/Surinam Ritual language used by
Possession maroons in ceremonies.
Bahamian Bahamas ___
Antiguan Antigua ___
Barbudan Antigua/Barbuda ___
Grenadian Grenada ___
Samana Dominican Republic Descendants of freed
African Slaves used this
semi-creole.
Tobagan Tobago ____
Trinidadian(Trini Talk) Trinidad & Tobago ____
Limon/ Mek-ay-tel-yu Costa Rica Used by descendants of
immigrant labourers
from mainly Jamaica.
Miskito Coast Nicaragua A second language for
descendants of Miskito
Indians and escaped
African slaves who had
were close to the
English.
Creolese/Guyanese Guyana Influenced by both
Jamaican & Barbadian
English
Rupunnuni Guyana Different Language from
Creolese.
El Callao Venezuela Spoken by Migrants from
Guyana
Carriacou St.Vincent ____
Anguillan Anguilla ____
 Categories of English-based Creole
Categories of English-based Creole Territories

Eastern Conservative Antigua/Barbuda, Grenada, Guyana,

Montserrat, St. Kitts/Nevis,St. Vincent,
Tobago
Eastern Intermediate St. Lucia, Trinidad, Dominica,
Barbados

Western Conservative Belize, Jamaica, Miskito Coast,

Providencia, San Andres
Western Intermediate Bahamas, Bay Islands, Cayman
Islands
 Vocabulary of Caribbean Foods
Territori Barbad Belize Br. Dominic Guyana Jamaica Trinidad
es os Virgin a &
Islands Tobago
Fruits & Cashew Marano Cherry Cashew Cashew Cashew Cashew
Vegetab n Nut
les
Bolange Berenje Melong Balange Baigan Garden Melong
r na ae nes Egg ene
Spur Chili Jumble Simon Bird Bird Hot
pepper duke Pepper toiseau Pepper Pepper Pepper
Red Red Red Red Bisolom Red Red
beans kidney bean Peas a peas beans
Ground Cacahu Peanut Pistache Ground Peanut Peanut
nut ate Nut
White Cocoya Dashee Dashee Slip & Coco Chinese
eddo m n n dip eddo