Leeward Caribbean Creole English

Leeward Caribbean Creole English
Antiguan Creole
Saint Kitts Creole
Native to Antigua and Barbuda
Native speakers
150,000 (2001–2011)[1]
English Creole
  • Atlantic

    • Eastern
      • Southern
        • Northern Antilles
          • Leeward Caribbean Creole English
Dialects
Kokoy Creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3 aig
Glottolog anti1245[2]
Linguasphere 52-ABB-apf to -apm

Leeward Caribbean Creole English, also known by the names of the various islands on which it is spoken (Antiguan Creole, Saint Kitts Creole, etc.), is an English-based creole language spoken in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, namely the countries of Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Saint Kitts, and Nevis.

There are subtle differences in the language's usage by different speakers, and islanders often use it in combination with Standard English. The tendency to switch back and forth from Creole to Standard English often seems to correlate with the class status of the speaker. Persons of higher social status tend to switch between Standard English and Creole more readily, due to their more extensive formal education in the English-language school system. Creole usage is more common, and is less similar to Standard English, as speakers descend the socioeconomic ladder.

In the years before Antigua and Barbuda's independence (in 1981), Standard English was widely spoken. However, after independence, Antiguans began to take a certain measure of pride in their language.

Many Creole words are derived from English or African origins. The creole was formed when slaves owned by English planters imitated the English of their enslavers but pronounced it with their own inflections. This can be easily seen in phrases such as "Me nah go," meaning "I am not going," or in "Ent it?," presumably a cognate of "Ain't it?"

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is widely influenced by British vocabulary, due to centuries of association with Great Britain. Examples:

However, in other cases the American form prevails over the British one, due to the islands' close proximity to the United States:

Because of the influx of other Caribbean nationals to Antigua, due to natural migration and to the CSME, Antigua's everyday vocabulary is being influenced by Jamaican Creole, bajan Creole, Guyanese Creole and Trinidadian Creole. This is even more common among the youth. Examples:

Examples of un-derived words and phrases

  1. pickney: child
  2. pickanyegah: children
  3. ahyue: collective address in the manner of "you all" or "y'all"
  4. ah wah mek: why
  5. chupit: stupid
  6. smaddy: somebody
  7. likkle: little
  8. 'ooman: woman
  9. nyam: eat
  10. sudden/subben/leff dee 'ooman sudden/leff dee 'ooman subben: can refer to an object or thing/ leave her things alone
  11. cassy/cassie: a thorn, such as from a rosebush
  12. t'all: no, not me, not at all
  13. ah wah dee/da joke yah tarl/ah wah me ah see ya tarl: what in the world is going on?
  14. leh meh lone: leave me alone
  15. ah good/tek dat/ah baay/inna ya battum ho'al: that's good for you/take that
  16. tap lie: stop lying
  17. tap ya chupitniss: stop being silly
  18. ah true/choo: it's the truth
  19. ahnna true/choo: it's not true
  20. look yah: look here
  21. look day: look there
  22. kum ya: come here
  23. a fu you: Is it yours?
  24. move from dey: get away from there
  25. ah wat a gwaan/ wa gwaan: what's going on?
  26. luk day: look there!
  27. ah huffa daag dat?: whose dog is that?
  28. a fu you ee fah?: is it yours?
  29. e dutty: it's dirty!
  30. dadday: that
  31. day'ya: there
  32. me nuh eeben know way dadday day: I don't know where it is.
  33. gyal: girl
  34. atta: at (Example: me guh laff atta you; I am laughing at you)
  35. naal: not (Me naal do um; I am not doing that)
  36. dung: down (Bredda man, kuum dung fram ahffa pan tappa up day; Hey, get down!)
  37. yaad: (my, her, his) house (She ah go day'ya she yaad; She's going home.)
  38. min: used to indicate the past tense of a verb (example: me min nyam; I ate | Ya min cook; Did you cook? | She min day'ya sleep, She slept.)
  39. dun: strictly used to tell that something has finished (E dun?; Is it finished? | Ya dun?; Are you finished?)
  40. siddung: sit down
  41. git up: get up
  42. tun rung: turn around
  43. tun um ahn: Switch it on (Example: Tun de light ahn; Switch on the lights)
  44. tun um ahf: Switch it off
  45. gwaan/gwaan head: go ahead
  46. innaddy: in (de sudden innaddy bax; it's in the box)
  47. cunchee: countryside (he libba cunchree; He lives in the countryside)
  48. tung: town or city (usually referring to the country's capital)Example: Me ah go tung/Me a go'ah tung; In going into the city)
  49. see you: see you later
  50. jack: used to show annoyance (see you jack: See you later (with an attitude))
  51. bruk: to beak, broke (E bruk?; Did it break? | Muh bruk; I'm broke | She bruk um/She min bruk um; She broke it)
  52. muh nuh nuh: I don't know
  53. muh nuh; muh dun nuh: I know; I already know, I knew that already

54. Mek she nuh go find she own man: why does she not get a man of her own?

55. Knuckle: cheating ( something widely and frequently discussed on Antiguan Twitter)

Pronunciation

Antiguan is pronounced very similarly to Jamaican. This has led some to surmise that the slaves of these countries came from the same place in Africa. Below are a few ways in which some language blends are fused or changed completely.

Language use

Antiguan Creole is used in almost every aspect of life in Antigua. In all schools, during class hours, it is required of students to speak Standard English. This policy is especially exercised in private owned schools. Most media and mainstream communication is written and spoken in Standard English, although Antiguan Creole is sometimes used humorously or as a way of identifying with the local public.

Use of Antiguan Creole varies depending on socio-economic class. In general, the higher and middle classes use it amongst friends and family but switch to Standard English in the public sphere. The lower class tend to use Antiguan Creole in almost every sector of life.

The Pronominal System

The pronominal system of Standard English has a four-way distinction of person, singular/plural, gender and nominative/objective. Some varieties of Antiguan Creole do not have the gender or nominative/objective distinction, though most do; but usefully, it does distinguish between the second person singular and plural (you).

I, me = me; you, you (thou, thee) = yu; he, him = he; she, her = she; we, us = ah-we; they, them = dem;

To form the possessive form of the pronoun add "fu-" to the above. However, the pronoun "our" is an exception where we add "ar-".

my, mine = fu-mi; your, yours (thy, thine) = fu-yu; his, his = fu-he; her, hers = fu-she; our, ours = ah-we; you all = ah-yu; their, theirs = fu-dem

Example:

  1. a fu-yu daag dat?, is that your dog?
  2. a fu-yu daag dat day nuh, that is your dog.

See also

References

  1. Leeward Caribbean Creole English at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Antigua and Barbuda Creole English". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.


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