Bahamian Dialect

Bahamian Dialect, also described as Bahamian dialect or simply Bahamian, is an English-based creole language spoken by both Black and White Bahamians, sometimes in slightly different forms. In comparison to many of the English-based dialects of the Caribbean, it suffers from limited research, possibly because it has long been assumed that this language is simply a variety of English. However, socio-historical and linguistic research shows that this is not the case and it is, in fact, a creole language, related to but distinct from English as spoken in The Bahamas.

The Bahamian dialect tends to be more prevalent in certain areas of The Bahamas. Islands that were settled earlier or that have a historically large Black Bahamian population have a greater concentration of individuals exhibiting creolized speech; the dialect is most prevalent in urban areas. Individual speakers have command of lesser and greater dialect forms.

Bahamian dialect shares similar features with other English-based creoles, such as those of Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Saint Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, and the Virgin Islands. There is also a very significant link between Bahamian and the Gullah language of South Carolina, as many Bahamians are descendants of enslaved African peoples brought to the islands from the Gullah region after the American Revolution.

Pronunciation

Though there is variation between Black and White speakers, there is a tendency for speakers to drop or, in a hypercorrection, to add it to words without it so ''harm'' and ''arm'' are pronounced the same. The merger occurs most often in the speech of Abaco and north Eleuthera.

Some speakers have merged and into a single phoneme and pronounce words with or depending on context (the latter appearing in word-initial position and the former appearing elsewhere).
Outside of White acrolectal speech, speakers have no dental fricatives and English cognate words are usually pronounced with or as in ''dis'' ('this') and ''tink'' ('think').
Other characteristics of Bahamian Creole in comparison to English include:
*Merger of the vowels of ''fair'' and ''fear'' into
*Free variation of the "happ" vowel between and .
*The vowel of ''first'' merges with that of ''fuss'' (into ) among some and with the vowel of ''foist'' (into ) in others.
*As the creole is non-rhotic; is not pronounced unless it is before a vowel. For example, "Hard" turns in to "Haad" with the "a" being lengthed in the absence of the rhotic.
*Final clusters are often simplified, especially when they share voicing (''gold'' > ''gol'', but not ''milk'' > *''mil'').
* The pin–pen merger occurs.

Grammar

Pronouns in Bahamian dialect are generally the same as in Standard English. However, the second person plural can take one of three forms:
*''yinna'',
*''y'all'' or
*''all a ya''

Possessive pronouns in Bahamianese often differ from Standard English with:
*''your'' becoming ''ya''
*''his'' or ''hers'' becoming ''he'' or ''she''
and
*''their'' becoming ''dey''.
For example, ''das ya book?'' means 'is that your book?'

In addition, the possessive pronouns differ from Standard English:

When describing actions done alone or by a single group, ''only.. one'' is used, as in ''only me one sing'' ('I'm the only one who sang') and ''only Mary one gern Nassau'' ('Mary is the only one who is going to Nassau')

Verbs

Verb usage in the Bahamian dialect differs significantly from that of Standard English. There is also variation amongst speakers. For example, the word ''go'':

1) I'm going to Freeport:
*''I goin ta Freeport''
*''I gern ta Freeport''
*''I gun go Freeport''

2) I am going to cook
*''I ga cook''
*''I gern cook''
*''I gern go cook''

Similarly, verb "to do" has numerous variations depending on tense and context:
*''I does eat conch erry day'' ('I eat conch every day')
* ''Wa you does do?'' ('what kind of work do you do?')
* "He gone dat way" (used while pointing in a direction, means that is where the person went).

In the present tense, the verb "to be" is usually conjugated "is" regardless of the grammatical person:
*I am – ''I is'' or "Ise” (pronounced "''eyes''")
*You are – ''You is'' or "You's", pronounced "''use''"
*We are – ''We is'' or "We's", pronounced "''weez''"
*They are – ''Dey is'' or "Dey's"

The negative form of "to be" usually takes the form "een"
''I een gern'' ('I am not goin')

While context is often used to indicate tense (e.g. ''I drink plenny rum las night'' = 'I drank a lot of rum last night'), the past tense can also be formed by combining "did", "done", "gone", or "been" with the verb:
*''She tell him already'' ('she already told him')
*''I dun (done) tell you''
*''He tell her she was fat'' ('he told her she was fat')
*''Why you do dat?'' ('why did you do that?')
*''I bin (been) Loutra last week'' ('I went to Eleuthera last week')

Lexicon

features over 5,500 words and phrases not found in Standard English, with the authors attempting to link them to other English-based creoles, like Gullah. Words may derive from English, as well as some African languages.

Examples

*: a cooperative savings system traced to a Yoruba custom of ''éèsú'' or ''èsúsú''; similar schemes are common in other Caribbean countries, e.g. the ''susu'' in Barbados.
*: sesame seed, grown locally and used in the popular treat found in various forms throughout the African Diaspora.
* or : a Bahamian descendant of loyalist immigrants. They can be White or mixed White and Black. Not to be confused with White Bahamians who are White people born in The Bahamas.
*: to stab or poke, possibly from the West African word of the same meaning. This word is found in many Caribbean creole languages.
*: Witchcraft.

See also

* Gullah language
* Turks and Caicos Creole
* Jamaican Creole
* Haitian Creole, a French-based Creole spoken in the Bahamas by Haitian immigrants

References

Bibliography

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External links

Bahamian English Resources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahamian Creole
English-based pidgins and creoles
Languages of the Bahamas
Creoles of the Caribbean
English language in the Caribbean
Languages of the African diaspora