Turks and Caicos Creole
This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2017) |
Turks and Caicos Creole | |
---|---|
Turks and Caicos Patwah | |
Native to | Turks and Caicos Islands |
Native speakers | 49,309 (2023)[1] |
English Creole
| |
Official status | |
Regulated by | not regulated |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | tch |
Glottolog | turk1310 |
Linguasphere | 52-ABB-ao |
Turks and Caicos Creole, or Turks and Caicos Patwah, is an English-based creole spoken in the Turks and Caicos Islands; a West Indian British overseas territory in the Lucayan Archipelago.
The Turks and Caicos Island Creole variety has not been thoroughly studied, but the dialect is directly related to Jamaican Patois (Patwah) as the Turks and Caicos Islands were formally a part of Jamaica for over 114 years (1848 - 1962),[2][3] and both islands were also part of the Taíno Confederacy for over 893 years (AD 600 - 1493).[4] The dialect has also been notably influenced by Bermudian Creole English and by Bahamian Creole; with all three languages being mutually intelligible. As of the year 2023, the number of speakers of Turks and Caicos Islands Creole is approximately 49,309.[5][6]
Phrases
[edit]Word/phrase | Meaning |
---|---|
switcha/switcher | Lemonade/limeade (combination of soft drink and lime/lemon juice) |
gal/gyal | Girl |
chile/chilen | child/children |
chile | Used to represent emphasis on a sentence (well chile he een tell me nuttin bout that) |
een | aren't (They een goin today) or isn't (That een right) or don't (I een no nuttin bout that) |
vel | well (usually the 'W' and 'V' are exchanged with each other, e.g. vednesday: Wednesday, weil: veil) |
axe | ask |
mussi | must be |
scorch | scratch |
jumbee | spirit or ghost. Compare zombie |
See also
[edit]- Jamaican Patois
- Bermudian Creole English
- Cayman Islands Creole English
- San Andrés–Providencia Creole
- Bay Islands Creole English
References
[edit]- ^ Turks and Caicos Creole at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Lucas, C. P. (1905). ″A Historical Geogaphy of the British Colonies.″ Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 134.
- ^ Cawley, Charles (2015). ″Colonies in Conflict: The History of the British Overseas Territories.″ Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 323 - 326.
- ^ Keegan, William F., Hofman, Corinne L. (2017). ″The Caribbean before Columbus.″ Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ^ "Statistics Department | Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands". www.gov.tc. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
- ^ Ethnologue report for Turks and Caicos Creole English
- Cutler, Cecilia (2003). "English in the Turks and Caicos Islands: A look at Grand Turk". Contact Englishes of the Eastern Caribbean (Varieties of English Around the World) G30, Edited by Michael Aceto, Jeffrey Payne Williams. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027248909.
- Culture of the Turks and Caicos Islands
- Languages of the Turks and Caicos Islands
- English-based pidgins and creoles
- Creoles of the Caribbean
- English language in the Caribbean
- Languages of the United Kingdom
- Endangered pidgins and creoles
- Languages of the African diaspora
- Pidgin and creole language stubs
- Turks and Caicos Islands stubs