| Bahamian English | |
|---|---|
| Region | The Bahamas |
Indo-European
| |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | baha1263 |
| IETF | en-BS |
Bahamian English is the set of varieties of the English language native to the Bahamas.
The oral language of many or most Bahamians [1] is what Bahamians commonly call Bahamian Dialect, [2] [3] which exists along a continuum with English. [4] Bahamian Dialect itself differs from speaker to speaker and by region and socioeconomic markers. [5] Some Bahamians also speak more standard English, which differs in its pronunciation from other varieties of English depending on the person and the context, and may include loanwords and phrases from Bahamian Dialect. Because of the Bahamas' proximity to the United States as well as US cable media, the 21st-century Bahamian media industry and younger speakers may be more influenced in their pronunciations by General American English or Black American English. [6]
The standard written English for official use and education is largely British-based [3] with regard to grammar, spelling, and vocabulary due to the country's British colonial past.
Bahamian Dialect is the primary oral language, and the first language, of much of the population. [1] [7]
Originally, considered to be an English dialect, [2] linguists and academics note significant variation, [4] ranging from an English dialect on one end of the spectrum to an English-based creole language on the other end, with regional and sociocultural markers and differentiations [5] along the spectrum. Bahamian Dialect differs from English spoken around the world in its grammar, [8] pronunciation, lexicon, and idiom.
Bahamian Dialect is not a written language and, as such, has no standardised script. [9] When written in dialogue, it is often written in a makeshift phonetic manner.
British English is the target written language of the Bahamas. It is the language taught and learned in schools, although usually by teachers and pupils speaking Bahamian Dialect. It is also the primary written language in business, Parliament, media and courts.
There is no central authority that prescribes official usage of English, for example, with respect to spelling, grammar, punctuation or style. However, local written English tends to favour British English spellings, eg. colour, defence, realise, programme, licence, catalogue, centre.
The dd/mm/yyy date format is generally, although not religiously, used in the Bahamas, as is the 12-hour clock.
Generally, the imperial system of measurements is used in the country, eg, to measure distances, weight, and heights. However, the metric system is also used in schools, eg, in science.
A minority of Bahamians speak a high register, or near standard, spoken English that differs little in its grammar, idiom, and lexicon from other standard English varieties.
Phonology and pronunciation can differ widely and is influenced by a number of factors, including class, formal education (private vs government), national background (eg. expats), time abroad, and use of affected or learned accents (eg. certain professions). Code switching is also common. [10] [11]
Near standard spoken English can be spoken with a Bahamian accent, and particularly among native Bahamians may incorporate words, phrases, or expressions from Bahamian Dialect.
Not all Bahamians have the same accent, as the level of cultivation of every speaker's accent differs and is influenced by region and socioeconomic factors.
The phonology of Bahamian English is believed to be derived from those of Bermudian English, Canadian English, Cockney English, RP, Scottish English, Black American English, [12] and Gullah. [13] The English accent of both black and white Bahamians is traditionally non-rhotic, [14] due to being British-influenced, but often now rhotic among some younger speakers. [6]
Bahamian vowel phonetics are basically shared with both General American English and British Received Pronunciation, except the following may be distinct: [14] [15]
| Vowels | ||
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia diaphoneme | Bahamian English | Example words |
| /æ/ | [ä] | bath, man, trap |
| /ɑː/ | [ɑ] | blah, father |
| /ɒ/ | bother, lot, wasp | |
| [ɑː] (lower class), [ɔː] (higher class) | dog, loss, cloth | |
| /ɔː/ | bought, taught, saw | |
| /aɪ/ | [äː] (Black), [äi] or [ʌɪ] (White) | ride, shine, try |
| [äi], [ʌɪ] (also White) | bright, dice, pike | |
| /aʊ/ | [aː,ɑɔ] (Black), [aɛ,aø] (White) | now, ouch, scout |
| /eɪ/ | [eɪ>eː] | lake, paid, rein |
| /ɔɪ/ | [əi,ɔi] | boy, choice, moist |
| /oʊ/ | [ou>oː] (Black), [ɵu] (White) | goat, oh, show |
| Vowels followed by /r/ | ||
| /ɑːr/ | [ɑ̈ː] | barn, car, park |
| /ɪər/ | [eᴈ] | fear, peer, tier |
| /ɛər/ | bare, bear, there | |
| /ɜːr/ | [ɜː], [əi] (also Black) | burn, first, herd |
| /ɔːr/ | [oᴈ] | hoarse, horse, poor |
In 1982, Holm and Shilling released a 228 page Dictionary of Bahamian English containing over 5,000 words, including words both familiar to other English speakers as well as purely Bahamian terms. [16] In addition to British and American English influences, due to the country's colonial past, some vocabulary is derived from West African languages and Spanish influences. [17] Amongst British sources, Holm found a wide variety of influences, with 43% of British dialect words in Bahamian English coming from Scotland and the North Country, 14% from Ireland and 11% from the West Country. [18]
Some distinctive Bahamianisms include:
Bahamian English has also come under the influence of American English due to a boost in tourism after the country gained independence, along with the resulting diffusion of American media. [27] With its historical position as a former British colony but its proximity to the United States, Bahamian English tends to favour some British English terms, some American English terms, and also use a combination of both. For example:
| Words shared with American English | Words shared with British English |
|---|---|
| gasoline | socket |
| cell phone | maths |
| sweet pepper | |
| sidewalk | |
| candy | |
| chips | |
| ground beef | |
| hood, trunk, windscreen | bumper |
| parking lot | car park |
| trash | |
| sweater | |
| stroller, baby carriage | pram |
| cookie | biscuit |
| pants | |
| nursery | kindergarten |
| liquid paper | |
| aluminum | |
| vacation |
the style-shifting abilities of residents make it difficult to estimate the numbers of speakers who speak any Bahamian dialect; however, drawing solely from demographic data, about five in six Bahamian residents... where much of the creole Bahamian basilect can be heard (Hackert 2004). The remaining approximately 50,000 residents are spread throughout the rest of the islands and vary considerably in their speech patterns.
In comparison to many of the English-based creoles of the Caribbean region, limited research has been conducted on what Bahamians commonly refer to as "Bahamian Dialect." This lack of research on "Bahamian Dialect" is perhaps due to the fact that for many years, Bahamians have assumed that this language is simply a variety of English.
Despite that fact most Bahamians refer to their mother tongue as Bahamian Dialect, linguists prefer to use the term Bahamian Creole English
The assumption that Afro-Bahamian English is monolithic is, in fact, false, but continues to this day despite the fact that Albury (1981), in a Master's thesis, found variation of simple past marking within Afro-Bahamian, differentiating four distinct groups of speakers: basilectal, mid-mesolectal, upper-mesolectal, and acrolectal. The assumption that Afro-Bahamian is monolithic is further complicated by the fact that there are few clear ethnic boundaries in the Bahamas
Although most Bahamians share some characteristic features, a number of structures are sensitive to ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic factors.
British-based standard Bahamian English is the official language [...] Although standard Bahamian is non-rhotic, many Bahamians view r-full American pronunciations as "correct" and try to imitate them, even to the extent of introducing a hypercorrect /r/ in [...] Baharmas.
spoken by c. 250,000 in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas
In addition, there is a basilectal-acrolectal continuum with respect to creole features that applies primarily to the Afro-Bahamian population; however, this dimension tends to be more relevant to the grammatical description of Bahamian English than to phonology.
There is no official orthography for Bahamian and, thus, when it is in a written form, varying techniques of eye dialect are employed depending on the writer. These devices are far from uniform - even within the same piece of writing. It would therefore be useful to try to standardize the representation so as to reflect the differences in pronunciation without having to rely on a specialized knowledge of phonetics. However, this is a matter which will have to be addressed at a later date.
We should keep in mind that every speaker shows some variation in speech. In societies such as The Bahamas, people may easily code switch from one variety to another, without realizing that they are actually using two different language systems.
One further complication for such a description is that many Bahamians are skilled register-shifters and may have access to both creole and non-creole varieties. Thus, even defining speech norms for a single speaker is a complicated task
Songs and stories in the Bahamian dialect illustrate the "genetic relation existing between the tales and music of the Parallels from accessible collections of American, and of native African, folklore are indicated.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)