| Also Known As: Bahamian Dialect,Bahamian Creole English,Bahamas Creole English
Description:
Bahamian (simply known by its users as “dialect”) is spoken by approximately 400,000 people in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Variations exist between the creole spoken on various islands, villages or communities on islands. Bahamian is spoken by both white and black Bahamians, although in slightly different forms. Bahamian also tends to be more prevalent in certain areas of the Bahamas, such as the Family Islands; among Bahamians with limited education; and in situations of heightened emotion.
Like most creoles, Bahamian is constantly evolving. Youth slang in the Bahamas borrows heavily from Jamaican Creole and African American Vernacular English.
Bahamian also shares similar features with other Caribbean English creoles, such as Jamaican Creole, Bajan, Trinidadian Creole and Virgin Islands Creole. There is also a very significant link between Bahamian and the Gullah language of South Carolina, as many Bahamians are descendants of slaves brought to the islands from the Gullah region after the American revolution.
In the Bahamas, Bahamian is not referred to as "Creole." If it were this would probably cause confusion as the Bahamas has a large immigrant Haitian..... full article at Wikipedia |
