| Also Known As: Barbadian Creole English
Description:
Bajan (occasionally called Barbadian Creole Bajan Patois) or Barbadian Dialect, is an English-based creole language spoken on the Caribbean island of Barbados. Bajan uses a mixture of West African idioms and expressions along with British English to produce a unique Barbadian/Caribbean vocabulary and speech pattern. Bajan is similar and distinguishable from the dialects of neighbouring Caribbean islands, as many of the other Caribbean islands are based on Irish- or Scottish-based English pronunciation such as Jamaican Patois.
Bajan uses a mixture of British English and West African syntax, with much of the pronunciation of words sharing similarities with the lilt of the West Country dialects of England. though it is becoming more American than British. Due to emigration to Province of Carolina, Bajan has also influenced American English and the Gullah language spoken in the Carolinas. Regionally Bajan has ties to Belizean and Guyanese Creoles. Bajan was first created when captive West Africans were forcibly transported to the island, enslaved and forced to speak English, with an existing West African understanding of language semantics. Bajan later became a means of communicating..... full article at Wikipedia |
