User:Guettarda/Trinidad and Tobago English
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Three major forms of English coexist in Trinidad and Tobago - Trinidad and Tobago Standard English, a form of internationally accepted English, and two dialects of Creole English: Trinidadian Creole English and Tobagonian Creole English. Trinidad and Tobago Standard English is the language of official communication, newscasts and most written work. It is also supposed to be the language of instruction in schools. Trinidadian Creole English is the dominant dialect in Trinidad, and is used for most spoken communication. Tobagonian Creole English is the dominant dialect in Tobago. Both creoles are generally looked upon as "bad" English or "broken English" and are looked upon as corruptions of Standard English. However, they both have well-developed grammatical structure.
Most of the population has some command of both Standard English and one of the Creole Englishes.
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[edit] Standard English
Trinidadian English or Trinidad and Tobago Standard English is a dialect of English used in Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidadian English co-exists with other dialects of English, primarily Trinidadian Creole English in Trinidad and Tobagonian Creole English in Tobago. Although based on a standard of English English, Trinidadian English has many Americanisms including apartment, truck and trunk (of a car), although bonnet is more commonly used than hood (of a car). In addition, many words from the popular dialect have found their way into standard English, including such words as to lime (to hang out or to party), lagniappe (French origin), or dougla (Hindi origin).
Trinidadian English co-exists with the local dialects. Most speakers will use Trinidadian or Tobagonian Creole in informal discourse but will switch to the standard dialect (with varying degrees of success) in formal settings. Speakers of the standard dialect will also switch to the creole dialect either for humour or to connect with "the common man".
[edit] Trinidadian Creole English
Trinidadian Creole English is a dialect of Creole English which is the general spoken language in Trinidad. It is distinct from Tobagonian Creole English and from other Lesser Antillean English creoles.
Like other Caribbean Creoles, TCE combines syntax of African origin with a primarily English-derived vocabulary. In addition, many expressions reflect the presence of a French Creole (or patois) substratum which was the primary language until the end of the nineteenth century. Spanish, Hindi and Bhojpuri are influences also present in the language.
[edit] Tobagonian Creole English
Tobagonian Creole English is a dialect of Creole English which is the general spoken language in Tobago. It is distinct from Trinidadian Creole English and closer to other Lesser Antillean English creoles.
[edit] References
- James, Winford, 2001, Trinidad and Tobago Standard English?.
- James, Winford, 2003, Doing our own thing with English I.
- James, Winford, 2003, Doing our own thing with English II.
- James, Winford, 2003, What kind of question is this?.
- James, Winford, 2003, What kind of question is this? Pt2.
- James, Winford, 2002, A Different, not an Incorrect, Way of Speaking, Pt 1
- James, Winford, 2002, A Different, not an Incorrect, Way of Speaking, Pt 2
- James, Winford, 2002, A Different, not an Incorrect, Way of Speaking, Pt 3
- James, Winford, 2002, A Different, not an Incorrect, Way of Speaking, Pt 4
- James, Winford, 2002, A Different, not an Incorrect, Way of Speaking, Pt 5: Creole 'does' vs. English 'does'
- James, Winford, 2002, A Different, not an Incorrect, Way of Speaking, Pt 6: Bas waiting for Robbie
- James, Winford, 2002, A Different, not an Incorrect, Way of Speaking, Pt 7: Bringing Creole into the Classroom…
- James, Winford, 2001, Di NAR Nuh Deh-een.
- James, Winford, 2001, A Signature of Tobagonian Speech.
- Youssef, Valerie and James, Winford, 1999, Grounding via tense-aspect in Tobagonian Creole: discourse strategies across a creole continuum, Linguistics 37(4), 597-624
