Guyanese Creole language

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Guyanese Creole
Spoken in: Guyana
Total speakers: —
Language family: Creole
 Guyanese Creole
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: —
ISO 639-3: gyn

 

Guyanese Creole (Creolese by its speakers; also called Guyanese Creole English or simply Guyanese) is a creole language spoken by several hundreds of thousands of people in Guyana.

Guyanese Creole is based on and strongly influenced English language. It is similar to Jamaican Creole, as well as other West Indian dialects and related to Paramaccan and Aluku. Along the Rupununi River a distinct form of Guyanese Creole exists. Also, a socially stratified creole speech continuum exists between Guyanese Creole and English. A phrase like I told him may be pronounced in various parts of the continuum:

Utterance Represents the speech of
[ai tɔuld hɪm] acrolect varieties of middle-class
speakers
[ai toːld hɪm]
[ai toːl ɪm]
[ai tɛl ɪm] mesolect varieties of lower-middle
and urban class speakers
[a tɛl ɪm]
[ai tɛl ɪ]
[a tɛl i]
[mi tɛl i] rural working class
[mi tɛl am] basilect speech of illiterate rural laborers.


[edit] Phrases

  • I am on the phone - Meh deh pon de phone
  • I don't know - Meh nah know
  • What do you want - Wuh yuh want
  • girl - gyal
  • boy - banna
  • car - cyar, ride
  • what is happening? (An every day greeting similar to What's up?)-Wappenin?
  • hi what is happening-aye wappenin
  • struggling (A reply to the above)-Strug'lin
  • I am not talking about that.- Meh na talk bout dat.
  • Good Morning - Good marning.
  • We are going to cook - Aweeh a gua cook
  • Dont bring your ass back- Nah mek me see you rass again
  • I am going back to work on Tuesday - Mi a go bak to wuk pon Chewsdey
  • dont laugh boy! - nah skin yuh teet bai!
  • where is Andre? - a whey Andre deh?
  • he is over there. - he deh deh
  • they are over there. - deh deh deh
  • gay man. - antiman
  • come over here boy. - come nuh bai?
  • whats wrong with you. - a wha rong?
  • you- yuh
  • are you mad- yuh rass mod
  • what are you doing-ah wah yuh ah do
  • children-picknee/chirren
  • stupid-dunce/schupid
  • (any curse)- rass
  • worst curse- skunt
  • ghost- Jumbie
  • Pile/pyle- extra weight between the legs
  • starbai/ stargyal- Popular boy/girl

[edit] External links

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