Saint Kitts Creole
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint Kitts Creole is a linguistic variety spoken in Saint Kitts and Nevis. Saint Kitts Creole is not a language of its own, but similar to other varieties of Caribbean creole such as Virgin Islands Creole. The number of speakers of Saint Kitts Creole is under 100,000. Saint Kitts Creole does not have the status of an official language.
Saint Kitts Creole has much the same history as other English Caribbean creoles. Its origin lies in 17th century West African slaves, who, when brought to the islands to work on sugar plantations, were forced to quickly learn British English because their labour required it. Their English was mixed with some West African words and, in some cases, West African language structure. The French, who occupied the island from 1625 to 1713, had only a small impact on the creole spoken today, unlike in the formerly French islands of Dominica, Saint Lucia and Grenada, which speak a French-based rather than English-based creole.
Saint Kitts Creole today is spoken on the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis (although Nevisians refer to the language as 'Nevisian' or 'Nevis creole'), mainly in rural areas, and is spoken especially heavily in Capesterre, Christ Church Nicola Town, Cayon, and Nevis.
Saint Kitts pronunciation is similar to the pronunciation on neighbouring islands of Antigua and Montserrat, but with slight differences that are mostly noticeable only to residents of the Leeward Islands.
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[edit] Vocabulary
Some words in Saint Kitts creole are listed below. Some are unique, but others are commonly used in or originated from neighbouring islands.
- Ageed - yuck, expression of disgust
- Agood - serves you right (it's good)
- Ahwee - us (St. Kitts)(all ah we - all of us)
- Ahyou - you all
- Antiman - homosexual
- Arbee - us (Nevis)
- Awmiwukya - expression of shock
- Awyuluuck / Ah you look ah wuk - expression of shock
- Bark - throw hard / talk loudly
- Bahzahdee - crazy
- Bine - constipated
- Bout - i disagree
- Bowat - boat
- Breed - to impregnate
- Broughtupsy - manners
- Bud - penis
- Buss - to end a relationship with (social level) e.g. "Richard, me an' u buss!" - Richard, you and I are no longer friends.
- Bus' kite - whore
- Buss' off - to leave, e.g. "I bussin' off" - I'm leaving.
- Buut up - to crash, meet by accident
- Cartoon - carton
- Chupit - stupid
- Dere wid - to be involved in a relationship with (intimate)
- Don' feel nuh way - don't worry
- Done - to end a relationship with (intimate)
- Donkey years - a lot of years/ a long time
- Draggers - sandals / flip flops
- Duux - to have quick sex with (usually used amongst youth)
- Dutty foot - Bus kite - bad girl
- Eh eh - mark of surprise
- Fast - inquisitive
- Fuh true? - seriously?
- Garrot - Antiguan
- Gehl - girl (Capesterre)
- Guu lang - go, go down
- Gyul - girl (disrespectful)
- Heg - annoy / bother
- How you mean - of course
- Jeps - inquisitive
- Jessup/Jessdung - move over (dress up/dress down - move up move down)
- Juuk - poke / shake
- Kin - skin
- Kineena - skin in (Nevis)
- Kitti - young Kittitian female
- Kyaan - can't
- M'ain kno - I don't know
- Moomoo - stupid
- Nyehga - child (shortened version of 'picki nyehga)
- Nuh gree - to have a bad relationship with, e.g. "me an' me neighbour nuh gree" - my neighbour and I have a bad relationship.
- Nyam - to eat
- Parna - buddy, chum, friend
- Picki nyehga - child
- Pikni - child (shortened version of 'picki nyehga')
- Pinduh - peanut
- Shittings - diarrhoea
- Tall - not at all
- Tarpolion - mispronunciation of the word 'tarpaulin'
- Tek een - to get sick
- Tief - to steal
- Tohkey Killa - buck, stallion
- Toutmonansam - tout le monde ensemble, everyone
- Um - Pronoun; it, him, her -- "You'n find um yet?"
- Wha you say - what's up
- Wuk up - to gyrate, esp. when referring to soca music
- Ya - here
- Yet - to eat
- Yu dun' kno - of course
[edit] Pronunciation
Saint Kitts Creole is pronounced similarly to the creoles of neighbouring islands, namely Antigua and Montserrat. Usually only long time residents in the islands can mark the slight differences. One unique aspect of the pronunciation of Kittitian dialect is the tendency to not pronounce the letter 'v'. In some cases, the 'v' is pronounced like a 'w'.
examples:
- moo - move
- wex - vex
- womit - vomit
In rural areas and in Nevis, the "ou" sound is usually pronounced "oa". e.g. hoase - house.
[edit] Other
In Saint Kitts creole, words are rarely pluralized by adding an ending to the word. The word is usually followed by the word 'dem' to indicate the pluralization. e.g. de gyul dem - "the girls." Note that if the standard English form of the word is not pluralized with an 's', e.g. children, the plural form of the word in Saint Kitts creole will be the standard English plural form followed by 'dem', e.g. "children dem."
Questions ending in "is it" have the "is it" replaced with "y be y be" (ee bee ee bee); e.g. who is it? - who y be y be?, what is it? - wha y be y be?
Words used to intensify adjectives, such as "very" and "extremely", are rarely used. To replace "very", the adjective in question is repeated. E.g: "de gyul look bad bad" - the girl looks very ugly. To replace "extremely" the word "so tail" is used. "So tail" is placed at the end of the adjective. e.g: "de gyul look bad so tail" - the girl looks extremely ugly. The use of "so tail" indicates a very strong emphasis or intensification.
A unique aspect of Saint Kitts Creole is to end certain sentences in the speech with the words "burdee", "poopa" or "daady buh". The meaning of the phrase varies with context, but they tend to be used to emphasise the sentence they attach to. e.g.: "Tall poopa" - not at all(extreme). "Hush buhdee" - hush buddy (used when extremely annoyed).
[edit] Example Sentences
An example of a full sentence in Saint Kitts creole would be:
"Arbee a guu lang a pascha who look pinduh dung by de hoase." - We are going down to the field by the house to pick peanuts.
"Is dat dey de pikni dem does wash dem kineena." - There is where the children bathe (their skin).
[edit] Conclusion
Although, as seen in the examples above, Saint Kitts creole in some instances can sound completely different from the corresponding English, such instances are not common. Today's use of the creole involves a higher proportion of standard English, possibly due to access to foreign media. Usually, only residents in rural areas and Nevis are strong creole users. Many residents in Basseterre would find themselves almost as perplexed as a foreigner if speaking to a rural person who is a strong user.
Popular Jamaican culture and music have also played a role, as Jamaican idioms are being used more and more in the Saint Kitts creole, as well as throughout the region.
