Portal:British Virgin Islands/Selected article/6

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Virgin Islands Creole is an English-based creole spoken in the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. Virgin Islands Creole is not to be confused with Negerhollands, a Dutch-based creole that was once spoken in the Danish West Indies, now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Virgin Islands Creole does not have the status of an official language. It is strictly an informal form of communication and is a constantly changing dialect filled with various slang terms and idioms. The language of government, education and the media is American English in the U.S. Virgin Islands and British English in the British Virgin Islands. In the Virgin Islands, standard English and Virgin Islands Creole both function in a fairly diglossic relationship with English as the language of high prestige and formality and Virgin Islands Creole as the spoken vernacular. Native Virgin Islanders can easily switch from English to Virgin Islands Creole depending on their mood, subject matter, or the person they are speaking to. (more...)