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Turks and Caicos Creole is an English-based creole spoken in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a West Indian British overseas territory in the Lucayan Archipelago.
Turks and Caicos Creole | |
---|---|
Native to | Turks and Caicos Islands |
Native speakers | 34,000 (2019)[1] |
English Creole
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | tch |
Glottolog | turk1310 |
Linguasphere | 52-ABB-ao |
The Turks and Caicos Island Creole variety has not been thoroughly studied but may be directly related to Jamaican Patois as the Turks and Caicos Islands were formally a part of Jamaica for over 114 years (1848 - 1962), and also to Bahamian Creole as the two are reportedly highly mutually intelligible. As of 1995, the number of speakers of Turks and Caicos Islands Creole is around 10,700,[2] although decreasing and endangered. It seems to be shifting to a variety form of Caribbean English. Turks and Caicos Islands Creole does not have an official status.
Phrases
editWord/phrase | Meaning |
---|---|
switcha/switcher | Lemonade/limeade (combination of soft drink and lime/lemon juice) |
gal/gyal | Girl |
chile/chilen | child/children |
chile | Used to represent emphasis on a sentence (well chile he een tell me nuttin bout that) |
een | aren't (They een goin today) or isn't (That een right) or don't (I een no nuttin bout that) |
vel | well (usually the 'W' and 'V' are exchanged with each other, e.g. vednesday: Wednesday, weil: veil) |
axe | ask |
musse | must be |
scorch | scratch |
jumbee | spirit or ghost. Compare zombie |
References
edit- ^ Turks and Caicos Creole at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Ethnologue report for Turks and Caicos Creole English
- Cutler, Cecilia (2003). "English in the Turks and Caicos Islands: A look at Grand Turk". Contact Englishes of the Eastern Caribbean (Varieties of English Around the World) G30, Edited by Michael Aceto, Jeffrey Payne Williams. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027248909.