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Turks and Caicos Creole, or Turks and Caicos Patwah, 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 | |
---|---|
Turks and Caicos Patwah | |
Native to | Turks and Caicos Islands |
Native speakers | 34,000 (2019)[1] |
English Creole
| |
Official status | |
Regulated by | not regulated |
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 is related to Jamaican Patois as the Turks and Caicos Islands were formally a part of Jamaica for over 114 years (1848 - 1962),[2][3] and has also been influenced by Bahamian Creole as the two are reportedly mutually intelligible. As of 1995, the number of speakers of Turks and Caicos Islands Creole is around 10,700[4] 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 |
See also
edit- Jamaican Patois
- Bermudian English (Bermudian Creole English)
- Cayman Islands English
- San Andrés–Providencia Creole
References
edit- ^ Turks and Caicos Creole at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Lucas, C. P. (1905). ″A Historical Geogaphy of the British Colonies.″ Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 134.
- ^ Cawley, Charles (2015). ″Colonies in Conflict: The History of the British Overseas Territories.″ Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 323 - 326.
- ^ 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.