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Saint Kitts Creole
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Saint Kitts Creole
Saint Kitts Creole is a variety of Antiguan and Barbudan Creole spoken in Saint Kitts and Nevis by around 40,000 people but is not its country’s official language.
The history of Saint Kitts Creole is similar to that of other English Caribbean creoles. In the 17th century, enslaved West Africans in Saint Kitts had to learn British English quickly because their labour on sugar plantations required it. Their English was mixed with West African words and, in some cases, West African language structure. The French, who occupied the island 1625-1713, had only a small impact on the language, unlike in the formerly French islands of Dominica and Saint Lucia, 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"), especially in Capesterre (Christ Church Nichola Town, Cayon) and Nevis. Today’s creole uses more Standard English than before, possibly due to access to foreign media. Rural residents are generally the strongest creole users, although the majority of the population uses mesolectal forms of the language. To the uninitiated, creole speakers may sound Jamaican, but Jamaican patois has no influence on Saint Kitts and Nevis creole. Saint Kitts pronunciation is similar to the pronunciation on the neighbouring Antigua and Montserrat but with slight differences that are mostly noticeable only to residents of the Leeward Islands.
Saint Kitts Creole is pronounced similarly to the creoles of neighbouring islands, namely Antigua and Montserrat. Usually only longtime residents in the islands can mark the slight differences. In rural areas and in Nevis, /aʊ/ (as in "house") is usually pronounced [oʊ] (as in "hose").
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 e be (eee bee); e.g. Who is it? - Who e be? What is it? - Wha e be?
Words used to intensify adjectives, such as "very" and "extremely", are rarely used. Instead, the adjective in question is repeated; for example: De gyul look bad bad - "The girl looks very ugly." Alternatively, the phrase "so tail" is placed after the adjective to indicate a strong emphasis or intensification; for example: De gyul look bad so tail - "The girl looks extremely ugly."
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 which vary with context but tend to be used to emphasise the sentence they attach to; for example: Tall poopa - "not at all" (extreme). Hush buhdee - "hush buddy" (used when extremely annoyed).
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Saint Kitts Creole
Saint Kitts Creole is a variety of Antiguan and Barbudan Creole spoken in Saint Kitts and Nevis by around 40,000 people but is not its country’s official language.
The history of Saint Kitts Creole is similar to that of other English Caribbean creoles. In the 17th century, enslaved West Africans in Saint Kitts had to learn British English quickly because their labour on sugar plantations required it. Their English was mixed with West African words and, in some cases, West African language structure. The French, who occupied the island 1625-1713, had only a small impact on the language, unlike in the formerly French islands of Dominica and Saint Lucia, 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"), especially in Capesterre (Christ Church Nichola Town, Cayon) and Nevis. Today’s creole uses more Standard English than before, possibly due to access to foreign media. Rural residents are generally the strongest creole users, although the majority of the population uses mesolectal forms of the language. To the uninitiated, creole speakers may sound Jamaican, but Jamaican patois has no influence on Saint Kitts and Nevis creole. Saint Kitts pronunciation is similar to the pronunciation on the neighbouring Antigua and Montserrat but with slight differences that are mostly noticeable only to residents of the Leeward Islands.
Saint Kitts Creole is pronounced similarly to the creoles of neighbouring islands, namely Antigua and Montserrat. Usually only longtime residents in the islands can mark the slight differences. In rural areas and in Nevis, /aʊ/ (as in "house") is usually pronounced [oʊ] (as in "hose").
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 e be (eee bee); e.g. Who is it? - Who e be? What is it? - Wha e be?
Words used to intensify adjectives, such as "very" and "extremely", are rarely used. Instead, the adjective in question is repeated; for example: De gyul look bad bad - "The girl looks very ugly." Alternatively, the phrase "so tail" is placed after the adjective to indicate a strong emphasis or intensification; for example: De gyul look bad so tail - "The girl looks extremely ugly."
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 which vary with context but tend to be used to emphasise the sentence they attach to; for example: Tall poopa - "not at all" (extreme). Hush buhdee - "hush buddy" (used when extremely annoyed).