Antiguan Creole
ANTIGUAN CREOLE Antiguan Creole, owing to its British Colonial history, is English-based, and thus obviously shares many characteristics with British English. Also, because of the history of African slaves on the island, West African languages have contributed to Antiguan Creole, but in rather limited ways. The closest comparison to Antiguan Creole is Jamaican Creole, as Antiguan Creole shares the general structure with it. Antiguan Creole has some of its own distinctive features however.
Syntax:
* Rather uniquely, Antiguans use min to indicated past tense, whereas Jamaicans use ben/en. Eg. You min looking at the television. (You were looking at the television). * Similar to Jamaica, Antiguan Creole uses laugh after for “laugh at” and look pon for “look at”. Eg. He laugh after di likkle bwoy. (He laughed at the little boy). * It uses for to indicate possession, similar to Jamaican Creole, e.g. Di brush is for me. (The brush belongs to me). * Antiguan Creole often leaves out the being verbs, e.g. When you going to town, buy some flour. (When you are going into town, buy some flour.) * Antiguan Creole uses by to mean “at the home of” e.g. He gone by Jane last week. * Negation is usually indicated with the word no, e.g. He no gone to the party. * To indicate a clause, the word say is often used, e.g. Jill say she gone to town. * Iz is often used as a topicalizer, e.g. Iz gone John gone to the Carnival. * The word does is often used before verbs, e.g. Anthony does play at the park.
Phonology:
* The pronunciation of the consonant cluster [tr] is [č] (which sounds like ch). Consider the example of the words trim and tractor, which sound like chim and chactor respectively. * Relatedly, [dr] changes to [j]. Consder the examples of drop and drive, which sound like jop and jive respectively. * Similar to Jamaican creole, the[t] and [d] change to [k] and [g] respectively. Example twiddle becomes twiggle,
Syntax:
* Rather uniquely, Antiguans use min to indicated past tense, whereas Jamaicans use ben/en. Eg. You min looking at the television. (You were looking at the television). * Similar to Jamaica, Antiguan Creole uses laugh after for “laugh at” and look pon for “look at”. Eg. He laugh after di likkle bwoy. (He laughed at the little boy). * It uses for to indicate possession, similar to Jamaican Creole, e.g. Di brush is for me. (The brush belongs to me). * Antiguan Creole often leaves out the being verbs, e.g. When you going to town, buy some flour. (When you are going into town, buy some flour.) * Antiguan Creole uses by to mean “at the home of” e.g. He gone by Jane last week. * Negation is usually indicated with the word no, e.g. He no gone to the party. * To indicate a clause, the word say is often used, e.g. Jill say she gone to town. * Iz is often used as a topicalizer, e.g. Iz gone John gone to the Carnival. * The word does is often used before verbs, e.g. Anthony does play at the park.
Phonology:
* The pronunciation of the consonant cluster [tr] is [č] (which sounds like ch). Consider the example of the words trim and tractor, which sound like chim and chactor respectively. * Relatedly, [dr] changes to [j]. Consder the examples of drop and drive, which sound like jop and jive respectively. * Similar to Jamaican creole, the[t] and [d] change to [k] and [g] respectively. Example twiddle becomes twiggle,