Turks and Caicos Creole

English-based creole of Turks and Caicos
Turks and Caicos Creole
Native toTurks and Caicos Islands
Native speakers
34,000 (2019)[1]
Language family
English Creole
  • Atlantic
    • Eastern
      • Northern
        • Turks and Caicos Creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3tch
Glottologturk1310
Linguasphere52-ABB-ao

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.

The Turks and Caicos Island Creole variety has not been thoroughly studied but may be directly related to Bahamian Creole as one of its dialects 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

Word/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

Turks and Caicos Creole test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator
  1. ^ Turks and Caicos Creole at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ 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.
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