Bajan Creole
language
Bajan is an English-based creole language.[1] People on the Caribbean island of Barbados speak it. Bajan, like many other English-based Caribbean creole languages, has a West African substrate and an English superstrate. Bajan is similar but different from the creoles of neighbouring Caribbean islands.
Bajan | |
---|---|
Native to | Barbados |
Native speakers | 259,000 |
English Creole
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | bjs |
Linguasphere | 52-ABB-ar |
Bajan is the Caribbean creole with the closest grammar to Standard English.[2]
In general, the people of Barbados speak standard British English on TV and radio, in courthouses, in government, and in day-to-day business. Bajan is for less formal situations, in music, or in social commentary.
References
change- ↑ Burrowes, Audrey. (1983). "Barbadian Creole: A note on its social history and structure". Studies in Caribbean Language. St. Augustine, Trinidad: Society for Caribbean Linguistics, pp. 38-45.
- ↑ Hancock (1980:22) , citing Le Page (1957:58–59)