An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole ) is a creole language for which English was the lexifier , meaning that at the time of its formation the vocabulary of English served as the basis for the majority of the creole's lexicon . Most English creoles were formed in British colonies, following the great expansion of British naval military power and trade in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The main categories of English-based creoles are Atlantic (the Americas and Africa) and Pacific (Asia and Oceania).
16-454: Bajan ( / ˈ b eɪ dʒ ən / BAY -jən ), or Bajan Creole , is an English-based creole language with West/Central African and British influences spoken on the Caribbean island of Barbados . Bajan is primarily a spoken language , meaning that in general, standard English is used in print, in the media, in the judicial system, in government, and in day-to-day business, while Bajan
32-852: A statement with only a raised intonation to differentiate, usually on the last word. For example, Wunna win de cricket? means "Did you (pl.) win the cricket match?"; das yours? means "Is that yours?" On the other hand, questions asking for information, i.e. who, what, when, where, why or how , usually begin with a 'question word/phrase', saying what is being asked for, followed by a partial, or incomplete statement. For example, "Wha he wan?" means "What does he want?" or "He wants what?" Some question words, however, do not exist, or are seldom used in Bajan dialect, including when, where and why , and are achieved by making questions beginning with "wha" (what). For example, "Wha time you see he?" means "When did you see him?", and "Wha part de Chefette ?" means "Where
48-710: Is U.S. -based KFC . In 2010 Barbadian Senator Kerrie Symmonds lauded the Chefette establishment and urged other businesses in Barbados to emulate it when considering international expansion. Chefette's largest competitors are KFC, Burger King and Chicken Barn. Although relatively unknown outside of Barbados, the chain was recognised in May 2012 as one of the Top Fast Food chains by New York City-based Travel + Leisure magazine. Chefette often collaborates with BBQ Barn,
64-442: Is much dialectal variation throughout the island. Barbadians practising Rastafari on the island also tend to speak more with a Jamaican accent than full Bajan. Bajan words and sentences presented below are largely spelled as they are pronounced. New terminology, expressions, jargon, and idioms are regularly added to the dialect by social commentary sung during the annual Crop Over festival. As in most English-based Caribbean creoles,
80-613: Is reserved for less formal situations, in music, or in social commentary. Ethnologue reports that, as of 2018, 30,000 Barbadians were native English speakers, while 260,000 natively spoke Bajan. Bajan is the Caribbean creole with grammar that most resembles Standard English . There is academic debate on whether its creole features are due to an earlier pidgin state or to some other reason, such as contact with neighbouring English-based creole languages. In one historical model, Bajan arose when captive West Africans were forcibly transported to
96-547: Is the Chefette?" In addition, "why" questions can be achieved by asking "how come". For example, "How come you get hay so late?” The tense/aspect system of Bajan is fundamentally unlike that of English. In Bajan, verbs are seldom conjugated, and only have a few forms, lacking forms to express tense or distinguish between singular and plural. In particular, there are no morphological marked past tense forms corresponding to English "-ed", "-t" or other past tense forms. Continuous Tenses Showing Tense Negative Some of
112-500: Is the largest fast food restaurant chain based in the Caribbean island nation of Barbados . Currently operating throughout the island in 14 locations, Chefette is known for its broasted chicken meals as well as a local curried -' meat + vegetable ' (similar to the European gyro ) roll-up or wrap, locally known as a roti . Chefette was founded by a Trinidadian businessman named Assad John Haloute , as well as members of
128-648: Is the word for the plural you , which is wunna , similar to the Jamaican word unnu / unna or Bahamian yinna or Gullah Geechee hunnuh . Here is a list of pronouns in Bajan Dialect: The word "yuh" is interchangeably pronounced /ju/ or /jə/ . The structure of questions in Bajan Dialect varies from that of Standard English, as it is generally the same format as regular statements. Questions seeking yes or no answers are usually pronounced as
144-416: The interdentals /θ/ and /ð/ (as in " th ing", and " th e" respectively) have merged with other consonants (in this case, /t/ and /d/ , respectively, resulting in "ting" and "de"). Unlike most other Caribbean creoles, Bajan is fully rhotic , and if anything more rhotic than North American Standard English . Bajan also has a strong tendency to realize syllable-final /t/ as a glottal stop [ʔ] . Thus
160-582: The Americas). [REDACTED] British Virgin Islands [REDACTED] Sint Maarten [REDACTED] Puerto Rico [REDACTED] Saint-Martin [REDACTED] Sint Eustatius [REDACTED] Saba [REDACTED] Mexico [REDACTED] United States [REDACTED] Norfolk Island Not strictly creoles, but sometimes called thus: Chefette Chefette Restaurants
176-438: The Bajan pronunciation of start , [stɑːɹʔ] , contrasts sharply with the pronunciation of other Caribbean speakers, [staːt] or [stɑːt] or [staːɹt] . Pronouns in Bajan Dialect do not diverge too far from Standard English, but there are differences. As with other similar creoles, Bajan does not differentiate subject and object pronouns, nor possessive pronouns, except in the case of the first person singular. Another difference
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#1732801657559192-686: The Naime and Nadur families who migrated to Barbados in the 1970s. In 1972 the trio opened the first Chefette Restaurant at Fontabelle, St. Michael . As the success of the chain grew over the next three decades, the restaurant chain continued its expansion. The company's trademark colours are yellow and purple. Several of the outlets push the theme of being a "family restaurant" by constructing play areas for children similar to other major international chains such as McDonald's . Though international restaurant chains (including McDonald's) generally lack an overall presence in Barbados, among Chefette's competitors
208-469: The common Bajan proverbs are listed below. Although most words in Bajan dialect are English in origin, many words are borrowed from West African languages. The largest portion contributed to Bajan is from the Igbo language. English-based creole language Over 76.5 million people globally are estimated to speak an English-based creole. Sierra Leone, Malaysia, Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, and Singapore have
224-594: The island, enslaved and forced to speak English, though learned imperfectly. Bajan later became a means of communicating without always being understood by the slave holders. Due to emigration to the Province of Carolina , Bajan has influenced American English and the Gullah language spoken in the Carolinas. Regionally, Bajan has ties to Belizean and Guyanese Creoles . Unlike Jamaica, Guyana or Trinidad, Barbados
240-590: The largest concentrations of creole speakers. It is disputed to what extent the various English-based creoles of the world share a common origin. The monogenesis hypothesis posits that a single language, commonly called proto–Pidgin English , spoken along the West African coast in the early sixteenth century, was ancestral to most or all of the Atlantic creoles (the English creoles of both West Africa and
256-433: Was the destination of few enslaved African-born captives after 1800. Thus, African Barbadians became "Bajanised" relatively soon after British colonization. This tended to make them less resistant to local culture, with its Anglicised language, religion and customs. Bajan is a primarily spoken language with no standardised written form. Due to the lack of standardisation, spelling may vary widely from person to person. There
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