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Bahamian | |
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Native to | The Bahamas |
Native speakers | c. 250,000 (2013)[1] |
English Creole
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | bah |
Glottolog | baha1260 |
Linguasphere | 52-ABB-an–ao |
Bahamian Creole, also described as Bahamian dialect or simply Bahamian, is an English-based creole language spoken by both Black and White Bahamians, sometimes in slightly different forms. In comparison to many of the English-based dialects of the Caribbean, it suffers from limited research, possibly because it has long been assumed that this language is simply a variety of English. However, socio-historical and linguistic research shows that this is not the case and it is, in fact, a creole language,[2] related to but distinct from English as spoken in The Bahamas.
The Bahamian dialect tends to be more prevalent in certain areas of The Bahamas. Islands that were settled earlier or that have a historically large Black Bahamian population have a greater concentration of individuals exhibiting creolized speech; the dialect is most prevalent in urban areas.[3] Individual speakers have command of lesser and greater dialect forms.
Bahamian dialect shares similar features with other English-based creoles, such as those of Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Saint Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, and the Virgin Islands. There is also a very significant link between Bahamian and the Gullah language of South Carolina, as many Bahamians are descendants of enslaved African peoples brought to the islands from the Gullah region after the American Revolution.[4]