Trinidadian English

Trinidadian English or Trinidad and Tobago Standard English is a dialect of English used in Trinidad and Tobago. English co-exists with both non-standard varieties of English as well as Creole varieties, primarily Trinidadian Creole English in Trinidad and Tobagonian Creole English in Tobago. Most speakers use Trinidadian or Tobagonian Creole in informal discourse but switch to the standard dialect of English (to varying degrees) in formal settings. Speakers of the standard variety also switch to the Creole dialect either for humour or to connect with "the common people."

As for all other varieties of English, Trinidadian English was originally based on a standard of British English. Located in the Americas, TE now uses many Americanisms from its larger and more dominant neighbour, including "apartment", "trunk" (of a car) and "truck", although "flat" is also used, and "bonnet" continues to be more commonly used than "hood" (of a car) (but "lorry" is not used). In addition, many words from the vernacular have found their way into standard English, including such words as "to lime" (to 'hang out' or 'to party'), "fête" (French) meaning 'to party', "lagniappe" (of Spanish origin from "la ñapa") meaning 'a little something extra', and "dougla" (of Hindi origin), now meaning 'a person of both African and Indian parentage'.

The sound of Trinidadian English is often compared with that of South Wales and India.

ee also

* Regional accents of English speakers

External links

* [http://users.rcn.com/alana.interport/trinital.htm Miguel Browne's Trini Talk]
* [http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/english31.html A Trinidadian accent]
* [http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/pace/3-publications.htm Discussion of a paper by Lise Winer]
* [http://www.nyu.edu/classes/blake.map2001/trinidad.html An Ethnolinguistic Study of the Trinidadian Creole community in Flatbush, Brooklyn] by Keisha T. Lindsay and Justine Bolusi
* [http://www.scl-online.net//scllanguage_home_en.php?id=4 50 Frequenty Asked Questions on Caribbean Language] by the Society for Caribbean Linguistics
* [http://www.wiwords.com/ Wiwords] A cross-referencing dictionary of West Indian words with a large number of Trinidadian terms
* [http://www.unb.br/il/liv/crioul/textos/ferreira.htm The Sociolinguistic Situation of Trinidad and Tobago] .
* [http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ190650&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&accno=EJ190650 Phonological Hypercorrection in the Process of Decreolization--the Case of Trinidadian English] .

References

* James, Winford, 2001, [http://www.triniview.com/winford/tntenglish.htm Trinidad and Tobago Standard English?] .
* James, Winford, 2003, [http://www.trinicenter.com/winford/2003/May/112003.htm Doing our own thing with English I] .
* James, Winford, 2003, [http://www.trinicenter.com/winford/2003/Aug/ Doing our own thing with English II] .
* James, Winford, 2003, [http://www.trinicenter.com/winford/2004/Jul/18.htm What kind of question is this?] .
* James, Winford, 2003, [http://www.trinicenter.com/winford/2004/Aug/08.htm What kind of question is this? Pt2] .