Saban English is the local dialect of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

spoken on

Saba Saba may refer to: Places * Saba (island), an island of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea * Şaba (Romanian for Shabo), a town of the Odesa Oblast, Ukraine * Sabá, a municipality in the department of Colón, Honduras * Saba (river), ...

, an island in the

Dutch Caribbean The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the territories, colonies, and countries, former and current, of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean Sea. They are in the north and south-wes ...

. It belongs to the group of

Caribbean English Caribbean English (CE, CarE) is a set of dialects of the English language which are spoken in the Caribbean and Liberia, most countries on the Caribbean coast of Central America, and Guyana and Suriname on the coast of South America. Carib ...

varieties, and has been classified as a decreolized form of

Virgin Islands Creole English Virgin Islands Creole, or Virgin Islands Creole English, is an English-based creole consisting of several varieties spoken in the Virgin Islands and the nearby SSS islands of Saba, Saint Martin and Sint Eustatius, where it is known as Saban E ...

. There is one published dictionary of Saban English, ''A Lee Chip'', authored by Theodore R. Johnson.

Phonology

Consonants

The Saban dialect is not purely rhotic nor

non-rhotic Rhoticity in English is the pronunciation of the historical rhotic consonant by English speakers. The presence or absence of rhoticity is one of the most prominent distinctions by which varieties of English can be classified. In rhotic variet ...

.Williams, Jeffrey P., and Caroline Myrick. “Saban English.” In
Further Studies in the Lesser-Known Varieties of English
'' edited by J. P. Williams & P. Trudgill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 144-64. Post-vocalic /r/ is absent in unstressed syllables or following front vowels, but pronounced in stressed syllables and following back vowels, with the exception of the words more and farm. Phrase initially, /r/ is pronounced as � H-dropping is common in Saban dialects. �becomes �intervocalically and phrase finally, is pronounced like /maʔ/. T-glottalization is also common intervocally, phrase finally and in clusters: ''water'', ''hospital'', ''bet'' and ''ate'' are pronounced like ɒʔa aspɪʔl ɛ:ʔand �:ʔ There is poor distinction between the and sounds in Saban English. The contrast is often neutralized or merged into , or , so ''village'' sounds like , or . This also happens in the Vincentian, Bermudian,

Bahamian English Bahamian English is a group of varieties of English spoken in the Bahamas and by members of the Bahamian diaspora. The standard for official use and education is British-based with regard to spelling, vocabulary, and pronunciation; however, p ...

and other

es. This results in the word ''seventh'' being pronounced as ɛβənʔ Metathesis is a common feature of Saban English and results in words like "ask" sounding like �ks Nasal backing is common in Saban English: "Town" sounds like aʊŋand "ground" sounds like raʊŋ Consonant cluster are often reduced.

Vowels

The realization of vowels in Saban English is as follows. The vowels below are named by the

lexical set A lexical set is a group of words that all fall under a single category based on a single shared phonological feature. A phoneme is a basic unit of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another. Most commonly, following the work ...

they belong to: *The Kit vowel: Saban English shows lowering of the Kit vowel and the vowel can be pronounced as either or . *The Dress vowel: Saban English shows lowering of the Dress vowel and the vowel can be pronounced as either , . *The Trap/Bath vowel: This vowel can be pronounced as , or is lowered and backed and merged with the vowel in Lot as . *The Strut vowel: It is merged with the Thought vowel, being pronounced as . *The Foot vowel: This vowel is pronounced as . *The Fleece vowel: This vowel is pronounced as . *The Thought vowel: The vowel is . *the Lot Vowel: This vowel is either , or . *The Face diphthong: It is generally monophthongized to . It merges with the Fleece vowel before nasal consonants, so words like ''mean'' and ''main'' are homophonous. *The Start vowel: It is realized as . *The North vowel: It is merged with the vowel in Start and is usually . *The Force vowel: The North/Force split has been preserved on Saba, but it appears to be undergoing merger. *The Nurse vowel: in rhotic words, it merges with the Force or Strut vowels, in non-rhotic words it is realized as . *The Goat diphthong: It is generally or monophthongized to . *The Near diphthong and the Square diphthong: These diphthongs are generally merged can be realized as either or . *The Price/Prize diphthong: It's pronounced as either or . *The Choice diphthong: The nucleus of the diphthong is lowered, and, sometimes fronted, being pronounced as either or *The Mouth diphthong: It varies between and . *The lettEr-commA vowel: It is .

Grammar

Ain't The word "ain't" is a contraction for ''am not'', ''is not'', ''are not'', ''has not'', ''have not'' in the common English language vernacular. In some dialects ''ain't'' is also used as a contraction of ''do not'', ''does not'' and ''did not''. ...

'' ( �̃ː �nor �nt is frequently used in negations and can be used in the place of words like didn’t or haven’t. Saban English also makes extensive use of the expression “for to” as in the sentence: ''This is ready for to come ripe''.

References

Dialects of English

Culture of Saba (island) Caribbean English {{English-lang-stub