Trinidadian and Tobagonian English (TE) or Trinidadian and Tobagonian Standard English is a
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that ...
of
English used in
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...
. TE co-exists with both non-standard varieties of English as well as other dialects, namely
Trinidadian Creole
Trinidadian Creole is an English-Based creole language commonly spoken throughout the island of Trinidad in Trinidad and Tobago. It is distinct from Tobagonian Creole – particularly at the basilectal level – and from other Lesser Antillean E ...
in
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
and
Tobagonian Creole in
Tobago
Tobago () is an island and ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trinidad and about off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. It also lies to the southeast of Grenada. The offici ...
.
Trinidadian English was initially based on a standard of
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
, including having a
non-rhotic accent. In the
Americas, TE now uses many
Americanisms, including ''apartment'' and ''trunk'' (of a car). It is understandable by speakers of international
standard English, although it uses a number of terms that are unique to it (perhaps coming from
Trinidadian Creole
Trinidadian Creole is an English-Based creole language commonly spoken throughout the island of Trinidad in Trinidad and Tobago. It is distinct from Tobagonian Creole – particularly at the basilectal level – and from other Lesser Antillean E ...
), such as "to lime," meaning "to hang out." Speech in Trinidad (and, to some degree, in Tobago) may vary by location and circumstance and is often remarked for its "sing-song" (i.e., a rising and falling
inflection
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and ...
)
intonation. While this may be true, it is not fully clear what prosodic aspects results in this lay reaction from listeners, but it is suggested that both phonological and phonetic characteristics of Trinidadian English and Trinidadian Creole may play a role. Phonologically, Trinidadian English is said to have a high frequency of intonation such as phrase final rises in declarative utterances. Phonetically, the degree of pitch variation may also contribute to this "sing song" perception of the language variety.
See also
*
Regional accents of English speakers
References
* Mendes, John (1986). ''Cote ce Cote la: Trinidad & Tobago Dictionary''.
Arima
Arima, officially The Royal Chartered Borough of Arima is the easternmost and second largest in area of the three boroughs of Trinidad and Tobago. It is geographically adjacent to Sangre Grande and Arouca at the south central foothills of ...
,
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
.
*Solomon, Denis. The Speech of Trinidad: A Reference Grammar (). Port-of-Spain: UWI School of Continuing Studies, 1993.
*
James, Winford, 2001
Trinidad and Tobago Standard English?
* James, Winford, 2003
* James, Winford, 2003
Doing our own thing with English II
* James, Winford, 2004
* James, Winford, 2004
External links
by Keisha T. Lindsay and Justine Bolusi
by the Society for Caribbean Linguistics
WiwordsA cross-referencing dictionary of West Indian words with a large number of Trinidadian terms
1997.
Phonological Hypercorrection in the Process of Decreolization--the Case of Trinidadian English
Languages of Trinidad and Tobago
North American English
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