Grenadian Creole English is a

Creole language A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...

spoken in

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

. It is a member of the Southern branch of English-based Eastern Atlantic Creoles, along with

Antiguan Creole Antiguan and Barbudan Creole, often called Creole, "Local dialect", or simply Antiguan and Barbudan is an English-based creole language consisting of several varieties spoken in the Leeward Islands, namely the countries of Antigua and Barbuda, ...

(

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...

Bajan Creole Bajan , or Bajan Dialect, is an English-based creole language with 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 ...

(

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

Guyanese Creole Guyanese English Creole (''Creolese'' by its speakers or simply Guyanese) is an English-based creole language spoken by the Guyanese people. Linguistically, it is similar to other English dialects of the Caribbean region, based on 19th-century ...

(

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

Tobagonian Creole Tobagonian English Creole is an English-based creole language and the generally spoken language in Tobago. It is distinct from Trinidadian Creole and closer to other Lesser Antillean creoles. See also * Trinidadian English Trinidadian and ...

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 ...

(

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 smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

Vincentian Creole Vincentian Creole is an English-based creole language spoken in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It contains elements of Spanish, Antillean Creole, and various Iberian Romance languages. It has also been influenced by the indigenous Kalinago/Gar ...

(

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

), and

Virgin Islands Creole 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 En ...

(

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix ...

). It is the common

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

and the native language of nearly all inhabitants of Grenada, or approximately 89,000 native speakers in 2001.Ethnologue report for language code:gcl
/ref>

History

The

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

took control of

from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the 18th century, and ruled until its independence in 1974. Despite the long history of British rule, Grenada's French heritage is still evidenced by the number of French

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

s in Grenadian Creole English, as well as by the lingering existence of

Grenadian Creole French Grenadian Creole is a variety of Antillean Creole. In Grenada and among Grenadians, it is referred to as Patois. History The first successful settlement by a western colonial power in Grenada was in 1650, when the French from Martinique establis ...

in the country.French Creole in Grenada
/ref> The francophone character of Grenada was uninterrupted for more than a century before British rule which eventually led to Grenadian Creole English replacing Grenadian Creole French as the lingua franca of the island. The Grenada Creole Society, founded in 2009, implemented the mission to research and document the language in Grenada. The initial findings were published in 2012 in the publication ''Double Voicing and Multiplex Identities'' ed. Nicholas Faraclas et al.

Linguistic Features

The syntactic structures of Grenadian Creole English is influenced by Standard English, French and some African languages.

References

External links

Dictionary of Grenadianisms
{{Pidgincreole-lang-stub Languages of Grenada English-based pidgins and creoles Languages of the Caribbean Languages of the African diaspora