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The Caribbean

Bahamas

English came to the Bahamas in the 17th century, when African slaves were brought to the Caribbean by British colonists. The first English settlers arrived from Bermuda in 1648, whereas later there were British loyalists coming from the US. English is the official language of the Bahamas today.

As the history of the islands
and their geographical closeness to the USA suggest, Bahamas Creole English has received input from both US and British dialects of English. Today, a broad distinction between Anglo-Bahamian and Afro-Bahamian can be made.
In addition, there is also extensive variation in these
two groups.

Among the general features of Caribbean Creoles, there are the following: Caribbean Creoles have a syllable-timed rhythm, i.e. there is no schwa in unstressed syllables. This leads to the prominent “rapping rhythm” of these languages. Often, vowel distinctions are lost, so that cat, cot and caught sound the same. The dental fricative (“th”) becomes an alveolar stop (/t/ or /d/). Furthermore, consonant clusters are simplified, and metathesis can take place (ask becomes aks). On the Bahamas, also w/v alternation (watch can become vatch) and the loss of initial /h/ can be observed.

Official government site of Bahamas

ZNS Network (TV)

The Nassau Guardian (Newspaper)

More 94 FM (Radio)

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