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The Caribbean

English came to the Virgin Islands in the 17th century with British colonists, who settled there besides Dutch and Danish colonists. English varieties dominated the communication situation on the Virgin Islands from early on. English is also the Islands’ official language. However, the variety mostly spoken on the Virgin Islands is Virgin Islands Creole English. Since one part of the Virgin Islands is British and the other U.S. territory, influences of both British and American English can be traced in the Virgin Islands variety.

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).

Trinidad and Tobago

Official government site of the Virgin Islands

WTJX Channel 12 (TV)

The Daily News (Newspaper)

WSTA Lucky 13 (Radio)

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