Features of specific Eastern Caribbean Islands

Turks and Caicos Islands

The following information is from Cutler (2003). The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) are a British dependency comprised of eight major islands and more than forty islets and cays forming the southeastern end of the Bahamas archipelago. The Turks Islands are Grand Turk (the capital) and Salt Cay. The Caicos Islands are West Caicos, Providenciales, North Caicos, Middle Caicos, East Caicos, and South Caicos. The population of the TCI in 2000 was 17,502 (U.S. Census Bureau). The official language of the TCI is English. Most of the population is concentrated on Providenciales (Provo) and Grand Turk. Approximately 90% of the population throughout the islands is black. The TCI have been under political and cultural influence from the United States during the 20^th century (e.g. Grand Turk was home to two U.S. military bases from World War II until 1983). In the mid 1960s, when the salt industry closed, many Turks and Caicos Islanders sought employment in the Bahamas and the United States.

The islands of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos were originally inhabited by Lucayan Indians. The Spanish deported the Lucayans to work in silver mines on Hispaniola in the early 16^th century. The islands remained uninhabited until the late 1600s when Bermudian traders began sailing there to gather salt, which was exported to British colonies in North America. In 1676, Bermudians established the first settlement on Grand Turk. In 1799 the islands were placed under the jurisdiction of the Bahamas. Subsequently, the islands were annexed to Jamaica as one of its dependencies in 1873. When Jamaica gained its independence in 1962, people in the TCI voted to remain a colony and were placed once again under the governance of the Bahamas. When the Bahamas gained its independence in 1972, the TCI received its own governor. Today, the TCI is one of twelve so-called “Dependent Territories” with British colonial status.

The Caicos Islands remained uninhabited from the 16^th century until the arrival of the Loyalist refugees, mainly from the southern American colonies, in the 1780s following the American Revolutionary War. Many of the slaves brought to the Caicos Islands from Georgia and South Carolina may have spoken a creole language, either a Caribbean Creole or an early form of Gullah, an English Creole that had been established in coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia between 1720 and 1750, or had some familiarity with the variety of English emerging in that region. Most of the Loyalists who had previously arrived in the Caicos Islands abandoned their plantations and departed for other destinations in the British West Indies by 1820 after cotton crops began to fail. In many cases, they left their slaves behind. Over the course of the 19^th century and well into the 20^th century, the remaining inhabitants in the Caicos Islands (virtually all descendants of American-born slaves) lived in relative isolation. The Caicos Islanders represent one of the few remaining unstudied “enclave” speech communities of persons descended from American-born slaves living outside the USA. The population of the Caicos Islands dropped to a low of 2,995 in 1970; it began increasing slowly over the next two decades to its present level of about 11,000 people.

Cutler (2003) presents an overview of the variety of English spoken on Grand Turk, which is part of the Turks and Caicos Islands in the British West Indies. No prior linguistic research has been carried out in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Sometimes the Turks and Caicos islands are seen as part of the chain of islands associated with the Bahamas and thus considered part of the category designated as North American varieties of (restructured) English. Again, Aceto and Williams (2003) have included these islands in their presentation of Eastern Caribbean varieties because of their general proximity. Cutler concludes that Turks Island English is an intermediate variety that may have more in common with African American Vernacular English, Gullah, and Bermudan English than other West Indian varieties of English to the south.

Regarding the phonology of Grand Turk, Cutler (2003) sees parallels between its system and that also heard in Bermudan English: the alternation of /æ/ and /ε/, e.g. hat [hεt], ten [tæn], and the interchange of /w/ and /v/, as discussed above. Whites in Bermuda pronounce grass [græs], but blacks favor the vowel [a]. Cutler states that Turks Islanders were similar in this regard in that they did use /æ/ in words where many other West Indians would use /a/. Perhaps this feature is due to influence from North American varieties of English. Further features of the English spoken on Grand Turk as listed by Cutler are: speakers have little or no monophthongization of diphthongs such as [aɪ] ; they do not centralize the diphthong in words like oil to [aɪ] as is common in other parts of the West Indies like Jamaica; unlike other Caribbean varieties of English, speakers do not palatalize velar stops; and speakers do not have “h”-dropping or insertion as is common in varieties of Jamaican and Bahamian.

Cutler lists the following features of the vowel system of Grand Turk English. Words like if often sound like [εf]. The mid front vowel /ε/ in words like rest and Betty is lowered to [æ] i.e., [ræst] and [bæɾɪ]. The second vowel in again is closer to [e] than [E], i.e., [ə'gen] . The vowel in company and nothing is closest to the low front vowel [a], i.e., ['kampəni] and ['naʔtən]. The vowel in up is close to [ɔ]. Low mid back rounded vowels are slightly diphthongized before nasals as in gone [gɔan] and haunted [hand]. The vowel in could is closer to a rounded one like [u]. Speakers in Grand Turk reveal the widespread use of [æ] in back and man where many other Caribbean varieties use [a] or [a:]. However, there is considerable variation among speakers: Some use [æ] in master but [a] in after and can’t. The diphthong in words like go and boat is fronted, sounding closer to [öu]. The diphthong in about is closer to [ou].

English on Turks Island has no rhotic vowels. Words like birth are pronounced [baf] or [bΛf]. This feature contrasts with Bahamian English and Gullah, both of which have the diphthong [Λɪ] in words like first and skirt. In fact, Turks Islanders identified the [Λɪ] diphthong as a feature of Bahamian English.

Cutler also describes the consonants of Grand Turk English. The definite article the is categorically pronounced [di], but some speakers vary between stops and interdental fricatives for other words. The same description applies to St. Eustatius Creole English as well (Aceto fc.). Voiceless initial dental fricatives are variably realized as affricates. The Turks Island pronunciation of thief does not involve a full stop as it does in Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean (i.e. ([tif]). Instead Turks Islanders say [tθif]. Medial dental fricatives are realized as labiodental fricatives, i.e., birthday [bΛfdeɪ] , as they often are in African American Vernacular English. The so-called –ing suffix is most commonly realized as [ɪn] , e.g. [sɪŋɪn] as is common in many English vernaculars in the Caribbean as well as in North America and Great Britain. In some words, the nasal is syllabified, e.g. meeting [mit] . Initial /v/ and /w/ merge into a voiced bilabial approximant, e.g. well [ßε​l] , vex [ßεks]. Syllable final /t/ and /k/ are preceded by or replaced by glottal stops, e.g. that [dæʔ​t] . Other speakers do not have complete closure on final stops. Turks Islanders variably apply flapping to medial alveolar stops, e.g. Betty [bæɾɪ].

Cutler presents some discussion of syllable structure in Turks Island English as well. Consonant clusters are reduced in morpheme final consonant clusters of the same voicing, e.g. last [las], stricter [strɪkə]. Medial consonants are elided in specific words, e.g. little [lɪl]. Turks Island English is non-rhotic, e.g. Turks Island [taksailən] . In some cases, vowels that may have been combined with [r] historically are slightly diphthongized, e.g. Lord’s [lɔadz].