Virgin Islands

The US Virgin Islands are comprised of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John; The British Virgin Islands are Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost Van Dyke. The following sociohistorical information is from Holm (1989: 455). The Dutch occupied Tortola in 1648; the British claimed it in 1672. English varieties have been spoken on the British Vrigin Islands beginning with this contact. In 1672, the Danes occupied St. Thomas but allowed Dutch and British colonists to settle there as well. The Dutch comprised nearly half of the European-derived population of St. Thomas, and among the majority African and African-descended population, a Dutch-derived creole began to emerge as did an English-derived creole as well. St. John was settled from St. Thomas; St. Croix was purchased by the Danes from the French in 1733. Danish seems to have been reserved for administration and within Danish social groups; English varieties, both creolized and otherwise, began displacing the Dutch-derived creole as more English-speaking settlers arrived. After abolition in 1848, as ex-slaves moved from plantations (which were centers for Dutch Creole speakers) to the towns, the influence of English language varities became even stronger on these islands. Danish schools adopted English as the language of instruction in the 19^th century. In 1917, the USA purchased St. Croix from Denmark. Dutch Creole is believed to be extinct on these islands.

St. Thomas and St. John lack the off-glide found in tense vowels of metropolitan varieties, e.g. /e:/ and /o:/ as in /fe:s/ face and /bo:t / boat respectively (Holm 1989: 456). These two islands of the American Virgin Islands chain also display the alternation and merger of /w/ and /v/. St. Croix (the remaining island of the American Virgin Islands) and the chain in the British Virgin Islands (i.e. Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada) may also contain this feature, but there has been little linguistic research in general on these islands. St. Thomas and St. John also reveal the use of /ε:/ in words like fierce and bare. Holm (1989: 456) believes this last feature may represent a local innovation.