Bajan: phonology

Barbados is a contemporary nation-state that won its independence from Britain in 1966. This island, the most easterly of the Caribbean countries, is 21 miles long by 14 miles wide and has an approximate population of a quarter million people. It is a densely populated country, with more than 1 500 persons per square mile in urban areas; and much less in the rural areas where the land is appropriated for tillage. Geopolitically, the island is divided into eleven parishes, with the capital, Bridgetown, located in the southwest parish of St. Michael. The remaining parishes are divided into subsidiary centers in terms of region (e.g., southern, etc.). The eastern side of the island has been relegated to national historical landmark status, thereby prohibiting industrial development and limiting tourism.

While the official language of this country is English, the population also speaks an English-related Creole, Bajan, arising out of a particular language contact situation, slavery and bond servitude, under British colonization. As opposed to “Barbadian English” or “Barbadian Creole (English)”, the name Bajan (also Barbadian or Badian) for the vernacular language of Barbados is derived from the island name and does not carry the potential charge that suggests a position on the origins of the language, as discussed below. Although Barbados was an entrepôt for slaves (serving as the springboard for settlements elsewhere in the Caribbean), Bajan is unique amongst languages in the Anglophone Caribbean territories, i.e., from Jamaica to Guyana, because its creole affiliations have been questioned (as is the case for African American English). This is largely due to the nature of the island’s historical links to Britain and its demographics during the early colonial period. Almost twice as long a term as its sister territories in the Atlantic, Barbados experienced an uninterrupted colonization period of more than three hundred years by English-speaking rulers, lending to the cognomen “Little England”. Moreover, in the first quarter century of colonization, whites outnumbered blacks, further lending to its image.