Bajan Creole

Bajan
Native toBarbados
Native speakers
259,000
English Creole
  • Atlantic
    • Eastern
      • Southern
        • Bajan
Language codes
ISO 639-3bjs
Linguasphere52-ABB-ar

Bajan is an English-based creole language.[1] People on the Caribbean island of Barbados speak it. Bajan, like many other English-based Caribbean creole languages, has a West African substrate and an English superstrate. Bajan is similar but different from the creoles of neighbouring Caribbean islands.

Bajan is the Caribbean creole with the closest grammar to Standard English.[2]

In general, the people of Barbados speak standard British English on TV and radio, in courthouses, in government, and in day-to-day business. Bajan is for less formal situations, in music, or in social commentary.

References

  1. ↑ Burrowes, Audrey. (1983). "Barbadian Creole: A note on its social history and structure". Studies in Caribbean Language. St. Augustine, Trinidad: Society for Caribbean Linguistics, pp. 38-45.
  2. ↑ Hancock (1980:22), citing Le Page (1957:58–59)


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