West+Indies+Dialects

__West Indies Dialects__ __Definition:__ A dialect is a style of language recognised by its distinct pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. It is similar to an accent. Different areas and countries can speak the same language but have very different dialects. This is obvious with many places such as Australia, America, New Zealand and England (all speaking English however with different dialects).

In the book ‘The Cay’ Timothy has a very distinct dialect. He was brought up in the Virgin Islands and that is where he gets his dialect.

Here are a number of dialects from many different areas of the Caribbean and America. They are all pronounced very differently.

__Standard English – Where is that boy?__

(Spoken quickly and contains glottal stops; very distinct)
 * 1.Wherr iz dat boi?**

(Distinctive, Irish and Scottish influence)
 * 2.Whierr iz daaht bwoy?**

(Similar to the accents of south western England and Wales; No rhoticity* –) Can you guess which dialect Timothy has?
 * 3.Wey iz dat boy?**
 * 4.Weyr iz daht bai?** (Competency in Standard English; Rhoticity)
 * 5.Wehr iz daat bouy?** (Rhoticity; Quite different from ‘ Creole’ pronunciation)

Answer: 1 = Barbados 2 = Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda 3 = Trinidad, Bahamas 4 = Guyana, Tobago, St Vincent 5 = Panama, Bay Islands, Beliza, Nicaragua, Limon and the Virgin Islands Therefore Timothy’s dialect is number 5: Wehr iz daat bouy? Non - Rhoticity -- Only pronouncing R’s if followed by a vowel.
 * Rhoticity – Pronouncing R’s in any circumstance.

Here is a fun online dialectizer where you can experiment with different dialects.

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