Barbadian or Bajan English ( ) is a dialect of the English language as used by Barbadians (Bajans) and by Barbadian diasporas. Schneider, E.W., and Kortmann, B. " A Handbook of Varieties of English: Morphology and syntax ". Mouton de Gruyter, 2004. In ,
Pronunciation
Barbadian English is fully rhotic and full of glottal stops. One example of Barbadian English would be the pronunciation of departments, which is . It is also notable, in comparison with standard American or British English, for the first vowel in price or prize. Schneider, E.W., and Kortmann, B. " A Handbook of Varieties of English: Morphology and syntax ". Mouton de Gruyter, 2004. In , Michelle Straw, Peter L. Patrick. " Dialect acquisition of glottal variation in /t/: Barbadians in Ipswich ". Language Sciences 29 (2007) 385–407. In ,
The realization of the vowel in Barbadian English is pretty much the same as in American English, the default . The vowel is . The vowel is usually . The vowel is usually or . The vowel is the same as in the US English, . The vowel is . The vowel is . is best identified as an allophone of this phoneme, thus . The diphthong varies by region and education/class: it manifests in educated speech generally as or sometimes , and in rural and uneducated speech as the vowel . The vowel is mostly . The diaphoneme is mostly to be identified with this vowel (see trap-bath split) The vowel is or . The diphthong is generally or . The and sequences are both , resulting in the near-square merger. The sequence is . The sequence is usually or . The sequence and the sequence are both usually . The vowel is . The vowel is mostly . The diphthong is generally . The diphthong is either or . The diphthong is . The final vowel is . The final vowel is . The final vowel is . The and vowels are not merged in Barbadian English. However the vowels of , , and are generally merged.
See also Barbados
References