English is the country's official language (the national standard variety is Trinidadian and Tobagonian English), but the main spoken languages are Trinidadian English Creole and Tobagonian English Creole. Prior to English being designated as the official language, French Creole was more prominent throughout the island. English became the country's official language in 1823. Consequently, government and educational institutions endorsement of the language change significantly influenced the progressive transition and phaseout of French Creole to English Creole.[3] Both creoles contain elements from a variety of West/Central African languages (especially Yoruba). Trinidadian English Creole is also influenced by French, French Creole, Trinidadian Hindustani, Tamil, other South Asian languages, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (mainly Cantonese, with some Hakka, and now Mandarin), and Arabic.[4] As of 2011, there were 1 million native speakers.[citation needed]
History
Like other CaribbeanEnglish-based creoles, Trinidadian English Creole has a primarily English-derived vocabulary. The island also has a creole with a largely French lexicon, which was in widespread use until the late nineteenth century, when it started to be gradually replaced, due to influence and pressure from the British.[5]
Although there is considerable variation, some generalizations can be made about the speech of Trinidad:
Like a number of related creoles, Trinidadian English Creole is non-rhotic, meaning that /r/ does not occur after vowels, except in recent loanwords or names from Spanish, Hindi/Bhojpuri, and Arabic.[7]
In mesolectal forms, cut, cot, caught, and curt are all pronounced with [ɒ].[8]
Trinidad English Creole is usually syllable-timed and not stress-timed; therefore it often has full vowels where Standard English has the reduced form /ə/. [1]
There is no clear connection between pitch and stress.[10]
Both Trinidad and Tobago[13] feature creole continua between more conservative Creole forms and forms much closer to Trinidadian English, with the former being more common in spontaneous speech and the latter in more formal speech.[14] Because of the social values attributed to linguistic forms, the more common varieties (that is, more creolized forms) carry little prestige in certain contexts.[15]
Winford, Donald (1985), "The concept of "diglossia" in Caribbean creole situations", Language in Society, 14 (3): 345–356, doi:10.1017/s0047404500011301
Youssef, Winford; James (2004), "The creoles of Trinidad and Tobago: Phonology"(PDF), in Kortmann, Bernd; Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), Handbook of Varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, ISBN978-3-11-017532-5
Further reading
Allsopp, Richard, & Jeannette Allsopp (French and Spanish Supplement), 2003, Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press.
Allsopp, Richard, & Jeannette Allsopp 2010, New Register of Caribbean English Usage. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press.
Solomon, Denis, 1993. The Speech of Trinidad: A Reference Grammar. Port-of-Spain: UWI School of Continuing Studies.
