Why guyanese speak creole

Syntax: Simplification of GC is also present in the syntax. Some of these elements include conjugation between verb tenses and pluralization. In SAE, we use verb conjugations to help further clarify the subject performing the verb for example: he eat, I eat, and he does, I do. In GC, these distinctions may not be affected by the subject, but by other helping words Alex M.

Balogblin Holbrook and Holly A. Holbrook, This promotes Guyanese Ancestry to have a platform and ultimately a voice. Music As for the music aspect of the Guyanese creole, nearly all songs are spoken with Guyanese patois. It is rare to come across a Guyanese song spoken in only standard English.

Soca being one of the few genres in the Guyanese culture mainly uses Guyanese creole. This shows that in Guyanese music artists tend to shift towards Guyanese creole.

Since What is Guyanese Creole? Another interesting fact is that Guyanese creole is not even called GC by its native speakers. Within the country of Gyana, the natives refer to it as Creolese. Gyana population is roughly filled with about , people, and within that number there are many dialects and varieties of Creolese. When learning about Guyanese creole or Creolese you will encounter what is called the Creole Continuum.

Creole Continuums are used to describe the three-important variety of Creolese that pops up is Acrolect, Mesolect, and Basilect.

When speaking Creolese the Acrolect variety is usually used by the speakers of the upper class, the middle class using Mesolect.

Also, a closer look under the language magnifying glass will reveal lexicon, syntax, and phonology also plays a big part in the formation of Creolese. Five vowels that can be found in American English phonemically represented? He voiceless dental fricative is pronounced T in GC. Syntax: Simplification of GC is also present in the syntax. Some of these elements include conjugation between verb tenses and pluralization. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

Need an account? Click here to sign up. Download Free PDF. A short summary of this paper. Alex M. Introduction The Co-operative Republic of Guyana is a small developing country located on the northern coast of South America. Guyana was originally founded by Great Britain as British Guiana. The territory had been traveled on and disputed over by the Spanish, Dutch, and French prior to formerly becoming an official British colony.

Guyana is landlocked on each side except for the north where the Atlantic Ocean resides. To the south is Brazil—whose official language is Portuguese, Venezuela to the west—a former Spanish colony, and Suriname—a Dutch-speaking country—to the east. Not only is Guyana the only country in South America of which English is the official language, but it borders three countries who each have their own official language. The population of Guyana is approximately ,; the Guyanese diaspora consists of several hundred thousand globally, with a significant amount residing in New York City alone.

The standardized language of Guyana is based on Standard British English SBE —but due to a lack of education and a high poverty rate along with a high emigration rate and other common problems that contribute to Creolization , Guyanese English Creole is more widespread throughout the country.

GC is classified as an Atlantic Creole, as it is very similar to the other English-lexicon creoles throughout the Anglo-Caribbean nations and also in Belize. In this paper, I plan to analyze GC on a broad linguistic context, ranging from—but not limited to—phonology, morphology, and syntax. Personal experience As a native speaker of GC, much of this paper will reflect my own experiences with the language and its speakers.

I am the first in my immediate family inclusive of my mother, father, and two brothers—those that I have lived at home growing up with to be born and raised outside of Guyana.

Although I have two brothers who have spent their teenage years and onward in the United States America , before I was born, I was under the age of five when they both moved out so they had little influence during my critical language acquisition period; but from my recollection, I usually spoke to them in Amercan English AE, both Standard [SAE] and our shared colloquial urbanized Brooklyn dialect , as they have always—even unto now—seemed more comfortable speaking in AE.

To clarify my fluency in GC, I spent most of my critical language acquisition period which I am estimating to be from birth to approximately the age of 13 speaking with my parents, who both did not emigrate from Guyana until their early 40s—recently before I was born.