I Gine Help Wunna

I had to giggle today, when for not the first time someone heard me on the radio then commented that they could not understand easily how I spoke, saying that I "had an accent or something in my mouth". I have to admit that each time it sounds like, "Hoo dis ejyat, hoo cyan speek lik we?"

Now, given that the way I speak is more common than the way that most locals speak, the idea that I have an accent is amusing. However, I know that the reaction comes in part because of a lack of exposure to different modes of speech, and certainly not many different languages. When you live among a population of less than 300,000 you are unlikely to meet many very different accents, even if you have significant amounts of tourists visiting. It may be even harder to figure out what you are hearing if it does not sound like one of the nearby islands or countries with whose intonations you are familiar (say Trinidad, Guyana, St. Lucia or even Jamaica). It would sometimes be better if I spoke French because that way people would just accept that I speak a different language--if they realised that I was not speaking another variant of English--and if I said in English that I had spoken French they would probably shrug and think I was visiting from Guadeloupe or Martinique.

I have not mastered Bajan by any stretch of the imagination, and though I love saying things like "cheez on bred", I am picking up phrases as I go. I do a pretty bad imitation of a Bajan accent, and when I do it with my little daughter, she corrects me terribly.

Bajan is quite distinct from the dialects of other English-speaking Caribbean islands and countries. Many of the other Caribbean dialects are based on Irish- or Scottish-based English pronunciation mixed with West African words and phrases, and reflect the forced learning of a new tongue. Bajan, however, has the lilt of the dialects of the English West Country (Cornwall, Devon). Bajan has some similar traits with other Caribbean dialects, such as the dropping of the final t or d, so that words like 'what' end up sound like 'wha', but it nevertheless sounds different. It has a different cadence or melody, and to my ear always sounds like words are clipped short. That said, one of its endearing characters to me is the rounding and extending of certain words that would otherwise be short, so that 'pie' (apple or macaroni; pronounced as "peyi" by many English speakers) ends up being pronounced as "po-i-yee".

Anyway, as I am the newby, it's important that I understand the local ways of speaking and the phrases. I already wrote earlier this week about my close encounter of the vendor kind in Spry Street (see The Joys Of Urban Life And Art For Art's Sake). I wont offend by mimicking them too much in public, though.