Caribbean English

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Jolly Harbour. David Stanley CC-BY
Look at this photo. It was taken somewhere in the Caribbean. The name of the island means "ancient". Can you guess now?

OK, it's Antigua, which together with Barbuda form a twin-island nation. The British ruled these islands from  1632 to 1981. The islands became independent in 1981 and today they belong to the Commonwealth.



More Caribbean countries where English is spoken
Look at this map and have a go at guessing where they speak English. If you would like to see a larger version of the map, click on the image.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CaribbeanIslands.png


Click on this Wikipedia link to see a list of countries.


Learn about the English spoken in the Caribbean.
Have you ever listened to Jamaican English? How about Trinidadian?
Would you like to learn how English evolved on these islands?

You can visit the British Library page and learn about the phonological features of Caribbean English. If you scroll down the page, you will be able to listen to sound files.


Bob Marley interview


Image by Caspiax. Public Domain

 
What do you know about Bob Marley? Where is he from? You can visit his official website and check.

Watch his interview on herb and answer these questions: 
  1. What is he talking about?
  2. Do you understand him? 
  3. What features are significantly different to the variety of English you learn at school?


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