English, Pidgins and Creoles

This chapter has two themes: first, the English language in the Caribbean, and second, the English-based creole languages on the islands of the West Indies and elsewhere in the world. These themes are closely related: although English-based creoles are widely spread across the tropical or subtropical parts of the world, they are concentrated most densely in the Caribbean, and their historical development cannot be better exemplified than by Jamaican creole in that region. The first question to answer is: ‘What is a creole?’ But before that, here is a little Caribbean history (Figure 9.1). These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.