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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Americas > Saint Vincent and the Grenadines > Vincentian Creole English

Vincentian Creole English

A language of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

ISO 639-3: svc

Population  138,000 (Holm 1989).
Region  Widespread in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Language map  Creole Languages of the Eastern Caribbean
Alternate names   Vincy Twang
Dialects  Most similar to Guyana, Tobago. It exists in a continuum with Standard English, with speech in the Capital of Kingstown most similar to Standard English (the acrolect) and that of the Island Carib descendents who live north of the Dry River being the least similar to Standard English.
Classification  Creole, English based, Atlantic, Eastern, Southern
Language use  Vigorous. Most domains. All ages.
Writing system  Latin script.
Comments  Possible French influence, although the former French creole is virtually gone. J. Holm says it is the only folk language (1989:457).

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

HOLBROOK, David J., author. 2006. The classification of the English-lexifier creole languages spoken in Grenada, Guyana, St. Vincent, and Tobago using a comparison of the markers of some key grammatical features: a tool for determining the potential to share and/or adapt literary development materials.

HOLBROOK, David Joseph, author. 2012. The Classification of the English-Lexifier Creole Languages Spoken in Grenada, Guyana, St. Vincent, and Tobago Using a Comparison of the Markers of Some Key Grammatical Features.  Available online