| Turks and Caicos Creole | |
| Nativename: | Turks and Caicos Patwah |
| States: | Turks and Caicos Islands |
| Agency: | not regulated |
| Speakers: | 49,309 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Creole |
| Fam1: | English Creole |
| Fam2: | Atlantic |
| Fam3: | Western |
| Fam4: | Jamaican Patois |
| Iso3: | tch |
| Glotto: | turk1310 |
| Glottorefname: | Turks And Caicos Creole English |
| Lingua: | 52-ABB-ao |
Turks and Caicos Creole, or Turks and Caicos Patwah, is an English-based creole spoken in the Turks and Caicos Islands; a West Indian British overseas territory in the Lucayan Archipelago.
The Turks and Caicos Island Creole variety has not been thoroughly studied, but the dialect is directly related to Jamaican Patois (Patwah) as the Turks and Caicos Islands were formally a part of Jamaica for over 114 years (1848 - 1962),[1] [2] and both islands were also part of the Taíno Confederacy for over 893 years (AD 600 - 1493).[3] The dialect has also been notably influenced by Bermudian Creole English and by Bahamian Creole; with all three languages being mutually intelligible. As of the year 2023, the number of speakers of Turks and Caicos Islands Creole is approximately 49,309.[4] [5]
| Word/phrase | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| [[switcha]]/switcher | Lemonade/limeade (combination of soft drink and lime/lemon juice) | |
| gal/gyal | Girl | |
| chile/chilen | child/children | |
| chile | Used to represent emphasis on a sentence (well chile he een tell me nuttin bout that) | |
| een | aren't (They een goin today) or isn't (That een right) or don't (I een no nuttin bout that) | |
| vel | well (usually the 'W' and 'V' are exchanged with each other, e.g. vednesday: Wednesday, weil: veil) | |
| axe | ask | |
| mussi | must be | |
| scorch | scratch | |
| jumbee | spirit or ghost. Compare zombie |