Trinidad and Tobago Standard English

Trinidadian English (TE) or Trinidad and Tobago Standard English is a dialect of English used in
Trinidad and Tobago. TE co-exists with both non-standard varieties of English as well as other
dialects, namely Trinidadian Creole in Trinidad and Tobagonian Creole in Tobago. Both islands
as one consider the dialect as Trinbagonian Creole.

Trinidadian English was originally based on a standard of British English. Located in the
Americas, TE now uses many Americanisms, including apartment and trunk (of a car). It is
understandable by speakers of international standard English, although it uses a number of
terms that are unique to it (perhaps coming from Trinidadian Creole), such as "to lime",
meaning "to hang out". Speech in Trinidad (and, to some degree, in Tobago) may vary by
location and circumstance and is often remarked for its "sing-song" (i.e. a rising and falling
inflection) intonation.

English language in Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad road sign, SourceThis is the official language in the two islands. It is used in hospitals,
schools, for government, and also for business purposes. The country even has English
television and radio station, and English newspapers too. People from both islands speak and
write Standard English in official settings. It is, however, important to note that each island
prefers its own kind of Creole English. The two types of English include Trinidadian Creole and
Tobagonian Creole. These forms of English have their own unique grammar and articulation.
As a result of this, most local phrases and words have found their way into the day to day
communication. A few of the words in these two dialects are actually Standard English words
that have assumed, to some extent, different meanings.

While Standard English is mostly used in official settings, Tobagonian Creole and Trinidadian
Creole are mostly used in domestic settings and for communication between members of the
society and friends. It is important to note that these two types of Creole are not similar as
most people believe. This difference could be as a result of the history of the two islands and
the ethnic groups that make up the population of each island.

Trinidadian Creole in Trinidad and Tobago

This is a Creole dialect that is spoken in the whole of Trinidad. Trinidadian Creole has been
influenced largely by the diverse population in Trinidad. The population is made up of people
of Chinese origin, East Indian descent, African decent, Mid-Eastern and European descent
(mostly Spanish, Portuguese, Lebanese, French and Syrian descent) and also people of mixed
race. Most of these groups of people came to the island as slaves, labourers, or immigrants
thus having an influence on the language. Trinidadian Creole has borrowed a few words from
different languages such as Hindi, Spanish, Chinese, French, and English.
The lexicons from these languages have an effect on all the elements of Trinidadian Creole.
Various words can be used for the same meaning in both the Standard English and Trinidadian
Creole. An example of this is /frak/ which is used for ‘dress’, ‘bacchanal’ for ‘spectacle,
confusion’, ‘bodice’ for ‘blouse’, e.t.c. A few Standard English words can also be integrated into
Trinidadian Creole and can be used to mean something totally different. Other English terms
can also be spoken in reverse order in Trinidadian Creole. An example of this is ‘tongue tied’
which when reversed becomes ‘tied tongue’. Also, note that this dialect is non-rhotic. This
means that the letter ‘r’ does not occur after vowels, with the exception of recently borrowed
names or words from Arabic, Hindi/Bhojpuri, and Spanish.

Tobagonian Creole in Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad rooftops, SourceThis is an English-based Creole dialect that is normally spoken in

Tobago. It is different from Trinidadian Creole and is a little bit similar to other Lesser Antillean
Creoles whose grammar and vocabularies are made up of components from African and Carib
languages. When compared with Trinidadian Creole, this dialect in its purest nature has a lot of
similarities to the Creole that is used in Jamaica and other Caribbean Islands. It has words that
are not found in Trinidad. Its grammar is also closer to its West African roots as compared to
Trinidad’s.

French Creole in Trinidad and Tobago

French Creole is still spoken in some regions of Trinidad and Tobago but the islands have never
been colonized by the French. How then did French Creole become one of the languages
spoken in the islands? When the country was under the Spanish rule, the Spanish settlers
appeared to have been inefficient in managing the available resources and towards the end of
the 18th century, the population, which was made up of Spaniards, a few slaves from Africa,
and some Amerindians was wiped out by diseases thus stagnating the economy as a result of
no manpower. To solve this situation, the King of Spain in 1783 published a cédula de
población to invite any catholic individuals of a monarch that was friendly to the Spanish
Crown to come and settle in the island of Trinidad. Favourable conditions were set such as
grants of land and so on and these attracted a huge number of French colonists who wanted to
leave French due to the natural disasters and the political unrest which was starting to be felt.
These people were accompanied by the families and slaves thus bringing their language with
them which eventually developed in the regions they had settled. The French Creole spoken in
Trinidad and Tobago is very similar to that spoken in the French islands, particularly in
Martinique. The French Creole has, however, developed its own features especially in its
lexicon.

Patois language in Trinidad and Tobago

This is a different kind of French that is spoken in the islands and it is believed that it does not
have ‘real’ grammar and that it is not a ‘real’ language. Patois can also be referred to as Patuá,
Patwa, Kreyol, or Kwéyól. In mid-19th century, Patois became the lingua franca especially in
Trinidad as it crossed every geographic, social, and ethno-linguistic boundary in the islands
thus enabling communication among the different speakers of more than 20 dialects. During
this time, most of the Patois speakers could also talk in French. This was also the case with the
French speakers, especially French Creole who could also speak Patois.

Patois was the first language of proverbs, calypso, folktales, and riddles. The language is,
however, endangered but it is still spoken in cities such as Valencia, Santa Cruz, Paramin,
Lopinot, Arima, Blanchisseuse, Cameron, Mogura, and Toco, and a few other communities
especially where cocoa was grown.

Patois has contributed a lot to the vocabulary in different domains such as the traditional
carnival (Santi-manitay, Dame Lorraine, JabJab and so on), folklore (Lajablesse), flora ( for
instance Bois Bandi, Cerise, Chennette, Ditay Payee, Geritout), fauna (Biche, Jashwa, Kobo,
Pag, Mapipire), a number of foods (such as Toolum, Macafouchette, Kouveti Pocham, Paime,
Soupee), and also a number facets of everyday life in the islands (for example Lagli, Maco,
Bazodee, Cagoo, Flambeau, Macomere, Jamette, Zwill and many more.)

Patois is presently flourishing in the form of Christian Kwéch (crèche) music especially in
Paramin. The language still lives on in the vocabulary and grammatical compositions of the day
to day speech of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

Bhojpuri language in Trinidad and Tobago

Queens Royal College in Trinidad, SourceThis is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in North India
in the Bhojpuri area. It is also spoken in Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, Pakistan, Jamaica,
Bangladesh, and the Caribbean. In the islands, the language is spoken by the Indo-Trinidadian
and Tobagonian people who are of Indian descent. Many of them were immigrants from India
who had moved to the islands to escape poverty in their country and to look for employment
that was being offered by the British for jobs either as educated servicemen or labourers. This
mostly took place in the period between 1845 to 1917. Most of them ended up settling down
in the islands thus continuing their culture and heritage and they have been able to maintain
their language too.

Chinese language in Trinidad and Tobago

This language is spoken by the Chinese Trinidadian and Tobagonian. These are Trinidadians
and Tobagonians who are of Chinese descent. This group consists of people from Overseas
Chinese, China, and Hong Kong who had moved to the islands. Their ancestors had immigrated
in Trinidad and Tobago to work as labourers in the cacao and sugar plantations. Most of the
Chinese people in the country originate from the province of Guangdong, particularly among
the Hakka people.
The common type of Chinese spoken by this community is Cantonese. This language was
derived in the old city of Canton which is present day Guangzhou which is the largest city and
the capital of the Guangdong province. The language is usually referred to as Yue in Chinese.
Besides Cantonese, other Chinese languages can be heard in the islands. These include
Fujianese and Mandarin which were introduced by people from outside the Guangdong
province