The Creole Continuum

Okay here in the Caribbean we have something special we have THE CREOLE CONTINUUM.
Let me explain this wonderful thing to you.

People speak differently here, even within our dialects. Look at this:

  1. Yes, we went to the river today to get some fish for the broth
  2. Yeah, we went to de riva today to get some fish for de broth.
  3. Yer gyal, me and he went dung by de riva taday ta geh some fish for de brot
(yeah not too sure about this example...just trying to prove a point)

Variation in speech can be found on the creole continuum. It links the more standard end of the linguistic range to the creole end. Let me illustrate with illustrations. 

buum..buum buum!! CONTINUUM!!! 
Let's use Jamaica as an example, although their official language is Jamaican Standard English, there are still variations of speech even within that. I've never been to Jamaica but I assume the people in the rural areas speak differently from let's say Parliamentarians. The people in rural areas are more likely to speak Jamaican Creole rather than JSE (Jamaican Standard English). Here's how this falls into the continuum...

  1. At the top we have acrolect. Acrolect is the standard variety of a language. So therefore acrolect will be Jamaican Standard English. Acrolect is spoken more in formal situations, so therefore the Parliamentarian should be using it.  This is what people refer to as "good english". 
  2. In the middle there we have mesolect, this a a mixture of the Creole and Standard English. However it leans more on the standard English side. You find this more in the urban areas.
  3. And here on the bottom we have basilect. This is basically Creole. It's used more in the rural areas and if you ever get a question about farmers you assume they speak it. 
You will want to mention these (highlighted) terms in your module 2 essays. yeah... POTATOES! 

Comments

  1. Anya AzraelMay 3, 2012 at 6:57 PM

    Erudite, honey?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 3, 2012 at 10:05 PM

    POTATOES?? really smh.... it helped even though i probably sent some of this to u -_- :p -ZayZay

    ReplyDelete
  3. anthonydillon1May 4, 2013 at 3:53 PM

    Thanks, this was helpful

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 4, 2014 at 12:19 AM

    May 2012, may 2013, may 2014......smh

    ReplyDelete
  5. ChrystalMay 5, 2016 at 10:36 PM

    The piece of writing was helpful, i can better distinguish between wrong and right situation

    ReplyDelete
  6. ChrystalMay 5, 2016 at 10:37 PM

    The piece of writing was helpful, i can better distinguish between wrong and right situation

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousMay 13, 2018 at 5:47 PM

    potatoes? tf lol...thanks tho

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownOctober 7, 2019 at 8:10 PM

    Well thank you for this summarized and easier to understand version.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousMay 26, 2022 at 5:25 PM

    you are hilarious and it is so easy to understand thank god for your whole thing bc i am cramming everything and i might actually rem bc of the jokes lmao

    ReplyDelete

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