Caribbean English and Second Language Acquistion

Caribbean English
Caribbean English is a general term for the many varieties of the English language used in the
Caribbean archipelago and on the Caribbean coast of Central America (including Nicaragua,
Panama, and Guyana).
"In the simplest terms," says Shondel Nero, "Caribbean English is a contact language emanating
mainly from the encounter of British colonial masters with the enslaved and later indentured
labor force brought to the Caribbean to work on the sugar plantations"
"The term Caribbean English is problematic because in a narrow sense it can refer to a dialect of
English alone, but in a broader sense it covers English and the many English-based creoles ...
spoken in this region. Traditionally, Caribbean creoles have been (incorrectly) classified as
dialects of English, but more and more varieties are being recognized as unique languages ...
And although English is the official language of the area that is sometimes called the
Commonwealth Caribbean, only a small number of the people in each country speak what we
might consider regionally accented standard English as a native language. In many Caribbean
countries, however, some standard version of (mostly) British English is the official language
and taught in schools.
The following regions are evaluated in determining a ‘Caribbean English’ variety, in descending
order of influence in accordance with population and linguistic demographic data: Jamaica (both
Jamaican English and Jamaican Creole), Trinidad & Tobago (English and Creole), Guyana,
Belize, the Bahamas and Barbados (English and the Creole known as Bajan).
"One syntactic feature shared by many West Atlantic Englishes is the use
of would and could where British or American English uses will and can: I could swim for I can
swim; I would do it tomorrow for I will do it tomorrow. Another is the formation of yes/no
questions with no inversion of auxiliary and subject: You are coming? instead of Are you
coming?"
Pronunciation-
Th stopping - <th> in words such as think and three is pronounced using a <t> sound and in
words such as this and that using a <d> sound.
H dropping- Initial <h> is deleted in words such as happy and house.
Consonant cluster reduction- Complex strings of consonants are often simplified by deleting the
final sound, so that best becomes ‘bes’, respect becomes ‘respeck’ and land becomes ‘lan’.
Rhoticity- The <r> sound is pronounced after a vowel in words like hard, corn and nurse.
Unreduced vowel in weak syllables- Vowels in unstressed syllables are not reduced, so that
speakers use a comparatively strong vowel on words such as about, bacon or arrival and on
grammatical function words, such as in the phrases lot of work, in a few days and in the kitchen –
a very subtle feature that contributes to the characteristic rhythm or ‘lilt’ of Caribbean English.
FACE vowel- A similar vowel sound as that used by speakers in Scotland, Wales and the North
East of England on words such as game, tray, plain, reign, they and great.
GOAT vowel- A similar vowel sound as that used by speakers in Scotland, Wales and the North
East of England on words such as home, show, boat and toe.
Grammar
Omission of indefinite article- The indefinite article, a or an, is occasionally omitted.
Omission of tense marker- Verbs are left unmarked for tense, although other signals (adverbs of
time, such as yesterday, last week etc.) often give linguistic clues about the timing of an event.
Omission of plural marker- Nouns are left unmarked for plurality.
Second Language Acquisition
First language acquisition refers to the way children learn their native language. Second language
acquisition refers to the learning of another language or languages besides the native language.
The term child language acquisition refers to the development of language in children.
By age 6, children have usually mastered most of the basic vocabulary and grammar of their first
language.
Second language acquisition refers to the process by which a person learns a "foreign" language
—that is, a language other than their mother tongue.
The term ‘second language acquisition’ in a broad sense refers to the learning of a nonnative
language after the first language (L1) (i.e., the native language) has been learned, either in a
naturalistic setting or in a formal classroom setting.
Second language versus foreign language
The distinction between ‘second language’ and ‘foreign language’ is related to the function of
the language in concern in the larger sociocultural setting where learning takes place. A second
language is a language that plays important social and institutional functions in a country
although it may not be the native language (NL) of the dominant population, for example,
English in India and Singapore. In the case of language learning, a second language is a
nonnative language to which the learner has natural exposure, as in the case of the learning of
English by many immigrants in the United States.
A foreign language, on the other hand, is a language that is not the native language of the
majority of the population, nor is it widely used as a medium of communication in the country.
Instead, it is only used for speaking to foreigners or for reading written materials. It is usually
learned as a subject in school. A typical example is the learning of English by a Japanese speaker
in Japan.
Second versus third language acquisition
Although SLA often refers to the learning of any language other than L1, in recent decades there
has emerged an area of research focusing on the learning of the third, or even the fourth,
language, which is known as multilingual acquisition. One major issue studied in this field is the
relationship between the third (or fourth) language and other languages the learner has learned
previously, e.g., L1 or L2.
Acquisition versus learning
SLA researchers sometimes distinguish between ‘acquisition’ and ‘learning.’ Acquisition refers
to the learning of a nonnative language in a naturalistic environment (e.g., when a Russian
speaker learns French in France). Learning, in contrast, refers to the learning of a nonnative
language in an environment in which that language is not natively spoken (e.g., when a Russian
speaker learns English in Russia). This distinction correlates with the distinction between
‘second’ versus ‘foreign’ language as discussed above, and hence the terms ‘second language
acquisition’ and ‘foreign language learning’ are used with distinctions on a similar dimension.

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Caribbean English

Omission of indefinite article- The indefinite article, a or an, is occasionally omitted.

Omission of plural marker- Nouns are left unmarked for plurality.

Second Language Acquisition

Second language versus foreign language

Acquisition versus learning

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