Virgin Islands Creole

Virgin Islands Creole is a linguistic variety spoken in the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. Its ISO code is cpe. The number of speakers of Virgin Islands Creole is below 100,000. Virgin Islands Creole does not have the status of an official language.

Virgin Islands Creole is not to be confused with Negerhollands, a Dutch-based creole that was once spoken in the Danish West Indies, now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Virgin Islands Creole came about when slaves in the Virgin Islands, who were unable to communicate with each other due to being taken from different regions of West Africa with different languages, created an English-based dialect with a West African-based sentence structure in order to communicate. This English-based dialect formed throughout the 18th and 19th century on St. Croix, as the Dutch-based Negerhollands (which was widely spoken on St. Thomas and St. John at the time) was dying out. British occupation of the Danish West Indies from 1801 to 1802 and 1807 to 1815, as well as the preference for English as a trade and business language in the busy port of Charlotte Amalie, helped establish the English-based creole over Negerhollands. By the end of the 19th century, the English-based dialect completely replaced Negerhollands (now a dead language) as the native dialect of the Virgin Islands. There was a small but continued use of Negerhollands well into the 20th century.

In one form or the other, Virgin Islands Creole still exists today as the native dialect of the Virgin Islands. The dialect is similar to other Anglophone Caribbean dialects in countries such as St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica.

Virgin Islands Creole-to-English translations

Phrases

• Wha you sayin – what's up
• Ya – here (St. Croix)
• Heh – here (St. Thomas)
• Cyan – cannot
• Safe – alright, or okay
• Wha pa' he/she/you deh? – Where is/are he/she/you?
• Whe' he/she/you deh? – Where is/are he/she/you?
• Me'en know – I don't know
• He/she ain deh deh – He/she isn't there
• I/he/she gone to come back – I/he/she left and am/is returning shortly
• I/he/she deh ya – I/he/she am/is here
• Come ya – come here (St. Croix)
• Come heh – come here (St. Thomas)
• I's – I am
• You's – you are
• Ayo – you all
• Deh – there
• Dem – them
• Dat – that
• Dah – that
• Ting – thing
• Tek – take
• Mek – make
• Wha – what
• Geh – get, or have
• Geh from ya – go away
• Ih – it, as in "ih real hot outside" (it is really hot outside)
• Ah – of, as in "I geh two ah dem" (I have two of them)
• Vex – upset (vex is also an English word, but it is used much more often in Virgin Islands Creole than in standard English)
• Tief – to steal
• Jook – to stab or poke
• Schupid – stupid
• Bus' off – to leave
• Cahn – marijuana
• Bun – to smoke, usually refers to smoking marijuana
• Wuk up – to dance (usually specific to calypso or soca music)
• Breeding – the state of being pregnant
• All ah we – all of us
• Cheese and bread – a remark of surprise
• Eh eh – a remark of surprise
• Mehson – literally "my son," commonly used at the beginning or ends of sentences, akin to the American English slang use of "oh, man!"
• De man – use is similar to "mehson."
• "Yuh check?" – asked at the end of a sentence, akin to saying "you know?"
• "Uh huh, pampa leh-leh" – a remark made by school children when another student has gotten in trouble
• Coo-coo – the act of defecation or its product, feces (commonly said by children)
• Rample – to mess up, as in "Don' rample up de bed I mek up, mehson!"
• Quelbe – official music of the Virgin Islands
• Quadrille – native dance of the Virgin Islands
• "Bahn ya" – literally "born here," a commonly used phrase in Virgin Islands society, used by some to determine whether someone is or is not a "native Virgin Islander." For example, someone might say "my parents are from Antigua, but I'm a Virgin Islander, because I bahn ya!"
• "Bam!" – said after someone has made a stupid joke. Its use is not as common in recent years.
• "Ah good!" – serves you right
• "For true?" – you serious?

Nouns

• Chil'ren – children
• Mudda – mother
• Fadda – father
• Gyul/gyal – girl
• Melee – gossip
• Gongolo – millipede
• Licks – spanking (a form of child discipline)
• Donkey years – many years
• Hass – horse
• Cyar – car
• Bana – a person's behind
• Jumbie – an evil spirit
• Mocko Jumbie or Moko Jumbie – a popular carnival figure who is a masked, costumed person on stilts who scares away evil spirits
• Pardna – a friend, companion or close associate
• Quat – a quarter

Profane words

• Antiman – a gay person
• Bud – penis
• Charlie – penis
• Skin-back charlie – circumcised penis
• Pokey – vagina
• Rass – ass
• Ram – euphemism for rass, not as vulgar
• Pump – to masturbate
• Muddascunt – literally the Virgin Islands creole prounciation of "mother's cunt," its use is akin to "motherfucker."
• Bull – to engage in sexual intercourse
• Bun rice – to pick one's underwear out from between their buttocks

Vowel pronunciation

The vowel pronunciation of Virgin Islands Creole differs from English because the "er" sound in English is pronounced as "ah" (for example: computer is pronounced "computah", and never is pronounced "nevah"). Also, like other Caribbean dialects, there is a simpler set of pronouns than in English, and conjugations occur less often. For example, the English phrase "I gave it to her" would translate to "I give it to she."

See also

• Bajan
• Caribbean English
• Bermudian English
• Jamaican Creole
• Saint Kitts Creole