| Bequia English | |
|---|---|
| Region | Bequia |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
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| Part of a series on the |
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Bequia English is the local dialect ofEnglish spoken onBequia, an island inSaint Vincent and the Grenadines. It belongs to the group ofCaribbean English varieties.[1]
Word-initially /t/ and /d/ are dental. Word-final /t/ can be sometimes fully released and sometimes fully deleted, such as in but [bʌ] and about [əbaʷ]. Word-medially /t/ can occur as either a stop or glottal stop, henceafter is either [aftə] or [afʔə].Word-initially H is variably present. The fricatives are pronounced as dentals: 'think' [tɪŋk], 'there' [dɛ]. Nasal backing is common after back vowels: "Hamilton" sounds like [hamɪltɔŋ]. /l/ is normally light in all positions, the /r/ is a retroflex [ɹ] and rhoticity is variable. /str/ is pronounced as /ʃtr/: industry is [ɪndʌʃtri]. Final clusters may be devoiced (kids: [kɪts]) and final stops in clusters can be deleted (respect: [rispɛk]). There is restricted metathesis: words likeask,crisp andcrispy are pronounced as [æks], [krɪps], and [krɪpsi]; butmask is pronounced as [ma:s]./k/ and /g/ tend to be palatalized: Coast Guard [kʲo:s gʲa:d].[1][2]
The vowels inKit andDress are usually [ɪ] and [ɛ], and the vowel inKit is sometimes lowered to [ɛ] (miracle: [mɛɹəkl]). The vowel inTrap is either [a] or [æ]. TheFoot vowel is usually [ʊ], but sometimes [ɔ], and theLot vowel is usually [ɑ], but sometimes [a]. The vowel in Strut is normally [ʌ], but at times [ɔ] (cup: [kɔp]). The vowels inFleece and inGoose tend to occur as [i:] and [u:], and theFace andGoat vowels tend to occur as [e:] and [o:], but they can occasionally be [eə] and [oə]. TheBath vowel tends to occur as [a:], though [æ] can also be heard. TheCloth,Thought andPalm vowels tend to occur as [a].The diphthong inPrice is either [aɪ], [ɔɪ] or [əɪ], the diphthong inMouth is either [aʊ], [ɔʊ] or [əʊ]. TheChoice diphthong is usually [ɔɪ], but can be realized as [aɪ]. Hence, choice can be heard as [tʃaɪs] and price can be heard as [pɹɔɪs].TheNurse vowel is [ə], [ɜ]or [ɔ]; theNear vowels is usually [i:], but can be merged with theSquare vowel [e:]. TheStart vowel is either [a:] or [ɑ:], theCure vowel is [ɔ:], and theNorth andForce vowels are usually merged, thoughlord tends to sound like [la:d].[1][2][3]
According to Meer, Bequia English has limited vowel reduction and a high tendency toward syllable-timed stress pattern.[2]