AH YA MI BORN

"We are all one in Antigua"

When visitors travel around Antigua and eavesdrop on the locals speaking, they are sometimes puzzled as to the melodic language they are hearing – so similar to English, but yet so different. What they are hearing is the Creole language that is used in nearly every aspect of life in Antigua.

Although English is the official language, most people use creole to talk amongst themselves. The sugar plantation colonies on Antigua and other Caribbean islands were pioneers of the European-based manufacturing operations which were vital to the industrial revolution.

It was in this environment that the worlds of Africa, the Americas and Europe collided. The old indigenous languages such as Kaliphuna died out at the same time as the indigenous people at the hands of the colonists and it was at this time that the new creole people and languages emerged from the interaction between the European – such as the British colonists and Portuguese servants on Antigua - and the West African enslaved people. Indeed, wherever you travel over the Caribbean, you will hear their own variety of Creole. And in fact, the syntactic structure of these languages is very similar, whether they are the French-vocabulary creoles as spoken in Dominica and St Lucia, or in the Spanish/Portuguese creole spoken in Aruba and Curaçao or the English-lexicon creole of Antigua & Barbuda or Jamaica.

There is no doubt that the resemblance is rooted in the language of the West Indian slaves regardless of the nationality of their colonists. So, what are the characteristics of Antiguan creole? There is hardly a sentence without the use of pronouns, articles or adverbs (the, this, them they, their) and one of the best-known features of Creole English is the fact that sentences generally do not have verbs. Another curiosity is that in Antiguan creole, when the people use past tense, they use the word min to indicate past actions, for example: I min go means “I went”. Here are some other typical phrases:

Poun o fretment nu pay fo gill o debtment: Worrying does not improve a bad situation.

A word betta dan a wink fo a bline horse: Use the right motivation for each person

Moon run faas but day ketch im: Your actions and misdeeds will eventually have consequences.

A no wantin tongue mek cattle can’t talk: It’s sometimes wisest to keep one’s mouth shut.

Dutty water cool hot iron: Everything has its use.

Ah wha g’wan? or Wah u ah say?: What’s up?

Eh tase good or Dat dey bang good: It tastes good.

Me yah (literally “I am here” meaning “I’m still alive so I’m good.”): I’m doing well.