Usage of Bajan Dialect

Bajan dialect is used in informal situations, such as chatting with a friend or relative.

However, when speaking to a stranger e.g: a sales clerk or someone you have just

met, speaking dialect can come over as being rude.

More and more Barbadian poets, playwrights and singers, embrace our nations

language by using it in their songs, plays and poems. In fact, many comedies such as

Laff-it-Off are written in the Barbadian vernacular.

Some characteristics of Bajan dialect

Here are some noticeable traits of bajan dialect.

The tendency to drop endings off words (especially the "ng", "n't")

• The "th" is pronounced as a "d" when at the beginning of a word e.g: dem (them)

• "GH", "th" and "ft" at the end of the word is like "f". e.g: path "paf" laugh "laff"

• The tendency to join words together when speaking.

• To leave the verb "to be" out of sentences when we are speaking. e.g: I hay (I am here)  

Speech

Barbadians have the tendency to emphasize the "Rs" whereas the British and other

islands of the Caribbean do not.

We have the tendency of saying a word about 3 times in a row for emphasis. For

example, a typical Bajan would say "Dat watch look good good good!" meaning "that

watch looks so good!"

The interesting thing is that some of our words sound so much different from the

"standard" English ones that they might as well be another language! For example, a

typical Barbadian would hardly pronounce the word "Barbados" as "BAR BAY DOS". He

or she would say "BAR BAY DUS" or "BUH BAY DUS".

Words with different meanings

There are several English words which have completely different meanings in the

Bajan vernacular. For example, in Bajan dialect “malicious” means “inquisitive”.

Emphatic words

Barbadians use many emphatic words that cannot be translated. The most common

includes "you", "boy", "bozie", "denn", "hear?"

Below are some examples:

• "Dat fella look so good denn!" (That guy looks so good!)

• "Not me bozie, I'en doin da" (I am not doing that at all)

• "You, he so stupid!" (He is so stupid)

• "I gine call you lata, hear?" (I'll call you later, ok?)

• "Boy, outside hot as hell!" (My goodness, outside is so hot)