Trinidadian and Tobagonian English

Trinidadian English was initially based on a standard of British English, including having a non-rhotic accent.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} In the Americas, TE now uses many Americanisms, including apartment and trunk (of a car).{{cn|date=November 2024}} It is understandable by speakers of international standard English, although it uses a number of terms that are unique to it (perhaps coming from Trinidadian Creole), such as "to lime," meaning "to hang out."

Speech in Trinidad (and, to some degree, in Tobago) may vary by location and circumstance and is often remarked for its "sing-song" (i.e., a rising and falling inflection) intonation. While this may be true, it is not fully clear what prosodic aspects results in this lay reaction from listeners, but it is suggested that both phonological and phonetic characteristics of Trinidadian English and Trinidadian Creole may play a role. Phonologically, Trinidadian English is said to have a high frequency of intonation such as phrase final rises in declarative utterances. Phonetically, the degree of pitch variation may also contribute to this "sing song" perception of the language variety.{{Cite journal |last1=Meer |first1=Philipp |last2=Fuchs |first2=Robert |date=2021-03-19 |title=The Trini Sing-Song: Sociophonetic variation in Trinidadian English prosody and differences to other varieties |journal=Language and Speech |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=923–957 |doi=10.1177/0023830921998404 |pmid=33736507 |pmc=9669731 |s2cid=232303780 |issn=0023-8309}}

• Regional accents of English speakers

{{Reflist}}

• Mendes, John (1986). Cote ce Cote la: Trinidad & Tobago Dictionary. Arima, Trinidad.
• Solomon, Denis. The Speech of Trinidad: A Reference Grammar ({{ISBN|9766200289}}). Port-of-Spain: UWI School of Continuing Studies, 1993.
• James, Winford, 2001, [http://www.triniview.com/winford/tntenglish.htm Trinidad and Tobago Standard English?].
• James, Winford, 2003, [http://www.trinicenter.com/winford/2003/May/112003.htm Doing our own thing with English I].
• James, Winford, 2003, [http://www.trinicenter.com/winford/2003/Aug/ Doing our own thing with English II].
• James, Winford, 2004, [http://www.trinicenter.com/winford/2004/Jul/18.htm What kind of question is this?].
• James, Winford, 2004, [http://www.trinicenter.com/winford/2004/Aug/08.htm What kind of question is this? Pt2].

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071123064705/http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/english31.html A Trinidadian accent]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070218032241/http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/pace/3-publications.htm Discussion of a paper by Lise Winer]
• [http://www.nyu.edu/classes/blake.map2001/trinidad.html An Ethnolinguistic Study of the Trinidadian Creole community in Flatbush, Brooklyn] by Keisha T. Lindsay and Justine Bolusi
• [http://www.scl-online.net/FAQS/index.htm Frequently Asked Questions on Caribbean Language] by the Society for Caribbean Linguistics
• [http://www.wiwords.com/ Wiwords] A cross-referencing dictionary of West Indian words with a large number of Trinidadian terms
• [http://www.unb.br/il/liv/crioul/textos/ferreira.htm The Sociolinguistic Situation of Trinidad and Tobago]. 1997.
• [http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ190650&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&accno=EJ190650 Phonological Hypercorrection in the Process of Decreolization--the Case of Trinidadian English].

{{English dialects by continent}}

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Category:Languages of Trinidad and Tobago

Category:Caribbean English

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