Turks and Caicos Creole

{{Short description|English-based creole of Turks and Caicos}}

{{refimprove|date=February 2017}}

File:Turks & Caicos National Museum.jpg

{{Infobox language

|name=Turks and Caicos Creole

|states=Turks and Caicos Islands

|speakers={{sigfig|34,400|2}}

|date=2019

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Creole

|fam1=English Creole

|fam2=Atlantic

|fam3=Western

|iso3=tch

|glotto=turk1310

|glottorefname=Turks And Caicos Creole English

|lingua=52-ABB-ao

}}

Turks and Caicos Creole, or Caicosian Creole, is an English-based creole spoken in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a West Indian British overseas territory in the Lucayan Archipelago.

The Turks and Caicos Island Creole variety has not been thoroughly studied but is a dialect of Bahamian Creole. It is also related to Bermudian Creole as the two are reportedly highly mutually intelligible. As of 1995, the number of speakers of Turks and Caicos Islands Creole was thought to be around 10,700, although decreasing and endangered.Ethnologue report for [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=tch Turks and Caicos Creole English] It seems to be shifting to a variety form of Caribbean English, as Turks and Caicos Islands Creole does not have an official status. The use of African sounds and words in Caicosian Creole is similar to Gullah Geechee in South Carolina and Georgia, resembling elements of West African languages in Senegal and Sierra Leone. This is due to enslaved Africans brought to the island form South Carolina and Georgia between 1720–1750.{{Cite journal |last=Klein |first=Thomas B. |date=2011-03-31 |title=African Sounds in Gullah Geechee and on Middle Caicos |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.5816/blackscholar.41.1.0022 |journal=The Black Scholar |language=en |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=22–31 |doi=10.5816/blackscholar.41.1.0022 |issn=0006-4246|url-access=subscription }}{{Citation |last=Aceto |first=Michael |title=Eastern Caribbean English-derived language varieties: phonology |date=2008-12-19 |work=Eastern Caribbean English-derived language varieties: phonology |pages=481–500 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110197181-033/html |access-date=2024-10-06 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110197181-033 |isbn=978-3-11-019718-1|url-access=subscription }}Cawley, Charles (2015). ″Colonies in Conflict: The History of the British Overseas Territories.″ Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 321 - 322.

Turks and Caicos Island Creole is also influenced by Jamaican Patwah—and shares many of the same words such as Aks (Ask), Dis (This), Gyal (Girl), and Mosi (Must be)Cassidy, F. G., Le Page, R. B. (2007). Dictionary of Jamaican English. (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 253, 305.—due to the fact that the Turks and Caicos Islands were formally a part of Jamaica for over 114 years (1848–1962), and share a common heritage with Jamaica.Lucas, C. P. (1905). ″A Historical Geography of the British Colonies.″ Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 134.Cawley, Charles (2015). ″Colonies in Conflict: The History of the British Overseas Territories.″ Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 323 - 326.Keegan, William F., Hofman, Corinne L. (2017). ″The Caribbean before Columbus.″ Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 151 - 195. Bermudian Creole has impacted Caicosian Creole because the islands were initially settled by Bermudian salt-rakers following British colonization, and were a de facto part of Bermuda for over 126 years (1673 - 1799).{{cite web |title=Gold Bermudians - The Unheard Voice of Mary Prince |publisher=Dr. Dana Selassie |work=In Her Words - The Unheard Voice of Mary Prince |date=2024 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfKfTqwlpOk |access-date=2024-08-07}}Cawley, Charles (2015). ″Colonies in Conflict: The History of the British Overseas Territories.″ Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 315 - 320. As of (2019) the number of speakers of Caicosian Creole is approximately 34,000.Ethnologue report for [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=tch Turks and Caicos Creole English]{{Cite web |url=https://www.gov.tc/stats/ |title=Statistics Department | Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands |website=www.gov.tc |access-date=2024-03-05 |archive-date=27 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227182013/https://www.gov.tc/stats/ |url-status=live }}