Theme:Linguistic Аspects of Black English.
Contents
Introduction:………………………………………………………………...3
Chapter I.Historical Review of Black English……………………………...8
1. The Originof Black English………………………………………….…. 8
2. Developmentof Pidgin and Creole ……………………………………..12
Chapter II.Development of the U.S. Black English……………………….17
1. Differencesof Black English and Standard English,
BritishEnglish and British Black English…………………………………17
2. AfricanAmerican Vernacular English and its use in teaching process...24
Chapter III.Linguistic Aspects of Black English………………………….32
1. Phoneticpeculiarities …………………………………………………..32
2. Grammarpeculiarities………………………………………………....36
3. Lexicalpeculiarities……………………………………….……….…..49
Conclusion:………………………………………………………………54
Bibliography:………………………………………………………….…56
Introduction.
Topicality.
The topic ofBlack English is very actual in terms of sociolinguistics and languageinteraction development, in racial relations and ethnic cultures. Throughunderstanding Linguistic Aspects of Black English we can observe peculiaritiesof language development and culture of people.
Aim.
The aim ofthis work is to research the linguistic aspects of Black English language.
Objectives ofthe paper are:
— to analyzethe origin of Black English.
— to analyzethe development of Pidgin and Creole.
— to considerdifferences between Black English, Standard English,
British English,and British Black English.
— to investigatethe African American Vernacular English and its use in
teachingprocess.
- to researchthe phonetic peculiarities of B.E.
— toinvestigate the grammar peculiarities of B.E.
— to considerthe lexical peculiarities of B.E.
Black Englishis a social dialect of American English, originated and formed as a result oflanguage interaction in the process of historical development.
Thetopic of the diploma work is to study Black English as a sociolect of Americanvariant of English language, analyze its linguistics aspects, especially phonetic,grammatic, lexical formed in the process of historical development. Thehistoric development and linguistics characteristics make up the core contentof work. Black English is the communicative and social system, originallycreated at the intersection of three dimensions – social class, ethnic andterritorial
BlackEnglish is a term going back to 1969. It is used almost exclusively as the namefor a dialect of American English spoken by many black Americans.
BlackEnglish is a variety of English, spoken in America and it is the subject ofmany controversies, the problem being that of whether considering it alanguage, a dialect or simply a slang talk. This language variety, also known aEbonics, is nearly as old as Standard American English, but it has often beenmisinterpreted as defective, it has never been standardized and has always hadlower status compared to Standard American English.
Fromthe 1960’s to the present, African American English has increasingly becomealso acceptable term for Black English, and the corresponding official namefor the language variety used by Africans Americans is thus African AmericanEnglish or African American Vernacular English (AAVE).(15,65)
BlackEnglish Vernacular (BEV) as coined by William Labov in 1972 defines the varietyAmerican English spoken by Black People. Its pronunciation is in some respectscommon to Southern American English, which is spoken by many African Americansin the United States and by many non-African American.
Ebonicsis a recent and controversial neologism, coined by Robert L. Williams during a1973 conference in St. Louis, Missouri, “cognitive and Language Development ofthe Black Child”. It is a blend of ebony (a synonym for black that lacks itspejorative connotations) and phonics (pertaining to speech sounds) and bydefinition it refers specifically to an African-language-based Creole (from anearlier pidgin) that has been relexified by borrowing from English, resultingin what African Americans now speak in the United States.(34,54)
BlackEnglish is complex, controversial, and only partly understood. Records of theearly speech forms are sparse. It is unclear, how much influence black speechhas had on the pronunciation of southern whites; according to some linguists,generation of close contact resulted in the families of the slaves ownerspicking up some of the speech habits of their servants, which graduallydeveloped into the distinctive southern ‘drawl’. Slave labor in the south gavebirth to diverse linguistic norms; former indentured servants from all parts ofthe British Isles, who often became overseers on plantations, variouslyinfluenced the foundation of Black English. First the industrial revolutionthen the Civil War disrupted slavery and promoted African-American migrationwithin the U.S., s a result of which slave dialects were transplanted fromSouthern plantation to the factories of the North and Midwest. There was awidespread exodus to the industrial cities of the northern states, and blackculture became known throughout the country for its music and dance.
Manyhistorical events have had an effect on Black English. One of this was theearly use of English-based pidgins and creoles among slave populations, as almostall Africans originally were brought to the United States as slaves. Pidgin isa variety of a language which developed for some practical purpose, such astrading, among groups of people who did not know each other’s language. Creoleis a pidgin which has become the first language of a social community. (17,124)
BlackEnglish was investigated in the USA by D. Crystal (“The Cambridge Encyclopediaof Language ”,” English Language”), by C. Baugh and T.Cable (“History of the EnglishLanguage”), in Russia by R.V. Reznic, T.S. Sookina, (“A History of The EnglishLanguage”), by A.D. Schweitzer (“The Social Differentiation of English in TheUSA.”), in Kazakhstan by F.S.Duisebayeva (“ Linguistics Aspects of BlackEnglish”) but there are no monographic research of B.E. in our country. ( 12,8,9,13,1,10)
Theoreticalbase of research are comprised by the works of D.Crystal, C.Baugh and T.Cable,A.D.Schweitzer, F.S. Duisebayeva and etc.
Theoreticalsignificance.
Theinvestigation of Black English Language and its linguistic aspects contributefor a further development of sociolinguistics theory, American studies etc.
The practicalsignificance.
This materialcan be used as teaching manual in the process of teaching English Language, Lexicology,History of the English language, Area studies.
Methods ofresearch.
The followingmethods are used in the paper: comparative, descriptive, analytical.
The structureof work.
The diplomawork consists of an introduction, three chapters, conclusion and bibliography.
Theintroduction covers topicality, aim, objectives, and theoretical base ofresearch, theoretical significance, the practical significance, and methods ofresearch and the structure of work.
Chapter I. Developmentof Black English presents historical review of Black English, analyses of theorigin of Black English, the development of Pidgin and Creole.
Chapter II.Development of the U.S. Black English considers differences of Black Englishand Standard English, British English and British Black English, A.A.V.E. andits use in teaching process.
Chapter III.Linguistic aspects of B.E analyses the phonetic, grammar, lexical peculiaritiesof B.E.
Conclusionpresent the results of the investigation.
Bibliographycovers 39 units of materials, used in the diploma paper.
ChapterI. Historical review of B.E.
1. The Origin of Black English.
Accordingto J.L. Dillard some 80% of black Americans speak the Black English, and he andmany commentators stress its African origins. The history of Black English inthe United States is complex, controversial, and only partly understood. BlackEnglish is a term going back only to 1969. It is used almost exclusively as thename for a dialect for American English spoken by many black Americans. Recordsof the early speech forms are sparse. It is unclear, how much influence blackspeech has had on the pronunciation of southern whites; according to somelinguists, generation of close contact resulted in the families of the slavesowners picking up some of the speech habits of their servants, which graduallydeveloped into the distinctive southern ‘drawl’. (33,23)
From theearly 17-th century, ships from Europe traveled to the West African coast,where they exchanged cheap good for black slaves. The slaves were shipped inbarbarous conditions to the Caribbean islands and the American coast, wherethey were in tern exchanged for such commodities as sugar, rum, and molasses.The ships then returned to England, completing an ‘Atlantic triangle’ ofjourneys, and the process began again. The first 20 African slaves arrived inVirginia on a Dutch ship in 1619. Britain and the United States had outlawedthe slave trade by the American Revolution (1776) their numbers had grown tohalf a million, and there were over 4 million by the time slavery wasabolished, at the end of the United States Civil War (1865).
The policy ofthe slave-trades was to bring people of different language backgrounds togetherin the ships, to make it difficult for the groups to plot rebellion. The resultwas the growth of several pidgin forms of communication, and in particular apidgin between the slavers and the sailors, many of whom spoke English.
The blackslaves who were arriving in Jamestown, Va. In 1619. Manhattan Island in 1635and Massachusetts in 1638 have used the Afro- European varieties forcommunication among themselves. In 1692, justice Hathorne recorded Tituba, anAfrican slave from the island of Barbados in the British West Indies, speakingin the pidgin of the slaves. Tituba was quoted as saying “He tell me he God,”The words of the phrase are English, but the structure and grammar of thephrase are congruous with that pf the West African languages that Smithermanidentifies. (32, 8)
During theearly years of American settlement, a highly distinctive form of English wasemerging in the island of the West Indies and the Southern part of themainland, spoken by the incoming black population. The emergence of slave tradewas a consequence of the important of African slaves to work on the sugarplantations, a practice started by the Spanish in 1517.
Firstthe industrial revolution then the Civil War disrupted slavery and promotedAfrican-American migration within the U.S., s a result of which slave dialectswere transplanted from Southern plantation to the factories of the North andMidwest. Slave labor in the south gave birth to diverse linguistic norms;former indentured servants from all parts of the British Isles, who oftenbecame overseers on plantations, variously influenced the foundation of BlackEnglish. There was a widespread exodus to the industrial cities of the northernstates, and black culture became known throughout the country for its music anddance. (15, 36). Black English was born of slavery between the late XVI c.-early XVII c. and middle XIX c. and followed black migration from the southernstates to racially isolated ghettos throughout the United States.
Slave labor inthe south gave birth to diverse linguistic norms; former indentured servantsfrom all parts of the British Isles, who often became overseers on plantations,variously influenced the foundation of B.E.V. first the industrial revolutionthe Civil War disrupted slavery and promoted African American migration withinthe United States, as a result of which slave dialects were transplanted fromSouthern plantation to the factories of the North and Midwest. An artifact notof race but of a speech community, Black English originated as a pidgin (asimplified language used in a commercial context to facilitate communicationamong speakers of different languages) that the slaves coming from a variety oflanguage backgrounds used to communicate among themselves.
In the XVIIIcentury, more records of the speech of slaves and the representations of theirspeech were produced. In fact, J.L. Dillard claims that “By 1715 there clearlywas an African Pidgin English known on a worldwide scale. In 1744, an ad in TheNew York Evening Post read: “Ran away … a new African Fellow named Prince, hecan’t scarce speak a Word of English.” In 1760, an ad in the North CarolinaGazette read: “Ran away from the Subscriber, African Born, speaks bad English.In 1734, the Philadelphia American Weekly Mercury read: “Ran away …; he’sPennsylvanian born and speaks good English.” (33, 16)
Quotationsfrom Black English speakers became abundant in the records of Northern statesby about 1750, nearly half a century before the earliest records in theSouthern colonies were found in Charleston, S.C. (10, 1)
Blackcharacters made their way into show business in 1777 with the comical Trial ofAtticus before Justice Beau, for Rape. In this farcical production, «oneof our neighbor's,» says «Yes, Maser, he tell me that Atticus he wentto bus 'em one day, and a shilde cry, and so he let 'em alon». Much likeTituba's statement, the statements above use English vocabulary, yet thestructure and grammar of the statements well in keeping with that of the WestAfrican Languages.
Otherinformative evidence in tracing the development of Black English lies innewspaper ads reporting runaway slaves. In locating and identifying a runawayslave, the slaves' speech played an instrumental role. It is important toremember that the slave trade was not outlawed until 1808, and even then it wasnot strictly adhered to. Smitherman reports that «As late as 1858, over400 slaves were brought direct from Africa to Georgia». Consequently,there was a constant influx of Africans who spoke no English at all. Thisproduced a community of people with a broad array of mastery of Black Englishand even Standard English. (32, 84)
This is madeclear when we see the newspaper ads that reported runaway slaves. Thisstratification of language is vital in the development and the development of theperception of Black English, if it is remembered that not all Blacks wereslaves in Early America. Successful runaways were likely to be those whoattained a relative mastery of Standard English. The mastery of StandardEnglish would prove invaluable to a slave who had to travel a long distanceacross American soil to win his freedom. Further more, early Black writers,such as Frederick Douglass, wrote in the Standard English of his time. Amastery of Standard English was also beneficial in passing as a free Black. Ina very real and disturbing way, Black English became the language of slaveryand servitude. (35, 212)
During the Civilwar period, abolitionists made the speech of slaves know to all serious readersof that era. Writers such as Harriet Beecher Stowe and Thomas Halliburtonproduced many works that indicated their knowledge of the existence of BlackEnglish. While the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves were significanthistorical events, their impact was mitigated severely by the Jim Crow era.Although everyone labeled «Negro» by the Jim Crow laws did not speakBlack English, it is safe to assume that those Blacks who did speak BlackEnglish far outnumbered those who spoke Standard English.
2.Development of Pidgin and Creole.
In this partwe introduce pidgin languages and their characteristics. A pidgin is a systemof communication which has grown up among people who do not share a commonlanguage, but who want to talk to it other, for treading or other reasons. Thecharacteristic of a pidgin is that it is no one’s native language: it is asecond language for all its speakers. This is true of a pidgin whether it isstill in the process of formation or it has been around in a stable form forhundreds of years as West African Pidgin English has. However, it is possiblefor a pidgin to become a native language for some or all of its speakers.
Pidgins havebeen variously called ‘makeshift’, ‘marginal’, or ‘mixed’ language. They have alimited vocabulary, a reduced grammatical structure, and a much narrower rangeof functions, compared to the language which gave rise to them. They are thenative language of no-one, but they are nonetheless a main means ofcommunication for millions of people, and a major focus of interest those who studythe way languages change.
In many partsof the world pidgin languages are used routinely in such daily matters as newsbroadcasts, safety instructions, newspapers, and commercial advertising. Andthe more developed pidgin languages have been used for translations ofShakespeare and the bible. Pidgin grew up along the trade routes of the world-especially in those parts where the British, French and Dutch built up theirempires. (8, 36)
PidginEnglish’s are mainly to be found in to big families- one in the Atlantic, onein the Pacific. The Atlantic varieties developed in West Africa, and weretransported to the West Indies and America during the years of the slave trade.In Africa they are still widely used in the Gambia, Sierra Lione, Liberia,Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, and Cameroon. The Pacific varieties are found in widesweep across the south- western part of the ocean, from the coast of chine tothe northern part of Australia, in such part as Hawaii, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea.In the Americas, they are found, in a developed form, in most of its islandsand on the mainland, spoken largely by the black populations. Estimates very,but probably about sixty million people speak or understand one or other ofthese forms of English.
Pidgins oftenhave a very little life span. While the Americans were in Vietnam, a PidginEnglish grew up there, but it quickly disappeared when the troops left. Insimilar way, many pidgins which grew up for trading purposes have ceased toexist, because the countries which were in contact stopped trading with eachother. On the other hand, if a trading contact is very likely learn eachother’s language, and there will then be no reason for the continued use of thepidgin.
A verysignificant development then took place. People began to use the pidgin athome. As children were born into these families, the pidgin language becametheir mother tongue. When this happened, the status of the languagefundamentally altered, and it came to be used in a more flexible and creativeway.
The termCreole comes from Portuguese cariole, and originally meant a person of Europeandescent who had been born and brought up in a colonial territory. Later it cameto be applied to other people who were native of these areas and then to therind of language they spoke. Creoles are now classified as English based,French based, and so on- though the genetic relation ships of a Creole to itsdominant linguistic sector is never straightforward, as the Creole may displaythe influences of several contact languages in its sounds, vocabulary andstubby. (17, 22)
A Creole is apidgin language which has become the mother tongue of a community- a definitionwhich emphasizes that pidgins and Creole are two stages in a single processlinguistics development. First, within a community, increasing numbers ofpeople begin to use pidgin as their principle means of communication. As aconsequence their children hear it more than any other language, and graduallyit takes on the status of a mother tongue for them. Within a generation or two,native language use becomes consolidated and widespread. The result is aCreole, or “creolized” language.
Despite theexistence of many political and cultural differences, and then considerablegeographical distances separating some of the countries involved there arestriking similarities among the English based Creole languages of the world.This identity can bee seen at all levels of language structure, but is mostdramatic relation to grammar. It can be explained, according to the Creolehypothesis, as a consequence of the way this languages have developed out ofthe kind of Creole English used by the first black slaves in America and theCaribbean. (17, 36)
This languageit is thought was originally very different from English, as a result of itsmixed African linguistics background, but generation of contact with thedominant white English population have had an inevitable effect, drawing g itmuch closer to the standard variety. There are certainly many differencesbetween the various Caribbean creoles and between these and the varieties ofBlack English Vernacular used in the United States and the English basedCreoles of West Africa; but the overall impression is one of a family oflanguages closely related in structure and idiom.
The switchfrom language to Creole involves a major expansion in the structurallinguistics resources available — especially in vocabulary, grammar, and style,which now have to cope with the everyday demands made upon a mother tongue byits speakers. (18, 55)
The mainsource of conflicts is likely to be with the standard form of the language fromwhich it derives, and which it derives and with witch it usually coexists. Thestandard languages have the status which comes with social prestige, educationand wealth; the Creole has no such status its roots lying in a history ofsubservient and slavery. Inevitable, Creole speakers find themselves undergreat pressure to change their speech in the direction of the standard- aprocess known as decreolization.
Oneconsequence of this is the emergence of a continuum of several varieties ofCreole speech, at varying degrees of linguistics ‘distance’ from the standard-what has been called the ‘post- Creole continuum’ Another consequence is anaggressive reaction against the standard language on the part of Creolespeakers, who assert the superior status of their Creole, and the need torecognize the ethnic identity of their community. Such a reaction can lead to amarked change in speech habits, as the speakers focus on what they see to bethe ‘pure’ form of Creole- a process known as hyper- realization. (22, 248)
When a pidginbecomes a native language for some of its speakers, it said to become a Creole.This means that it is a language which has passed through a pidgin stage, andhas now become the language of a community. Children growing up in thatcommunity speak the Creole as their native language. Very often, of course,there are other languages spoken in the community as well. Some children whospeak the Creole may also speak other languages.
When a pidginbecomes a Creole, it may change its character somewhat. The differences aresubtle and difficult to study, and a great deal has been written on thissubject with little agreement being reached. However, we can say that wherethere are differences between the pidgin and the Creole, these will be relatedto the new functions which the Creole has taken on. It no longer serves just asa means of communication between adults with no other language in common; it isnow a language through which children experience the world, develop theirknowledge and mental capacities, and grow up.
Creolizedvarieties of English are very important throughout the Caribbean, and in thecountries to which Caribbean people have emigrated- notably Britain. BlackEnglish in the United States is also Creole in origin.
There is oftenconflict between the Creole and Standard English in these places. The Creolegives its speakers their linguistic, as an ethnic group. Standard English, on theother hand, gives them access to the rest of the English-speaking world. It isnot easy for governments to develop an acceptable language policy when suchfundamental issues are involved. Social and political circumstances vary somuch that no simple generalizations possible- except to emphasize the need forstandard English users to replace their traditional dismissive attitude towardsCreole speech with an informed awareness of its linguistics complexity as amajor variety of modern English. (25,485)
ChapterII. Development of the U.S. Black English.
1. Differencesof B.E. and Standard English, British English and British Black English.
Black Englishhas features unique to its subsystem as well as features of the general systemof English grammar. It has its own rules of grammar and phonology. One dominantcharacteristic is the amount of fluctuation in forms and constructions. Almostevery statement about Black English includes a qualification such as «mayoccur», «sometimes», «often» or «generally.»The same speaker will pronounce a plural ending on one occasion and on anotheroccasion will drop it. One sentence will have ain´t for the past negativeand the next didn´t or even ditn´t.
A devicecalled «sweet talk» also appears in Black English. This means thatnew forms are often created to fit a particular setting or situation. In therules of Standard English grammar «sweet talk» would be consideredbad English because of its ignorance of grammatical rules. In Black English«sweet talk» serves to establish a verbal superiority: he who mastersthe language can control the communication and will thus also control thepersonal or group relationships of the situation. It is easy to see theconnection between «sweet talk» and the language games often playedon street corners by black children or the «rap battles» which are apart of current popular culture.
Another deviceis known as «eye dialect». This refers to changing the spelling ofwords without changing their sound, in order to characterize a speaker. Forexample, «was» can be spelled «wuz», although both arepronounced the same. The «wuz» spelling characterizes one as thespeaker of a particular dialect, with its particular social connotations.
-British BlackEnglish.
In the1950s and 1960s people from the Caribbean migrated to Britain in relativelylarge numbers. Most of these settled in cities, especially in the large Englishcities, and in most of these communities people from Jamaica were more numerousthan people from other parts of the Caribbean. Although the Caribbean is madeup of many different islands and mainland territories, including many where anEnglish Creole is not spoken, British Black English is most similar to JamaicanCreole, because of the larger number of Jamaicans who settled in this country.
LintonKwesi Johnson is probably the best known poet in Britain who is currently usingCreole. His verse is spoken against a musical background (dubbing) anddistributed on records, tapes and CDs. The poem «Sonny's Lettah»,appeared in print in his anthology «Inglan' is a Bitch» (1980) andwas recorded on his album Forces of Victory. (34)
“Mama, a juscouldn't stan up an no dhu notin so mi juk one ina im eye an him started to crymi tump one ina him mouth an him started to shout mi kick one pon him shin anhim started to spin mi tump him pon him chin an him drop pon a bin an crash anDEAD. Mama more police man come down an beat mi to di groun' dem charge Jim fisus dem charge mi fi murder”
Now here isthe same passage written in a phonemic orthography devised by Le Page andCassidy for the Dictionary of Jamaican English (1980):
“Mama a joskudn stan op an no du notin so mi juk wan ina him ai an him staatid to krai mitomp wan ina him mout an him staatid tu shout mi kik wan pan him shin an himstaatid tu spin mi tomp him pan him chin an him drap pan a bin an krash an DED.Mama Muor pliisman kom doun an biit mi tu di groun dem chaaj Jim fi sos demchaaj mi fi morda.” (34)
People of Afro‑Caribbeandescent who have been born in Britain nearly always learn the local variety ofBritish English as their first language. Usually, they speak and understandCreole as well (though how well they know it varies from person to person) butuse it less often than British English. Especially in private, informalconversations, both British English and Creole may be used. When a speaker«switches» from one language variety to another in the course of thesame conversation ‑ sometimes even within one sentence ‑ this iscalled code switching. It is common behaviour among bilinguals of all kinds(though in some communities, it is frowned upon).
The followingis an extract from a conversation among some young women in London. Most of theconversation is in British English but the speaker B. switches twice intoCreole (underlined):
B it'sthat same guy that you go back to and have the
bestlife cause you know that guy you know [ what
C [ yeah
B toexpect you two can sit down and (.) sort out
Whereyou went wrong=
C = yeahthat's it, yeah
B an'you might end up marryin' that guy me know who
mewant marry a'ready! [softly] so, you know it's
just[ * * * [inaudible]
C [ * ** [inaudible] gonna marry
J yousee this is what I'm saying about Graham right,
Idon't really know but you know when you see
someoneand I tell you I did like Graham from the
Firsttime I saw him, I mean it does take time
gettin'to know the right person
B Let metell you now wiv every guy I've been out wiv,
it'sbeen a ‑ a whole heap o' mont's before I move
wivthe nex' one!
J Nextone, yeah!
The twoswitches to Creole by speaker B are both marked by a noticeable change in thepronunciation (not shown in the transcription), for example, «whole»is pronounced /h l/. In the «British English» parts, the speakershave fairly strong London accents (e.g. «with is pronounced» /w v/)but in the «Creole» parts, the phonemes and intonation patterns arepronounced as in Creole.
Linguists haveidentified many reasons for code switching. One persuasive theory is that insome bilingual communities, the language which has a longer association withthe community (in this case Creole, which has its origin in the Caribbean) isused as a sign of solidarity, to signal membership of a group and show closenessto other group members. Research has shown that in the Afro-Caribbeancommunity, Creole is often used to emphasise an important point (only ininformal, personal conversations). There is no «right» or«wrong» answer to the question of why a speaker switches at aparticular moment (usually they are not aware of switching). If you know anybilingual speakers, you might try recording them in conversation with otherbilinguals to see whether, when, and in what ways they code switch. (16. 37)
The following Creolecreative writing narrative was written by a London school pupil of Caribbeandescent.
“Bull,Babylon, the Wicked
One manin inJanuary me and my spars dem was coming from a club in Dalston. We didn't haveno donsi so we a walk go home. De night did cold and di gal dem wi did have widwe couldn't walk fast. Anyway we must have been walking for about fifteenminutes when dis car pull up, it was this youthman ah know and him woman. Wesee sey a mini cab him inna. Him sey «How far you ah go?”(30,335)
Me sey»Not far, you ketch we too late man”.
Anyway beforeme could close me mout de two gal dem jump inna de car, bout sey dem nah walkno more. Me an Trevor tell dem fi gwan. And de car pull way.
Next ting meknow me is about 50 yards from my yard and is the wicked dem just a come downinna dem can. At first me wanted fi run, but Trevor sey «run what»«After we no just kool». We don't have no weed or money pon us. Demcan't do notin. (30, 336)
Next ting weknow dem grab we up anna push we into dem car. Me and Trevor put up a strugglebut after a few licks we got pushed in. «Now then you two „Rastas“been ripping off mini cabs haven't you?” „We aren't “Rastas» andwe don't know what you are talking about". «Save all that until weget to the station Rastus my son». Den him get pon him radio, and tell thestation that him ketch the two responsible for that hold up of the mini cab.Trevor luk pon me I could see that he was worried.”
Thus we definethe differences between Creole and British English: