Grammatical Features of the Language

Double negatives

“Mi nah guh nowhere wid yuh”

Copula

This is a verb that links the subject and the predicate of a sentence/helping verbs

• Use of the article ‘a’

E.g. Marie a di pikni mada

• Use of ‘deh’

E.g. Marie deh oom

Zero copula

The emission of helping verbs from sentences such as “is,” “have,” “was”

E.g. “Some a dem big” instead of Some of them are big

Unmarked noun / Zero Plural Marking

Using the singular form of nouns to indicate their plural

E.g. “Four dog” or “The dog dem”

Serial Verbs

verbs are often used in series with ‘to’ or ‘and’

E.g. Reverse back or Run go tell him

Pluralisation

• Dem - Mary dem gaan out

• Plenty/nuff - Nuff orange inna di tree

• Ole iip - Ole iip a piiple did deh deh

Sentence focus

Highlighting an element of the sentence by placing it at the beginning

E.g. “Iz lie he lyin” or “A sleep yah sleep?”

Reduplication

repetition for emphasis

E.g. “It hot hot”

Indirect speech

conveys what someone said without using their exact words

• “Sey”/ “Seh” is used to indicate indirect speech:

  • “Jan tell mi sey/seh im buy wan new cyar”

Compound words

“neck-back”

Calques

words or phrases borrowed from one language and translated literally, word-for-word, into another

Unmarked verb as adjective

condense milk or fry chicken