Saban English

            Saban English is the local dialect of Caribbean English spoken on Saba, an island in the leeward chain of the Dutch Caribbean lesser Antilles. It is an old dialect dating back to the 1650s and has been classified as a decreolized form of Virgin Islands Creole English.

            There is poor distinction between the [v] and [w] sounds in Saban English. The contrast is often neutralized or merged into [v], [w] or [b]; so, village sounds like [wilid], [vilid], or [bilid].  Words like “ask” sound like [æks]. Nasal backing is common: “Town” sounds like [taun] and “ground” sounds like [graun]. Ain’t is frequently used in negations and can be used in the place of words like didn’t or haven’t. Saban English also makes extensive use of the expression “for to” as in the sentence: This is ready for to come ripe. A word such as hoist would sound more like heist in Saban English, and loud would sound more like load.

Examples:

“Here” is pronounced “hea,” “there “ as “dea,” “old” as “ow,” “wild” as “woil” and “butter” as “bata.” Then there is the habitual adding of the “s” at the end of words like “they’s all” and “you helps.” Saban speakers use a-prefixing, e.g. “There wasn’t much of a’nothing,” “You’s a dyin’ ” and “You was a’building.” Also, the conjugation of verbs, like “you was,” “you comes,” “these knifes was” and “he sell.” In Saban English “r” is pronounced more prominently than in St. Maarten where the “r” was swallowed like “Sint Matin” and “Canaval”.