| Virgin Islands Creole | |
|---|---|
| Netherlands Antilles Creole English | |
| Native to | British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Spanish Virgin Islands, Saba, Saint Martin, Sint Eustatius, and the Virgin Islands and SSS islands diaspora |
Native speakers | (76,000 cited 1980–2011)[1] |
English Creole
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | vic |
| Glottolog | virg1240 |
| Linguasphere | to -ape and 52-AAB-apg to api (SSS varieties) 52-AAB-apa to -ape and 52-AAB-apg to api (SSS varieties) |
Virgin Islands Creole, or Virgin Islands Creole English, is an English-based creole consisting of several varieties spoken in the Virgin Islands and the nearby SSS islands of Saba, Saint Martin and Sint Eustatius, where it is known as Saban English, Saint Martin English, and Statian English, respectively.[2]
The term "Virgin Islands Creole" is formal terminology used by scholars and academics, and rarely used in everyday speech. Informally, the creole is known as a dialect, as many locals perceive the creole as a dialect of English, not an English creole language.[3] But academic sociohistorical and linguistic research suggests that it is in fact an English creole language.[4]
Because there are several varieties of Virgin Islands Creole, it is also colloquially known by the specific island on which it is spoken: Crucian dialect, Thomian dialect, Tortolian dialect or Tolan dialect, Saban dialect, Saint Martin dialect, Statian dialect.