English is the primary language in the Cayman Islands. However, one is most likely to notice that it is spoken with a unique lilt that is a little different from accents in other areas of the Caribbean. It's a reminder of the islands' earliest settlers namely the Welsh, Scottish, and English. English speakers who visit Cayman Islands always feel at home. English belongs to the West Germanic group of Germanic languages. It is an Indo-European language. Its alphabet is made up of the conventional A-Z.
According to statistics published in 2010, the proportion of English speakers in Cayman Islands is 90.9%. The other langugages are spoken with less people such as 4% Spanish speakers, 3.3% Filipino Speakers, and the rest (1.8%) speak other languages.
Some of the common Caymanian phrases include “Ah Wah” which is used at the end of a question. For instance one may ask,”You are going to school ah wah?” Another common phrase is “Boh boh” which mean a close friend. Women also use the word to describe their boyfriends or close male friends. The Cayman Islanders use the word “wutless” which means “worthless while “horse laugh” is an “uncontrollably loud burst of laughter.”
The British language is commonly spoken by the Caymanians with a Caymanian dialect. The language spoken by Caymanians’ is a mix of English, America Southern drawl, Scottish and Welsh being a British colony. Many of their spellings have traces of British in them. The locals also pronounce Cayman as “Kay-Man” and not the American pronunciation of “Kay-Min.” Jamaican distinctively accented English is also common among the islanders. Additionally, Spanish with Cuban and Central American dialect is also spoken by many Cayman Islanders.
This page was last modified on May 1st, 2018
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