Tense-Mood-Aspect (TMA) System
Feature:
Different TMA marking system
| Pattern | Example | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Unmarked Past | “Yesterday I walk to school” (walked) | Bickerton (1981); Holbrook (2001); Rickford (1987) |
| Anterior Marker (bin/did/en) | “She bin tell me” (had told) | Holbrook (2001); James & Youssef (2002) |
| Progressive Marker (a/de) | “Me a try” (I am trying) | Holbrook (2001) |
| Future/Irrealis Marker (go/gon) | “He go/gon buy one” (will buy) | Taylor (1971); Holbrook (2001) |
| Habitual Marker (does) | “She does walk to school” (regularly walks) “He does go to church every week” (goes to church every week) Note: “does” is unstressed and used with any person or number | Rickford (1987); James (1997); Nero (image example) |
Copula System
Feature:
Zero copula or copula variation
| Pattern | Example | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Zero copula | “She ∅ in the house” | Rickford (1987); Holm (2000); Hackert (2013); McWhorter (1997); Nero (image example) |
| Zero copula with adjectives | “He ∅ strong” (He is strong) | |
| Leveled copula | “I is a teacher” | |
| Leveled copula (de) | “She de home” |
Plural Marking
Feature:
Alternative plural marking strategies
| Pattern | Example | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Zero plural | “Two cat” | Le Page & Tabouret-Keller (1985); Holbrook (2001); Bailey (work referenced); Nero (image example) |
| Zero plural when quantity already indicated | “My father work two job” (jobs) | |
| Dem as plural marker | “The boy-dem” (the boys) | |
| Reduplication for emphasis | “plenty-plenty” |
Pronoun System
Feature:
Different pronoun forms
| Pattern | Example | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Subject/object pronoun merger | “Me see he” (I see him) | Holbrook (2001); James (1974); Rickford (1987) |
| Possessive variation | “She book” (her book) | |
| Reflexive with “self” | “heself” (himself) |
Negation Patterns
Feature:
Different negation structures
| Pattern | Example | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Preverbal negator (na/no) | “He na go” | Bickerton (1981); Escure (1981); James & Youssef (2002) |
| Multiple negation | “Nobody don’t know nothing” | |
| Ain’t/en’t for various negative forms |
Question Formation
Feature:
Different question structures
| Pattern | Example | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| No subject-auxiliary inversion | “Is Wat you eating?” (What are you eating?) |
Rickford & Melnick (2014); Le Page & Tabouret-Keller (1985) |
Possession
Feature:
Alternative possession marking
| Patterns | Examples | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Noun juxtaposition | “John book” (John’s book) | Kephart (1984, 2000); Holbrook (2001); Hackert (2013); Nero (image example) |
| Zero marking for possession | “Paul house” (Paul’s house) | |
| Own for emphasis | “The dog is she own” | |
| Fi/fu as possessive | “fi mi” (mine) |
Serial Verb Constructions
Feature:
Multiple verbs without conjunctions
| Patterns | Examples | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Give = “to/for” | “Bring give me” | Hancock (1986); Holm (1988, 2000); Winford (work cited in text) |
| Say = “that” | “Tell say she coming” | |
| Go = directional | “Run go home” |
Relative Clause Markers
Feature:
Different relativizers
| Patterns | Examples | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Use of “wha/wa” or zero relativizer | “The man wha come” or “The man ∅ come” | Rickford (1987); Holbrook (2001) |
Prepositions
Feature:
Different prepositional usage
| Patterns | Citation |
|---|---|
| “pon” for “on/at” | Taylor (1971); James & Youssef (2002); Holbrook (2001) |
| “a” for “to” | |
| “ina/eena” for “in” | |
| Null prepositions in some contexts |
Subject-Verb Agreement & Voice
Feature:
Zero inflection patterns
| Patterns | Examples | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Zero inflection for subject-verb agreement | “She tell me everything” (tells) | Nero (syntactic features image); Bickerton (1981) |
| Zero inflection for tense | “Yesterday, I wash the clothes” (washed) | |
| Zero use of passive structure | “Eggs selling today” (Eggs are being sold) |