Bahamian Creole

Bahamian Creole (BahC), also known as Bahamian dialect, Bahamian Creole English (BCE), or simply Bahamian, is an English-based creole language spoken in the Bahamas.

"Bahamian dialect", as it is commonly called in the Bahamas, suffers from limited research, possibly because it has long been assumed that it is simply a variety of English. One study, however, identified four distinct Bahamian varieties along a creole continuum ranging from more to less prestigious: acrolectal, upper-mesolectal, mid-mesolectal, and basilectal. The mid-mesolectal and basilectal varieties are referred to locally as Bahamian dialect. The basilectal variety is a creole.

Islands that were settled earlier, or that have a historically large Black Bahamian population, have a greater concentration of individuals exhibiting creole (or basilectal) speech, while other varieties are more common in Nassau.

Bahamian Creole English shares similar features with other English-based creoles, such as those of Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Saint Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, and the Virgin Islands. There is also a very significant link between Bahamian and the Gullah language of South Carolina, as many Bahamians are descendants of enslaved African peoples brought to the islands from the Gullah region after the American Revolution.