REWRITE for previous article: I am trying to clean up the previous article...that one needed a lot of help!!

• Based on the definitions of the terms "pidgins" and "creoles",

present-day English-based Caribbean creoles(that spoken in the English-speaking Caribbean islands)most likely started as pidgins in a culture contact situation where Europeans were the owners of plantations in the West Indies and Africans were the slave force some three to four hundred years ago.

 With persistent use, these pidgins did not disappear but evolved over time and have developed into creoles with each island or territory having its own distinctive dialect. These linguistic developments are similar where the Dutch and French were the owners of "colonies". The creole languages are "of the folk" or "of the people" and are mainly used in spoken communication situations. The creoles spoken in the Englsh-speaking Caribbean islands differ from territory to territory. So that a Trinidadian may not understand the dialect spoken in Jamaica because of the "distinctive features" of the Jamaican creole. *The vocabulary in the case of the English-based creoles is basically English, but the grammar of the creoles differ sharply from that of English in terms of the use of tenses, plurals, pronouns,even the manner in which questions are asked and other features. In order to appreciate the differences one should look at studies and compare scripts that creole linguists have compiled. 

 *Many creole linguists (e.g.) Prof. Dennis Craig and others have studied the structures and social factors involved in the use of the Caribbean Creole Languages. The work of these scholars have been responsible for "lifting up" the "low" status that creoles had in many of the islands, even though it is the language of spontaneity. There is also a Dictionary of Caribbean English by Dr. Richard Allsopp. Still creole remains basically an oral language with an "unstable orthography". Even its use in formal education education is limited, since "International English" is the prized goal of all students. It is the language of education and formal situations.