Dialect interferance in West Indian children

ABSTRACT

West Indian children were found to be influenced by Creole lexis, syntax, morphology and phonology, even when they had been born in Britain. Although Caribbean-born West Indians showed a higher incidence of Creole interferance on a small number of features, in most cases their performance could not be distinguised from that of their British-born peers. A highly significant correlation was established between extent of Creole interference and performance on comprehension tasks, which suggests very strongly that Creole affects the efficiency of understanding of British English (AU)