Falkland Islands English

Variety of the English language

Falkland Islands English

Native to| United Kingdom
Region| Falkland Islands
Ethnicity| Falkland islanders

Native speakers

| 1,700

Language family

Indo-European

* Germanic
* West Germanic
* North Sea Germanic
* Anglo-Frisian
* Anglic
* English
* Falkland Islands English

Early forms

Old English

* Middle English
* 19th century British English

Language codes
ISO 639-3| –
Glottolog| None
IETF| `en-FK`
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
A "Camp" settlement. Map of the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands English is the dialect of the English language spoken in the Falkland Islands. Though it is mainly British in character, as a result of the remoteness of the islands, the small population has developed and retains its own accent and dialect, which persists despite many immigrants from the United Kingdom in recent years. In rural areas (i.e. anywhere outside Stanley), known as 'Camp' (from Spanish campo or 'countryside'),[1] the Falkland accent tends to be stronger. The dialect has resemblances to Australian, New Zealand, West Country and Norfolk dialects of English, as well as Lowland Scots.

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Two notable Falkland Island terms are 'kelper' meaning a Falkland Islander, from the kelp surrounding the islands (sometimes used pejoratively in Argentina),[2] and 'smoko', for a smoking break (as in Australia and New Zealand).

The word 'yomp' was used by the British armed forces during the Falklands War but is passing out of usage.

In recent years, a substantial Saint Helenian population has arrived, mainly to do low-paid work, and they too have a distinct form of English.

## Settlement history

[edit]

The Falkland Islands, a cluster of 780 islands, that are 300 miles from the eastern coast of Argentina, had no indigenous population when the British arrived to explore the islands in 1690.[3] Continuous settlement dates only to 1833, when British forces removed 26 Argentinian soldiers from the islands and claimed the islands for the British.[3] In 1845, the capital town of Stanley, located on East Falkland, was established.[4] Argentina also has a claim to the islands, and in 1982, Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands. The British moved to defend the British control of the islands, with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher calling the islanders "of British tradition and stock".[5] In under three months, nearly a thousand people were killed, and over 2,000 were injured.[6] British-Argentinian tension regarding claim to the islands still exists, but the identity of the island overall is tremendously British, as shown when over 99.8% of islanders voted to remain under British sovereignty in a referendum.[7] This history has implications for the linguistic features of Falkland Islands English, which is similar to British English but distinct in some vocabulary and phonology.

## Phonetics and phonology

[edit]

English in the Falklands is non-rhotic.[8] This is consistent with other varieties of English in the southern hemisphere.[8] One major difference between the English of the Falklands and other Englishes of the southern hemisphere is the onset centralisation of /aɪ/, in which nice is pronounced [nəɪs].[8]

## Vocabulary

[edit]

The Falklands English vernacular has a fair number of borrowed Spanish words (often modified or corrupted). These include colloquialisms such as 'che', also encountered in Rioplatense Spanish from Argentina, and 'poocha', equivalent to 'wow'[9] or 'damn',[10] (from pucha, a euphemism for puta or 'whore').[11]

Spanish borrowings are particularly numerous, indeed dominant in the local horse-related terminology. For instance, the Islanders use 'alizan', 'colorao', 'negro', 'blanco', 'gotiao', 'picasso', 'sarco', 'rabincana' etc. for certain horse colours and looks, or 'bosal', 'cabresta', 'bastos', 'cinch', 'conjinilla', 'meletas', 'tientas', 'manares' etc. for various items of horse gear.[12]

Unlike the older English, French and Spanish place names given by mariners, which refer mainly to islands, rocks, bays, coves, and capes (points), the post-1833 Spanish names usually identify inland geographical locations and features, reflecting the new practical necessity for orientation, land delimitation and management in the cattle and sheep farming. Among the typical such names or descriptive and generic parts of names are 'Rincon Grande', 'Ceritos', 'Campito', 'Cantera', 'Terra Motas', 'Malo River', 'Brasse Mar', 'Dos Lomas', 'Torcida Point', 'Pioja Point', 'Estancia', 'Oroqueta', 'Piedra Sola', 'Laguna Seco', 'Manada', etc.[12]

## See also

[edit]

* Commonwealth English

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Stay with us » Camping: Falkland Islands Tourist Board
2. ^ 'Second Class Citizens: The Argentine View of the Falkland Islanders' Archived 2015-04-10 at the Wayback Machine, P.J. Pepper, Falkland Islands Newsletter, November 1992
3. ^ a b Pereltsvaig, Asya (6 December 2010). "Falkland Islands English". Languages of the World. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
4. ^ "Our History". Falkland Islands Government. Archived from the original on 20 December 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
5. ^ "BBC NEWS | in Depth". BBC News. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
6. ^ Taylor, Alan. "30 Years Since the Falklands War - the Atlantic". The Atlantic. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
7. ^ Tweedie, Neil (12 March 2013). "Falkland islands referendum: who were the three 'No' votes?". Retrieved 24 March 2018.
8. ^ a b c Hickey, Raymond (2014). A Dictionary of Varieties of English (1 ed.). p. 119\. doi:10.1002/9781118602607. ISBN 9781118602607.
9. ^ Are there places more British than the UK?, BBC News, 8 March 2013
10. ^ Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary: Spanish-English/English-Spanish
11. ^ El gaucho Martín Fierro, José Hernández Editorial Pampa, 1963, page 247
12. ^ a b Spruce, Joan. Corrals and Gauchos: Some of the people and places involved in the cattle industry. Falklands Conservation Publication. Bangor: Peregrine Publishing, 1992. 48 pp.

## External links

[edit]

* South Atlantic Ocean: Falkland Island English

* v
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Dialects and accents of Modern English by continent

Europe|

| Great
Britain|

| England|

| North|

* Cheshire
* Cumbria
* Barrow
* Lancashire
* Liverpool/Scouse
* Manchester
* Northumbria
* Pitmatic
* Sunderland
* Tyneside/Geordie
* Teesside
* Yorkshire

|

Midlands|

* East Midlands
* West Midlands
* Birmingham
* Black Country
* Stoke-on-Trent

South|

* East Anglia
* London & Thames Estuary
* Cockney
* Multicultural
* Received Pronunciation
* West Country
* Cornwall
* Dorset

Scotland|

* Glasgow
* Highlands

Wales|

* Abercraf
* Cardiff
* Gower
* Port Talbot

Ireland|

* Dublin
* South-West
* Ulster

* Channel Islands
* Gibraltar
* Isle of Man
* Malta

Americas|

| North
America|

| Canada|

* Aboriginal
* Atlantic
* Lunenburg
* Newfoundland
* Multicultural Toronto
* Ottawa Valley
* Quebec
* Standard Canadian

|

United
States|

* Midland
* New England
* Boston
* East
* Maine
* West
* New York City
* accent
* North
* Inland North
* North-Central
* Philadelphia
* Baltimore
* South
* accent
* Appalachia
* Chesapeake/Outer Banks
* New Orleans
* Older South
* Texas
* West
* California
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* Western Pennsylvania

Social and
ethno-cultural|

* African-American
* Vernacular
* American Indian
* Cajun
* Chicano
* General American
* Good American Speech
* Miami Latino
* New York Latino
* Northeastern elite
* Pennsylvania Dutch

Caribbean|

* Antigua and Barbuda
* The Bahamas
* Barbados
* Bequia
* Cayman Islands
* Bay Islands
* Jamaica
* Saba
* Samaná
* Trinidad and Tobago

* Bermuda
* Falkland Islands

Oceania|

| Australia|

* variation
* accent
* Aboriginal
* South
* Torres Strait
* West

|

* Fiji
* New Zealand
* accent
* Palau
* Solomon Islands

Africa|

* Cameroon
* The Gambia
* Ghana
* Kenya
* Liberia
* Malawi
* Namibia
* Nigeria
* Sierra Leone
* South Africa
* accent
* Cape Flats
* South Atlantic
* Uganda
* Zimbabwe

Asia|

| East Asia|

* Hong Kong

|

South Asia|

* Bangladesh
* India
* regional and occupational
* Maldives
* Nepal
* Pakistan
* Sri Lanka

Southeast Asia|

* Brunei
* Cambodia
* Malaysia
* Myanmar
* Philippines
* Singapore
* Thailand

Antarctica|

* Antarctica

Related|

* English language
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* Broad and general accents
* Commonwealth
* Comparison of American and British English
* E-Prime
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* List of English-based pidgins
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* Plain
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* v
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Falkland Islands

Capital: Port Stanley

History|

* 1770 Falklands crisis
* 1833 British Reassertion
* Hope Place
* Port Egmont
* Puerto Soledad
* 1982 invasion
* Falklands War

Geography|

| Islands|

* Arch
* Bald
* Barclay
* Barren
* Beaver
* Beauchene
* Bird
* Bleaker
* Bobs
* Broken
* Burdwood Bank
* Carcass
* Dunbar
* Dyke
* East Falkland
* Lafonia
* East
* Eddystone Rock
* Elephant Cays
* Fox
* George
* Golding
* Great
* Hog
* Hummock
* Jason
* Keppel
* Kidney
* Lively
* Long
* New
* Passage
* Pebble
* Penn
* Quaker
* Rabbit
* Ruggles
* Sandy Bay
* Saunders
* Sea Dog
* Sea Lion
* Speedwell
* Split
* Staats
* Swan
* Tea
* Tyssen
* Weddell
* West Falkland
* West Point

|

Locations|

* Ajax Bay
* Bay of Harbours
* Bertha's Beach
* Bluff Cove
* Brenton Loch
* Bull Point
* Byron Heights
* Camp
* Cape Bougainville
* Cape Pembroke
* Chartres
* Chatham
* Circum Peak
* Darwin
* Douglas
* Dunnose Head
* Eagle Passage
* Falkland Sound
* Fitzroy
* Fox Bay
* French
* Goose Green
* Grantham Sound
* Green Patch
* Gull
* Hill Cove
* Hope Harbour
* Hornby Mountains
* Horse
* Hoste Inlet
* Johnson's Harbour
* Lafonia
* Loop
* Mount Adam
* Mount Alice
* Mount Maria
* Mount Usborne
* Mount Weddell
* New Haven
* New Year Cove
* North Arm
* Orqueta
* Pebble Island Settlement
* Pillar
* Pleasant Peak
* Port Albemarle
* Port Howard
* Port Louis
* Port Patterson
* Port San Carlos
* Port Stephens
* Quaker Harbour
* Race
* Rincon Grande
* Roy Cove
* Salvador
* San Carlos
* Seal Bay
* Smylie Channel
* Stanley
* Stanley Harbour
* Swan
* Teal Inlet
* Volunteer Point
* Walker Creek
* Weddell Point
* Weddell Settlement

Politics|

* Chief Executive
* Constitution
* Falkland Islands pound (currency)
* Government House
* Governor
* list
* Legislative Assembly
* Representative Office, London
* Sovereignty dispute

Military|

* Falkland Islands Defence Force
* Mare Harbour
* RAF Mount Pleasant
* 1312 Flight
* 1435 Flight
* RRH Mount Kent
* RRH Byron Heights
* RRH Mount Alice

Economy|

* Falkland Islands Company
* Falkland Islands Development Corporation
* Falkland Islands General Employees Union
* Falkland Landholdings Corporation
* Falklands Oil and Gas

Society|

* Education
* Falkland Islands Community School
* Falkland Islanders
* Origins
* Falklands Conservation
* Human rights
* LGBTQ
* Languages
* Falkland Islands English
* Law Enforcement
* Telecommunications
* Internet domain
* Transport
* Falkland Islands Government Air Service
* Mount Pleasant Airport
* Port Stanley Airport

Culture|

* Coat of arms
* Flag
* Motto
* Religion
* Anglican parish
* Christ Church Cathedral
* Roman Catholicism
* Scouting and Guiding

Sport|

* Commonwealth Games
* Cricket team
* Football team
* Rifle Association
* Rugby union

(*) Sixth-formers attend Peter Symonds College in England, and national diploma / NVQ students attend Chichester College in England

* v
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English-speaking world

English speaking countries

Further links

| Articles|

* English-speaking world
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* British Empire
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|

Lists|

* List of countries by English-speaking population
* List of countries where English is an official language

|  |

* Countries and territories where English is the national language or the native language of the majority

Africa|

* Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

Americas|

* Anguilla
* Antigua and Barbuda
* The Bahamas
* Barbados
* Belize
* Bermuda
* British Virgin Islands
* Canada
* Cayman Islands
* Dominica
* Falkland Islands
* Grenada
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* Jamaica
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* South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
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Europe|

* Guernsey
* Ireland
* Isle of Man
* Jersey
* United Kingdom

Oceania|

* Australia
* New Zealand
* Norfolk Island
* Pitcairn Islands

* Countries and territories where English is an official language, but not the majority first language

Africa|

* Botswana
* Cameroon
* Eswatini
* The Gambia
* Ghana
* Kenya
* Lesotho
* Liberia
* Malawi
* Mauritius
* Namibia
* Nigeria
* Rwanda
* Sierra Leone
* Somaliland
* South Africa
* South Sudan
* Sudan
* Tanzania
* Uganda
* Zambia
* Zimbabwe

Americas|

* Puerto Rico

Asia|

* Christmas Island
* Cocos (Keeling) Islands
* Hong Kong
* India
* Pakistan
* Philippines
* Singapore

Europe|

* Gibraltar
* Akrotiri and Dhekelia
* Malta

Oceania|

* American Samoa
* Cook Islands
* Fiji
* Guam
* Kiribati
* Marshall Islands
* Micronesia
* Nauru
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* Northern Mariana Islands
* Palau
* Papua New Guinea
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* Tokelau
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