Virgin Islands Creole does not have the status of an
official language. The language of government, education, and the media is
American English in the US Virgin Islands,
British English in the British Virgin Islands, both
Dutch and English on Saba, Sint Eustatius and the Dutch side of Saint Martin, and French on the French side of Saint Martin. Like most
Anglophone Caribbean islands, a
post-creole speech continuum exists, in which there are two extremes—standard English (known as the
acrolect) and the creole in its most distinct, or
raw, form (known as the
basilect). Due to the constant contact between standard English and Virgin Islands Creole in local society, there are many in-between speech varieties as well (known as
mesolects). Most native Virgin Islanders can easily manoeuvre this continuum depending on their mood, subject matter, or addressee. In recent decades, the basilect form of the creole has typically only been spoken by older islanders. Although no longer in common use among the younger population, it has been preserved in historical plays, folk songs and local literature. The variety spoken by middle-aged and younger Virgin Islanders today is of a mesolectal form that still retains numerous creole features but is slightly closer to standard English than the basilect older islanders speak. Virgin Islands Creole has different forms that vary by the speaker's age, as many words and expressions are known only by older islanders, while some relatively newer words and expressions are known only to younger islanders. The creole continues to undergo changes in a
post-creole environment. Its most modern mesolectal form mainly derives from traditional Virgin Islands Creole terms, idioms, proverbs and sentence structure, with influences from
African-American and
Jamaican idioms, due to the prevalence of African-American and Jamaican mainstream
pop culture in the Leeward Islands region. The variant of Virgin Islands Creole spoken on St. Croix, known as
Crucian, contains many Spanish-derived words due to St. Croix's large ethnic
Puerto Rican population. Many Crucians of Puerto Rican descent speak a
Spanglish-like
code switching of
Puerto Rican Spanish and the local Crucian dialect. In addition, due to long-standing historical and family ties between St. Croix and the nearby Puerto Rican islands of
Vieques and
Culebra, many Vieques and Culebra locals of Crucian descent also speak Crucian dialect. As the English creole is spoken in
Dutch St. Martin, and Spanish is the second most dominant language there after English and creole, Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics also speak Spanglish-like code switching of Puerto Rican and other Spanish dialects and local dialect of the island, along with Dutch and standard English. The same situation obtains in Saba and St. Eustatius; in the British Virgin Islands, a Spanglish-like code switching of Spanish and creole with British English is spoken. As in other Caribbean creoles, proverbs are prevalent in Virgin Islands Creole. But in 2004, a linguistic study group in cooperation with the
University of Puerto Rico’s Rio Piedras campus found that many old proverbs in the Crucian dialect, common among older generations, have faded away and are not widely known by young Crucians. Many Virgin Islanders who migrate to the United States often return with American-influenced speech patterns (colloquially known as
yankin') that influence their peer groups' speech. These changes, as well as the perception of many older Virgin Islanders that the dialect is undergoing
decreolization, have inspired debates about whether the dialect young Virgin Islanders speak today is in fact Virgin Islands Creole. Like most Caribbean creoles, the use of Virgin Islands Creole can vary depending on socioeconomic class. The middle and upper classes tend to speak it informally among friends and at home, but
code switch to Standard English in the professional sphere. The lower socioeconomic classes tend to use the dialect in almost every aspect of daily life. In the US Virgin Islands, there has been an underlying pressure on Virgin Islanders to discard their dialect due to Americanization since the 1960s. The majority of Virgin Islanders speak Virgin Islands Creole, but due to immigration from the rest of the Caribbean and the US, some Virgin Islands residents do not speak it. Most non-native longtime residents can understand spoken Virgin Islands Creole, whether or not they speak it. In local vernacular, Virgin Islands Creole is rarely called a creole, as locally, "creole" (as well as "patois") usually refers to the French-based creoles spoken by
St. Lucian,
Dominican and
Haitian immigrants. Instead, Virgin Islanders tend to refer to the dialect by their native island (i.e. "Crucian dialect", "Thomian dialect", "Tolian dialect", etc.) Like other Caribbean creoles, Virgin Islands Creole is generally unwritten. But local authors often write in the creole in colloquial literature, and young Virgin Islanders tend to write in it when communicating online. Because no standard spelling system exists in Virgin Islands Creole, those who attempt to write it use English orthography. The prevailing sentiment is that Virgin Islands Creole cannot be learned like a standard language, but only acquired through having spent one's formative years in the Virgin Islands. Attempts by Virgin Islands non-native residents to speak the dialect, even out of respect, are often met with disapproval. A notable exception applies to immigrants who cannot speak English upon arrival. For example, people from the Dominican Republic and Haiti, lacking fluency in English upon arrival, often learn Virgin Islands Creole before they master standard English. In nearby French St. Martin, some people from France and the French West Indies who lack fluency in English upon arrival in St. Martin learn the variety of St. Martin English the native population speaks. == Grammatical structure and pronunciation==