Datapoint San Andres Creole English/Expression of nominal plural meaning

Plural suffixes become a bit more frequent when moving towards the acrolect. Note that the basilect has certain fossilized English plural forms which function both as singular and plural, e.g. iaz 'ear, ears', shuuz 'shoe, shoes'. English stem changes have not been preserved.

Values

Plural word following the noun Frequency: 87.5%

Example 10-42:
Wen di pikniny dem hia dehn muma kom [...].
Wen
when
di
art.def
pikniny
child
dem
pl
hia
hear
dehn
3pl.poss
muma
mother
kom
come
[...].
[...]
When the children heard their mother coming [...].
Example 10-43:
Wi gat plenty problem.
Wi
1pl
gat
get
plenty
plenty
problem.
problem
We have a lot of problems.

Source: Bartens 2003: 31

Confidence:
Very certain

Plural suffix Frequency: 12.5%

Example 10-44:
Maskita fala man iaz.
Maskita
mosquito
fala
follow
man
man
iaz.
ear
Mosquito follows man's ears.
Example 10-41:
Ih haad fi poo pikniny go skuul.
Ih
3sg
haad
hard
fi
for
poo
poor
pikniny
child
go
go
skuul.
school
It is hard for poor children to go to school.

Source: Bartens 2003: 45

Example 10-45:
di tiichaz dem
di
art.def
tiicha-z
teacher-pl
dem
pl
the teachers
Confidence:
Very certain