Bahamian English is a variety of English spoken in the Bahamas and by Bahamian diasporas. The standard for official use and education is British-based.
The Bahamian accent is non-rhotic.
The realization of vowels in the Bahamian English. The vowels below are named by the lexical set they belong to:
The Kit vowel: The same as in American English, the default [ɪ].
The Dress vowel: The vowel is [ɛ].
The Trap vowel: This vowel is mostly [a] or [æ].
The Lot vowel: As mostly of the US, this vowel is usually [ɑ].
The Strut vowel: It is the same as in the US English, [ʌ].
The Foot vowel: It is [ʊ].
The Fleece vowel: It's [i] or a diphthong [ɪi].
The Face diphthong: It's generally [eɪ] or [ɛɪ].
The Palm vowel: It is mostly [ɑ].
The Thought vowel: The vowel is [ɔ].
The Goat diphthong: It's generally [ɵʊ] or [oʊ].
The Near diphthong: It's [eə] or [iə].
The Square diphthong: It's [eə].
The Start vowel: It's [ɑː].
The North diphthong: usually [ɔə].
The Force diphthong: usually [oə].
The Cure diphthong: usually [uə].
The Bath vowel: This vowel is mostly [a] or [æ].
The Cloth vowel: It is mostly [ɔ].
The Nurse vowel: It varies among [ə], [ɜ] and [ɜi].
The Goose vowel: It's mostly [ʉː].
The Price/Prize Dithphong: It's generally [ɑɪ].
The Choice diphthong: It's [oɪ] or [ɑɪ].
The Mouth diphthong: It varies among [ao], [aɵ] [aɛ] and [ɑə].
The happY vowel: It is pretty much the kit vowel: [ɪ].
The lettEr-horsEs-commA vowel is [ə] (schwa).
There's poor distinction between the [v] and [w] sounds in Bahamian English. The contrast is often neutralized or merged into [v], [b] or [β], so village sounds like [wɪlɪdʒ], [vɪlɪdʒ] or [βɪlɪdʒ]. This also happens in the Vincentian, Bermudian and other Caribbean Englishes.
Dental fricatives are usually changed to alveolar plosives (th-stopping):
Voiced th becomes /d/, e.g. "That" turns into "dat"; "Those" > "Dose"; "There" > "Dere"; "They" > "Dey".
Unvoiced th becomes /t/, e.g. "Thanks" becomes "tanks"; "Throw" > "Trow"; "Three" > "Tree".
