A Variationist Approach to Subject–Aux Question Inversion in Bajan and Other Caribbean Creole Englishes, AAVE and Appalachian

Our quantitative, variationist (Rbrul) analyses of subject-auxiliary inversion in question formation across three Caribbean creole Englishes (Guyanese, Jamaican, and Bajan, the mesolectal creole English of Barbados) and two North American vernacular Englishes (AAVE and Appalachian) combine with prior comparable (Varbrul) analyses of this variable in Samaná and African Nova Scotia English to illustrate the patterning of its variable constraints. Previously, canonical descriptions held that English-based creoles differ from standard and metropolitan colloquial Englishes by forming questions with rising intonation alone (e.g., Guyanese: Jaan de hoom “John is at home”), without subject-auxiliary inversion (Is John at home?). In practice, however, we find considerable, and substantially similar, constraint-based variation across the varieties studied, with YES/NO questions and auxiliary do favoring non-inversion. These and other cross-varietal similarities are significant for understanding this variable but suggest that question formation may not be fruitful for investigating the question of prior creolization in AAVE.