Like many Caribbean Creole languages, the Grenadian dialect is criminally under-researched. However, even more so when in comparison to the other Caribbean dialects, Grenada Creole English is generally forgotten. However, I was able to find a few sources pertaining to the Lexical and Phonological characteristics of the dialect.
Lexical Characteristics
The Grenada Creole English has borrowed many words from the various languages which have interacted with the island. There is an incredibly useful website called the "Dictionary of Grenadianisms", that is a community run archive which is aimed at documenting all of the distinctly Grenadian Creole words. All of these examples are taken directly from this website.
Arguably the most prominent source of borrowing came from French. Stemming from the one hundred year long occupation, there is an obvious overlap between the two languages. For example, the Creole word for "frog" is krapo, which came from the French crapaud.
There are also words taken directly from many Grenadian's African roots. For example, the word boli comes straight from African Wolof origins.
Many Grenadian citizens can trace their origins back to India as well. This means there is also a significant transfer between those cultures as well. For example,uhr'ni is an Indian word for the waist-length veil worn by women.
There are other languages where the Creole dialect has borrowed, for example the word hefe was absorbed from the Spanish word jefe. It has theorized this borrowing occurred through workers at the Panama Canal.
Also, here is a video showcasing some more of the exciting words which are unique to the Grenadian Creole English:
Phonological Characteristics
According to Jenkins (2015), Caribbean creole speakers only have twelve vowel sounds, while American English speakers have seventeen sounds and British English speakers have twenty (86). Jenkins (2015) continues, by describing Caribbean Creoles by indicating two more processes which are prevalent throughout the languages (86):
Simplification happens when consonant clusters are shrank. For example, 'friend' become 'fren'
Conflation happens when Caribbean creole speakers fuse two sounds into one. For example, 't' and 'th' are fused into one.
Also, according to Avram (2014), the 'k' and 'g' phonetic sounds, also known as the velar stops, are characterized by palatalized 'a' phonetic sounds in Grenadian Creole English. For example, 'carry' would be pronounced 'cyarry'. Also, 'garden' would be pronounced 'gyarden' (4).
Supplemental Findings
While I was listening to videos of various Grenadian Creole English speakers, I realized there were other linguistic characteristics which had not necessarily been researched in a Grenada specific context. To get around this, I began to look around for a second Caribbean Creole Language which could share similar traits with the Grenadian Creole. Eventually, I ended up choosing to explore the Vincentian Creole English. Since Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was also colonized by the French and then the British, the two countries share a very similar linguistic background. Also, the two islands are located only 65 miles apart, so they have been in close proximity forever! Much to our benefit, there has been much more successful academic research performed on St. Vincent. Hopefully this will help further not only the understanding of Grenadian Creole English, but of all Eastern Caribbean Creoles languages.
Vincentian Creole English
The flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Pronunciation
There are a few characteristics which have been found. According to Prescod (2013), the first is the almost complete avoidance of hard sounds at the end of words. Speakers will accomplish this by either changing the order of sounds (metathesis) or by dropping the last sound all together (Apocope).
Also, the Vincentian Creole English speakers have been found to replace the "-er" sound with "ah". For example, "never" would be pronounced "nevah". In listening to the speakers of Grenadian Creole English, this pronunciation feature is very prevalent on Grenada as well.
Prescod (2013) continued the exploration of Vincentian Creole, by realizing when a word ended with a "θ" sound, the speaker would automatically drop this sound and replace it with a "t" sound. For example, "with" would become "wit". This feature can be found in Creole languages through out the Caribbean.
Grammar
In regards to tense, the present tense is typically indicated in two ways. Either by using the modal "does" (for example, a speaker could say "Me does give") or by using the present participle ending in "-ing". The past tense is shown by the use of either the plural form of the modal "did", "been/('bin' in the creole)", or the past participle of the verb. The future is indicated by the use of the present participle of the verb "to go", so "going/('gine' in the creole)".