Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant illumination of Caribbean English
Review: Professor Allsop has been working on this volume for a long time, but for those with an interest in language, it was worth the wait.

There are two outstanding features to this dictionary. The first is the most obvious one: the etymology of words used in daily Caribbean life emphasises not just the culturally diverse origin of language in the region (indigeneous, European and African), but the capacity Caribbean people have displayed to come to terms through language with that diversity. The second thing is the wonderful contrast between the erudite and clinical definitions of the words, and the words themselves, which are alive with the musicalness that characterizes Caribbean English.