Introduction

This article examines the grammatical features of Kokoy, a creole or restructured variety of English spoken on the island of Dominica in the eastern Caribbean. It is part of an ongoing project to document neglected or undocumented English-derived languages of the Caribbean via fieldwork (see Aceto and Williams 2003; see Aceto 2002a for a complete list of undescribed and underdescribed languages of the anglophone Americas). There is no published research focusing on Kokoy and references to the existence of this language variety are sparse. In fact, I only encountered my first reference to this language when editing Aceto and Williams (2003). Bryan and Burnette (2003) focused on language usage on the island of Dominica, and one of the languages mentioned was Kokoy. As a fieldworker interested in undescribed languages, this reference caught my eye and, on the basis of a generous faculty grant from my institution and help offered by Rosalind Burnette, I was able to carry out fieldwork in Kokoy-speaking locations for a few weeks in the summer of 2002. Subsequently, I have encountered two further references in the published literature by Christie (1990, 1994) referring to Kokoy or Cocoy (as it is sometimes spelled).

Dominica, an island in the eastern Caribbean situated between Guadeloupe and Martinique and sharing a partial francophone history, reveals at least three European-language-derived varieties.