Morphosyntactic variation in St. Maarten English(es)

St Maarten, the southern part of the eastern Caribbean island of St. Martin, is highly multilingual due to its history of colonization, foreign administration, and migration. While Dutch, the colonial language, is used in administration, English is the most common first language. Despite extensive studies on Caribbean Englishes and creoles, St. Maarten English remains underexplored. This article addresses this research gap and is a first step towards inquiring into the following research questions: What are the features of St. Maarten English? How is it different from or similar to other Caribbean Englishes/English-based creoles? To this end, we investigate two morphosyntactic features, namely, the realization of past tense and progressive marking, both of which have been reported to have local realizations in Eastern Caribbean Englishes/creoles. Data from sociolinguistic interviews with 62 St. Maarteners were analyzed for British/American English (BrE/AmE) and local or creole-like realizations. Initial findings suggest a mix of BrE/AmE, creole-like, and local variants, influenced by factors such as linguistic background, ethnicity, and time spent abroad. We finally discuss what these findings imply for the long-assumed dichotomy between varieties of English and their local realizations on the one hand and English-based creoles on the other.