English-based creole languages

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An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a creole language that was significantly influenced by the English language. Most English creoles were formed in British colonies, following the great expansion of British naval military power and trade in the 17th,18th and 19th centuries.

Notable examples

• Atlantic
  • Western
    • Jamaican Patois: Not to be confused with Jamaican Standard English, which is a dialect of English. Jamaican Patois (sometimes called Jamaican Creole) is an English-based creole language spoken in Jamaica. It represents a history of contact among many different types of speakers drawn from many ethnic, linguistic, and social backgrounds. Jamaican Patois is the dominant language in Jamaica and is gaining in prestige.^{[citation needed]} Jamaican Creole was introduced to Central America with the migration of plantation workers and is related to dialects very similar to each other including Bocas del Toro Creole in Panama and Limonese Creole & Colón Creole spoken in coastal Costa Rica and Panama, which Ethnologue considers as dialects of Jamaican Patois. [1].
      • Rastafarian vocabulary
    • Jamaican Maroon Spirit Possession Language
    • Belizean Kriol: Most speakers live in Belize City, but nearly everyone else in Belize is either a first- or second-language speaker of Kriol. It is the lingua franca in much of the country. Also spoken in USA. Reported to be very close to Mískito Coast, and Islander (San Andrés) creoles. Historically an extension of Mískito Coast Creole. Dahufra was a creole used in the 16th to 18th centuries. Jamaican Patois is different in orthography and grammar. Timber; agriculturalists; fishermen; industrial workers; construction industry; commerce; government, teachers [2].
    • Miskito Coastal Creole in Nicaragua
      • Rama Cay Creole.
    • Bay Islands Creole spoken in the Bay Islands Department off the coast of Honduras.
    • San Andrés–Providencia Creole in the Colombia-controlled archipelago off the coast of Nicaragua.
    • Cayman Creole spoken on the Cayman Islands.
  • Eastern
    • Northern
      • Afro-Seminole Creole
      • Bahamian Creole: is the vernacular language of the Bahamas
      • Turks and Caicos Creole is an English-based creole, widely spoken throughout in the Turks and Caicos Islands, with each island having a different variation.
      • Gullah: Gullah is an English-based creole spoken in the Sea Islands and the adjacent coastal regions of South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida.
      • Samaná English is spoken by about 8,000 people in the Samaná Peninsula, Dominican Republic, a mostly Spanish-speaking country. The speakers of Samaná English are the descendants descendants of ex-USA slaves who settled there in 1824. It is reported that there was a settlement of African slaves here in the early 1500s. The language is variously described a creole language, a dialect of English, or a linguistic entity fitting neither category. Samaná English is related to that of the Bahamian Creole language.^[1]
    • Southern
      • Virgin Islands Creole: Spoken in the Virgin Islands and ex–Netherlands Antilles.[3]
        • Crucian: Spoken on Saint Croix.
        • Saint Martin Creole: Spoken in Saba, Saint Eustatius, Saint Martin.
      • Northern Lesser Antillean Creole: Spoken on the Commonwealth islands between Guadeloupe and the Virgin Islands.[4]
        • Anguillan Creole
        • Antiguan Creole: spoken in Antigua and Barbuda
        • Montserrat Creole
        • Saint Kitts Creole: Spoken in Saint Kitts and Nevis.
      • Bajan
      • Vincentian Creole
      • Grenadian Creole
      • Guyanese Creole: Spoken throughout Guyana. The creole varies across the regions within the country.
      • Tobagonian Creole: Spoken in Tobago.
      • Trinidadian Creole: Spoken in Trinidad.
  • Suriname
    • Sranan Tongo: the vernacular language of the majority of Suriname.
    • Aluku
    • Ndyuka
    • Paramaccan
    • Kwinti
    • Matawai
  • Krio
    • Krio: Spoken in Sierra Leone.It is spoken all over sierra leone and bears similarity to Nigerian Pidgin. It is mutually intelligible with Nigerian Pidgin and Jamaican patois.
    • Nigerian Pidgin: While rudimentally spoken all over Nigeria, English is the accepted language of transaction and communication. The Nigerian Pidgin dates back to the colonial era, where locals were hired to work with the British colonials and ended up developing it to the Creole language it is today.
    • Aku
    • Cameroonian Pidgin English, Kamtok, or Cameroonian Creole: is a linguistic entity of Cameroon. It is also known as Kamtok. Two varieties are Limbe-Krio and Grafi. Cameroonian Pidgin English is an English-based creole language. About 5% of Cameroonians are native speakers of the language.
    • Kreyol: is spoken in Liberia, and has English and French as superstrate languages, with several West African languages as substrate.
    • Fernando Poo Creole: Initially spoken in Fernando Po, Spanish Guinea(modernly known as Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea) by Krio Fernandinos who descended from Sierra Leone Krio people and was used for trade communications.
    • Pichinglis: This dialect was initially spoken by, and introduced to Fernando Po, Spanish Guinea (modernly known as Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea) by Igbo and Ibibio immigrants from Nigeria. The language became prominent among other inhabitants, and was used as a trade language. It's likely that Pichinglis and Fernando Poo Creole merged to form the English-based Creole dialects spoken on Bioko Island today.
• Pacific
  • Australian Kriol: Also known as Roper River Creole, has become the major non-English language among Aboriginal Australians with over 10,000 first language speakers.
  • Related English-based creoles Bislama, spoken in Vanuatu; Pijin, in the Solomon Islands; Torres Strait Creole, spoken by Torres Straits Islanders. Tok Pisin, spoken throughout Papua New Guinea, has English as its superstrate language and various Papuan languages providing grammatical and lexical input.
  • Hawaiian Pidgin: Hawaiian Pidgin began as a pidgin used in the early European colonization of the Hawaiian Islands. English served as the superstrate language, with Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese, and Hawaiian elements incorporated. Children started using it as a lingua franca, and by the 1920s it had creolized and become a language of Hawaii, as it still is today.
  • Not a creole but a pair of dialects that developed out of a Cant, Pitkern and Norfuk, spoken by the inhabitants of the Pitcairn Islands and Pitcairnese migrants in Norfolk Island, formed from an 18th century dialect of English with 5% of its vocabulary taken from the Tahitian language to form the Mixed language known as Pitkern, or Norfuk in Norfolk Island.
• Saramaccan
  • Saramaccaans, or Saamáka
• South-east Asia
  • Coño English: a mixed language in the Philippines based on American English, and is used among Filipinos of partial or whole European ancestry. It is primarily English as it is spoken in the United States with a few insertions of Spanish, Tagalog, and Hokkien Chinese. Initially classified as codeswitching, Coño English has achieved acceptance among Eurasians and Amerasians in the Philippines as an everyday form of communication.
  • Singlish/Manglish: a creole spoken in Singapore and Malaysia by many Singaporeans and Malaysians. Although most Singaporeans/Malaysians are educated in formal English, Singlish/Manglish is widely used especially in an informal context. It is heavily influenced by Chinese dialects such as Hokkien Chinese as well as Malay and Tamil.

See also

• World Englishes

1. ^ Ethnologue report for the English language