English-based creole languages

All you want to know about 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 English colonies, following the great expansion of British naval military power and trade in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Notable examples

Atlantic
- Western
  - Jamaican Patois: Not to be confused with Jamaican 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 background. Jamaican Patois is the dominant language in Jamaica and gaining in prestige. 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 Limónese Creole and Colón Creole spoken in coastal Costa Rica, which Ethnologue considers as dialects of Jamaican Patois [1].
  - Belizean Kriol: Most 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
  - San Andrés-Providencia Creole in Colombia
- Eastern
  - Northern
    - Afro-Seminole Creole
    - Bahamian Creole: an English-based creole, widely spoken in the Bahamas
    - Turks-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.
  - Southern
    - Anguillan Creole
    - Antiguan Creole: spoken in Antigua and Barbuda
    - Bajan
    - Grenadian Creole
    - Guyanese Creole: Spoken throughout Guyana and similar to Jamaican Patois (see below), but with a different accent and some word substitutions; probably due to the greater Indo-Guyanese influence. The language varies across the regions within the country.
    - Montserrat Creole
    - Saint Kitts Creole: Spoken in Saint Kitts and Nevis.
    - Saint Martin Creole: Spoken in Saint Martin.
    - Tobagonian Creole English: Spoken in Tobago.
    - Trinidadian Creole English: Spoken in Trinidad.
    - Virgin Islands Creole: Spoken in the Virgin Islands.
      Note: Ethnologue considers Anguillan Creole, Antiguan Creole, Montserrat Creole, Saint Kitts Creole and Saint Martin Creole as dialects of the same language.
- Krio
  - 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.
  - Krio: Spoken in Sierra Leone.
  - 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.
- Suriname
  - Jamaican Maroon Spirit Possession Language
  - Ndyuka
  - Sranan Tongo: in Suriname.
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 Creole English: 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 and Tagalog, and in some cases, with Hokkien Chinese. Initially classified as codeswitching, Cono English has achieved acceptance among Eurasians and Amerasians in the Philippines as an everyday form of communication.