San Andrés–Providencia creole is an
English-based creole language
An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a creole language for which English was the '' lexifier'', meaning that at the time of its formation the vocabulary of English served as the basis for the majority of the cre ...
spoken in the
San Andrés and Providencia Department of
Colombia by the native
Raizals, very similar to
Belize Kriol and
Miskito Coastal Creole
Mískito Coast Creole or Nicaragua Creole English is an English-based creole language spoken in coastal Nicaraguan region of Mosquito Coast on the Caribbean Sea; its approximately 30,000 speakers are spread over a number of small villages. The reg ...
. Its vocabulary originates in English, its
lexifier
A lexifier is the language that provides the basis for the majority of a pidgin or creole language's vocabulary (lexicon). Often this language is also the dominant, or superstrate language, though this is not always the case, as can be seen in the ...
, but San Andrés–Providencia creole has its own phonetics and many expressions from
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
and African languages, particularly
Kwa languages
The Kwa languages, often specified as New Kwa, are a proposed but as-yet-undemonstrated family of languages spoken in the south-eastern part of Ivory Coast, across southern Ghana, and in central Togo. The name was introduced 1895 by Gottlob Kr ...
(especially
Twi
Twi () is a dialect of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. Twi has about 17-18 million speakers in total, includ ...
and
Ewe) and
Igbo languages. The language is also known as "San Andrés Creole", "Bende" and "Islander Creole English".
Characteristics
# It marks the time. The auxiliar (~ben~men) marks a past simple. Future tense is marked with and . Progressive tense is marked by .
# The auxiliars and before the sentence is a polite way to ask permission or asking something.
# Other auxiliary words before the verb mark probability like , , , , and ; willingness with and ; and obligation with , and
# There is no grammatical distinction for gender.
# Plural is marked with after the noun.
San Andrés–Providencia Creole is an official language in its territory of influence according to the
Colombian Constitution of 1991
The Political Constitution of Colombia of 1991 ( es, Constitución Política de Colombia de 1991), is the Constitution of the Republic of Colombia. It was promulgated in Constitutional Gazette number 114 on Thursday, July 4, 1991, and is als ...
that guarantees the rights and protections of languages in the country. The population of the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina uses three languages (Creole, English and Spanish). English remained in use for liturgical purposes in Baptist churches, but the coming of satellite television and growth of foreign tourism has revived the use of English on the islands. The standard English taught in schools is
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
. The presence of migrants from continental Colombia and the travel of young islanders to cities like
Barranquilla,
Cartagena de Indias and
Bogotá for higher education has contributed to the presence of Spanish. However, the interest in preserving the Creole has become very important for locals and Colombians in general. There has been an effort to offer multilingual education in San Andrés and Providencia which includes all three languages.
[Ronald Morren. 2010. Trilingual education: On the Islands of San Andres, Providence, and Santa Catalina. In Bettina Migge, Isabelle Léglise and Angela Bartens (eds.), ''Creoles in Education: An appraisal of current programs and projects'', pp. 297–322. John Benjamins Publishing.]
See also
*
English-based creole languages
An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a creole language for which English was the '' lexifier'', meaning that at the time of its formation the vocabulary of English served as the basis for the majority of the cre ...
*
Spanish-based creole languages
A Spanish creole, or Spanish-based creole language, is a creole language (contact language with native speakers) for which Spanish serves as its substantial '' lexifier''.
A number of creole languages are influenced to varying degrees by the Sp ...
*
Jamaican Patois
Jamaican Patois (; locally rendered Patwah and called Jamaican Creole by linguists) is an English-based creole language with West African influences, spoken primarily in Jamaica and among the Jamaican diaspora. A majority of the non-English ...
References
External links
New Testament books translated into CreoleSan Andres Creole English
English-based pidgins and creoles
Languages of Colombia
Languages of the African diaspora
Spanish language in South America
{{pidgincreole-lang-stub