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 creole's lexicon.^[1] 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. The main categories of English-based creoles are Atlantic (the Americas and Africa) and Pacific (Asia and Oceania).

Over 76.5 million people estimated globally speak some form of English-based creole. Malaysia, Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, and Singapore have the largest concentrations of creole speakers.

Origin[]

It is disputed to what extent the various English-based creoles of the world share a common origin. The monogenesis hypothesis^[2][3] posits that a single language, commonly called proto–Pidgin English, spoken along the West African coast in the early sixteenth century, was ancestral to most or all of the Atlantic creoles (the English creoles of both West Africa and the Americas).

Table of creole languages[]

Name	Country	Number of speakers[4]	Notes
Atlantic[]
Western Caribbean[]
Bahamian Creole	Bahamas	309,000 (2014)
Turks and Caicos Creole English	Turks and Caicos	10,700 (1995)
Jamaican Patois	Jamaica	2,670,000 (2001)~3,035,000
Belizean Creole	Belize	L1 Users: 170,000 (2014)	L2 Users: 300,000 (2014)
Miskito Coast Creole	Nicaragua	18,400	Dialect: Rama Cay Creole
Limonese Creole	Costa Rica	55,100 (1986)
Bocas del Toro Creole	Panama	268,000 (2000)
San Andrés–Providencia Creole	Colombia	33,000 (1995)
Eastern Caribbean[]
Virgin Islands Creole	US Virgin Islands  British Virgin Islands  Sint Maarten  Saint-Martin  Sint Eustatius  Saba	52,300 (1980)~76,500
Anguillan Creole	Anguilla	11,500 (2001)
Antiguan Creole	Antigua and Barbuda	67,000 (2001)~147,520
Saint Kitts Creole	Saint Kitts and Nevis	39,000 (1998)
Montserrat Creole	Montserrat	3,820 (2011)
Vincentian Creole	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	138,000 (1989)
Grenadian Creole	Grenada	89,200 (2001)
Tobagonian Creole	Trinidad and Tobago	300,000 (2011)
Trinidadian Creole	Trinidad and Tobago	1,000,000 (2011)
Bajan Creole	Barbados	256,000 (1999)
Guyanese Creole	Guyana	650,000~682,000
Sranan Tongo	Suriname	L1 users: 67,300 (2013)~410,700	L2 users: 300,000
Saramaccan	Suriname	14,100 (2013)~17,100
Ndyuka	Suriname	21,700 (2013)~39,700.	Dialects: Aluku, Paramaccan
Kwinti	Suriname	200 (2005)
United States[]
Gullah (Afro-Seminole Creole)	United States	350 (2010)	Ethnic population: 250,000
Africa[]
Krio	Sierra Leone	692,000~716,110	L2 users: 4,000,000 (1987)
Kreyol	Liberia	1,500,000 (L2; 1984)
Ghanaian Pidgin	Ghana	5,000,000 (2011)	L2 users: 2,000 (1990)
Nigerian Pidgin	Nigeria	30,000,000 (2005)
Cameroonian Pidgin	Cameroon	2,000,000 (L2; 1989)
Equatorial Guinean Pidgin	Equatorial Guinea	6,000 (2011)	L2 users: 70,000 (2011)
Pacific[]
Hawaiian Pidgin	Hawaii	600,000 (2012)	100,000 on the US mainland. L2 users: 400,000
Ngatikese Creole	Micronesia	700
Tok Pisin	Papua New Guinea	122,000 (2004)	L2 users: 9,000,000 (likely as of 2020)
Pijin	Solomon Islands	24,400 (1999)	L2 users: 307,000 (1999)
Bislama	Vanuatu	10,000 (2011)	L2 users: 200,000
Pitcairn-Norfolk	Pitcairn  Norfolk Island	430 (2011)~532	Almost no L2 users. Has been classified as an Atlantic Creole based on internal structure.[5]
Australian Kriol	Australia	4,200 (2006)	L2 users: 10,000 (1991)
Torres Strait Creole	Australia	6,040 (2006)
Bonin English	Japan	Possibly 1,000–2,000 (2004)
Singlish	Singapore	2,000,000–3,000,000
Manglish	Malaysia

Marginal[]

• Bonin English, sometimes considered a mixed language
• Iyaric ("Rastafarian")
• Jamaican Maroon Spirit Possession Language

Other[]

Not strictly creoles, but sometimes called thus:

• Bay Islands English
• Cayman Islands English

See also[]

• List of English-based pidgins
• Middle English creole hypothesis
• World Englishes

References[]

Further reading[]

• Holm, John A., ed. (1983). Central American English. Heidelberg: Julius Groos Verlag. ISBN 3-87276-295-8.
• Holm, John A. (1989). "English-based varieties". Pidgins and Creoles. Volume 2, Reference Survey. Cambridge University Press. pp. 405–551. ISBN 978-0-521-35940-5. |volume= has extra text (help)
• Holm, John A. (2000). An Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-58581-1.
• The Lesser-Known Varieties of English: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. 2010. ISBN 978-1-139-48741-2.
• Arends, Jacques; Muysken, Pieter; Smith, Norval (1995). Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 90-272-5236-X.

External links[]

• Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures