English-based creole languages

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An English-based creole language, or English creole for short, 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.

[edit] Notable examples

Classification based mainly on Ethnologue:

• Atlantic
  • 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
    • Krio: Spoken in Sierra Leone.
    • 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.
    • 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.
  • 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. Naturally understandable to speakers of creoles in Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica. Reported to be close to Grenada, the English Creole of the Bahamas, close to Guyana, Saint Vincent creoles, Virgin Islands and Belize Creole, as well as being very close to Sierra Leone Krio. Jamaican Patois is the dominant language in Jamaica and gaining in prestige.
    • Bocas del Toro Creole
    • Colón Creole
    • Limón Coastal Creole: spoken in coastal Costa Rica after introduction from Jamaica.
    • Belizean Kriol is spoken in Belize. Closely related to Miskito Coastal Creole.
    • Mískito Creole English: Mískito Coastal Creole is a language spoken in Nicaragua based on English. It is nearly identical Belizean Creole (Kriol), and similar to all Central American Creoles. The number of speakers of Mískito Coastal Creole is below 200,000[1]. Mískito Coastal Creole does not have the status of an official language. Spoken in the coastal areas.
    • Rama Cay Creole
    • Rio Abajo Creole
    • San Andrés-Providencia Creole
      Note: Ethnologue considers Limón Coastal Creole, Bocas del Toro Creole, Colón Creole, and Rio Abajo Creole as dialects of Jamaican Patois [1].
• South-east Asia
  • Manglish: spoken in Malaysia, mixture of mainly Malay, Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, Tamil (a south Indian Dravidian language), and British English.
  • Singlish: a creole based on British English. Has common ancestry with Manglish due to historical ties. Parallel evolved with Manglish to become slightly different but still retaining much of the same patterns. Similar to Manglish, it is a mixture of mainly Malay, Mandarin, Hokkien (a Chinese dialect), Tamil (a south Indian Dravidian language), and British English.
• 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.
  • Bislama: Bislama (older Beach-la-mar) is an English-based creole which also borrowed some words from French, and is the national language of Vanuatu.
  • 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.
  • Pijin: Spoken in the Solomon Islands.
  • Pitkern and Norfuk: Spoken exclusively by the inhabitants of the Pitcairn Islands and Pitcairnese migrants in Norfolk Island, an 18th century dialect of English is spoken with the Tahitian language to form the Creole language known as Pitkern, or Norfuk in Norfolk Island.
  • Tok Pisin: is spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. English is the superstrate language, with various Papuan languages providing grammatical and lexical input.
  • Torres Strait Creole: Spoken by Torres Straits Islanders.
• Saramaccan
  • Saramaccaans, or Saamáka