Surinamese Dutch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Surinam Dutch (Surinaams-Nederlands) is the form of Dutch spoken in the former Dutch colony of Suriname. Dutch is spoken as a mother tongue by about 60% of the population, most of them being bilingual with Sranan Tongo and other ethnic languages. Nevertheless, Dutch is the sole official language of the country. Surinam Dutch is easily intelligible with other forms of Dutch. Surinam has been an associate member of the Nederlandse Taalunie since 2005. Therefore many typical Surinamese words were added to the official Wordlist of the Dutch language, known as the "Green Booklet" (Groene Boekje).

The only known words exclusive to Surinam Dutch are okseltruitje, bacove, cellulair, wiet, zwamp, roti, kouseband, schaafijs, bobo and buitenvrouw. Surinam Dutch has been heavily influenced by other languages spoken by residents and also by common street slang.