Belizean Creole
| Kriol | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Belize |
Native speakers | 150,000 (2013)[1] Second language: over 200,000 |
English Creole
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bzj |
| Glottolog | beli1260 |
| Linguasphere | 52-ABB-ad |
Kriol is one of the languages spoken in Central America, mainly in Belize. It is not an official language but is spoken by about half a million people. Kriol is based on English and is similar to other Creole languages, like Miskito Coastal Creole, and Jamaican Patois.
History
[change | change source]Kriol is based mainly on English but is also influenced by other languages too, like the Native American language Misikito. It's also influenced by West African languages brought in by slaves, like Akan, Efik, Ewe, Fula, Ga, Hausa, Igbo, Kikongo and Wolof.[2]
There are some theories about the way Creole languages form, but one of them is that it was because of contact with English landowners and their slaves, and Kriol was created to make sure they could communicate at least a little bit.
Today, Kriol is the first or second language of most of the people living in Belize, and a lot of them speak English as well.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Michaelis, Susanne (2013). The Survey of Pidgin and Creole Languages, Volume 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 92–100. ISBN 978-0199691401.
- ↑ "Belize Kriol". Archived from the original on 2008-09-28. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
