An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a
creole language
A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...
for which
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
was the ''
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 ...
'', meaning that at the time of its formation the
vocabulary
A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...
of English served as the basis for the majority of the creole's
lexicon. 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. Sierra Leone, 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''
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
Marginal
*
Bonin English, sometimes considered a
mixed language
A mixed language is a language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. It differs from a creole or pidgin language in that, whereas creoles/pidgin ...
*
Iyaric ("Rastafarian")
*
Jamaican Maroon Spirit Possession Language
Other
Not strictly creoles, but sometimes called thus:
*
Bay Islands English
Bay Islands English is an English variety spoken on the Bay Islands Department (Guanaja, Roatán, Utila), Honduras. Ethnologue reported that there were 22,500 native speakers in 2001. Mainlanders know this language as ''Caracol'', which literall ...
*
Cayman Islands English
See also
*
List of English-based pidgins
Pidgin English is a non-specific name used to refer to any of the many pidgin languages derived from English. Pidgins that are spoken as first languages become creoles.
English-based pidgins that became stable contact languages, and which hav ...
*
Middle English creole hypothesis
The Middle English creole hypothesis is the concept that the English language is a creole, which is typically a language that developed from a pidgin. The vast differences between Old English and Middle English have led some historical linguis ...
*
World Englishes
World Englishes is a term for emerging localised or indigenised varieties of English, especially varieties that have developed in territories influenced by the United Kingdom or the United States. The study of World Englishes consists of identi ...
*
Belter Creole
References
Further reading
*
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External links
Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures
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