Saramaccan () is a

creole language A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable form of contact language that develops from the process of different languages simplifying and mixing into a new form (often a pidgin), and then that form expanding and elaborating into a full-fl ...

spoken by about 58,000 people of West African descent near the Saramacca and the upper Suriname River, as well as in

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

, capital of

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

(formerly also known as Dutch Guiana). The language also has 25,000 speakers in

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

and 8,000 in the Netherlands. It has three main dialects. The speakers are mostly descendants of fugitive

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

who were native to

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

and

Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

; they form a group called Saamacca, also spelled

Saramaka The Saramaka, Saamaka or Saramacca are one of six Maroon (people), Maroon peoples (formerly called "Bush Negroes") in the Republic of Suriname and one of the Maroon peoples in French Guiana. In 2007, the Saramaka won a ruling by the Inter-Ameri ...

. Linguists consider Saramaccan notable because its vocabulary is based on two European source languages, English (30%) and Portuguese (20%), and various West and Central African languages (50%), but it diverges considerably from all of them. The African component accounts for about 50% once ritual use is taken into account, the highest percentage in the Americas. When ritual use is excluded, 35% English-derived, 25% Portuguese-derived, with 35% derived from one or another African language. It is derived from

Niger–Congo languages Niger–Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. It unites the Mande languages, the Atlantic–Congo languages (which share a characteristic noun class system), and possibly several smaller groups ...

of West Africa, especially Fon and other

Gbe languages The Gbe languages (pronounced ) form a cluster of about twenty related languages stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria. The total number of speakers of Gbe languages is between four and eight million. The most widel ...

, as well as Akan and Central African languages such as Kikongo.

Origins

The language is derived from Plantation Creole, which is nowadays known as

Sranan Tongo Sranan Tongo (Sranantongo, "Surinamese tongue", Sranan, Surinamese Creole) is an English-based creole language from Suriname, in South America, where it is the first or second language for 519,600 Surinamese people (approximately 80% of the popu ...

, but the branches diverged around 1690 and evolved separately. The Saramaccan lexicon is largely drawn from English, Portuguese, and, to a lesser extent, Dutch, among European languages, and

of West Africa, especially Fon and other

, Akan, and Central African languages, such as KiKongo. The African component accounts for about 50% of the total. Saramaccan

phonology Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...

has traits similar to languages of West Africa. It has developed the use of tones, which are common in Africa, rather than stress, which is typical of European languages. Over a fourth of words are from English. It is generally agreed that the Portuguese influence originated from enslaved peoples who lived on plantations with Portuguese masters and possibly with other slaves who spoke a Portuguese creole. The masters might have brought the latter in migrating to Suriname from

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Saramaccan originators began with an early form of

, an English-based creole, and transformed it into a new creole via the Portuguese influx, combined with influence from the grammars of Fongbe and other

Dialects

Saramaccan is divided into two main dialects. The Upper Suriname River dialect and the Lower Suriname River dialect are both spoken by members of the Saramaccan tribe. And by the Surinamese people who are living in the 12 English-speaking Caribbean nations of which all 12 have a foreign relationship with the Republic of Suriname:

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda is a Sovereign state, sovereign archipelagic country composed of Antigua, Barbuda, and List of islands of Antigua and Barbuda, numerous other small islands. Antigua and Barbuda has a total area of 440 km2 (170 sq mi), ...

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...

and

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

Matawai

The Matawai tribe has its own language, which is related to the Saramaka language. The language is derived from Plantation Creole, which is nowadays known as

. However, the branches diverged around 1700 and evolved separately. Matawai is spoken in the villages in

Kwakoegron Kwakoegron (land of Kwakoe) is a town and resort in Suriname. It is located inland, due south of Paramaribo. According to the 2012 census it has a population of 263, and is mainly inhabited by Maroon (people), Maroons, of the Matawai people. The r ...

and

Boven Saramacca Boven Saramacca is a resort in Suriname, located in the Sipaliwini District. Its population at the 2012 census was 1,427. The dominant geographical feature of this resort is the Saramacca River. The resort is mainly inhabited by Maroons of the M ...

. However, code-switching with Sranan Tongo, other Maroon languages, and Dutch is common. The language is considered endangered.

Phonology

Vowels

Each oral vowel also has a corresponding

nasal vowel A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel /ɑ̃/ () or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are p ...

. There are also three vowel lengths: "red", "belly," "bread."

Consonants

are more specifically dorso- postalveolar consonant, postalveolar, but the palatal fricative is dorso-

palatal The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly sepa ...

Tone

The language has two surface tones: high and low. Stress in European words is replaced by high tone in Saramaccan.

Orthography

Vowels

Long and overlong vowels are written as doubled or tripled respectively.

Consonants

Lexicon

Saramaccan's vocabulary is 30% derived from English, 20% from Portuguese. It is one of the few known creoles to derive a large percentage of its lexicon from more than one source (most creoles have one main lexifier language). Also, it is said to be both an

English-based creole 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 cr ...

and a Portuguese-based creole. About 50% of the vocabulary of Saramaccan is of African origin, the largest percentage of any creole in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. Source languages for these words include Kikongo,

, and Twi.

Examples

To English-speakers who are not familiar with it, Saramaccan's English basis is almost unrecognizable. Here are some examples of Saramaccan sentences that are taken from the SIL dictionary: ''De waka te de aan sinkii möön.''
"They walked until they were worn out." ''U ta mindi kanda fu dee soni dee ta pasa ku u.''
"We make up songs about things that happen to us." ''A suku di soni te wojo fëën ko bëë.''
"He searched for it in vain." ''Mi puu tu dusu kölu bai ën.''
"I paid two thousand guilders to buy it." Examples of words originally from Portuguese or a Portuguese creole are ''mujee'' () "woman", ''womi'' () "man", ''da'' () "to give", ''bunu'' () "good", ''kaba'' () "to end", ''ku'' () "with", ''kuma'' (, cf. vernacular Brazilian for , "come again?") "as, like", ''faka'' () "knife", ''aki'' () "here", ''ma'' () "but", ''kendi'' () "hot", ''liba'' () "above", and ''lio'' () "river".

Literature

Saramaccan has a rich history of published works, including the following dictionaries: Christian Schumann's 1778, ''Saramaccanisch Deutsches Worter-Buch,'' Johannes Riemer's 1779 ''Wörterbuch zur Erlernung der Saramakka-Neger-Sprache,'' a copied and edited version of Schumann, Jan Voorhoeve and Antoon Donicie's 1963 wordlist, ''De Saramakaanse Woordenschat'', Antoon de Groot's, ''Woordregister Nederlands- Saramakaans met context en idioom'' (1977) and his ''Woordregister Saramakaans-Nederlands'' (1981), and Glock (ed) ''Holansi-Saamaka wöutubuku'' (Nederlands-Saramaccaans woordenboek) The ''Instituut voor Taalwetenschap'' has published tens of literacy books and collections of folktales written by Saramaccans and a complete translation of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

. Two books written by Richard Price have now been published in Saamakatongo: ''Fesiten'' and ''Boo go a Kontukonde''.

Alison Hinds Alison Amanda Hinds (born June 1 1970) is a British-born Bajan soca singer based in Barbados. She is often referred to as the Bajan " Queen of Soca" as a result of her impact on the genre. Biography Alison Hinds was born on 1 June 1970 in Lo ...

based her up tempo soca song "Faluma" on the language. The Saramaccan orthography created by the

Summer Institute of Linguistics SIL Global (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics International) is an evangelical Christian nonprofit organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, to expan ...

is not in universal use. Linguist Vinije Haabo is developing a Saramaccan dictionary based on an improved orthography, which he intends to publish online.

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

Saramaccan Vocabulary List
(from the World Loanword Database)
Survey article
(from the Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures)
SIL Saramaccan-English dictionaryCollected Saramaccan textsLoan words in SaramaccanVariety of published resources in and about Saramaccan language and culture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saramaccan Language English-based pidgins and creoles Languages of Suriname Languages of French Guiana Tonal languages Portuguese-based pidgins and creoles Saramaka Languages of the African diaspora Portuguese language in the Americas Creoles of the Americas English language in the Americas