Papiamento has two standardised orthographies, one used on the island of Aruba and the other on the islands of Curaçao and Bonaire. The Aruban orthography is more etymological in nature, while the other is more phonemic. Among the differences between the two standards, one obvious difference is the way the name of the language is written. In Aruba it is written Papiamento, while in Curaçao and Bonaire it is written Papiamentu. The governments of Curaçao and Aruba formally standardised orthographic rules in 1976 and 1977, respectively.[1] [2]
The first efforts to formalise the language began in the early 1970s, with the first step made in 1969 in Curaçao. R.G. Römer presented to the Central Government of the Netherlands Antilles his (Draft of a spelling for Papyamento). In 1970 the Maduro Commission consisting of eight members, R.G. Römer included, was formed. With a modified proposition, they presented their recommendations to the Minister of Education of the Netherlands Antilles. With further revision, the minister's recommendations were passed onto the Deputy of Education of Curaçao in 1975. Here a Jonis Commission was formed to advise the Curaçaoan government on the didactic aspects of the Römer-Maduro orthography. It was also in 1975 that the Central Government decided that each island within the Netherlands Antilles could choose their orthography. In 1976, Curaçao officially adopted the Römer-Maduro-Jonis version while Aruba had approved a version presented by the (Orthography Commission) presided by Jossy Mansur. This was officially adopted in 1977.
After official approval, both islands embarked on programs to promote the language. A commission including Maduro and Jonis of previous commissions was appointed the task of publishing a new version of the Curaçaoan orthography, which appeared in 1983. While interest in the language seemed to grow, problems arose in Aruba. Rules seemed unclear and not comprehensive in certain areas. In 1992 this prompted the Minister of Welfare to name a commission with the purpose of clarification and reform of the Aruban orthography. The commission delivered its findings later that year. Three years later the Aruban government relayed these findings to a number of institutions for analysis and to gather input. In the course of a year, the Government collected the recommendations it had received and in 1997 the Ministry of Education and Labour named a second commission to analyse and incorporate the relevant annotations. Their findings were presented to the ministry later that year. It was near the end of 2006 when the Ministry of Education had inventarised all additional recommendations and the official version which takes these into account was published the next year.
Throughout this process of reform of the language's orthography were elevations in formal recognition of the language. The (General administrative law) of the Netherlands was reformed in 1995 in great part to allow the use of the West Frisian language in governmental administration within the province of Friesland. This reform also allowed Papiamento and English to be used alongside Dutch within Aruba and the islands of the Netherlands Antilles. In 2003 the Aruban government passed a law concerning the official language of the island, making Papiamento and Dutch the official languages of Aruba. Four years later in 2007, the government of the Netherlands Antilles passed a similar law making Papiamentu, Dutch and English the official languages of the islands. With the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010, the government of the Netherlands has maintained the official status of Papiamentu, English and Dutch in the Caribbean Netherlands.[3] The official languages of Curaçao since then remain Papiamentu and Dutch.
| + style="background-color:#15A; color:#FFF" | Papiamento/u Alphabet | |||||||||||||||||
| Letter | width=100 | width=100 | width=100 | width=100 | width=100 | width=100 | width=100 | width=100 | width=100 | I | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | a | be | ce / se | de | e | ef / èf | ge | ha | i | |||||||||
| Letter | J | K | L | M | N | Ñ | O | P | Q | |||||||||
| Name | ye | ka | el / èl | em / èm | en / èn | eñe | o | pe | ku / kü | |||||||||
| Letter | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | |||||||||
| Name | er / èr | es / ès | te | u | ve | we | eks | igrek / igrèk | zet / zèt |
| Spelling | Value in Papiamento (Aruba) (IPA) | Examples | Value in Papiamentu (Curaçao, Bonaire) (IPA) | Examples | Exceptions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | pronounced as //a// | algun, cas, ora | pronounced as //a// | antes, banko, dobla | |||
| ai | pronounced as //ai̯// | baile | pronounced as //ai̯// | gai | In Papiamento, rewritten -(ay) when at the end of a word. | ||
| au | pronounced as //au̯// | aumenta | pronounced as //au̯// | aunke | |||
| e | (often) stressed | pronounced as //e// | regla, centro | pronounced as //e// | tres, pone | ||
| unstressed | pronounced as //ə// | tiger, separabel | pronounced as //ə// | mangel, agradabel | |||
| in loan words | pronounced as //ɛ// | letter | |||||
| è | pronounced as //ɛ// | kèlki, skèr | |||||
| ei | pronounced as //ɛi̯// | feita, reina | pronounced as //ɛi̯// | kabei, preis | Pronounced pronounced as //ei̯// in words incorporating the word ei, meaning there. In Papiamento, -(ei) is rewritten -(ey) when at the end of a word. | ||
| eu | pronounced as //eu̯// | leu | pronounced as //eu̯// | pareu | |||
| i | elsewhere | pronounced as //i// | igual, skirbi | pronounced as //i// | tin, bini | ||
| unstressed before vowel | pronounced as //j// | papia, ciudad | pronounced as //j// | kambio, bientu | |||
| iau | pronounced as //i̯au̯// | miau | |||||
| ieu | pronounced as //i̯eu̯// | bieu | pronounced as //i̯eu̯// | pieu | |||
| iou | pronounced as //i̯ɔu̯// | bakiou | |||||
| o | pronounced as //o// pronounced as //ɔ// | solo, cos dobel | pronounced as //o// | toro, otro | |||
| ò | pronounced as //ɔ// | bòl, sòpi | |||||
| oi | pronounced as //oi̯// | roi | In Papiamento, rewritten -(oy) when at the end of a word. | ||||
| òi | pronounced as //ɔi̯// | plòis | |||||
| ou | pronounced as //ɔu̯// | cambou | pronounced as //ɔu̯// | blou, Kòrsou | |||
| u | elsewhere | pronounced as //u// pronounced as //ʏ// | cura, mesun augustus | pronounced as //u// | buki, tur | ||
| unstressed before vowel | pronounced as //w// | pueblo, cuida | pronounced as //w// | kuater, fuerte | Where (gui) and (gue) are written, the (u) is silent. In Papiamento, -(ui) is rewritten -(uy) when at the end of a word. | ||
| ù | pronounced as //ʏ// | bùs, yùfrou | |||||
| ùi | pronounced as //ʏi̯// | brùin, flùit | |||||
| ü | pronounced as //y// | hür | |||||
| uai | pronounced as //u̯ai̯// | zuai | |||||
| uei | pronounced as //u̯ɛi̯// | zuei | |||||
| y | pronounced as //i// | y | |||||
| pronounced as /[ai̯]/ | baile | 'dance' | pronounced as /[au̯]/ | fauna | 'fauna' | |
| pronounced as /[ei̯]/ | esei | 'that (there)' | pronounced as /[ɛi̯]/ | preis | 'price' | |
| pronounced as /[eu̯]/ | leu | 'far' | pronounced as /[ɔi̯]/ | djòin | 'join' | |
| pronounced as /[oi̯]/ | morkoi | 'tortoise' | pronounced as /[ɔu̯]/ | abou | 'down' | |
| pronounced as /[ʏi̯]/ | dùim | 'thumb' | ||||
| ascending | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /[ja]/ | rabia | 'anger' | pronounced as /[wa]/ | suave | 'smooth' | |
| pronounced as /[je]/ | piedra | 'rock' | pronounced as /[we]/ | prueba | 'proof' | |
| pronounced as /[wi]/ | ruina | 'ruin' | ||||
| pronounced as /[jo]/ | avion | 'aeroplane' | pronounced as /[wo]/ | residuo | 'residue' | |
| pronounced as /[ju]/ | viuda | 'widow' | ||||
Diphthongs can be categorised as descending or ascending. Both dialects have eight ascending and eight descending, Papiamentu having nine of the latter as pronounced as /[ɔi̯]/ is unique to this dialect. The difference is a matter of pronunciation and, in Papiamentu, a matter of accent placement on the stressed syllable.
In the orthographies of both dialects, words beginning with an ascending diphthong, e.g. (ia) or (uo), are never written with (i) or (u), respectively. These are always rewritten with a (y) for (i) and (w) for (u), e.g. ('key') and not , ('eye') and not (or for that matter). Moreover, (y) is never written between (i) and another vowel, nor is (w) ever written between (u) and another vowel. Few exceptions exist and while in the Aruban dialect words like ('million'), where the (y) substitutes the (ll) from the original Spanish word, are considered correct, in Papiamentu they are not and are written without the (y) .
Beside the vowels (a), (e), (i), (o) and (u), the Papiamentu orthography further distinguishes between the (e)-sounds pronounced as /[e]/ and pronounced as /[ɛ]/, (o)-sounds pronounced as /[o]/ and pronounced as /[ɔ]/, and (u)-sounds pronounced as /[u]/ and pronounced as /[ʏ]/ through use of the grave accent (`). The letters (è), (ò) and (ù) represent the sounds pronounced as /[ɛ]/, pronounced as /[ɔ]/ and pronounced as /[ʏ]/ respectively. Moreover, to represent the (uu) sound, i.e. pronounced as /[y]/ in Dutch loan words like ('rent') and ('sour'), the (uu) is rewritten as (ü) in Papiamentu to comply with the rule regarding double vowels and the phonemic consistency as a whole. The sounds pronounced as /[ɛ]/ and pronounced as /[ɔ]/ appear often in Papiamentu. To reduce the excessive appearance of the grave accent, it is not required to use it in the diphthongs (ei) and (ou), nor is it incorrect to omit the accent when the letters are capitalised, e.g., ('Curaçao').
The orthography of the Aruban dialect makes no use of accents or diaeresis and while the spelling of loan words is adjusted when possible, often it is retained as in their original language.
| Spelling | Value in Papiamento (Aruba) (IPA) | Examples | Value in Papiamentu (Curaçao, Bonaire) (IPA) | Examples | Exceptions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | pronounced as //b// | bala, caba | pronounced as //b// | bibu, fabor | |||
| c | before (e), (i) | pronounced as //s// | merece, haci | pronounced as //s// | Cecilia | In Papiamento, the (c) has a pronounced as //ʃ// sound in words ending in -cion. | |
| elsewhere | pronounced as //k// | caminda, cla | pronounced as //k// | Caracas | |||
| ch | pronounced as //tʃ// | chikito | pronounced as //tʃ// | chapi | |||
| d | pronounced as //d// | documento, dal | pronounced as //d// | duru, dede | In Papiamento, the (d) has a pronounced as //t// sound when final in words ending in -dad, -tad, -tud. In Papiamentu, they are written as -dat, -tat and -tut. | ||
| dj | pronounced as //dʒ// | djaca | pronounced as //dʒ// | djente | |||
| f | pronounced as //f// | fama | pronounced as //f// | fòrki | |||
| g | before (e), (i), final | pronounced as //x// | gesto, mag | pronounced as //x// | margen, brùg | ||
| before unstressed (e), elsewhere | pronounced as //ɡ// | garganta, sanger | pronounced as //ɡ// | gosa, mangel | |||
| h | pronounced as //h// | hasta, habilidad | pronounced as //h// | hari, heru | |||
| j | pronounced as //j// pronounced as //x// | jong, jas Juan | pronounced as //j// pronounced as //x// | Jan Thiel Julia | Some places still maintain their old spelling, e.g. Salinja. Here the (nj) is pronounced pronounced as //ɲ//. | ||
| k | pronounced as //k// | kishiki, kere | pronounced as //k// | kenta, sekreto | |||
| l | pronounced as //l// | lista, laba | pronounced as //l// | lesa, kla | |||
| m | pronounced as //m// | mucha, premio | pronounced as //m// | man, lampi | |||
| n | before (co), (cu), (g), (k), final except after stressed vowel | pronounced as //ŋ// | mango, pan | pronounced as //ŋ// | anker, bon | In Papiamento, (c) followed by (o) or (u) would be pronounced as a pronounced as //k// (see below), thus having the same effect on the (n) as (k) would. | |
| elsewhere | pronounced as //n// | natural, tene, algun | pronounced as //n// | nechi, hende, tempran | |||
| ñ | pronounced as //ɲ// | aña, soño | pronounced as //ɲ// | baña, ñapa | |||
| p | pronounced as //p// | pipa, adopta | pronounced as //p// | palu, sapu | |||
| q | pronounced as //k// | quesillo | pronounced as //k// | Quebec | |||
| r | pronounced as //r// | tera, rosa | pronounced as //r// | barba, poder | |||
| s | pronounced as //s// | saya, sucu | pronounced as //s// | krus, pasa | In Papiamento, the (s) has a pronounced as //ʃ// sound in words ending in -sion. In Papiamentu, it is written as -shon. | ||
| sc | pronounced as //s// | adolescente, piscina | |||||
| sh | pronounced as //ʃ// | shimis | pronounced as //ʃ// | shete | |||
| t | pronounced as //t// | tin, tata | pronounced as //t// | trapi, ritmo | |||
| v | pronounced as //b// pronounced as //v// | viuda divorcio | pronounced as //v// | verbo, vitamina | |||
| w | pronounced as //w// | wega | pronounced as //w// | wowo | |||
| x | pronounced as //ks// or pronounced as //kʃ// | examen, conexion, reflexion | pronounced as //ks// or pronounced as //kʃ// | ||||
| y | pronounced as //j// | yama, haya | pronounced as //j// | yuda, kayente | |||
| z | pronounced as //z// | zona | pronounced as //z// | zeta | In Papiamento, the (z) has a pronounced as //s// sound in words ending in -eza, -anza or with a (z). In Papiamentu, they are written as -esa and -ansa. | ||
| zj | pronounced as //ʒ// | zjeito | pronounced as //ʒ// | zjar | |||
Consonants are seldom doubled in Papiamento/u. According to the orthographies of both dialects, this only occurs when a word takes on a prefix, e.g. (in)- as in ('unnatural'), or a suffix, e.g. -(nan) as in ('breads'). In Papiamentu, numerals are written as one word, e.g. ('two hundred') and are another example of where consonants may appear twice, but in Papiamento they are not, e.g. /. In Papiamento where the letter (c) is often used, the first (c) in words like and is pronounced pronounced as /[k]/.
The four official digraphs are (ch), (dj), (sh) and (zj), representing pronounced as /[tʃ]/, pronounced as /[dʒ]/, pronounced as /[ʃ]/ and pronounced as /[ʒ]/ respectively. The combination (sc) appears in Papiamento in loan words such as, but it is not considered a digraph.
The pronunciation of (c) in both dialects follows the general rule of the hard and soft (c) as in Latin-based orthographies of various European languages, i.e. pronounced pronounced as /[s]/ before (e) and (i), and pronounced as /[k]/ elsewhere. However, the use of (c) differs per dialect. As Papiamento is focused more on etymology than phonemic spelling, the (c) is far more commonly used compared to Papiamentu, where its use is limited to proper names.
There is consistency in Papiamento in terms of when a hard (c) is used instead of a (k) and when a soft (c) is used instead of an (s). Before the vowels (a), (o) and (u), a (c) is used instead of a (k), e.g. ('house'), ('thing') and ('kitchen') instead of , and . Moreover, a (c) is used instead of a (k) when it appears before an (l), (n), (r) or (t). A soft (c) is used instead of an (s) most often in the final syllable, in verbs ending in (ce) or (ci), e.g. ('to know'), ('to translate'), or words with (ia) or (io) in the final syllable, e.g., . This extends to derivatives of such words, such as . Less regular examples of the use of a soft (c) instead of an (s) are words like ('blind') and ('pleasure').
Many words are of Spanish origin and thus follow Spanish orthography to a certain extent. Like the hard and soft (c), the orthographies of both dialects follow the Spanish example in distinguishing between the hard and soft (g). That is to say, to preserve a voiced (g) (pronounced as /[ɡ]/) that would otherwise be a pronounced as /[x]/ when followed by (i) or (e), it must be written as (gui) and (gue) respectively. The words (from Spanish meaning 'to continue', 'to follow') and (from meaning 'war') are pronounced pronounced as /[ˈsiɡi]/ and pronounced as /[ˈɡera]/, the (u) being silent as they would be in Spanish. To produce pronounced as /[ɡwi]/ and pronounced as /[ɡwe]/ in Spanish, a diaeresis is written above the (u), e.g. ('shame'), ('penguin'). To comply with the rules of Papiamentu orthography, the (u) in such loan words is replaced with a (w), i.e. .
The Papiamentu dialect of Curaçao and Bonaire is the only one of the two that makes use of the grave accent (`), the diaeresis or trema (¨) and the acute accent (´). The grave accent and diaeresis are used to distinguish one vowel from another, e.g. pronounced as /[boŋ]/ and pronounced as /[bɔl]/, pronounced as /[tur]/ and pronounced as /[hyr]/, while the acute accent is used to indicate stress within a word. Without an accent, words in Papiamentu take on a consistent manner of emphasis. The stress in words without any acute accent is always on the last syllable in words ending with a consonant and on the penultimate in words ending with a vowel. Words that do not follow the default stress have an acute accent above the vowel (or second vowel of a diphthong) of the stressed syllable.
Like Spanish, Papiamentu orthography distinguishes between four types of words:
Stress is always placed on a syllable with a grave accent, e.g., unless there is another syllable with an acute accent, e.g. . As such, vowels with grave accents are not altered to indicate stress on the syllable in which it is located.
In many cases in Papiamentu, the acute accent preserves emphasis in words of Spanish and/or Portuguese origin where they would otherwise have naturally occurred, i.e. without an acute accent. In these cases, words have undergone a seemingly systematic elision of final letters, or apocope. In verbs, the final -r in infinitive form and -do of past participles had been dropped, among other examples. Words like ('to recognise') became and ('marked') became . As for the ending of words describing a person of a certain profession or craft, words like ('cobbler') and ('fisherman') became and . This phonological change brought with it the orthographical problem in distinguishing between certain words like, from ('kitchen') and, from ('to cook'). This is resolved by the use of the acute accent.
In both dialects, phonological elision often takes place in colloquial speech and writing and orthographic rules take these contractions into account. The orthographic rules of Papiamentu in particular discourage the use of contractions, recommending that words be spelt out in full as much as possible. The most common contractions involve the words ('to be'), ('to, for'), ('of'), ('no, not') and ('him/her/it, the').
Note: the pronunciation of Papiamento words with a (c) does not change when such words are contracted with or, i.e. the (c) in, though followed by an (i), retains its pronounced as //k// sound.
The contraction of is peculiar in that, while its vowel is dropped, it is never affixed to the following word like and are, or to any word for that matter. Moreover, is only contracted when followed by a consonant, not a vowel as in the aforementioned examples. The exceptional nature of this contraction might lead to confusion and erroneous affixture or instead of . The latter may be attributed to the fact that the (n) in becomes nasal before verbs beginning with (g) or (k) (or a hard (c)), e.g. pronounced as //miŋ kere// ('I didn't believe'). The pronounced as //ŋ// sound is typically associated with (n) in a final location and may seem to make more sense.
As mentioned,, like, is only contracted with the word preceding it if a phoneme is dropped from the preceding word as well., however, has the unique property of changing the emphasis of the word before it. Both and are commonly affixed to the word before them, even when they shouldn't be. In Papiamentu, should always take on the acute accent because it is stressed when contracted.