San Andrés–Providencia Creole Explained

San Andrés and Providencia Creole
Nativename:	Islander Creole English Raizal Creole Raizal Patwah
States:	San Andrés and Providencia
Agency:	not regulated
Speakers:	25,515 (2018)^[1]
Familycolor:	Creole
Fam1:	English Creole
Fam2:	Atlantic
Fam3:	Western
Fam4:	Jamaican Patois
Iso3:	icr
Glotto:	sana1297
Glottorefname:	San Andres Creole English
Lingua:	52-ABB-ah

San Andrés–Providencia Creole, or Raizal Patwah, also called Raizal Creole, is an English-based creole spoken in The Raizal Islands by the indigenous Raizal people; which is a dialect of Jamaican Patwah with notable similarities to Belizean Creole, Caymanian Creole English, and Miskito Coastal Creole. Similar to other English creoles its vocabulary originates from the English-lexifier, but it primarily uses Jamaican Patwah phonetics which includes many words and expressions from West African Kwa languages (particularly from the Twi, Ewe, and Igbo language). The language is also known as "Bende", or "San Andrés Creole",^[2] and as of 2018, the number of native speakers of Raizal Patwah is approximately 25,515. ^[3]

Characteristics

1. It marks the time. The auxiliar wen (~ben~men) marks a past simple. Future tense is marked with wi and wuda. Progressive tense is marked by de.
2. The auxiliars beg and mek before the sentence is a polite way to ask permission or asking something.
3. Other auxiliary words before the verb mark probability like maita, mos, mosi, kyan, and kuda; willingness with niid and waan; and obligation with fi, hafi and shuda
4. There is no grammatical distinction for gender.
5. Plural is marked with dem after the noun.

San Andrés–Providencia Creole is an official language in its territory of influence according to the Colombian Constitution of 1991 that guarantees the rights and protections of languages in the country. The population of the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina uses three languages (Creole, English and Spanish). English remained in use for liturgical purposes in Baptist churches, but the coming of satellite television and growth of foreign tourism has revived the use of English on the islands. The standard English taught in schools is British English. The presence of migrants from continental Colombia and the travel of young islanders to cities like Barranquilla, Cartagena de Indias and Bogotá for higher education has contributed to the presence of Spanish. However, the interest in preserving the Creole has become very important for locals and Colombians in general. There has been an effort to offer multilingual education in San Andrés and Providencia which includes all three languages.^[4]

See also

• Jamaican Patois
• Cayman Islands Creole English
• Bermudian Creole English
• Bay Islands Creole English
• Turks and Caicos Creole

Further reading

• Book: Cassidy , Frederic G. . 2007. Jamaica Talk: Three Hundred Years of the English Language in Jamaica. University Press of the West Indies. Kingston. 978-9-7664017-0-2.
• Book: Cassidy, F. G. , Le Page, R. B. . 2009. Dictionary of Jamaican English (Second ed.). Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. 978-0-5211184-0-8.
• Book: Chang , Larry . 2014. Biesik Jumiekan: Introduction to Jamaican Language. Chuu Wod (Gnosophia Publishers). Washington DC. 978-0-9773391-8-1.
• Book: Bartens , Angela . 2013. San Andres Creole English. In The survey of pidgin and creole languages. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 978-0-1996914-0-1.

External links

• New Testament books translated into Creole
• San Andres Creole English

Notes and References

1. Web site: DANE Población Negra, Afrocolombiana, Raizal y Palenquera: Resultados del Censo National de Poplación y Vivienda 2018 . 22 July 2024.
2. Bartens, Angela (2013). San Andres Creole English. In: Michaelis, Susanne M., Maurer, Philippe & Haspelmath, Martin & Huber, Magnus (eds.). In The survey of pidgin and creole languages". Vol 1: English-based and Dutch-based Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.101-114. https://apics-online.info/surveys/10
3. Web site: Ethnologue report for language code: icr . . 2023-12-21.
4. Ronald Morren. 2010. Trilingual education: On the Islands of San Andres, Providence, and Santa Catalina. In Bettina Migge, Isabelle Léglise and Angela Bartens (eds.), Creoles in Education: An appraisal of current programs and projects, pp. 297–322. John Benjamins Publishing.