Sranantongo

Spoken in

• Creole languages English based Sranan Tongo

Sranan (also Sranan short, Dutch: Surinaams ), formerly Negro Engels; derogatory Name: Taki- Taki ( to German as much as " blah ") is a language spoken in Suriname Creole.

Survey

Although Sranan due to the many likely inherited from the English words ( mi " my " futu "foot" ) is often referred to as English -based creole language, this claim is not without controversy. There is also evidence that the Portuguese can be seen as a base from this source comes bun among other "good". The influence of African languages ​​is clearly visible. Today, the influence of the Dutch increasing again, especially in the city where so-called photo taki ("city language" ) is spoken, which is more influenced by Dutch and English; in contrast to Dipi Taki ( "deep language" ), which is spoken in rural areas of Suriname. However, clear boundaries are not always possible within the extremely complex linguistic landscape of Suriname.

The first written evidence of Sranan arose in 1781 with the Singi Buku (Hymns ) and in 1784 with the Nyun Testament by the Moravian Church, which is active in mission in Suriname since 1735. Until the second half of the 19th century it was forbidden to give slaves lessons in Dutch. Like most creole Sranan Tongo has no high status in the population. Despite this limitation, Sranan Tongo is a full-fledged language that was used in poems, among others Trefossa (aka Henry F. de destination, 1916-1975 ). After the Second World War there were efforts, Sranan Tongo to establish itself as a national language of Suriname, but never an official dictionary or an official grammar was published.

Origin, History and related languages

During the Dutch colonial era slaves fled from the plantations in the nearby rainforest. This then came together to form communities that were called Maroons ( the largest groups among them are the Saramaccaner and Ndyuka ). To get on vital goods such as iron, these communities were dependent on raids, which led to constant tension with the colonial administration.

A contemporary description of the dispute a European mercenary troops against rebellious Maroons in the second half of the 18th century can be found in a book by John Gabriel Stedman, which was released in 1796 and was quite successful. In this book there are also illustrations of William Blake.

After the Maroons had not as easily proven to defeating enemies, then various contracts with them, which guaranteed them the freedom and permission to peaceful trade with the Europeans were, but on the condition that they have no new escaped slave in their were allowed to take up series. But since continued fled slaves, these were in turn own communities, which were later integrated contract also in the same way. Since these communities barely had contact with Europeans, their creoles were also not Europeanized. Therefore, there are today in Suriname three Creole languages ​​, all of which originally have the same basis, but with different levels of European influence. The older of the Creole languages ​​of the Maroons, the Saramaccaans still shows very strong Portuguese and West African features. The younger, the Aukaans has, however, lost some African and Portuguese elements.

Today's Sranan

Sranan is the language of the great majority of offspring who never fled, but by the end of the 19th century freed slaves. Sranan has many of the Portuguese words replaced by English and Dutch and his vocabulary expanded greatly by borrowing from Dutch and English (see: extension language ). The phonetic shape has adapted very European patterns. The two African phonemes kp and gb were replaced by kw and gw and the original tonality was lost. Consonant clusters such as kr- word-initial or word - ntr - in inside today are not rare, originally the syllable structure was probably like today in Saramaccan strictly consonant-vowel, with nasalized vowels and consonants pränasalierte occur.

Today's distribution

Sranan Tongo is spoken in Suriname by nearly the entire population as a lingua franca. Of these, about 100,000 people speak Sranan Tongo as their native language ( the so-called Creoles, ie the descendants of never escaped slave ), and according to an estimate from 1997 about 300,000 people as a second language. Multilingualism with Dutch and English and the languages ​​of other ethnic groups is widespread, with Dutch serves as the official and written language. Also among the Dutch Surinamese origin Sranan is very common.

Samples

• Yu kan sori mi wan bun restaurant?
• "Can you recommend a good restaurant? "
• San yu abi fu nyan?
• " What they have food? "

Number words

Noti ( 0), wan ( 1), tu ( 2), dri ( 3), fo ( 4), feifi ( 5), siksi (6 ), seibi ( 7), aiti ( 8), neigi (9) tin (10 )