Liberian English

As a Liberian English is referred to the varieties of English in the West African country of Liberia.

There are four varieties:

• Standard Liberian English or Liberian settler English
• Kru Pidgin English
• Liberian creole or vernakuläres Liberian English
• Merico or Amerikoliberianisch

More and more Liberians speak English the only official language and language of instruction in the country. This use of English at the expense of the indigenous languages ​​that are spoken less and less, as the English also serves as a lingua franca among the Liberian people. The term " Liberian English " is sometimes used only for the varieties of Liberia without the standard Liberian English.

Standard Liberian English

Standard Liberian English is the language for those peoples whose ancestors immigrated African- American in the 19th century to Liberia. This variety is a variety of the transmitted African American English. It differs most in isolated settlements such as Louisiana, Lexington and Blunt Ville, small communities north of Greenville in Sinoe County. The vowel system is fine as in other West African variants; Standard Liberian English is different [i ] of [ ɪ ] and [u ] of [ ʊ ] and uses the diphthongs [ aɪ ], [ aʊ ] and [ əɪ ]. Vowels can be nasalized. The final vowel of happy is [ ɛ ]. It prefers open syllables, omittiert usually [t ], [ d] or a fricative. The interdental fricatives [ θ, ð ] appear initially as [t, d] and final as [f, v]. The glottal fricative [h ] is präserviert as its sequence [ hw ]. Affricates have lost their stop components, as in [ tʃ ]> [ ʃ ]. Between vowels can [t ] flappieren ( > [ ɾ ] ), as in North American English. Cash and cash will be lost at the end of words or before consonants, which makes the standard Liberian English to a nonrhetorischen dialect.

Kru Pidgin English

The Kru Pidgin English is a moribund extinct variety that was historically spoken by the ' crumbs '. These were individual sections of the population, mostly of the Klao and Grebo peoples, who worked as sailors on ships along the West African coast and as migrant workers and servants in British colonies such as the Gold Coast and Nigeria. The ' crumb ' tradition ' dated back to the end of the eighteenth century. However, with the end of British colonial presence in West Africa in the mid-20th century ended the tradition, and with it the permanent use of the Kru Pidgin English.

Liberian creole

The Liberian creole ( vernakuläres Liberian English), the most common variety, developed from the Liberian Binnenpidginenglisch, the Liberian variant of West African Pidgin English, although it was significantly affected by the Liberian settler English. Its phonology owes mainly Liberia Krusprachen. So it is less a completely different from the standard English Pidgin, rather than a number of varieties - from the high pidginisierten up to the English very resembling variants - enough.