View source for English-based creole languages

{{short description|Creole language derived from the English language}}
{{redirect-distinguish|English creole|Middle English creole hypothesis}}
{{British African-Caribbean community}}
An '''English-based creole language''' (often shortened to '''English creole''') is a [[creole language]] for which [[English language|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 creole's [[lexicon]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pidgins, Creoles and Mixed Languages|last=Velupillai|first=Viveka|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|year=2015|isbn=978-90-272-5272-2|location=Amsterdam|pages=519}}</ref> Most English creoles were formed in British colonies, following the great expansion of British naval military power and trade in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The main categories of English-based creoles are Atlantic (the Americas and Africa) and Pacific (Asia and Oceania).

Over 76.5 million people globally are estimated to speak an English-based creole. Sierra Leone, Malaysia, Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, and Singapore have the largest concentrations of creole speakers.

==Origin==
It is disputed to what extent the various English-based creoles of the world share a common origin. The ''[[Monogenetic theory of pidgins|monogenesis hypothesis]]''<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hancock|first=I. F.|year=1969|title=A provisional comparison of the English-based Atlantic creoles|journal=African Language Review|volume=8|pages=7–72}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Gilman|first=Charles|year=1978|title=A Comparison of Jamaican Creole and Cameroon Pidgin English|journal=English Studies|volume=59|pages=57–65|doi=10.1080/00138387808597871}}</ref> posits that a single language, commonly called ''proto–Pidgin English'', spoken along the West African coast in the early sixteenth century, was ancestral to most or all of the Atlantic creoles (the English creoles of both West Africa and the Americas).

==Table of creole languages==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Name
!Country
!Number of speakers<ref>{{e25}}</ref>
!Notes
|-
!colspan="4"|

===Atlantic===
|-
!colspan="4"|

====Western Caribbean====
|-
|[[Bahamian Creole]]
|{{Flag|Bahamas}}
|{{nts|328000}} (2018)
|
|-
|[[Turks and Caicos Creole English]]
|{{Flag|Turks and Caicos}}
|{{nts|34400}} (2019)
|
|-
|[[Bay Islands English]]
|{{Flag|Honduras}}
|{{nts|22500}} (2001)
|-
|[[Jamaican Patois]]
|{{Flag|Jamaica}}
|{{nts|3043280}} (2001)
|
|-
|[[Cayman Islands English]]
|{{Flag|Cayman Islands}}
|{{nts|84400}} (2019)
|
|-
|[[Belizean Creole]]
|{{Flag|Belize}}
|{{nts|170000}} (2014)
|
|-
|[[Miskito Coast Creole]]
|{{Flag|Nicaragua}}
|{{nts|18400}} (2009)
|Dialect: [[Rama Cay Creole]]
|-
|[[Limonese Creole]]
|{{Flag|Costa Rica}}
|{{nts|55100}} (2013)
|Dialect of Jamaican Patois
|-
|[[Bocas del Toro Creole]]
|{{Flag|Panama}}
|{{nts|268000}} (2000)
|Dialect of Jamaican Patois
|-
|[[San Andrés–Providencia Creole]]
|{{Flag|Colombia}}
| {{nts|12000}} (1981)
|
|-
!colspan="4"|

====Eastern Caribbean====
|-
|[[Virgin Islands Creole]]
|{{Flag|US Virgin Islands}}

{{Flag|British Virgin Islands}}

{{Flag|Sint Maarten}}

{{Flag|Puerto Rico}}{{refn|<ref>{{cite web |title=Virgin Islands English Creole |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/vic/ |website=[[Ethnologue]] |access-date=27 March 2023}}</ref><ref name=":2">Villanueva Feliciano, Orville Omar. 2009. ''[https://www.proquest.com/openview/272a2f934bbb815bfdbf5dcc6ba9c82c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750 A Contrastive analysis of English Influences on the Lexicon of Puerto Rican Spanish in Puerto Rico and St. Croix]''</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Virgin Islands Creole English |url=https://find.bible/languages/vic/ |website=Find a Bible |access-date=11 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Staff Consortium |title=What Does the USVI and Puerto Rico Have in Common? A Summary of a Stimulating Discussion on Self-Determination in the Virgin Islands. |url=https://viconsortium.com/vi-opinion/virgin-islands-what-does-the-usvi-and-puerto-rico-have-in-common-a-summary-of-a-stimulating-discussion-on-self-determination-in-the-virgin-islands- |website=The Virgin Islands Consortium |access-date=10 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sprawe |first1=Gilbert A. |title=About Man Betta Man, Fission and Fusion, and Creole, Calypso and Cultural Survival in the Virgin Islands |url=https://folklife-media.si.edu/docs/festival/program-book-articles/FESTBK1990_11.pdf |access-date=6 April 2023}}</ref>}}

{{Flag|Saint-Martin}}

{{Flag|Sint Eustatius}}

{{Flag|Saba}}
|{{nts|89700}} (2019)
|
|-
|[[Anguillan Creole]]
|{{Flag|Anguilla}}
|{{nts|11500}} (2001)
|Dialect of [[Antiguan and Barbudan Creole]]
|-
|[[Antiguan Creole]]
|{{Flag|Antigua and Barbuda}}
|{{nts|82500}} (2019)
|Dialect of Antiguan and Barbudan Creole
|-
|[[Saint Kitts Creole]]
|{{Flag|Saint Kitts and Nevis}}
|{{nts|51000}} (2015)
|Dialect of Antiguan and Barbudan Creole
|-
|[[Montserrat Creole]]
|{{Flag|Montserrat}}
|{{nts|5130}} (2020)
|Dialect of Antiguan and Barbudan Creole
|-
|[[Vincentian Creole]]
|{{Flag|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines}}
|{{nts|108000}} (2016)
|
|-
|[[Grenadian Creole English|Grenadian Creole]]
|{{Flag|Grenada}}
|{{nts|107000}} (2020)
|
|-
|[[Tobagonian Creole]]
|{{Flag|Trinidad and Tobago}}
|{{nts|300000}} (2011)
|
|-
|[[Trinidadian Creole]]
|{{Flag|Trinidad and Tobago}}
|{{nts|1000000}} (2011)
|
|-
|[[Bajan Creole]]
|{{Flag|Barbados}}
|{{nts|257000}} (2018)
|
|-
|[[Guyanese Creole]]
|{{Flag|Guyana}}
|{{nts|715200}} (2021)
|
|-
|[[Sranan Tongo]]
|{{Flag|Suriname}}
|{{nts|669600}} (2016–2018)
|Including 150,000 L2 users
|-
|[[Saramaccan]]
|{{Flag|Suriname}}
|{{nts|34500}} (2018)
|
|-
|[[Ndyuka language|Ndyuka]]
|{{Flag|Suriname}}
|{{nts|67800}} (2018)
|Dialects: Aluku, Paramaccan
|-
|[[Kwinti language|Kwinti]]
|{{Flag|Suriname}}
|{{nts|250}} (2018)
|
|-
!colspan="4"|

====Southern-Caribbean====
|-
|[[Venezuelan English Creole]]
|{{Flag|Venezuela}}
|unknown, likely endangered (2018)
|
|-
|[[San Nicolaas English]]
|{{Flag|Aruba}}
|{{nts|15000}} (estimation) (2020)
|Spoken in San Nicolaas, Aruba
|-
!colspan="4"|

====North America====
|-
|[[Gullah language|Gullah]]
|{{Flag|United States}}
|{{nts|300}} (2023)
|Ethnic population: 250,000
|-
|[[Afro-Seminole Creole]]
|{{Flag|United States}}

{{Flag|Mexico}}
|{{nts|200}} (1990)<ref>{{cite web |title=Afro-Seminole Creole |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/archive-redirect |website=[[Ethnologue]] |access-date=11 February 2023}}</ref><ref name="kreol#1">[https://kreolmagazine.com/culture/history-and-culture/creoles-in-texas-the-afro-seminoles/#.Ws7wBFLMygQ "Creoles in Texas – 'The Afro-Seminoles'." ''Kreol Magazine''. March 28, 2014.] Accessed April 11, 2018.</ref>{{efn|According to ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', Black Seminoles have also been known as '''Seminole Maroons''' or '''Seminole Freedmen''' and were a group of free blacks and runaway slaves who joined with a group of Native Americans in [[Florida]] after the Spanish abolished slavery there in 1793.<ref name="Britannica">[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Seminoles Kuiper, Kathleen. "Black Seminoles." In: ''Encyclopedia Britannica''.] Accessed April 13, 2018.</ref>}}
|Dialect of the [[Gullah language]]
|-
!colspan="4"|

====West Africa====
|-
|[[Krio language|Krio]]
|{{Flag|Sierra Leone}}
|{{nts|8237900}} (2019)
|Including 7,420,000 L2 speakers
|-
|[[Liberian Kreyol language|Kreyol]]
|{{Flag|Liberia}}
|{{nts|5113000}} (2015)
|Including 5,000,000 L2 speakers
|-
|[[Ghanaian Pidgin English|Ghanaian Pidgin]]
|{{Flag|Ghana}}
|{{nts|5002000}} (2011)
|
|-
|[[Nigerian Pidgin]]
|{{Flag|Nigeria}}
|{{nts|120650000}}
|Including 116,000,000 L2 users
|-
|[[Cameroonian Pidgin]]
|{{Flag|Cameroon}}
|{{nts|12000000}} (2017)
|
|-
|[[Equatorial Guinean Pidgin]]
|{{Flag|Equatorial Guinea}}
|{{nts|200000}} (2020)
|Including 185,000 L2 users (2020)
|-
!colspan="4"|

===Pacific===
|-
|[[Hawaiian Pidgin]]{{efn|Although Hawaii is part of the United States, Hawaiian Pidgin is mostly considered as a Pacific creole language rather than Atlantic, this is further mentioned in John Holm's "An Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles". Therefore, it does not have to follow its political boundaries on being a U.S. state.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holm |first1=John A. |author1-link=John A. Holm |title=An introduction to pidgin and creoles |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge [England] |isbn=9780521584609 |page=95}}</ref>}}
|{{Flag|Hawaii}}

{{Flag|United States}}
|{{nts|600000}} (2015)
|Including 400,000 L2 users{{refn|<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Sasaoka |first=Kyle |date=2019 |title=Toward a writing system for Hawai'i Creole |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/25a8f799-25da-4f99-985e-3e7ec71118cf/content |website=ScholarSpace}}</ref><ref name=":14">{{Cite book|last=Velupillai|first=Viveka|date=2013|title=Hawai'i Creole|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NZkeAAAAQBAJ&dq=Velupillai%2C+Viveka.+2013.+%22Hawai%E2%80%99i+Creole&pg=PA252|journal=The Survey of Pidgin and Creole Languages|pages=252–261|isbn=978-0-19-969140-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/hwc|title=Hawai'i Pidgin|work=Ethnologue|access-date=2018-06-25|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Velupillai|first=Viveka|title=Hawai'i Creole structure dataset|date=2013|url=https://apics-online.info/contributions/26|work=Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online|place=Leipzig|publisher=Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology|access-date=2021-08-20}}</ref>}}
|-
|[[Ngatikese Creole]]
|{{Flag|Micronesia}}
|{{nts|700}} (1983)
|
|-
|[[Tok Pisin]]
|{{Flag|Papua New Guinea}}
|{{nts|4125740}}
|Including 4,000,000 L2 users (2001)
|-
|[[Pijin]]
|{{Flag|Solomon Islands}}
|{{nts|564000}} (2012–2019)
|530,000 L2 users (1999)
|-
|[[Bislama]]
|{{Flag|Vanuatu}}
|{{nts|12570}} (2011)
|
|-
|[[Pitkern language|Pitcairn]]-[[Norfuk language|Norfolk]]
|{{Flag|Pitcairn}}
{{Flag|Norfolk Island}}
|{{nts|1786}}
|Almost no L2 users. Has been classified as an Atlantic Creole based on internal structure.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Avram|first=Andrei|year=2003|title=Pitkern and Norfolk revisited|journal=[[English Today]]|volume=19|issue=1|pages=44–49|doi=10.1017/S0266078403003092|s2cid=144835575}}</ref>
|-
|[[Australian Kriol]]
|{{Flag|Australia}}
|{{nts|17160}}
|Including 10,000 L2 users (1991)
|-
|[[Torres Strait Creole]]
|{{Flag|Australia}}
|{{nts|6170}} (2016)
|
|-
|[[Bonin English]]
|{{Flag|Japan}}
|Possibly {{nts|1000}}–2000 (2004){{citation needed|date=December 2022}}
|
|-
|[[Singlish]]
|{{Flag|Singapore}}
|{{nts|2140000}}{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}
|
|-
|[[Manglish]]
|{{Flag|Malaysia}}
|{{nts|10300000}}{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}
|
|-
|}

==Marginal==
*[[Bonin English]], sometimes considered a [[mixed language]]
*[[Iyaric|Iyaric ("Rastafarian")]]
*[[Jamaican Maroon Spirit Possession Language]]

==Other==
Not strictly creoles, but sometimes called thus:
* [[Bay Islands English]]
* [[Cayman Islands English]]

==See also==
*[[List of English-based pidgins]]
*[[Middle English creole hypothesis]]
*[[World Englishes]]
*[[Belter Creole]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MNaJnkIsphkC|editor-last=Holm|editor-first=John A.|title=Central American English|year=1983|publisher=Julius Groos Verlag|location=Heidelberg|isbn=3-87276-295-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Holm|first=John A.|title=Pidgins and Creoles|volume=2, Reference Survey|year=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-35940-5|pages=405–551|chapter=English-based varieties|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PcD7p9y3EIcC&pg=PA405}}
* {{cite book|last=Holm|first=John A.|title=An Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B7Nko5XBOegC|year=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-58581-1}}
* {{cite book|title=The Lesser-Known Varieties of English: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-TGSgT2SyH0C|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-48741-2
|editor-last1=Schreier
|editor-first1=Daniel
|editor-last2=Trudgill
|editor-first2=Peter
|editor-link2=Peter Trudgill
|editor-last3=Schneider
|editor-first3=Edgar W.
|editor-link3=Edgar W. Schneider
|editor-last4=Williams
|editor-first4=Jeffrey P.
}}
* {{cite book|last1=Arends|first1=Jacques|last2=Muysken|first2=Pieter|last3=Smith|first3=Norval|title=Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGEiKkpNP-gC|year=1995|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=90-272-5236-X}}

==External links==
* [http://apics-online.info/ Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures]

{{Anglophone Caribbean Creoles}}
{{English dialects by continent}}{{English-based creoles}}{{Authority control}}

[[Category:English-based pidgins and creoles| ]]