Liberian Kreyol language

Kreyol (Liberian Pidgin English, Vernacular Liberian English) is an English-based creole language spoken in Liberia and Sierra Leone.^[1] It is spoken by 1,500,000 people as a second language (1984 census). It is historically and linguistically related to Merico, another creole spoken in Liberia, but is grammatically distinct from it. Ir is also distinguished from the Kru Pidgin English, a variant of Kreyol used by the Kru fishermen.^[2]

Liberian Kreyol language developed from Liberian Interior Pidgin English, the Liberian version of West African Pidgin English though it has been significantly influenced by Liberian Settler English. Its phonology owes much to Liberia's Niger-Congo languages. It has been analyzed having a post-creole continuum. As such, rather than being a pidgin wholly distinct from English, it is a range of varieties that extend from the highly pidginized to one that shows many similarities to English as spoken elsewhere in West Africa.

Kreyol originated in Liberia among the Settlers, the freed English-speaking African American slaves who grew up several years in the United States and emigrated to Liberia between 1819 and 1860. It has since borrowed some words from French and from other West African languages.

Kreyol is spoken mostly as an inter-tribal lingua franca in the interior of Liberia.^[2]

Grammatical features

Kreyol uses no for negation, bi as the copula, fɔ for "to" in verbal infinitives.^[2]

See also

• Krio language, another English-based creole spoken in Sierra Leone
• Fernando Poo Creole English, another English-based creole spoken in Fernando Po by the Krio descended community there.
• Haitian Creole language or Kreyól aysyen, an unrelated French-based creole
• Lousiana Creole language or Kréyol lwiziàn, another unrelated French-based creole

References

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