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Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Grammatical features  





2 See also  





3 References  














Liberian Kreyol






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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

(Redirected from Liberian Kreyol language)

Kolokwa English
RegionLiberia
EthnicityAmerico-Liberians
SpeakersNative: 100,000 (2015)[1]
L2: 5 million (2021)[1]

Language family

English Creole

Language codes
ISO 639-3lir
Glottologlibe1240

Liberian Kreyol (also known as KolokwaorLiberian Kolokwa English) is an Atlantic English-based creole language spoken in Liberia.[1] It was spoken by 1,500,000 people as a second language at the 1984 census which accounted for about 70% of the population at the time. It is historically and linguistically related to Merico, a creole spoken in Liberia, but it is grammatically distinct from it. There are regional dialects such as the Kru and Kpelleh kolokwa English used by the Kru fishermen.[2]

Liberian Kolokwa Language developed from Liberian Interior Pidgin English, the Liberian version of West African vernacular English, though it has been significantly influenced by Liberian Settler English, itself based on American English, particularly African-American Vernacular English and Southern American English. Its phonology owes much to the indigenous Languages of Liberia.[3] It has been analyzed[by whom?] 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.

Kolokwa [4] originated in Liberia among the Settlers, the free English-speaking African Americans from the Southern United States who 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 intertribal lingua franca in the interior of Liberia.[2]

Grammatical features[edit]

Kreyol uses no for negation, bi (be) as the copula, for "to" in verbal infinitives.[2]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Kolokwa EnglishatEthnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  • ^ a b c Joey Lee Dillard (1975), Perspectives on black English. 391 pages. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 90-279-7811-5, ISBN 978-90-279-7811-0. Online version accessed on 2009-08-10.
  • ^ Contributor, Guest. "Kolokwa: Liberianizing English". www.liberianobserver.com. Retrieved 2023-04-17. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  • ^ "Words R Us - Liberian English (lir)". www.wordsrus.info. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  • t
  • e

  • Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Liberian_Kreyol&oldid=1227913269"

    Categories: 
    Languages of Liberia
    English-based pidgins and creoles of Africa
    Pidgin and creole language stubs
    Hidden categories: 
    Language articles citing Ethnologue 25
    CS1 errors: generic name
    Use Liberian English from August 2020
    All Wikipedia articles written in Liberian English
    Articles with short description
    Short description is different from Wikidata
    Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from October 2022
    All stub articles
     



    This page was last edited on 8 June 2024, at 13:17 (UTC).

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