Surinamese language

Surinamese (Sranantongo, Sranan Tongo, Taki Taki, Sranan or Surinaams) is an English-based creole language that is spoken as a lingua franca by approximately 550,000 people in Suriname. Developed originally among slaves from West Africa and English colonists, its use as a lingua franca expanded after the Dutch took over the colony in 1667, and 85% of the vocabulary comes from English and Dutch. It also became the common language among the indigenous peoples and the indentured laborers imported by the Dutch; these groups included speakers of Javanese, Sarnami Hindustani, Saramaccan, and varieties of Chinese. The Sranan Tongo words for "to know" and "small children" are sabi and pikin (respectively derived from Portuguese saber and pequeno). The Portuguese were the first European explorers of the West African coast. A trading pidgin language developed between them and Africans, and later explorers, including the English, also used this creole. Based on its lexicon, Sranan Tongo has been found to have developed originally as an English-based creole language, because of the early influence of English colonists here in what was then part of English colony of Guiana, who imported numerous Africans as slaves for the plantations. After the Dutch takeover in 1667 (in exchange for ceding the North American eastern seaboard colony of New Netherland to the English), a substantial overlay of words were adopted from the Dutch language. Sranan Tongo's lexicon is a fusion of mostly English and Dutch vocabulary (85%), plus some vocabulary from Spanish, Portuguese and West African languages. It began as a pidgin spoken primarily by enslaved Africans from various tribes in Suriname, who often did not have an African language in common. Sranan Tongo also became the language of communication between the slaves. So the slave owners could not understand the slaves, the slaves would often make escaping plans in Sranan Tongo. Under Dutch rule, the slaves were not permitted to learn or speak Dutch.