Kristang language

Papia Kristang ("speak Christian"), or just Kristang, is a creole language spoken by the Kristang, a community of people of mixed Portuguese and Malay ancestry, chiefly in Malacca, Malaysia. The language is also called Cristão or Cristan ("Christian"), Portugues di Melaka ("Malacca Portuguese"), Linggu Mai ("Mother Tongue") or simply Papia ("speak"). In Singapore it is known as Kristang. In Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010; formerly the Red Book of Endangered Languages) published by UNESCO, Kristang is classified as a "severely endangered" language, with only about 2,000 speakers. Up to 2014, linguists concerned with Kristang have generally accepted a combined speaker population of about 1,000 individuals or less. The language has about 750 speakers in Malacca and another 100 in Singapore. A small number of speakers also live in other Portuguese Eurasian communities in Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, and in diaspora communities in Perth (Western Australia), Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Its endonym Papia Kristang is taken from Portuguese papear cristão ("to chat/speak Christian"). The papia element of the name is cognate with Papiamento, another Portuguese-based creole spoken in the Dutch West Indies. The Kristang language originated after the conquest of Malacca (Malaysia) in 1511 by the Portuguese Empire. Until a takeover by the Dutch in 1642, Malacca served as one of the key ports in the trade and administration network of Portuguese establishments along with Goa and Hormuz, allowing Portugal control over main Asiatic trade routes. The lingua franca of Malacca then was a pidginised form of Malay known as Bazaar Malay or Melayu Pasar, used amongst the resident foreign population which then consisted mainly of Javanese, Tamils and Hokkien Chinese. The constant traffic of Portuguese and traders of other origins such as India eventually gave birth to Papia Kristang, one of many Portuguese-derived contact languages which resulted from Portuguese colonial expansion during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.