Sranan
Conjugate VerbsFacts
- Language: Sranan
- Alternate names: Sranan Tongo, Surinaams, Suriname Creole English, Surinamese, Taki-Taki
- Language code: srn
- Language family: Indo-European, Classical Indo-European, Germanic, Northwest Germanic, West Germanic, North Sea Germanic, Anglo-Frisian, Anglic, Later Anglic, Middle-Modern English, Macro-English, Guinea Coast Creole English, Surinamese Creole English, Eastern Maroons
- Creole language
- Number of speakers: 126400
- Script: Latin script
More information:
Introduction
Sranan is a creole language spoken as a lingua franca in Suriname. It is the mother tongue of the Creoles. Sranan was previously called nengre or negerengels (Dutch, "negroenglish").
The Sranan lexicon is a fusion of English, Dutch, Portuguese and Central and West African languages. It began as a Pidgin spoken primarily by African slaves in Suriname who often did not have a common African language. Sranan also became the language of communication between the slaves and the slave-owners, as the slaves were prohibited to speak Dutch. As other ethnic groups were brought to Suriname as contract workers, Sranan became a lingua franca.