An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a creole language for which English was the lexifier, meaning that at the time of its formation the vocabulary of English served as the basis for the majority of the creole's lexicon. Most English creoles were formed in British colonies, following the great expansion of British naval military power and trade in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The main categories of English-based creoles are Atlantic (the Americas and Africa) and Pacific (Asia and Oceania).
Over 76.5 million people globally are estimated to speak an English-based creole. Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana and Jamaica have the largest concentrations of Creole speakers.
Origin It is disputed to what extent the various English-based creoles of the world share a common origin. The monogenesis hypothesis posits that a single language, commonly called proto–Pidgin English, spoken along the West African coast in the early sixteenth century, was ancestral to most or all of the Atlantic creoles (the English creoles of both West Africa and the Americas).
Table of creole languages NameCountryNumber of speakersNotesAtlanticWestern CaribbeanBahamian Creole (2018)Turks and Caicos Creole English (2019)Bay Islands English (2001)Jamaican Patois (2001)Belizean Creole (2014)Miskito Coast Creole (2009)Dialect: Rama Cay CreoleLimonese Creole (2013)Dialect of Jamaican PatoisBocas del Toro Creole (2000)Dialect of Jamaican PatoisSan Andrés–Providencia Creole (1981)Dialect of Jamaican PatoisEastern CaribbeanVirgin Islands Creole (2019)Anguillan Creole (2001)Dialect of Antiguan and Barbudan CreoleBarbudan Creole1,400 (2011)Dialect of Antiguan and Barbudan CreoleNorth Antiguan Creole48,000 (2011)Dialect of Antiguan and Barbudan CreoleSouth Antiguan Creole6,800 (2011)Dialect of Antiguan and Barbudan CreoleSaint Kitts Creole (2015)Dialect of Antiguan and Barbudan CreoleMontserrat Creole (2020)Dialect of Antiguan and Barbudan CreoleKokoyunknown, growingDialect of Antiguan and Barbudan CreoleVincentian Creole (2016)Grenadian Creole (2020)Tobagonian Creole (2011)Trinidadian Creole (2011)Bajan Dialect (2018)Guyanese Creole (2021)Sranan Tongo (2016–2018)Including 150,000 L2 usersSaramaccan (2018)Ndyuka (2018)Dialects: Aluku, ParamaccanKwinti (2018)Southern-CaribbeanVenezuelan English Creoleunknown, likely endangered (2018)San Nicolaas English (estimation) (2020)Spoken in San Nicolaas, ArubaNorth AmericaGullah (2023)Ethnic population: 250,000Afro-Seminole Creole (1990)"Creoles in Texas – 'The Afro-Seminoles'." Kreol Magazine. March 28, 2014. Accessed April 11, 2018.Dialect of the Gullah languageWest AfricaKrio (2019)Including 7,420,000 L2 speakersKreyol (2015)Including 5,000,000 L2 speakersGhanaian Pidgin (2026)Including 5,000,000 L2 speakersNigerian PidginIncluding 116,000,000 L2 usersCameroonian Pidgin (2017)Equatorial Guinean Pidgin (2020)Including 185,000 L2 users (2020)PacificHawaiian Pidgin (2015)Including 400,000 L2 usersNgatikese Creole (1983)Tok PisinIncluding 4,000,000 L2 users (2001)Pijin (2012–2019)530,000 L2 users (1999)Bislama (2011)Pitcairn-NorfolkAlmost no L2 users. Has been classified as an Atlantic Creole based on internal structure.Australian KriolIncluding 10,000 L2 users (1991)Torres Strait Creole (2016)Bonin EnglishPossibly –2000 (2004)
Marginal Bonin English, sometimes considered a mixed language Iyaric ("Rastafarian") Jamaican Maroon Spirit Possession Language
Other Not strictly creoles, but sometimes called thus: Bay Islands English Cayman Islands English
See also List of English-based pidgins Middle English creole hypothesis World Englishes Belter Creole
Notes
References
Further reading
External links Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures