[1] The population of the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina uses three languages: Creole, English and Spanish.

[3] It retains a number of African words and phrases in common with the Nicaraguan, Belizean, and Limón creoles, and with Jamaican Patwah.

[7] While many scholars often suggest a common West African pidgin as the source of most Caribbean creole languages, San Andrés Creole, in particular, may partially derive from the Jamaican Patwah of the latter half of the 18th century.

[1][4] The presence of migrants from continental Colombia and the travel of young islanders to cities like Barranquilla, Cartagena de Indias and Bogotá for higher education has contributed to the presence of Spanish.

[4][5][10] According to Carlos Augusto Arias, "Creole plays a symbolic role in the cohesion and identity of raizals, as the vehicle and an important piece of the cultural heritage, as well as the phenomenology of group identity.