Sranan Tongo
[2] Sranan Tongo developed among enslaved Africans from Central and West Africa, especially along the Caribbean coastline, after contact with English planters and indentured workers from 1651–67.
In the early 18th century (1720), large numbers of Akan people (65%) from the region then called the Gold Coast were also transported to plantations in Suriname.
[3][5][6]: 403–4, 408 As other ethnic groups, such as East Indians and Chinese, were brought to Suriname as indentured workers, Sranan Tongo became a lingua franca.
[6]: 403–4 The African language influences of Sranan Tongo are Gbe (Fon, Ewe, Aja, Gun, Gen (Mina), Xwelak), KiKongo, and Akan (Twi and Fante).
[3][8][9][6] The influence of the Cariban language, Carib - and Arawak can be found in Sranan's botanical, zoological, musical, culinary and Winti lexicon.
[7] Remnants of Sranan's Portuguese-based period can still be traced in its lexical items of Portuguese origin and the Ancestral tradition of Odos.
Odos Afro-Surinamese people proverbs, folk-lore and stories, passed down generationally during slavery through oral tradition in Sranan.
These stories are still a part of Afro-Surinamese culture and identity, with many that can be traced back to specific regions in Central and West Africa where they originated.
[10][11] Until the middle of the 20th century, most written texts in Sranan, seen at the time as a low-prestige language,[a] used a spelling that was not standardized but based on Dutch orthography.
[5] With the emergence of a movement striving for the emancipation of Sranan as a respectable language, the need for a phonology-based orthography was felt.
A more suitable orthography developed as an informal consensus from the publications of linguists studying Sranan and related creoles.
To end this situation, the Surinamese government commissioned a committee of linguists and writers to define a standard spelling, which was adopted and came into force in 1986.
[15][2] During the 1980s, this language was popularized by publicly known speakers, including chairman Dési Bouterse, who often delivered national speeches in Sranan Tongo.
[20] Other notable writers in Sranan Tongo are Eugène Drenthe, André Pakosie, Celestine Raalte, Michaël Slory, and Bea Vianen.
