Sranan Tongo

[1] Developed originally among enslaved Africans from Central and West Africa in Suriname, its use as a lingua franca expanded after the Dutch took over the colony in 1667.

[3] The Sranan Tongo words for 'to know' and 'small children' are sabi and pikin (respectively derived from Portuguese saber and pequeno).

Based on its lexicon, Sranan Tongo has been found to have developed originally as an English-based creole language, because of the early influence of English colonists here in what was then part of English colony of Guiana, who imported numerous Africans as slaves for the plantations.

[citation needed] As other ethnic groups, such as East Indians and Chinese, were brought to Suriname as indentured workers, Sranan Tongo became a lingua franca.

Until the middle of the 20th century, most written texts in Sranan, seen at the time as a low-prestige language,[5] used a spelling that was not standardized but based on Dutch orthography.

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.

During the 1980s, this language was popularized by publicly known speakers, including chairman Dési Bouterse, who often delivered national speeches in Sranan Tongo.

[9] People often greet each other in Sranan Tongo by saying, for example, fa waka ('how are you'), instead of the more formal Dutch hoe gaat het ('how is it going').

[10] The first important book was published in 1864 by Johannes King, and relates to his travels to Drietabbetje for the Moravian Church.

[13] Other notable writers in Sranan Tongo are Eugène Drenthe, André Pakosie, Celestine Raalte, Michaël Slory, and Bea Vianen.