Liberian English
As Liberian English is called the varieties of English in the West African country of Liberia .
There are four varieties:
- standard Liberian English or Liberian Settler English
- Kru-Pidginenglisch
- Liberian Creole or vernacular Liberian English
- Merico or American-Liberian
More and more Liberians speak English, the only official language and the language of instruction in the country. This use of English comes at the expense of the native languages, which are spoken less and less, as English also serves as the lingua franca between the Liberian peoples. The term "Liberian English" is sometimes used only for the varieties of Liberia without the standard Liberian English.
Standard Liberian English
Standard Liberian English is the language for those peoples whose African-American ancestors immigrated to Liberia in the 19th century. This variety is a transcribed variety of African American English . It differs most in isolated settlements like Louisiana , Lexington, and Bluntsville , small communities north of Greenville in Sinoe County . The vowel system is more sophisticated than in other West African variants; Standard Liberian English distinguishes [i] from [ɪ] and [u] from [ʊ] and uses the diphthongs [aɪ] , [aʊ] and [əɪ] . Vowels can be nasalized. The final vowel of happy is [ɛ] . It prefers open syllables, usually omitting [t] , [d] or a fricative. The interdental fricatives [θ, ð] appear initially as [t, d] and finally as [f, v] . The glottal fricative [h] is preserved as its sequence [hw] . Affricates have lost their stopping components, as in [t͡ʃ] > [ʃ] . [T] can flap between vowels (> [ɾ] ) as in North American English . Liquids are lost at the end of words or before consonants, making standard Liberian English a non-Rhotic dialect.
Kru-Pidginenglisch
The Kru-Pidginenglisch is an extinct variety that was historically spoken of the ' Krumen '. These were individual populations, mostly from the Klao and Grebo peoples , who worked as seamen on ships along the West African coast and as migrant workers and servants in British colonies such as the Gold Coast and Nigeria . The 'crumb tradition' dates back to the late eighteenth century. With the end of the British colonial presence in West Africa in the middle of the 20th century, however, the tradition ended, and with it the permanent use of Kru-Pidginenglisch.
Liberian Creole Language
The Liberian Creole language (vernacular Liberian English), the most common variety, evolved from Liberian Inner Pidgine English , the Liberian variant of West African Pidgine English, although it was significantly influenced by Liberian Settler English. It owes its phonology primarily to Liberia's Krus languages . It is not so much a pidgin that is completely different from standard English than a number of varieties - ranging from highly pidginized to variants very similar to English.
literature
- John Victor Singler: Copula Variation in Liberian Settler English and American Black English . In: Geneva Smitherman (Ed.): Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America . Wayne State University Press, 1986, ISBN 0-8143-1805-3 , pp. 129-164.
- John Victor Singler: Optimality Theory, the Minimal-Word Constraint, and the Historical Sequencing of Substrate Influence in Pidgin / Creole Genesis . In: John McWhorter (Ed.): Language Change and Language Contact in Pidgins and Creoles . John Benjamin Publishing Company, 2000, ISBN 90-272-5243-2 , pp. 335-354.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Brinton, Lauren, and Leslie Arnovick. The English Language: A Linguistic History. Oxford University Press: Canada, 2006