SARAMACCAN

views updated

SARAMACCAN. A CREOLE of SURINAM whose vocabulary derives partly from PORTUGUESE, partly from English; generally considered the oldest creole of Surinam and currently spoken by the Central Bush Negroes (the Saramaccans and the Matuari). It developed among 17c runaway slaves who may have spoken a Portuguese PIDGIN in addition to their West African languages, and who came into brief contact with English in the plantations. See NDJUKA, SRANAN.

More From encyclopedia.com