Sranan Tongo

Sranan Tongo (Sranantongo, "Surinamese tongue", Sranan, Surinamese Creole) is an English-based creole language from Suriname, in South America, where it is the first or second language for 519,600 Surinamese people (approximately 80% of the population). It is also spoken in the Netherlands and across the Surinamese diaspora.^{[1] [2] [3]} It is considered both an unofficial national language and a lingua franca .^[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. Its use expanded to the Dutch colonists who took over the territory in 1667 and decided to maintain the local language as a lingua franca.^{[3] [2]} Because the number of English colonists was massively reduced following the arrival of the Dutch, later additions to the language and the presence of African influences have made it distinct from other Afro-Caribbean creoles based on English.^[4]

Sranan Tongo likely developed from an English-based pidgin, when English colonists in what was then part of the English colony of Guiana imported enslaved Africans for the plantations. The enslaved Africans, who were often from various tribes, did not have an African language in common and developed a pidgin to communicate. After the Dutch takeover in 1667, following the Treaty of Westminster (1674) (in exchange for ceding the North American eastern seaboard colony of New Netherland to the English), a substantial overlay of words were adopted from the Dutch language, making it a secondary lexifier.^{[3] [5] [6] : 403–4} There were also additions from Spanish and Portuguese—some of these dating from earlier Portuguese occupation of the colony.^[4] The first enslaved Africans probably spoke Gbe languages or Kikongo as their native tongues, and were bilingual for some time. Eventually, these languages were merged back onto the emerging creole through a process of relexification, giving the creole its own distinct form of Africanisms.^{[3] [5] [6] : 403–4, 408} Despite having a significant number of English language words in its lexicon, the lack of contact with English speakers from the 17th century means Sranan Tongo is rarely mutually intelligible with modern English and is distinct from most other English-based creoles.^{[6] : 403–4} As other ethnic groups, such as East Indians and Chinese, were brought to Suriname as indentured workers, Sranan Tongo became a lingua franca.^[2]

Until the middle of the 20th century, most written texts in Sranan, seen at the time as a low-prestige language,^{[a] [citation needed ]} used a spelling that was not standardized but based on Dutch orthography. In view of the considerable differences between the phonologies of Sranan and Dutch, this was not a satisfactory situation.^[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. For every-day use, the Dutch-based spelling remained common, while some literary authors adopted (variants of) the linguistic spelling. 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.^{[7] [8]} This standard essentially followed the linguistic consensus. However, as the language is not taught in schools, while Dutch is, many speakers are not clearly aware of the principles on which this spelling is based and continue to use a Dutch-like, variant spelling.^[5]

Although the formal Dutch-based educational system repressed the use of Sranan Tongo, in the past pejoratively dismissed as Taki Taki (literally meaning 'talk talk' or 'say say'),^[9] it gradually became more accepted by the establishment and wider society to speak it. During the 1980s, this language was popularized by publicly known speakers, including chairman Dési Bouterse, who often delivered national speeches in Sranan Tongo. Sranan Tongo remains widely used in Suriname and in Dutch urban areas populated by immigrants from Suriname. They especially use it in casual conversation, often freely mixing it with Dutch. Written code-switching between Sranan Tongo and Dutch is also common in computer-mediated communication.^[10] 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').

In 2021, Sranan Tongo appeared for the first time in the Eurovision Song Contest in Jeangu Macrooy's song, "Birth of a New Age".^{[citation needed ]}

As a written language, Sranan Tongo has existed since the late 18th century. The first publication in Sranan Tongo was in 1783 by Hendrik Schouten who wrote a part Dutch, part Sranan Tongo poem, called Een huishoudelijke twist ('A Domestic Tiff').^[8] The first important book was published in 1864 by Johannes King, and relates to his travels to Drietabbetje for the Moravian Church.^[11]

Early writers often used their own spelling system.^[12] An official orthography was adopted by the government of Suriname on July 15, 1986, in Resolution 4501. A few writers have used Sranan in their work, most notably the poet Henri Frans de Ziel ("Trefossa"), who also wrote God zij met ons Suriname , Suriname's national anthem, whose second verse is sung in Sranan Tongo.^[13]

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

Following are the Lord's Prayer in standard and Dutch-based spelling, followed by an English translation.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours, now and for ever.
Amen.

• Dutch-based creole languages
• English-based creole languages
• Guyanese Creole
• Matawai

• Dictionaries
  • SIL International "Sranan wortubuku, Sranan-Nederlands interaktief woordenboek" (Sranan-Dutch interactive dictionary)
  • Sranan Tongo Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh list appendix)
  • Webster's Sranan-English Online Dictionary
  • SIL International "Sranan Tongo – English Dictionary" (PDF format)
• Grammar
  • Conjugate Sranantongo verbs (Verbix)
• Resources and more
  • "Sranan Tongo Interactive Library": Sranan texts with a bilingual interactive dictionary
  • How Transparent is Creole Morphology? A Study of Early Sranan Word Formation (30 p., Braun & Plag, 2002) (PDF format)
  • Syntactic Developments in Sranan (408 p., Arends, 1989) (PDF format)
• Begin to learn
  • Words of Life: Sranang Tongo talk (audio) (YouTube)
  • "Mama Sranan" - Mother Suriname, a song in Sranantongo (with subtitled translation) by Steven Akkrum & Da Originals (YouTube)
• The New Testament in Sranan for iTunes

• Sranan Tongo
• Dutch-based pidgins and creoles
• English-based pidgins and creoles
• English language in the Americas
• Dutch language in the Americas
• Languages of Suriname
• Creoles of the Americas

• Language articles citing Ethnologue 25
• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• CS1 Dutch-language sources (nl)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Language articles with Linguasphere code
• Languages with ISO 639-2 code
• Articles containing Sranan Tongo-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from February 2025
• Articles containing Dutch-language text