Skepi Creole Dutch

Skepi Dutch Creole
Region Guyana
Extinct by 1998
Dutch Creole
  • Skepi Dutch Creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3 skw
Glottolog skep1238[1]

Skepi is an extinct Dutch-based creole language of Guyana, spoken in the region of Essequibo. It was not mutually intelligible with Berbice Creole Dutch, also spoken in Guyana. This language has been classified as extinct since 1998.[2]

Sample texts

Since the language was already extinct when Ian Robertson first investigated the Dutch creoles in Guyana in 1975, much of Skepi is only known through the memory the descendents of the native have of the language their forefathers spoke. The following three sample sentences appeared in a Zeelandic newspaper in 1997.[3]

"Ek we stekkie brot."

Translation: I want a slice of bread.

"War ek sa lek em?"

Translation: Where shall I put it?

"'Em ne ben joe, 'em ben ander domnie."

Translation: "It was not you, it was that other minister (clergyman)."

References

  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Skepi Creole Dutch". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. Scholastic Book of Lists (2003)
  3. Evenhuis, M. (1997) "Zeeuwse creooltalen sterven een stille dood", Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant. 1 December.
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