What is Belizean Creole?
{{Infobox language |name=Kriol |states=[[Belize]] |speakers=150,000 |date=2013 |ref=<ref name=Michaelis2013>{{cite book|last1=Michaelis|first1=Susanne|title=The Survey of Pidgin and Creole Languages, Volume 1|date=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0199691401|pages=92–100}}</ref> |speakers2=Second language: over 200,000 |familycolor=Creole |fam1=[[English-based creole languages|English Creole]] |fam2=Atlantic |fam3=Western |iso3=bzj |glotto=beli1260 |glottorefname=Belize Kriol English |lingua=52-ABB-ad |notice=IPA }} '''Kriol''' is one of the [[language]]s spoken in [[Central America]], mainly in [[Belize]]. It is not an official language but is spoken by about half a million people. Kriol is based on English and is similar to other Creole languages, like [[Miskito Coastal Creole]], and [[Jamaican Patois]]. == History == Kriol is based mainly on English but is also influenced by other languages too, like the [[Native American]] language [[Misikito language|Misikito]]. It's also influenced by [[West Africa|West African]] languages brought in by slaves, like [[Akan language|Akan]], [[Efik language|Efik]], [[Ewe language|Ewe]], [[Fula language|Fula]], [[Ga language|Ga]], [[Hausa language|Hausa]], [[Igbo language|Igbo]], [[Kikongo language|Kikongo]] and [[Wolof language|Wolof]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kriol.org.bz/|title=Belize Kriol|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928123702/http://www.kriol.org.bz/ |access-date=31 December 2016|archive-date=2008-09-28 }}</ref> There are some theories about the way Creole languages form, but one of them is that it was because of contact with English landowners and their slaves, and Kriol was created to make sure they could communicate at least a little bit. Today, Kriol is the first or second language of most of the people living in Belize, and a lot of them speak English as well. ==References== {{reflist}} {{North-America-stub}} [[Category:Languages of North America]] [[Category:Belize]] [[Category:Pidgins and creoles]]