| Berbice Dutch Creole is a language formerly widely spoken
in the former Dutch colony of Berbice, which became in
the early 19th century part of the British colony of
British Guiana, now Guyana. The last speakers of this
language were found in the 1970s by Ian Robertson, living
on the upper reaches of the Berbice River in and around
the area of the Wiruni Creek. The last known Berbice Dutch
Creole speaker is Bertha Bell, who was 103 years old when
last interviewed by Ian Robertson and a UWI linguistics
research team in March, 2004.
What is remarkable about this language is that it survived
on the upper reaches of the Berbice River, the areas
around which the old Dutch colony of Berbice was concentrated
prior to a shift to the coast in the late 18th century.
One-third of the basic words in Berbice Dutch Creole,
including words for 'eat', 'know', 'speak' are of West
African origin, from a single language-cluster, Eastern
Ijo. |
