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Palenquero facts for kids

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Palenquero
Native to Colombia
Region San Basilio de Palenque
Ethnicity 7,470 (2005)
Native speakers 2,788  (2005)
Language family
Spanish Creole
  • Palenquero
Writing system Latin (Spanish alphabet)
Official status
Official language in The Colombian Constitution recognizes minority languages as "official in their territories."
Linguasphere 51-AAC-bc
Colombia - Bolívar - Mahates.svg

Palenquero is a Spanish-African Creole language spoken in Colombia. Is it spoken primarily in the Northern and the Caribbean parts of Colombia; the palenque villages and their diasporas.

Formation of Palenquero

Palenquero, just like in the other Spanish-Based Caribbean Creoles, has influences from the contact between European masters and African slaves. In the case of Palenquero, it has been accepted that the maroons (escaped slaves) moved in somewhere in the mountains, along with some Native Americans. The maroons had very little contact with their masters, which led to them having to blend their African substrate languages with the Spanish European ones.

African influences

Palenquero has a lot of African influence in its sounds, phonetics, syntax, grammar, vocabulary, and a lot of words.

Vocabulary

burú-silver, money
ngombe-cattle
ngubá-peanut
posá-house
tambore-drum
mai-mother
bumbilo-garbage
chepa-clothing
chitiá-to speak
ngaina-chicken
tabáko-cigarette
hemano-brother
onde-where
pueta-door
ngolo-fat
flo-flower
moná-child
ceddo-pig
cateyano-Spanish/Castillian
foratero-outsider
kusa-thing, stuff
cuagro-neighborhood cohort

Sample

Lord's Prayer

Tatá suto lo ke ta riba sielo,
santifikaro sendá nombre si,
miní a reino sí, asé ño boluntá sí,
aí tiela kumo a sielo.
Nda suto agué pan ri to ma ría,
peddona ma fata suto,
asina kumo suto a se peddoná,
lo ke se fatá suto.
Nu rejá sujo kaí andí tentasión nu,
librá suto ri má. Amén.

The African languages that have had the most dominant influence on Palenquero is the languages of the Bantu, specifically the Kongo.

Related languages or dialect

Cuban Creole Oriental is very similar to Palenquero. They even share some words.

Many of the Spanish-based Creoles can be compared to the other Creoles of the Americas, where there has been the blending of African and European languages.

Related pages

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Criollo palenquero para niños

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Palenquero Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.