| Also Known As: Papiam,Papiamento,Papiamen,Curassese,Papiamentoe,Papiamentu,Curaçoleño
Description:
Papiamento (or Papiamentu) is the official and most widely spoken language on the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao (e so-called "ABC islands").
Papiamento is a Portuguese creole language, with vocabulary influences from African languages, Spanish, Dutch, English and Arawak native languages.
The historical origins of Papiamento are still not very well known. It is disputed whether Papiamento originated from Portuguese or from Spanish. Owing to the resemblance between Spanish and Portuguese, it is difficult to tell whether a particular word came from one or from the other, or even from Italian (old Genovese). In addition, some Arubans claim Papiamento to be of exclusively Arawak-Spanish origin and do not want to accept the African influence on the language, while others do not want to accept the Native American influence on Papiamento and therefore maintain it to be an exclusively Afro-Portuguese language that developed first on Curaçao and then spread to Aruba. While such discussions often are based on historical evidence selectively interpreted for nationalist purposes, they nevertheless further complicate the debate on the origins of Papiamento.
However, historical..... full article at Wikipedia |