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Papiamento or Papiamentu is the primary language spoken on the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire. It is also well known by people in Saba, St Eustatius and Sint Maarten islands.

The word Papiamento is based on the word Papia that means talk and it is probably derived from the Creolized-Portuguese word papear. Compare " Papia Kristang".

It is a creole language based mainly in Portuguese, Spanish and African languages as well as Amerindian languages (maybe Arawakan), English and French. DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken worldwide by around 21 million people. The variety of Dutch spoken in Belgium is also informally called Flemish . The Dutch name for the language is Nederlands or less formal Hollands and Dutch is sometimes called is a modern influence. But, Papiamento actually derived from the Pidginized Portuguese spoken among Sephardic Jews and their slaves after they fled Brazil, and from Spanish by Spaniards who came later in the 16th and 17th century. Then, after the Dutch Empire got the ABC islandsThe ABC islands are Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao; the last two are in the Netherlands Antilles, all are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. They are north of Falcon State, Venezuela, from west to east in the order Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire. External links (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao) from the Spanish, Dutch colonists also inserted many Dutch words into Papiamento. Venezuelan Spanish is a constant influence nowadays.

There are two orthographies: a more phonemic one (in Curaçao and Bonaire) and one resembling Spanish (in Aruba). Most Papiamento vowels are based on Ibero-Romance vowels, but some also based on Dutch vowels like : ee, ui, ie, oe, ij, ei, oo and aa.

It is a tonal language, which is unusual in creoles and probably influenced by African tones. Tones in Creoles can be also found in SaramaccanSaramacano is a Creole language based in Portuguese spoken in Suriname. See Portuguese Creole Languages of Suriname Pidgins and creoles.

Many Papiamento speakers are also able to speak DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken worldwide by around 21 million people. The variety of Dutch spoken in Belgium is also informally called Flemish . The Dutch name for the language is Nederlands or less formal Hollands and Dutch is sometimes called as official language, English and Spanish. It is spoken with different accents on every island.

1 Phrase samples



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