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Palenquero

Palenquero
Native to Colombia
Ethnicity 3,500 (no date)
Native speakers
(500 cited 1989)
Spanish Creole
  • Palenquero
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog pale1260
Linguasphere 51-AAC-bc
Colombia - Bolivar - Mahates.svg

Palenquero (also palenque) is a Spanish-based creole language spoken in Colombia. Palenquero is the only Spanish-based creole in Latin America. The ethnic group which speaks this Creole consisted of only 3,000 people in 1998. Palenquero is spoken in Colombia, in the village of San Basilio de Palenque which is southeast of Cartagena, and in some neighborhoods of Barranquilla.

The village was formed by escaped slaves (Maroons) and sometimes Native Americans around 1604 under the leadership of Benkos Biojo. Since many slaves had not been subjected to a lot of contact with people of European descent, the palenqueros spoke Creole languages constructed from the Spanish language and their own African ones.

Spanish speakers are usually unable to understand Palenquero. Ten percent of the population under 25 years of age spoke Palenquero in 1998. It is more commonly spoken by the elderly. There are some influences from Kongo, which is spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Palenquero words like "ngombe", which means cattle, are found in several Bantu languages.

Some words in Palenque, compared to Spanish and English translations:

The Lord's Prayer in Palenque:


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Wikipedia

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