Bozal Spanish | |
---|---|
Zpañol Bozall | |
Native to | The Americas |
Extinct | 1850 |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
None (mis ) |
Glottolog | None |
Bozal Spanish is a possible extinct Spanish-based creole language that may have been a mixture of Spanish and Congolese, with Portuguese influences. Attestation is insufficient to indicate whether Bozal Spanish was ever a single, coherent or stable language, or if the term merely referred to any idiolect of Spanish that included African elements. The Spanish distinguished negros ladinos("Latinate Negros", those who spent more than a year in a Spanish-speaking territory) and negros bozales (those just brought from Africa)
Bozal Spanish was spoken by African slaves in Cuba and other areas of South and Central America from the 17th century up until its possible extinction at around 1850. Although Bozal Spanish is extinct as a language, its influence still exists. In some Cuban folk religious rituals today, people speak what they call "Bozal".