Pichinglis
| Pichinglis | |
|---|---|
| Fernando Po Creole English | |
| Pichi | |
| Native to | Equatorial Guinea |
|
Native speakers
|
6,000 (2011) L2 speakers: 70,000 (2011) |
|
English Creole
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | fern1234 |
Pichi-speaking communities in Bioko
(in bold) |
|
Pichinglis, commonly referred to by its speakers as Pichi and formally known as Fernando Po Creole English (Fernandino), is an Atlantic English-lexicon Creole language spoken on the island of Bioko, Equatorial Guinea. It is an offshoot of the Krio language of Sierra Leone, and was brought to Bioko by Krios who immigrated to the island during the colonial era in the 19th century.
Pichi is the most widely spoken language of the capital Malabo, next to Spanish, and it serves as a primary language to probably the majority of the capital’s inhabitants. Pichi is also used as a primary language in a number of villages and towns along the Coast of Bioko – amongst them Sampaca, Fiston, Basupú, Barrio las Palmas and Luba (Morgades 2004), and is spoken as a lingua franca throughout Bioko. It is also spoken by a sizable community of people originating from Bioko in Bata, the largest town on the continental part of the country.
Pichi descends from Krio, which first arrived in Bioko, the former Fernando Po, with African settlers from Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1827 (Fyfe 1962: 165). No official figures exist, but there is good reason to assume that Pichi is today the second most widely spoken African language of the country behind Fang, closely followed by Bubi. It is safe to assume that at least 100,000 people of the country’s population of around one million (2007 UN estimate) use Pichi regularly as a primary or secondary language.
Next to Fang, Pichi and Bubi, over ten other African languages are spoken by the peoples of Equatorial Guinea (Gordon 2005, cf. “Equatorial Guinea”).
One of these is another Creole, the Portuguese-lexicon Creole Fá d'Ambô, spoken by the people of the island of Annobón (cf. Map 1). Fa d’Ambô shares historical and linguistic ties with the other Portuguese-lexicon Creoles of the Gulf of Guinea (cf. e.g. Post 1994), namely Lungwa Santome and Angolar in São Tomé Island and Lun'gwiye in Principe Island (but also cf. Granda 1985 on the influence of Pichi on Fa d’Ambô).
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