Palenquero (Lengua)

Palenquero is a Spanish-based creole spoken in the El Palenque de San Basilio, and in parts of Barranquilla in northern Colombia. In 2005 there were 2,788 speakers of Palenquero, which is also known as palenque. It is spoken mainly by people over 25 years. old.

The village of El Palenque de San Basilio, or San Basilio de Palenque, was founded in 1604 by escaped slaves (maroons) lead by Benkos Biojo, and also some indigenous people of the region. The slaves spoken creole languages that combined elements from Spanish and Bantu languages, especially Kikongo. Palenquero developed from those languages, and is unintelligible to Spanish speakers.

Palenquero alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

b, d and g are pronounced [β], [ð] and [ɣ] between vowels
mb, nd and ng appear at the beginning of words
Acute accents (á) are used to indicate stressed syllables, which are pronounced with a high tone. Unstressed syllables are pronounced with a low tone.

Hear the Palenquero alphabet

Download an alphabet chart for Palenquero (Excel)

Sample text (Lord's Prayer

Tatá suto lo ke ta riba sielo,
santifikaro sendá nombre si,
miní a reino sí,
asé ño boluntá sí,
aí tiela kumo a sielo.
Nda suto agué pan ri to ma ría,
peddona ma fata suto,
asina kumo suto a se peddoná,
lo ke se fatá suto.
Nu rejá sujo kaí andí tentación nu,
librá suto ri má. Amén.

Sample video in and about Palenquero

Links

Information about the Palenquero languages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palenquero
http://apics-online.info/surveys/48
http://fronterasdesk.org/content/10257/saving-palenque-how-tiny-colombian-city-revived-its-native-tongue
https://www.scribd.com/document/168737612/Hualde-Schwegler-Palenquero
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/pln

Creole languages

Betawi, Bislama, Cape Verdean Creole, Chavacano, Chinook Jargon, Dominican Creole French, Fanagalo, French Guianese Creole, Guadeloupean Creole, Guinea-Bissau Creole, Haitian Creole, Jamaican, Kituba, Manado Malay, Mauritian Creole, Nagamese, Ndyuka, Norfuk, Nubi, Palenquero, Papiamento, Pijin, Réunion Creole, Sango, Saramaccan, Seychelles Creole, Sierra Leonean Creole, Singlish, Sranan, Saint Lucian Creole, Tok Pisin, Torres-Strait Creole

Page last modified: 23.04.21

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