Guianan Creole

What separates it from the Antillean creoles

It resembles the creoles of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti and Saint Lucia, and Antilleans can generally follow it, though a number of words differ. Guianan Creole took in more French and Brazilian Portuguese, along with words of Amerindian and African origin, and French dialects such as that of Caen shaped it too. The conflicts between the French, English, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish in the colony gave it a different start from the island creoles. The r at the start of a syllable is mostly kept, where Antillean speech moves it towards a w.

Spelling rules that replace French ones

The alphabet is the French one with a few changes. Q becomes k and x becomes z. C appears only in ch, as in chouval, and is otherwise k or s. The silent h of French is dropped, ou is written w where it sounds as w, and oi is spelled with a w and an e, except in the words mo and to, where it is plain o.

Where else it is spoken

About 3,000 speakers lived in Brazil in 2006, where the language is called Patwua, Crioulo or Caripuna, and French Guianese communities in Suriname keep it too. Inside French Guiana it is a lingua franca for Amerindians, Maroons, Chinese, Brazilians and Haitians, especially on the coast and the Lower Oyapock. In the west, Maroon languages such as Sranan Tongo have gained ground. Local literature is written in both French and the creole.