Krio

Who brought Krio to Freetown

One theory traces Krio to the English-based pidgin of the 17th and 18th century slave trade, used between Europeans and Africans on the coast and then among West Africans themselves. After Freetown was founded, the freed slaves who settled there took up that pidgin, and it stabilised into the native language of their descendants. The Jamaican Maroons probably gave Krio its basic grammar and vowel system, and African American Vernacular English also left a mark. Portuguese and French contributed a few words: pikin, "child", goes back indirectly to Portuguese pequeno.

Where Krio spread beyond Sierra Leone

Krio traders and missionaries of the 19th century carried the language along the West African coast. The Aku community of the Gambia speaks Krio, the Fernando Po Creole English of Equatorial Guinea descends largely from it, and the Saros who returned to Nigeria brought words such as sabi into Nigerian Pidgin. Nigerian and Cameroonian Pidgin English both descend from Krio.

Why Krio lacks official status

Under colonial rule Sierra Leoneans, especially in the upper class, were discouraged from speaking Krio. After independence in 1961 writers and teachers promoted it: Thomas Decker translated some of Shakespeare's plays in the 1960s, the New Testament appeared in 1986 and the Old Testament in 2013. Some Freetown primary schools began teaching in Krio in the 1990s, radio broadcasts in it, and public speeches are routinely given in it. English remains the official language, and Krio, the everyday tongue of most Sierra Leoneans, has no formal standing in law.