Guinea-Bissau Creole, also known as Kiriol, is a Creole language. Its lexicon derives mostly from Portuguese. It is spoken in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and The Gambia. Its native speakers also call it guinensi, kriyol, or portuguis.
Guinea-Bissau Creole is spoken as a native language by approximately 15% (190,000) of Bissau-Guineans. It is spoken as a second language by approximately 50% (as of some time before 1992).
A variant of Guinea-Bissau Creole called Portuguis Creole or Casamance Creole is also spoken in southern Senegal. It is mainly in the region of Casamance, a former Portuguese colony. Creole is the majority language of the inhabitants of the Casamance region. It is used as a language of commerce.
Standard Portuguese is the official language of Guinea-Bissau, but Guinea-Bissau Creole is the language of trade, informal literature and entertainment. It is not used in news media, parliament, public services or educational programming.
References
- ↑ The remainder of the population listed in Ethnologue 18 appears to be Cape Verdean Creole, as per Ethnologue 12.
- ↑ Guinea-Bissau Creole at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ↑ Upper Guinea Crioulo at Ethnologue (12th ed., 1992).
