Krio language

{{Short description|English-based creole spoken in Sierra Leone}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Sierra Leonean Creole

|region=

| notice = IPA

|ethnicity=Sierra Leone Creoles
Gambian Creoles
Krio FernandinosLynn, Martin. 1984. Commerce, christianity and the origins of the ‘creoles’ of Fernando Po. Journal of African History 25(3). 257–278.

Nigerian CreolesDixon-Fyle, Mac, "The Saro in the Political Life of Early Port Harcourt, 1913–49", The Journal of African History, Vol. 30, No. 1, p. 126.

|speakers=L1: {{sigfig|856,050|2}}

|date=2021

|ref=e27

|speakers2=L2: {{sigfig|6.920820|2}} million (2021)

|speakers_label=Speakers

|familycolor=Creole

|fam1=English Creole

|fam2=Atlantic

|fam3=West African Pidgin English

|dia1=Fernandino Creole English

|iso3=kri

|glotto=krio1253

|glottorefname=Krio

|lingua=52-ABB-bb

}}

File:Ebola Survivors in Sierra Leone tell their story- Koindu survivor -Ebola.webm speaker of the Krio language]]

The Sierra Leonean Creole or Krio is an English-based creole language that is the lingua franca and de facto national language spoken throughout the West African nation of Sierra Leone. Krio is spoken by 96 percent of the country's population,{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/sierra-leone/|title= CIA World Factbook (2022)|website=www.cia.gov|date= 22 September 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://translatorswithoutborders.org/language-data-sierra-leone#:~:text=According%20to%20the%202004%20Census,%25)%20and%20Themne%20(30%25).|title=Translators without borders: Language data for Sierra Leone|website=www.translatorswithoutborders.org}} and it unites the different ethnic groups in the country, especially in their trade and social interaction with each other.{{Cite book |last1 = Oyètádé |first1 = B. Akíntúndé |last2 = Fashole-Luke |first2 = Victor|title = Language and National Identity in Africa |place = Oxford |publisher = Oxford University Press |chapter = Sierra Leone: Krio and the Quest for National Integration |pages = 122–140 |chapter-url = https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/181|date = 15 February 2008 |isbn = 978-0-19-928675-1 }} Krio is the primary language of communication among Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad,Thompson, V. A. D. (2013). The Transformation of Freetown Christianity, 1960–2000. Doctoral Dissertation, University of London. and has also heavily influenced Sierra Leonean English.Saidu Bangura, 2015 A Roadmap to Sierra Leone English: A Sociohistorical and Ecological Perspective, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, PhD thesis, p. 124, 222, 232-242. The language is native to the Sierra Leone Creole people, or Krios, a community of about 104,311 descendants of freed slaves from the West Indies, Canada, United States and the British Empire, and is spoken as a second language by millions of other Sierra Leoneans belonging to the country's indigenous tribes. English is Sierra Leone's official language, and Krio, despite its common use throughout the country, has no official status.

Overview

The Krio language is an offshoot of the languages and variations of English brought by the Nova Scotian Settlers from North America, Maroons from Jamaica, and the numerous liberated African slaves who settled in Sierra Leone.{{cite journal|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kri |title=Krio, a language of Sierra Leone |editor=Lewis, M. Paul |date=2009 |journal=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |edition=16 |location=Dallas, Texas |publisher=SIL International |access-date=1 December 2012}}

All freed slaves—the Jamaican Maroons, African-Americans, and Liberated Africans—influenced Krio, but the Jamaican Maroons, Igbo, Yoruba and Akan Liberated Africans were the most influential. It seems probable that the basic grammatical structure and vowel system of Krio is an offshoot of Jamaican Maroon Creole{{cite book |title=The Structure of Creole Words: Segmental, Syllabic and Morphological Aspects |first1=Parth |last1=Bhatt |author2=Ingo Plag |author2-link=Ingo Plag }} spoken by the Maroons, as there are well-documented and important direct historical connections between Jamaica

and Sierra Leone. The language was also influenced by African American Vernacular English while the majority of the African words in Krio come from the Akan, Yoruba and Igbo.{{cite web |last1=Opala |first1=Joseph |title=The Gullah: Rice, Slavery, and the Sierra Leone-American Connection |url=https://glc.yale.edu/gullah-rice-slavery-and-sierra-leone-american-connection |website=Yale Macmillan Center Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition |date=March 10, 2015 |publisher=Yale University |access-date=12 September 2021 |archive-date=October 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019041928/https://glc.yale.edu/gullah-rice-slavery-and-sierra-leone-american-connection |url-status=live }}

As an English-based creole language, the Sierra Leone Krio is distinct from a pidgin as it is a language in its own right,{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-handbook-of-sociolinguistics/pidgins-and-creoles/3803607426CAB4DE14C1CF8050BDF72F# |last1=Singler|first1=John Victor |last2=Kouwenberg|first2=Silvia |date=2011 |id=Part IV - Multilingualism and language contact|chapter=Pidgins and creoles |title=The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics |series=Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics|editor1=Rajend Mesthrie |pages=283−300 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511997068.022 |isbn=9780511997068 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/language/Pidgins-and-creoles|title=Creole and Pidgins |website=www.britannica.com}} with fixed grammatical structures and rules. Krio also draws from other European languages, like Portuguese and French, e.g. the Krio word {{lang|kri|gentri}}/{{lang|kri|gentree}}, which means wealth or to acquire wealth, is derived from the Old French word 'gentry', and the Krio word {{lang|kri|pikin}}, which means 'child', indirectly comes from the Portuguese word {{lang|pt|pequeno}} meaning 'small' and often used to mean children in Portuguese.{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2018/02/01/the-painful-origins-of-many-creole-languages|title=The painful origins of many creole languages|newspaper=The Economist}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.visitsierraleone.org/krio-words-and-phrases/|title=Krio words and phrases |website=www.visitsierraleone.org}}

In Sierra Leone, the Krio Language is spoken by people with different degrees of fluency, as well as regional changes to the Krio. Many of the speakers of Sierra Leone Krio live in or close to the capital city, Freetown. As of 2007, there were close to 350,000 individuals who spoke Krio as a primary language. Even more individuals were using it as a main language for communication purposes in the country as a whole.{{Cite book |title=Pidgins, Creoles and Mixed Languages: An Introduction |last=Velupillai |first=Viveka |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |date=2015 |isbn=9789027268846 |location=Philadelphia |pages=249, 276 }}

Language origins

One theory suggests the early roots of Krio go back to the Atlantic slave trade era in the 17th and 18th centuries when an English-based "pidgin" language (West African Pidgin English, also called Guinea Coast Creole English) arose to facilitate the coastal trade between Europeans and Africans. This early pidgin later became the lingua franca of regional trade among West Africans themselves and likely spread up the river systems to the African interior. After the founding of Freetown, this preexisting pidgin was incorporated into the speech of the various groups of freed slaves landed in Sierra Leone between 1787 and about 1855. The pidgin gradually evolved to become a stable language, the native language of descendants of the freed slaves (which are now a distinct ethnic and cultural group, the Creoles), and the lingua franca of Sierra Leone.Fourah Bay College, Freetown: Guide to Krio, (held at SOAS Univ. of London Library, 195?

Language usage

=Krio usage in Sierra Leone=

Most ethnic and cultural Creoles live in and around Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, and their community accounts for about 3% to 6% of Sierra Leone's total population (Freetown is the province where the returned slaves from London and Nova Scotia settled).Simon Schama: Rough Crossings, London, 2007 However, because of their cultural influence in Sierra Leone, especially during the period of colonial rule, their language is used as the lingua franca among all the ethnic groups in Sierra Leone.

=Krio speakers abroad=

The Sierra Leone Creole people acted as traders and missionaries in other parts of West Africa during the 19th century, and as a result, there are also Krio-speaking communities in The Gambia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, and Guinea.A. Wyse: Krios of Sierra Leone, London (1989) As a result of Sierra Leone Creole migratory patterns, in the Gambia, the Gambian Creoles or Aku community speak Krio. The Fernando Po Creole English language of Equatorial Guinea is also largely a result of Sierra Leone Creole migrants. A small number of liberated Africans returned to the land of their origins, such as the Saros of Nigeria who not only took their Western names with them but also imported Krio words like sabi into Nigerian Pidgin English.

=Language revival=

During the period of colonial rule, Sierra Leoneans (particularly among the upper class) were discouraged from speaking Krio; but after independence from the United Kingdom in 1961, writers and educators began promoting its use. In the 1960s, Thomas Decker translated some of Shakespeare's plays into Krio, and composed original poetry in the language. In the 1980s, the New Testament was translated into Krio. Beginning with the involvement of Lutheran Bible Translators,[http://us.lbt.org/project/krio-completed-bible-2013/ Link to dedication report] Krio-language translations of the New Testament and Old Testament were published in 1986 and 2013.

While English is Sierra Leone's official language, the Ministry of Education began using Krio as the medium of instruction in some primary schools in Freetown in the 1990s. Radio stations now broadcast a wide variety of programs in Krio. Sierra Leonean politicians also routinely give public speeches in the language.

Classification

Krio is an English-based creole from which descend Nigerian Pidgin English and Cameroonian Pidgin English and Pichinglis. It is also similar to English-based creole languages spoken in the Americas, especially Jamaican Patois (Jamaican Creole), Sranan Tongo (Surinamese Creole), Bajan Creole and Gullah language, but it has its own distinctive character. It also shares some linguistic similarities with non-English creoles, such as the French-based creoles of the Caribbean.

Phonology

Krio contains seven monophthongs in its inventory of vowels, all of which can be nasalized. Most nasal vowels occur in words derived from English, in cases where an oral vowel precedes a nasal consonant. The nasal consonant is deleted and the vowel is nasalized.{{Cite web|url=https://apics-online.info/surveys/15 |title=Krio Phonology|website=www.apics-online.info}} 50px Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License].

=Vowels=

class="wikitable"

align="center"

|{{IPA link|i}}

|{{IPA link|u}}

align="center"

!Close-mid

|{{IPA link|e}}

|{{IPA link|o}}

align="center"

!Open-mid

|{{IPA link|ɛ}}

|{{IPA link|ɔ}}

align="center"

!Open

|{{IPA link|a}}

Krio has three diphthongs: /ai/, /au/, and /ɔi/.

=Consonants=

There are 24 phonemes in the consonant inventory of Krio.

class="wikitable"

! colspan="2" |

align="center"

! rowspan="2" |Plosive

!voiceless

|{{IPA link|p}}

|{{IPA link|kp}}

|{{IPA link|t}}

|{{IPA link|k}}

align="center"

!voiced

|{{IPA link|b}}

|{{IPA link|ɡb}}

|{{IPA link|d}}

|{{IPA link|ɡ}}

align="center"

! rowspan="2" |Fricative

!voiceless

|{{IPA link|f}}

|{{IPA link|s}}

|{{IPA link|ʃ}}

align="center"

!voiced

|{{IPA link|v}}

|{{IPA link|z}}

|{{IPA link|ʒ}}

|{{IPA link|ʁ}}

align="center"

! rowspan="2" |Affricate

!voiceless

|{{IPA link|tʃ}}

align="center"

!voiced

|{{IPA link|dʒ}}

align="center"

! colspan="2" |Central

|{{IPA link|w}}

|{{IPA link|j}} {{angbr|y}}

align="center"

! colspan="2" |Lateral

|{{IPA link|l}}

align="center"

! colspan="2" |Nasal

|{{IPA link|m}}

|{{IPA link|n}}

|{{IPA link|ɲ}}

|{{IPA link|ŋ}}

Consonant cluster reduction is a common process in phonology. It is typically applied to lexical items in English containing two or more consonants in a row including an initial s. Some examples include:Finney, Malcolm. 2007. Universal and substrate influence on the phonotactics and syllable structure of Krio. In Huber, Magnus & Velupillai, Viveka (eds.), Synchronic and diachronic perspectives on contact languages, (Creole Languages Library Series 32), 23–42. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

class="wikitable"

!Krio word

!English meaning

| 'split'

| 'street'

| 'straight'

| 'spit'

| 'spread'

| 'stop'

Replacing a stop for a fricative, known as stopping substitution, is also common in words of English origin. Some examples include:

class="wikitable"

!Krio word

!English meaning

| 'them'

| 'brother'

| 'thanks'

| 'heavy'

| 'devil'

| 'teeth'

There is also evidence of the influence of West African languages in the presence of the labial-velar plosives /kp/ and /gb/, as in:

class="wikitable"

!Krio word

!English meaning

| 'frog'

| 'medicinal herb'

| 'show of force'

| 'completely finished'

Krio is a tonal language and makes contrastive use of tone in both African and English words. Examples of minimal pairs of words distinguished by tone patterns are:Finney, Malcolm. 2004. Tone assignment on lexical items of English and African origin in Krio. In Escure, Genevieve & Schwegler, Armin (eds.), Creoles, contact and language change: Linguistics and social implications, 221–236. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

class="wikitable"

! LL (low-low)

! LH (low-high)

! HL (high-low)

! HH (high-high)

{{lang|kri|ale}}
'skin-irritating herb'

| {{lang|kri|ale}}
'go away'

| {{lang|kri|baba}}
'a young boy'

| {{lang|kri|baba}}
'a barber'

| {{lang|kri|baba}}
'a type of drum'

| {{lang|kri|bebi}}
'a baby or a doll'

| {{lang|kri|bebi}}
'girlfriend or attractive young woman'

| {{lang|kri|brɔda}}
'elder brother or older male relative'

| {{lang|kri|brɔda}}
'brother'

| {{lang|kri|fada}}
'a Catholic priest'

| {{lang|kri|fada}}
'father'

| {{lang|kri|fada}}
‘God’

| {{lang|kri|kɔntri}}
'someone from the countryside'

| {{lang|kri|kɔntri}}
'a country'

Orthography

Krio uses the Latin script but without Qq and Xx and with three additional letters from the African reference alphabet, Ɛɛ (open E), Ŋŋ (eng), and Ɔɔ (open O). Three tones can be distinguished in Krio and are sometimes marked with grave (à), acute (á), and circumflex (â) accents over the vowels for low, high, and falling tones respectively but these accents are not employed in normal usage.

The complete alphabet with digraphs:

class="wikitable"

|+ Krio alphabet

! Krio letter or digraph

! Example word

! English meaning

A, a

| {{lang|kri|wata}}

| water

Aw, aw

|{{lang|kri|naw}}

|now

Ay, ay

|{{lang|kri|yay}}

|eye

B, b

|{{lang|kri|bin}}

|already

Ch, ch

|{{lang|kri|cham}}

|chew

D, d

|{{lang|kri|dia}}

|expensive (< dear)

E, e

|{{lang|kri|let}}

|late

Ɛ, ɛ

|{{lang|kri|ɛp}}

|help

F, f

|{{lang|kri|fɔs}}

|first

G, g

|{{lang|kri|got}}

|goat

H, h

|{{lang|kri|Harry}}

|Harry

I, i

|{{lang|kri|titi}}

|little girl, small female child

J, j

|{{lang|kri|jomp}}

|jump

K, k

|{{lang|kri|kɔntri}}

|country

L, l

|{{lang|kri|liv}}

|live (being alive)

M, m

|{{lang|kri|muf}}/{{lang|kri|muv}}

|to move

N, n

|{{lang|kri|nak}}

|knock

Ny, ny

|{{lang|kri|nyu}}

|new

Ŋ, ŋ

|{{lang|kri|siŋ}}

|sing

O, o

|{{lang|kri|wok}}

|to work

Ɔ, ɔ

|{{lang|kri|bɔn}}

|born, give birth to

Ɔy, ɔy

|{{lang|kri|jɔy}}

|joy, happiness

P, p

|{{lang|kri|padi}}

|friend

R, r

|{{lang|kri|ren}}

|rain

S, s

|{{lang|kri|saf}}

|soft

Sh, sh

|{{lang|kri|shem}}

|shame, to be ashamed

T, t

|{{lang|kri|tif}}

|steal (< thief)

T, t

|{{lang|kri|tranga}}

|difficult, hard

U, u

|{{lang|kri|uman}}

|woman

V, v

|{{lang|kri|vot}}

|vote

W, w

|{{lang|kri|waka}}

|walk

Y, y

|{{lang|kri|yala}}

|yellow

Z, z

|{{lang|kri|zɛd}}

|the letter 'z'

Zh, zh

|{{lang|kri|plɛzhɔ}}

|pleasure

Grammar

The particle {{lang|kri|dɛm}} is appended after a noun to mark the plural, e.g. {{lang|kri|uman}} ('woman'):

class="wikitable"

! singular !! plural

=Verbs=

Verbs do not conjugate according to person or number, but reflect their tense. Tense, aspect and mood are marked by one or more tense or aspect markers. The tense markers are 'bin' for the past tense and 'go' for the future, the absence of either shows the present tense. Aspect is shown by {{lang|kri|dɔn}} (from English 'done') for perfective and {{lang|kri|de}} (cf. English 'there', Yoruba {{lang|yo|dé}}, {{lang|yo|dà}}) for imperfective. Infinitive is marked by {{lang|kr|fɔ}} (from English 'for') and conditional by a combination of {{lang|kri|bin}} and {{lang|kri|go}}. Tendency is marked by {{lang|kri|kin}} and {{lang|kri|nɔba}}/{{lang|kri|naba}}.

The verbal paradigm is as follows:

class="wikitable"

! Krio form

! Verb tense

| infinitive

| present simple (unmarked)

| present progressive

| perfect

| perfect progressive

| future simple

| future progressive

| future perfect

| future perfect progressive

| past simple

| past progressive

| past perfect

| past perfect progressive

| conditional

| conditional progressive

| conditional perfect

| conditional perfect progressive

| tendency

{{lang|kri|nɔ kin go}}, {{lang|kri|nɔba go}}

| negative tendency

The hortative is marked by {{lang|kri|lɛ}} (from English 'let'), e.g. {{lang|kri|lɛ wi go}} ('let's go'), {{lang|kri|lɛ wi tɔk}} ('let's talk') and the optative by {{lang|kri|mek}} (from English 'make'), e.g. {{lang|kri|mek yu kiŋdɔm kam}} ('let your kingdom come'), {{lang|kri|mek wetin yu want}} ('let your will be done').

=Interrogatives=

The following interrogatives can be used:

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!Krio word

!English meaning

| who

| what

| when

| where

| why

| which

| how much/many

In addition, like many other creoles, a question can be asked simply by intonation.

E.g. {{lang|kri|yu de go?}} ('are you going?') vs. {{lang|kri|yu de go.}} ('you are going'). Additionally the question particles {{lang|kri|ɛnti}} and {{lang|kri|nɔ so}}/{{lang|kri|noto so}} can be used at the start or end of the phrase respectively.

=Pronouns=

There is no distinction between masculine and feminine in any person and, unlike Standard English, there is a second person plural form. However, there are the hints of nominative, accusative and genitive cases.

class="wikitable"

!Krio word

!English meaning

{{lang|kri|a}}, {{lang|kri|mi}}, {{lang|kri|mi}}

| I, me, my

| you, your

{{lang|kri|i}}, {{lang|kri|in}}, {{lang|kri|am}}, {{lang|kri|im}}

| he/she/it, him/her/it, his/her/its

| we, us, our

{{lang|kri|unu}}, {{lang|kri|una}}, {{lang|kri|ina}}

| you, you, your (plural)

{{lang|kri|dɛm}}, {{lang|kri|dɛn}}

| they, them, theirs

Vocabulary

Below are some common words in Krio, showing words from various origins:

class="wikitable" !Krio word!!English meaning
{{lang\|kri\|Salon}}/{{lang\|kri\|Salone}}	Sierra Leone
{{lang\|kri\|Adu}}, {{lang\|kri\|Kushɛ}}	Hello, Hi
{{lang\|kri\|Padi}}	Friend
{{lang\|kri\|Titi}}	Girl
{{lang\|kri\|Bɔbɔ}}	Boy
{{lang\|kri\|Mi}}	Me
{{lang\|kri\|Pikin}}	Child
{{lang\|kri\|Wɔwɔ}}	Ugly
{{lang\|kri\|Yu}}	You
{{lang\|kri\|Plaba}}	Conflict
{{lang\|kri\|Sɔri}}, {{lang\|kri\|Ɔsh}}	Sorry
{{lang\|kri\|Tɔk}}	Talk
{{lang\|kri\|Fɔgɛt}}	Forget
{{lang\|kri\|Ansa}}	Answer
{{lang\|kri\|Mek}}	Make
{{lang\|kri\|Bɔku}}	Many, Too much
{{lang\|kri\|Uman}}	Woman
{{lang\|kri\|Lef}}	Stop
{{lang\|kri\|Mɔt}}	Mouth
{{lang\|kri\|Kil}}	Kill
{{lang\|kri\|Pipul}}	People
{{lang\|kri\|Wetin}}	What
{{lang\|kri\|Usay}}/{{lang\|kri\|Usai}}, {{lang\|kri\|We}}	Where
{{lang\|kri\|Wetin-mek}}	Why
{{lang\|kri\|Ustɛm}}	When
{{lang\|kri\|Vɛx}}	Angry
{{lang\|kri\|Dia}}	Expensive
{{lang\|kri\|Waka}}	Walk
{{lang\|kri\|Cham}}	Chew
{{lang\|kri\|Motoka}}	Car
{{lang\|kri\|Sabi}}	Know
{{lang\|kri\|Fεt}}	Fight
{{lang\|kri\|Wεf}}	Wife
{{lang\|kri\|Lεf}}	Stop
{{lang\|kri\|Mama}}	Mother
{{lang\|kri\|Papa}}	Father
{{lang\|kri\|Grani}}	Grandmother
{{lang\|kri\|Granpa}}	Grandfather
{{lang\|kri\|Tif}}	Steal
{{lang\|kri\|Jomp}}	Jump
{{lang\|kri\|Chɛr}}	Rip
{{lang\|kri\|Dede}}/{{lang\|kri\|Dai}}	Dead
{{lang\|kri\|Tata}}	Bye

Below are some sample sentences in Krio:

class="wikitable" !Krio sentence!!English meaning
{{lang\|kri\|Kushɛ}}/{{lang\|kri\|Kushɛ-o}}	"Hello", "Hi"
{{lang\|kri\|Wetin na yu nem?}}	"What is your name?"
{{lang\|kri\|Mi nem na Jems.}}	"My name is James."
{{lang\|kri\|Usai yu kɔmɔt?}}	"Where do you come from?"
{{lang\|kri\|A kɔmɔt Estins.}}	"I come from Hastings."
{{lang\|kri\|Us wok yu de du?}}	"What work do you do?"
{{lang\|kri\|Mi na ticha.}}	"I am a teacher."
{{lang\|kri\|Na us skul yu de tich?}}	"At what school do you teach?"
{{lang\|kri\|A de tich na Prins ɔf Wels.}}	"I teach at Prince of Wales."
{{lang\|kri\|A gladi fɔ mit yu.}}	"I am happy to meet you."
{{lang\|kri\|Misɛf gladi fɔ mit yu.}}	"I myself am happy to meet you."
{{lang\|kri\|OK, a de go naw.}}	"OK, I am going now."
{{lang\|kri\|Ɔrayt, wi go tok bak.}}	"Alright, we will talk again."

Below is a sample of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Krio:

class="wikitable"

! Krio

! High Krio ({{lang|kri|Salontòk}})

! English

| {{lang|kri|Artikul Wan}}

| Article 1

{{lang|kri|Ɛvribɔdi bɔn fri ɛn gɛt in yon rayt, nobɔdi nɔ pas in kɔmpin. Wi ɔl ebul fɔ tink ɛn fɛnɔt wetin rayt ɛn rɔŋ. Ɛn pantap dat wi fɔ sabi aw fɔ liv lɛk wan big famili.}}

| {{lang|kri|Òll mòrtalmandèm bòrn fri èn ekwal pan dignity èn raihtdèm. Dhèm gèt ratio èn kònshèns èn pantap dhat dhèm fòr akt with dhèm kòmpin na bròdharhudim spirit.}}

| All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Films

Krio is used (incorrectly) early in the 2006 film Blood Diamond between Danny Archer (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and a character named Commander Zero.

It can be heard in the music video for "Diamonds from Sierra Leone", a song by American rapper Kanye West.

In 2007, work was completed on an unsanctioned, dubbed Krio version of Franco Zeffirelli's 1977 film Jesus of Nazareth. The dubs were recorded by a team of over 14 native Krio speakers, over a period of 9 months in the Lungi region of Sierra Leone. The film aired on ABC-TV and a limited run of 300 copies were produced, which were mostly sold in Lungi and Freetown.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpgOsrKZN4c video clip] of Krio-dubbed version of Zefirelli's Jesus of Nazareth.

Krio is heard in the English language documentary War Don Don. The film's title is in Krio.

The first feature-length documentary entirely spoken in Krio is Boris Gerrets' film Shado’man (2014).{{Cite web|url=http://www.shadoman-film.com/|title=Shado'man - A Boris Gerrets Film|website=www.shadoman-film.com|language=en|access-date=2018-09-17}} It was shot in Freetown at night with a group of homeless disabled people. The film premiered at the IDFA documentary festival{{Cite web |url=http://www.idfa.nl/industry/tags/project.aspx?ID=0df397fc-6dcf-4c7b-be41-e7271541b526 |title=Shado'man | IDFA |access-date=2014-12-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220211440/http://www.idfa.nl/industry/tags/project.aspx?ID=0df397fc-6dcf-4c7b-be41-e7271541b526 |archive-date=2014-12-20 |url-status=dead }} in Amsterdam and was seen in festivals around the world including FESPACO, the biannual Pan-African film festival in Ouagadougou.{{Cite web |url=http://documentaries.about.com/od/documentaryfestivals/tp/IDFA-2013-Documentaries-to-Watch-List.htm |title=IDFA 2013 - Documentaries to Watch List |access-date=2014-12-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404164244/http://documentaries.about.com/od/documentaryfestivals/tp/IDFA-2013-Documentaries-to-Watch-List.htm |archive-date=2015-04-04 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-shadoman-1200909192/|title=Film Review: 'Shado'man'|last=Debruge|first=Peter|date=2013-12-09|work=Variety|access-date=2018-09-17|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|url=http://cinemagazine.nl/shadoman-2013-recensie/|title=Shado'man (2013) recensie, Boris Gerrets - Cinemagazine|website=cinemagazine.nl|language=en-US|access-date=2018-09-17}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.volkskrant.nl/dossier-archief/pijnlijke-prachtige-schaduwwereld~a3600288/|title=Pijnlijke prachtige schaduwwereld|work=de Volkskrant|access-date=2018-09-17|language=nl-NL}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.nrc.nl/next/van/2014/februari/20/leven-in-de-schaduw-in-sierra-leone-1351090|title=Leven in de schaduw in Sierra Leone|work=NRC|access-date=2018-09-17|language=nl}}

Fiction

Peter Grant, the protagonist of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series, is the London-born son of an immigrant from Sierra Leone. While speaking English with other characters, he speaks Krio with his mother. Aaronovitch includes some such conversations in his text, leaving the reader to puzzle out what was said.

References

External links

[https://www.umu.se/en/research/projects/the-krio-corpus-project/ Krio Corpus Project] at Umeå University, Sweden.
[http://www.sierra-leone.org/Krio-Proverbs.html Krio proverbs] (Archived PDF version: [https://web.archive.org/web/20060926222803/http://www.sierra-leone.org/Proverbs.pdf Krio proverbs])
[http://www.bisharat.net/wikidoc/pmwiki.php/PanAfrLoc/KrioPidgin PanAfrican L10n page on Krio (& Pidgin)]

[http://webdoc.ubn.ru.nl/mono/y/yakpo_k/gramofpi.pdf Yakpo, Kofi (2009) "A Grammar of Pichi", 692 pp.] This link opens a pdf of a comprehensive linguistic description of Pichi (Fernando Po Creole English), a language closely related to Krio, by the linguist Kofi Yakpo (University of Nijmegen)
[http://www.sierra-leone.org/Books/1985_Peace_Corps_Krio_Manual.pdf Krio Language Manual, Peace Corps - Sierra Leone]

Category:English-based pidgins and creoles of Africa

Category:Languages of Sierra Leone

Language

Category:Languages of the African diaspora

Krio language

Overview

Language origins

Language usage

=Krio usage in Sierra Leone=

=Krio speakers abroad=

=Language revival=

Classification

Phonology

=Vowels=

=Consonants=

Orthography

Grammar

=Verbs=

=Interrogatives=

=Pronouns=

Vocabulary

Films

Fiction

See also

References

Further reading

External links