Korlai Portuguese Creole

Korlai Portuguese creole
Kristi
Nou Ling
Native toIndia
Native speakers
800 (2015)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3vkp
Glottologkorl1238
Linguasphere51-AAC-agc
Approximate location where Korlai Portuguese creole is spoken
Approximate location where Korlai Portuguese creole is spoken
Korlai Portuguese creole
Approximate location where Korlai Portuguese creole is spoken
Approximate location where Korlai Portuguese creole is spoken
Korlai Portuguese creole
Coordinates: 18°31′24″N 72°55′10″E / 18.5232°N 72.9195°E / 18.5232; 72.9195

Korlai Portuguese is an Indo-Portuguese creole based on the Portuguese language, spoken by approximately 1,000 inhabitants of the Korlai village at the Korlai fort, a former possession of the Portuguese in Goa and Bombay. Their speech is referred to as Korlai creole, Korlai Portuguese, Kristi or Nɔw-ling by the speakers themselves, which translates to "our language" in the creole. The speakers are a part of a very close-knit community, and refer to themselves as the Kristi community bound by their affiliation to the Christian denomination, of Roman Catholicism in India.[2] Korlai is situated in the Raigad district (Colaba district) of the Konkan division named after the Colaba fort, 150 kilometers south of Mumbai (Bombay), in Maharashtra, India. The speakers are of a homogenous Roman Catholic pocket in an area otherwise dominated by Konkani Muslim and Hindu Marathi-Konkani speaking inhabitants.[2]

  1. ^ Korlai Portuguese creole at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ a b Clements, J. Clancy (2015). "Portuguese Settlement of the Chaul/korlai Area and the Formation of Korlai Creole Portuguese". Journal of Language Contact. 8 (1): 13–35. doi:10.1163/19552629-00801002.