Tayo Creole

Tayo
Patois de Saint-Louis
Native toFrance (New Caledonia)
Native speakers
900 (2009 census)[1]
French Creole
  • Pacific
    • Tayo
Official status
Official language in
New Caledonia
Language codes
ISO 639-3cks
Glottologtayo1238

Tayo, also known as "patois de Saint-Louis", is a French-based Creole spoken in New Caledonia. It is spoken by about 3000 people in the village of Saint-Louis, about 15 km (9.3 mi) from the New Caledonian capital Nouméa.[2]: 63  The language developed out of the contact of speakers of many different Kanak languages in the mission, and the use of French for official purposes and as the language of prestige.[2]: 61  The language contains structural elements primarily from Melanesian languages and lexical elements mainly from French.[2]: 62 

  1. ^ Tayo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c Speedy, Karin (2013). "Mission Educated Girls in the 19th Century". Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures. 7 (1): 60–79.