Surinamese Dutch

Surinamese Dutch
Surinaams
Surinaams-Nederlands
Signs like ZOUTVLEES PARADYS and GEACHTE KLANTEN HIER IS SOWTU.
Butcher signs in a Paramaribo market
Pronunciation[syːriˌnaːms ˈneːdərlɑnts]
Native toSuriname
RegionFrench Guiana (Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni and Cayenne), Guyana (Georgetown)
Native speakers
600,000 (2024)[1]
Early forms
Dutch alphabet
Official status
Official language in
Suriname
Regulated byDutch Language Union
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
IETFnl-SR
Coordinates: 4°N 56°W / 4°N 56°W / 4; -56
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This article is a part of a series on
Dutch
Low Saxon dialects
West Low Franconian dialects
East Low Franconian dialects

Surinamese Dutch (Surinaams-Nederlands, pronounced [syːriˌnaːms ˈneːdərlɑnts]), also known as Surinaams is the form of Dutch spoken in Suriname and is the official language in Suriname, a former colony of the Netherlands.[1] Dutch is spoken as a native language by about 80% of the population, most of them being bilingual with Sranan Tongo, Hindi, Javanese, and other languages.[1] Nevertheless, Dutch is the country's sole official language. Surinamese Dutch is easily intelligible with other forms of Dutch. Furthermore, as opposed to other languages that have different forms in the Americas (e.g., American English vs. British English) the regulation and thus standardised spelling of the Dutch language is done through a joint Dutch–Belgian–Surinamese organization, the Dutch Language Union, and thus has no regional differences regarding spelling.[2] Suriname has been an associate member of this Nederlandse Taalunie since 2004.[3] Therefore, many typical Surinamese words were added to the official Wordlist of Standard Dutch, known as "the Green Booklet" (Groene Boekje).

Surinamese Dutch is generally easily distinguishable from other standardized forms of Dutch due to the accent and some loanwords adopted from other languages spoken in Suriname.

  1. ^ a b c "Suriname - The World Factbook". CIA.gov. CIA. 2023-11-14. Archived from the original on 2023-11-16. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  2. ^ "Taalunie". Taalunie.org (in Dutch). Taalunie. Archived from the original on 2023-10-21. Retrieved 2023-11-16. De Taalunie ontwikkelt en stimuleert beleid voor het Nederlands in Nederland, Vlaanderen en Suriname, en ondersteunt het Nederlands in de wereld.
  3. ^ "Suriname - Taalunie". Taalunie.org (in Dutch). Taalunie. Archived from the original on 2023-04-17. Retrieved 2023-11-16. Sinds 2004 is Suriname geassocieerd lid van de Taalunie.