San Miguel Creole

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San Miguel Creole (otherwise known as Panamanian French Creole/Patua) is a dialect of Lesser Antillean French Creole spoken by the descendants of St Lucians and Martiniquais who emigrated to Panama (specifically the town of San Miguel and Colon) in the 19th century. They came over as construction workers on the Panama Canal. There is very little information on the language and therefore it is likely an extinct language in Panama (although some sources claim that there are a few who speak the language, mainly older people in the city of Colon: Lee, writing in 2017, stated there were 3 speakers, [1] , Snow, writing in 2005, said it was "nearly extinct" [2] ). There probably are remnants in local elder communities of the language, probably words and phrases, however the language is considered lost and extinct by most, with no sources in the vocabulary (although it can be reconstructed using it's parent language Saint Lucian Creole). [3] [4] [5] [6]

The language code of San Miguel Creole is “SCF.”

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lee, Nala (2018). "Contact languages around the world and their levels of endangerment". Language Documentation and Conservation. 12: 53–79.
  2. ↑ Snow, peter (2005). "The use of "bad" language as a politeness strategy in a Panamanian Creole village". In Mühleisen, Susanne; Migge, Bettina (eds.). Politeness and Face in Caribbean Creoles. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. p. 40.
  3. ↑ "Glottolog 5.2 - San Miguel Creole French". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2025-09-14.
  4. ↑ "San Miguel French Creole Language (SCF) – L1 & L2 Speakers, Status, Map, Endangered Level & Official Use | Ethnologue Free". Ethnologue (Free All). Retrieved 2025-09-14.
  5. ↑ Charter, Click and Sailing | Panamá Boat (2025-03-26). "What Language Is Spoken in Panama? A Complete Local Guide (2025)". Clickandsailing. Retrieved 2025-09-14.
  6. ↑ "Category:San Miguel Creole French language", Wiktionary, the free dictionary, 2024-04-23, retrieved 2025-09-14


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