Languages of the Caribbean - wikipedia Languages of the Caribbean This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. ( November 2017 ) Official languages spoken in the Caribbean Spanish French English Dutch Haitian Creole Papiamento The languages of the Caribbean reflect the region 's diverse history and culture. There are six official languages spoken in the Caribbean. The six languages are : Spanish ( official language of Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico ) French ( official language of Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, St. Barthelemy, French Guyana and St. Martin ) English ( official language of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and U.S. Virgin Islands ) Dutch ( official language of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, and Suriname ) Haitian Creole ( official language of Haiti ) Papiamento ( a Portuguese and Spanish - based Creole language ) ( official language of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao ) However, there are also a number of creoles and local patois. Dozens of the creole languages of the Caribbean are widely used informally among the general population. There are also a few additional smaller indigenous languages. Many of the indigenous languages have become extinct or are dying out. At odds with the ever - growing desire for a single Caribbean community, the linguistic diversity of a few Caribbean islands has made language policy an issue in the post-colonial era. In recent years, Caribbean islands have become aware of a linguistic inheritance of sorts. However, language policies being developed nowadays are mostly aimed at multilingualism. Contents 1 Languages 1.1 English 1.2 Spanish 1.3 French 1.4 Dutch 1.5 Other languages 1.5. 1 Caribbean Hindustani 1.5. 2 Indigenous languages 1.5. 3 Creole languages 1.5. 4 Others 2 Change and policy 2.1 Demographics 3 Linguistic features 3.1 Syntax 3.2 Semantic 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References Languages Most languages spoken in the Caribbean are either European languages ( namely English, Spanish, French, and Dutch ) or European language - based creoles. English is the first or second language in most Caribbean islands and is also the unofficial `` language of tourism '', the dominant industry in the Caribbean region. In the Caribbean, the official language is usually determined by whichever colonial power ( England, Spain, France, or the Netherlands ) held sway over the island first or longest. English Main article : Caribbean English The first permanent English colonies were founded at Saint Kitts ( 1624 ) and Barbados ( 1627 ). The English language is the third most established throughout the Caribbean ; however, due to the relatively small populations of the English - speaking territories, only 14 % of West Indians are English speakers. English is the official language of about 18 Caribbean territories inhabited by about 6 million people, though most inhabitants of these islands may more properly be described as speaking English creoles rather than local varieties of standard English. Spanish Main article : Spanish language § The Americas The Caribbean English speakers are outnumbered by Spanish speakers by a ratio of about four to one due to the high densities of populations on the larger, Spanish - speaking, islands ; some 64 % of West Indians speak Spanish. The islands that are included in this group are Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Parts of Trinidad & Tobago and some tiny islands off Central and South America. The Latin American countries of the Caribbean Islands include Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. French Main article : French language § North and South America About one - quarter of West Indians speak French or a French - based creole. They live primarily in Guadeloupe and Martinique, both of which are overseas departments of France ; Saint Barthélemy and the French portion of Saint Martin ( where the local language is English, but not an official language ), both of which are overseas collectivities of France ; the independent nation of Haiti ( where both French and Haitian Creole are official languages ) ; and the independent nations of Dominica and Saint Lucia, which are both officially English - speaking but where the French - based Antillean Creole is widely used, and French to a lesser degree. Dutch Main article : Dutch language § Americas Dutch is an official language of the Caribbean islands that remain under Dutch sovereignty. However, Dutch is not the dominant language on these islands. On the islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire, a Spanish - Portuguese based creole known as Papiamento is predominant, while in Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius, English, as well as a local English creole, are spoken. A Dutch creole known as Negerhollands was spoken in the former Danish West Indian islands of Saint Thomas and Saint John, but is now extinct. Its last native speaker died in 1987. Other languages Caribbean Hindustani Caribbean Hindustani is a form of the Bhojpuri and Awadhi dialect of Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ) spoken by descendants of the indentured laborers from India in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and other parts of the Caribbean. Indigenous languages Several languages spoken in the Caribbean belong to language groups concentrated or originating in the mainland countries bordering on the Caribbean : Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru. Many indigenous languages ( actually spoken with the mainland Caribbean rather than the islands ) have been added to the list of endangered or extinct languages -- for example, Arawak languages ( Shebayo, Igñeri, Lokono, Garifuna of St. Vincent, and the one now labeled Taíno by scholars, once spoken in the Greater Antilles ), Caribbean ( Nepuyo and Yao ), Taruma, Atorada, Warrau, Arecuna, Akawaio and Patamona. Some of these languages are still spoken there by a few people. Creole languages Creoles are contact languages usually spoken in rather isolated colonies, the vocabulary of which is mainly taken from a European language ( the lexifier ). Creoles generally have no initial or final consonant clusters but have a simple syllable structure which consists of alternating consonants and vowels ( e.g. `` CVCV '' ). A substantial proportion of the world 's creole languages are to be found in the Caribbean and Africa, due partly to their multilingualism and their colonial past. The lexifiers of most of the Caribbean creoles and patois are languages of Indo - European colonizers of era. Creole languages continue to evolve in the direction of European colonial languages to which they are related, so that decreolization occurs and a post-creole continuum arises. For example, the Jamaican sociolinguistic situation has often been described in terms of this continuum. Papiamento, spoken on the so - called ' ABC ' islands ( Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao ), shows traces of both indigenous languages and Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch lexicons. ). In Jamaica, though generally English speaking island, a patois, often called `` patwa '' drawing on a multitude of influences including Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Arawak and African languages as well as Irish. In Barbados, a dialect often known as `` bajan '' have influences from West Africa languages can be heard on a regular day basis. Contact between French - and English - lexified creoles is fairly common in the Lesser Antilles ( apart from Saint Lucia ), and can also be observed on Dominica, Saint Vincent, Carriacou, Petite Martinique and Grenada. Others Asian languages such as Chinese and other Indian languages such as Tamil are spoken by Asian expatriates and their descendents exclusively. In earlier historical times, other Indo - European languages, such as German, could be found in northeastern parts of the Caribbean. Change and policy Throughout the long multilingual history of the Caribbean continent, Caribbean languages have been subject to phenomena like language contact, language expansion, language shift, and language death. Two examples are the Spanish expansion, in which Spanish - speaking peoples expanded over most of central Caribbean, thereby displacing Arawak speaking peoples in much of the Caribbean, and the Creole expansion, in which Creole - speaking peoples expanded over several of islands. Another example is the English expansion in the 17th century, which led to the extension of English to much of the north and east Caribbean. Trade languages are another age - old phenomenon in the Caribbean linguistic landscape. Cultural and linguistic innovations that spread along trade routes, and languages of peoples dominant in trade, developed into languages of wider communication ( linguae francae ). Of particular importance in this respect are French ( in the central and east Caribbean ) and Dutch ( in the south and east Caribbean ). After gaining independence, many Caribbean countries, in the search for national unity, selected one language ( generally the former colonial language ) to be used in government and education. In recent years, Caribbean countries have become increasingly convinced of the importance of linguistic diversity. Language policies that are being developed nowadays are mostly aimed at multilingualism. Demographics Of the 38 million West Indians ( as of 2001 ), about 62 % speak Spanish ( a west Caribbean lingua franca ). About 25 % speak French, about 15 % speak English, and only 0.7 % speak Dutch. Spanish, English, and French are important languages : 24 million, 9 million, and 5 million speak them as second languages. The following is a list of major Caribbean languages ( by total number of speakers ) : Country / Territory Population ( 2001 ) Official language Spoken languages Anguilla 11,430 English English, Anguillian Creole English, Spanish ( immigrants ) Antigua and Barbuda 66,970 English English, Antiguan Creole English, Spanish ( immigrants ) Aruba 103,400 Dutch, Papiamento Papiamento, Dutch, English, Spanish Bahamas 303,611 English English, Bahamian Creole English, Haitian Creole ( immigrants ) Barbados 275,330 English English, Bajan Creole Bay Islands, Honduras 49,151 Spanish Spanish, English, Creole English, Garifuna Bermuda 63,503 English English, Bermudian Vernacular English, Portuguese Bonaire 14,230 Dutch Papiamento, Dutch, English, Spanish British Virgin Islands 20,812 English English, Virgin Islands Creole English, Spanish ( immigrants ) Cayman Islands 40,900 English English, Cayman Creole English, Spanish ( immigrants ) Cuba 11,217,100 Spanish Spanish, English Curaçao 130,000 Dutch Papiamento, Dutch, English, Spanish Dominica 70,786 English English, Antillean Creole French, French, Haitian Creole ( immigrants ) Dominican Republic 8,581,477 Spanish Spanish, Haitian Creole ( immigrants ), English ( immigrants ) Grenada 89,227 English English, Grenadian Creole English, Antillean Creole French Guadeloupe 431,170 French French, Antillean Creole French, Spanish ( immigrants ) Guyana 747,884 English English, Guyanese Creole, Guyanese Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ), Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Tamil, Yoruba, and the native languages : Akawaio, Macushi, Waiwai, Arawak, Patamona, Warrau, Carib, Wapishana, and Arekuna Haiti 6,964,549 French, Creole French, Haitian Creole Isla Cozumel 50,000 Spanish Spanish, English Isla de Margarita 350,000 Spanish Spanish Jamaica 2,665,636 English English, Jamaican Patois, Spanish, Caribbean Hindustani, Irish, Chinese Martinique 418,454 French French, Antillean Creole French, Spanish ( immigrants ) Montserrat 7,574 English English, Montserrat Creole English Puerto Rico 3,808,610 Spanish, English Spanish, English Saba 1,704 Dutch English, Saban Creole English, Dutch Saint Barthelemy 6,500 French French, French Creole, English Saint Kitts and Nevis 38,756 English English, Saint Kitts and Nevis Creole English, Spanish ( immigrants ) Saint Lucia 158,178 English English, Saint Lucian Creole French, French Saint Martin 27,000 French English, St. Martin Creole English, French, Antillean Creole French ( immigrants ), Spanish ( immigrants ), Haitian Creole ( immigrants ) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 115,942 English English, Vincentian Creole English, Antillean Creole French Sint Eustatius 2,249 Dutch English, Statian Creole English, Dutch, Spanish ( immigrants ) Sint Maarten 41,718 Dutch, English English, St. Martin Creole English, Dutch, Papiamento ( immigrants ), Antillean Creole French ( immigrants ), Spanish ( immigrants ), Haitian Creole ( immigrants ) Suriname 541,638 Dutch Dutch, Sranan Tongo, Sarnami Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ), Javanese, Chinese Trinidad and Tobago 1,169,682 English English, Trinidadian Creole, Tobagonian Creole, Trinidadian Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ), Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Trinidadian French Creole, Portuguese, Yoruba, Carib Turks and Caicos Islands 36,132 English English, Turks and Caicos Creole English, Spanish ( immigrants ), Haitian Creole ( immigrants ) United States Virgin Islands 108,000 English English, Virgin Islands Creole English, Spanish ( immigrants ), Antillean Creole French ( immigrants ) Linguistic features Some linguistic features are particularly common among languages spoken in the Caribbean, whereas others seem less common. Such shared traits probably are not due to a common origin of all Caribbean languages. Instead, some may be due to language contact ( resulting in borrowing ) and specific idioms and phrases may be due to a similar cultural background. Syntax Widespread syntactical structures include the common use of adjectival verbs for e.g. : '' He dirty the floor. The use of juxtaposition to show possession as in English Creole, `` John book '' instead of Standard English, `` John 's book '', the omission of the copula in structures such as `` he sick '' and `` the boy reading ''. In Standard English, these examples would be rendered, ' he seems / appears / is sick ' and `` the boy is reading ''. Semantic Quite often, only one term is used for both animal and meat ; the word nama or nyama for animal / meat is particularly widespread in otherwise widely divergent Caribbean languages. See also Caribbean portal Anglophone Caribbean Antillean Creole Caribbean English Caribbean Spanish Caribbean Hindustani Creole language Use of the Dutch language in the Caribbean English - based creole languages French - based creole languages List of sovereign states and dependent territories in the Caribbean Pre-Arawakan languages of the Greater Antilles Notes Jump up ^ For Caribbean community see Commonwealth Caribbean and CARICOM Jump up ^ Using the 2001 census of the region. Jump up ^ Orjala, Paul Richard. ( 1970 ). A Dialect Survey Of Haitian Creole, Hartford Seminary Foundation. 226p. Jump up ^ Pompilus, Pradel. ( 1961 ). La langue française en Haïti. Paris : IHEAL. 278p Jump up ^ Ureland, P. Sture. ( 1985 ). ' Entstehung von Sprachen und Völkern ' ( Origins of Languages and Peoples ). Tübingen Jump up ^ `` Sarnámi Hindustani ''. Omniglot. Retrieved June 8, 2016. Jump up ^ Amerindian Peoples ' Association. ( 2003 ). Guyana Jump up ^ Devonish, H., ( Mar 2010 ) ' The Language Heritage of the Caribbean ' Barbados : University of the West Indies Jump up ^ Lexifiers are languages of the former major colonial powers, whereas the grammatical structure is usually attributed to other languages spoken in the colonies, the so - called substrates. Jump up ^ Romaine, Suzanne ( 1988 ) : Pidgin and creole languages. London : Longman, p. 63 Jump up ^ David, DeCamp. ( 1971 ) Pidgin and Creole Languages Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. 13 - 39 : 351 Jump up ^ see newspaper Civilisadó 1871 -- 1875 Jump up ^ Loftman, Beryl I. ( 1953 ). Creole Languages Of The Caribbean Area, New York : Columbia University Jump up ^ Schumann, Theophilus. ( 1748 ). Letters from Pilgerhut in Berbice to Ludwig von Zinzendorf, Berlin. A pilgrim who, with help from a native Arawak, translated his German Bible into the native language. Jump up ^ Devonish, H. ( 2004 ). Languages disappeared in the Caribbean region, University of the West Indies Jump up ^ Taylor, Douglas. ( 1977 ). Languages of the West Indies, London : Johns Hopkins University Press Jump up ^ All population data is from The World Factbook estimates ( July 2001 ) with these exceptions : Bay Islands, Cancun, Isla Cozumel, Isla de Margarita, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin ( these were obtained by CaribSeek 's own research. Anguilla, Bahamas, Cuba, Cayman Islands and the Netherlands Antilles population data are from the sources mentioned below, and are estimates for the year 2000. References Adelaar, Willem F.H. ( 2004 ). Languages of the Andes : The Arawakan languages of the Caribbean, Cambridge University Press 052136275X Appel, René., Muysken, Pieter. ( 2006 ). Language Contact and Bilingualism : Languages of the Caribbean Ferreira, Jas. ( ). Caribbean Languages and Caribbean Linguistics Gramley, Stephan., Pätzold, Kurt - Michael. ( 2003 ). A survey of modern English : The Languages of the Caribbean. Patterson, Thomas C., Early colonial encounters and identities in the Caribbean Penny, Ralph John, ( 2002 ). A history of the Spanish language. Roberts, Peter. ( 1988 ). West Indians & their language Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Sprauve, Gilbert A., ( 1990 ). Dutch Creole / English Creole distancing : historical and contemporary data considered, International Journal of the Sociology of Language. Vol 1990 : 85, pp. 41 -- 50 Taylor, Douglas M., ( 1977 ) Languages of the West Indies, Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press Countries and languages lists Countries By languages Spoken Countries by spoken languages Official Countries by the number of recognized official languages Arabic Chinese Dutch / Afrikaans English French German Malay Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Tamil Endonyms Countries and capitals in native languages Exonyms Country names in various languages A -- C D -- I J -- P Q -- Z Languages of the European Union Languages By continent Africa Americas North South Asia East South Europe Oceania By country Official languages by state List of languages without official status Countries by the number of recognized official languages Languages by the number of countries in which they are recognized as an official language By population By number of native speakers By number of total speakers Languages in censuses By family Language families Language - based geopolitical organizations Arab League ( Arabic ) Dutch Language Union ( Dutch ) English Speaking Union Francophonie ( French ) Community of Portuguese Language Countries ( Portuguese ) Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa ( Portuguese ) Latin Union ( Romance ) Hispanidad ( Spanish ) Turkic Council ( Turkic ) International Organization of Turkic Culture ( Turkic ) See also Lists of languages Category : Languages Caribbean articles History Timeline Taíno -- Arawak Spanish Caribbean ( 1492 -- 1898 ) Dutch Caribbean ( 1554 -- 1863 ) British Caribbean ( 1586 -- 1834 ) French Caribbean ( 1625 -- 1817 ) Baltic - German Caribbean ( 1654 - 1689 ) Danish Caribbean ( 1672 -- 1917 ) German Caribbean ( 1685 - 1693 ) Swedish Caribbean ( 1784 -- 1878 ) By topic Afro - Caribbean Territorial evolution Geography Regions Antilles Greater Antilles Lesser Antilles Leeward Leeward Antilles Windward Caribbean Basin Caribbean Lowlands Caribbean Plate Caribbean Sea Caribbean South America Southern Caribbean By topic Bioregion Earthquakes Extreme points Islands by area Metropolitan areas Mountains Rivers Ultras sovereign states dependent territories Politics African - Caribbean leftism Caribbean Community CARIFORUM Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Sovereign states and dependent territories Western Caribbean Zone Economy Airlines Airports Central banks and currencies Citrus Fishing Stock exchanges Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange Sugar in Cuba in the Danish West Indies Telecommunications Tourism Culture Afro - Caribbean Art Beer Cuisine Literature Music People Sport Stadiums Television stations Demographics Immigration Languages Pre-Arawakan Population Diseases Religion Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Languages_of_the_Caribbean&oldid=815575941 '' Categories : Languages of the Caribbean Hidden categories : Articles lacking in - text citations from November 2017 All articles lacking in - text citations Talk Contents About Wikipedia Languages Add links This page was last edited on 15 December 2017, at 17 : 56. 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Question: names of the spanish speaking countries in the caribbean
Answer: Cuba