Languages of Guyana

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Languages of Guyana
Signs in Georgetown with text in English
Official	English
Indigenous	Akawaio, Arawak, Atorada, Carib, Macushi, Mapidian, Patamona, Pemon, Waiwai, Wapishana, Warao
Vernacular	Guyanese Creole, Caribbean English
Minority	Guyanese Hindustani
Foreign	Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch
Signed	Guyanese Sign Language, South Rupununi Sign Language
Keyboard layout	QWERTY

English is the official language of Guyana, which is the only South American country with English as the official language.^[1]^[2]

The Umana Yana in Georgetown; the name means "Meeting place of the people" in Waiwai.

Guyanese Creole (an English-based creole with African, Indian, and Amerindian syntax) is widely spoken in Guyana.^[1]

Guyanese Hindustani is retained and spoken by some Indo-Guyanese for cultural and religious reasons. Guyanese Bhojpuri may be used by older generations, folk songs, or in a limited way at home, while standard Hindi is used in religious service, writing, and passively through the consumption of Hindi film exports from India.^[3] Tamil is also retained in Madras identifying communities.

A number of Amerindian languages are also spoken by a minority of the population. These include Cariban languages such as Macushi, Akawaio and Wai-Wai; and Arawakan languages such as Arawak (or Lokono) and Wapishana.^[1]^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Smock, Kirk (2008). Guyana: The Bradt Travel Guide. Bradt. pp. 19. ISBN 978 1 84162 223 1.
^ ^a ^b Ali, Arif (2008). Guyana. London: Hansib. ISBN 978-1-906190-10-1.
^ Gambhir, Surendra K. (1983). "Diglossia in Dying Languages: A Case Study of Guyanese Bhojpuri and Standard Hindi". Anthropological Linguistics. 25 (1): 28–38. ISSN 0003-5483.

External links

Ethnologue list (map)

v t e Languages of Guyana
Official language	English
Indigenous languages	Akawaio Arawak Atorada Carib Macushi Mapidian Patamona Pemon Waiwai Wapishana Warao
Other languages	Caribbean Hindustani Guyanese Creole
Sign languages	Guyanese Sign Language South Rupununi Sign Language

v t e Languages of South America
Sovereign states	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela
Dependencies and other territories	Falkland Islands French Guiana South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands