Language
The national language of Sierra Leone is English. The Krio speak a distinctive language named after their ethnic group. In 1993, there were 473,000 speakers in Sierra Leone (493,470 in all countries); Krio was the third-most spoken language behind Mende (1,480,000) and Themne (1,230,000). Krio speakers lived principally in Freetown communities, on the Peninsula, on the Banana Islands and York Island, and in Bonthe. Speakers in other countries lived in Gambia, Guinea, Senegal, and the United States. Krio is somewhat inter-intelligible with Jamaican Creole and Sea Islands Creole (Gullah). Speakers of Krio as a first language are mainly descendants of former Jamaican slaves. There is a significant linguistic influence from Yoruba.
Read more about this topic: Sierra Leone Creole People
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“There is no such thing as an ugly language. Today I hear every language as if it were the only one, and when I hear of one that is dying, it overwhelms me as though it were the death of the earth.”
—Elias Canetti (b. 1905)
“Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.”
—Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)
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