Publisher: Summer Institute of Linguistics
Date: 1992
Pages: 44
Saramaccan (autonym: Saamáka) is a creole language spoken by about 24,000 people near the Saramacca and upper Suriname Rivers in Suriname (formerly also known as Dutch Guyana), and 2,000 in French Guiana. The speakers are mostly descendants of fugitive slaves; they form a group called Saramacca, also spelled Saramaka.
Saramaccan is remarkable to linguists because of its unusual divergence from its source languages.