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Language Information By Source

Berbice Dutch Officially Extinct
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Dormant

Native Speakers Worldwide

No data

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

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Transmission

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Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

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Child speakers

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Young adult speakers

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Older adult speakers

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Elder Speakers

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Ethnic Population

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Non-monolingual speakers

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More about speakers

Twenty years ago there were still handfuls of Berbice speakers in Guyana but...it has been discovered that the last speaker died in 2005.

Year of info

2010

Location and Context

Countries

Guyana

Coordinates

No data

Location description

Berbice Dutch was spoken in plantations along the River Berbice, part of Guyana which was once a private colony founded by a Dutch planter from Zeeland.

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

Berbice Dutch was spoken in plantations along the River Berbice, part of Guyana which was once a private colony founded by a Dutch planter from Zeeland.

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Critically Endangered

Native Speakers Worldwide

1

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

1

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

The last known Berbice Dutch Creole speaker is Bertha Bell, who was 103 years old when last interviewed by Ian Robertson and a UWI linguistics research team in March, 2004.

Year of info

2013

Location and Context

Countries

Guyana

Coordinates

6.1667,-57.7167

Location description

Berbice Dutch Creole is a language formerly widely spoken in the former Dutch colony of Berbice, which became in the early 19th century part of the British colony of British Guiana, now Guyana. The last speakers of this language were found in the 1970s by Ian Robertson, living on the upper reaches of the Berbice River in and around the area of the Wiruni Creek.

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

Berbice Dutch Creole is a language formerly widely spoken in the former Dutch colony of Berbice, which became in the early 19th century part of the British colony of British Guiana, now Guyana. The last speakers of this language were found in the 1970s by Ian Robertson, living on the upper reaches of the Berbice River in and around the area of the Wiruni Creek.

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Critically Endangered

Native Speakers Worldwide

4

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

Data for the number of native speakers comes from S. Kouwenberg (1993). "15 [individuals] with limited competence [in the language]" (Holm 1989).

Year of info

2009

Location and Context

Countries

Guyana;

Coordinates

No data

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Dormant

Native Speakers Worldwide

Ø

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No known L1 speakers. 15 with limited competence (Holm 1989).

Year of info

2016

Location and Context

Countries

Guyana

Coordinates

No data

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

No data

Native Speakers Worldwide

No data

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

2005

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

5.33333333333,-58.0

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Critically Endangered

Native Speakers Worldwide

4

Domains of Use

No data

Speaker Number Trends

No data

Transmission

No data

Speakers

Second-language speakers and learners

No data

Semi-speakers

No data

Child speakers

No data

Young adult speakers

No data

Older adult speakers

No data

Elder Speakers

No data

Ethnic Population

No data

Non-monolingual speakers

No data

More about speakers

No data

Year of info

Location and Context

Countries

No data

Coordinates

No data

Location description

No data

Government support

No data

Institutional support

No data

Speakers' attitudes

No data

Standard orthography

No data

Script (Writing system)

No data

Other writing systems

No data

More on writing systems

No data

Other languages used

No data

Domains of other languages

No data

More on context

No data

Media Resources

No resources

No resources

No resources

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  1. Endangered Languages Catalogue Project. Compiled by research teams at University of Hawai'i Mānoa and Institute for Language Information and Technology (LINGUIST List) at Eastern Michigan University
    2012. "Endangered Languages Catalogue Project. Compiled By Research Teams At University of Hawai'i Mānoa and Institute For Language Information and Technology (LINGUIST List) At Eastern Michigan University."
  2. World Oral Literature Project
    "World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.
    http://www.oralliterature.org
  3. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)
    Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)
    http://www.ethnologue.com/
  4. The World Atlas of Language Structures
    2005. "The World Atlas of Language Structures." edited by Bernard Comrie et al. Oxford University Press.
  5. Berbice Dutch Creole
    The University of the West Indies. 2013. "Berbice Dutch Creole." In Caribbean Indigenous and Endangered Languages, Online: http://www.mona.uwi.edu/dllp/jlu/ciel/pages/berbicedutch.htm.
    http://www.mona.uwi.edu/dllp/jlu/ciel/pages/berbicedutch.htm
  6. Berbice Dutch Officially Extinct
    February 25, 2010. "Berbice Dutch Officially Extinct." Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW). Online: http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/berbice-dutch-officially-extinct.
    http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/berbice-dutch-officially-extinct
  7. Berbice Dutch Creole
    Kouwenberg, S. 1994. "Berbice Dutch Creole." 12: Mouton de Gruyter.
  8. Berbice Dutch Creole: grammar, texts, and vocabulary
    Kouwenberg, Silvia. Berbice Dutch Creole: Grammar, Texts, and Vocabulary. PhD thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1991.
  9. A Grammar of Berbice Dutch Creole
    Kouwenberg, Silvia. 1994. "A Grammar of Berbice Dutch Creole." Mouton de Gruyter.
  10. Berbice Dutch