To the outside world, Suriname is known as a rather extraordinary country in South America in that it is a Dutch-speaking state on an otherwise almost totally Hispanic-speaking continent. Those who look closer, however, soon discover that Suriname's uniqueness lies somewhat less in its apparently misplaced "Dutchness" and more in the fact that Suriname is home to almost twenty different languages, no mean feat considering that the population numbers less than half a million inhabitants. Hardly any inhabitant ofSuriname is monolingual, yet not everyone is multilingual in the same languages, nor to the same extent.The aim of this book is twofold: first to introduce the reader to the linguistic complexity that abounds in Suriname, and second to afford him/her insight into the genesis, evolution, and salient linguistic features of the languages and language-families that are represented there. The languages of Suriname can be divided into three groups, namely the Amerindian, the creole, and the Eurasian languages. The Amerindian group comprises eight languages belonging to two different language families, the Arawakan and theCariban. The creole languages, which are closely related, includeSranantongo, the lingua franca of Suriname, and the Maroon languages spoken in the interior of the country, namely Ndyuka, Saramaccan, and various dialects thereof. Finally, the third group comprises what we call theEurasian languages that include the former colonial language Dutch, and those languages that were imported to Suriname along with a sizeable portion of the population who came as indentured labourers from Asia, namelySarnami Hindi, Chinese, and Javanese.The book includes a range of language maps that trace the languages ofSuriname through the last five centuries. The illustrations throughout the book have been hand-picked to enliven each chapter, allowing the reader to feel the vibrancy of the past and the present language situation.Contents:List of contributorsList of abbreviationsList of mapsList of illustrationsPrefaceIntroductionPrologue : Vernacular languages and cultural dialogue (Andre Kramp)Part I: The Amerindian peoples and languages1 The native population: Migrations and identities (Eithne B. Carlin and Karin Boven)2 Patterns of language, patterns of thought: The Cariban languages (Eithne B. Carlin)3 The Arawak language (Marie-France Patte)Part II: The creole languages4 The history of the Surinamese creoles I: A sociohistorical survey (Jacques Arends)5 The history of the Surinamese creoles II: Origin and differentiation (Norval Smith)6 The structure of the Surinamese creoles (Adrienne Bruyn)7 Young languages, old texts: Early documents in the Surinamese creoles (Jacques Arends)Part III: The Eurasian languages8 Surinamese Dutch (Christa de Kleine)9 Kejia: A Chinese language in Suriname (Paul Tjon Sie Fat)10 Sarnami as an immigrant koine (Theo Damsteegt)11 Javanese speech styles in Suriname (Clare Wolfowitz)EpilogueBibliographiesGlossary of linguistic termsList of contributorsIndex