Editing Liberian English

{{Short description|Varieties of English spoken in Liberia}}
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'''Liberian English''' refers to the varieties of [[English language|English]] spoken in [[Liberia]]. Four such varieties exist:
* Standard Liberian English, the Liberian variety of International English. It is the language taught in secondary and tertiary institutions. It is used in oratory and by newsreaders.
* [[Merico language|Liberian Settler English]] the language of the descendants of the 16,000 African Americans who immigrated to Liberia in the nineteenth century
* Kru Pidgin English the language of Kru migrant workers and mariners. It is now moribund.
* [[Liberian Kreyol]] the creolized variety spoken by most Liberian speakers of English. It is the Liberian descendant of the West African Pidgin English that developed all along the West African coast in the eighteenth century. It has been significantly influenced by Liberian Settler English.{{sfn|Singler|1997}}

Prior to the twenty-first century, Liberians referred to all these varieties simply as "English." In the present century, however, the term "Kolokwa" (from the English word "colloquial") has become widely used.

==The sound system of English in Liberia==
The vowel system is distinct from that found in other [[West Africa]]n variants; Standard Liberian English distinguishes {{IPA|[i]}} from {{IPA|[ɪ]}}, and {{IPA|[u]}} from {{IPA|[ʊ]}}, and uses the diphthongs {{IPA|[aɪ]}}, {{IPA|[aʊ]}}, and {{IPA|[əɪ]}}. Vowels can be nasalized. The final vowel of ''happy'' is {{IPA|[ɛ]}}. It favors open syllables, usually omitting syllable-final {{IPA|[t]}}, {{IPA|[d]}}, or a fricative. The interdental fricatives {{IPA|[θ, ð]}} appear as {{IPA|[t, d]}} in syllable-initial position (such as ''thing'' and ''this'' having respective pronunciations of ''ting'' and ''dis''), and as {{IPA|[f, v]}} finally. The glottal fricative {{IPA|[h]}} is preserved, as is the voiceless labio-velar fricative {{IPA|[ʍ]}} (in such words as ''whit'' and ''which'' in contrast to voiced {{IPA|[w]}} in ''wit'' and ''wish''). Except in word-initial position, affricates have lost their stop component, thus {{IPA|[tʃ]}} > {{IPA|[ʃ]}}. The liquid [r] is not pronounced at the end of a word or before a consonant, making Standard Liberian English a [[Rhoticity in English|non-rhotic]] dialect.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Brinton | first1=Laurel J. | last2=Arnovick | first2=Leslie K. | date=2006 | title=The English language: A linguistic history | publisher=Oxford University Press | publication-place=Don Mills, Ontario | isbn=978-0-19-542205-4}}</ref>

Additionally, English in Liberia includes particles that occur at the end of a clause that amplify the purpose of the clause,<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/11/07/359345125/from-big-jues-to-tay-tay-water-a-quick-guide-to-liberian-english | title=From 'Big Jues' To 'Tay-Tay Water,' A Quick Guide To Liberian English | last=Doucleff | first=Michaeleen | date=November 7, 2014 | website=NPR}}</ref>  The most commonly occurring particle is ''o'', which is a feature generally of Kru and Kwa languages but shows up in other neighboring Niger-Congo languages as well as in West African varieties of English more generally, including pidgins and creoles. In Liberian English (and in the other languages of the region), ''o'' emphasizes that a proposition is of current relevance to the speaker and hearer. Beyond its use to mark emphasis, ''o'' frequently occurs to correct a hearer's mistaken assumption or to indicate what will happen next.<ref>{{Cite journal | last=Singler | first=John Victor | date=1988 | title=The story of o | journal=Studies in Language | volume=12 | issue=1 | pages=123–124 | doi=10.1075/sl.12.1.06sin}}</ref>

==Kru Pidgin English==
Kru Pidgin English is a moribund variety that was spoken by [[Krumen people|Krumen]]. These were individuals, most often from the [[Klao]] [[Bassa people (Liberia)|Bassa people]] and [[Grebo people|Grebo]] ethnic groups, who worked as sailors on ships along the West African coast and also as migrant workers and domestics in such British colonies as the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]] (Ghana) and [[Nigeria]]. The Krumen tradition dates back to the end of the eighteenth century. With the end of the British colonial presence in West Africa in the mid-twentieth century, however, the tradition came to an end, and with it the ongoing use of Kru Pidgin English.{{sfn|Singler|1997|pp=208–209}}

Kru Pidgin English is quite distinct from other forms of English in Liberia and has numerous unique traits. Plural marking, for instance, is done solely by the suffixal ''-z'', while other variants will also integrate a postponed ''den'' as another plural marking form. Another feature of Kru Pidgin English, perhaps one of the most distinct, is the lack of tense-marking that even often extends to copulas in many cases. An example of the lack of tense marking is "he feel hot" instead of "he had felt hot." When it comes to other markers, Kru Pidgin English almost exclusively has ''de'' to mark aspect, such as in the statement "we de go na" in the place of "we had gone to."{{sfn|Singler|1997}}

==Kolokwa==
Prior to the twenty-first century, Liberians used the term "English" for all Liberian varieties with an English lexicon. However, linguists used the term "Vernacular Liberian English" for the variety that was generally spoken. Now Kolokwa has become the general term for this variety. Kolokwa developed from the West African Pidgin English spoken all along the West African coast. It has been significantly influenced by Liberian Settler English, the variety that African American immigrants brought to Liberia in the nineteenth century and is spoken today by the immigrants' descendants. Kolokwa phonology owes much to the Niger-Congo languages, especially those spoken along the coast, primarily such [[Kru languages]] as Bassa and Klao but also the Mande language Vai.  Kolokwa has been analysed as being a [[post-creole continuum]]. As such, the term "Kolokwa" covers a range of ways of speaking, from quite distinct from International English to much closer to it.{{sfn|Singler|1997}}

== Role of English in Liberia ==
From its emergence at the beginning of the 18th century, a primary motivator for using an English-lexifier variety was its use in maritime trade. Once the Settlers arrived and asserted political dominance, English/Kolokwa attained a central role in the governance of the country and provided Liberians who did not share a Niger-Congo language with a medium for interaction. The widespread displacement of Liberians during the civil war increased the probability that individual Liberians needed to interact with other Liberians with whom they had no other language in common. Thus, the civil war can be seen to have promoted the use of English/Kolokwa. Unlike many other West African countries, English was oddly introduced to Liberia.

English has historically been central to the overall development of the country. When the Settler governments prevailed, the Department of Education adopted a policy to provide education in English. This policy was not unpopular. People wanted their children to acquire English in order to have access to the economic benefits associated with it. One adverse effect of the English-only policy was that knowledge of local languages was not prized. Individuals were assessed strictly on their ability to speak English. 

A 1999 study found that of Liberian immigrants across the United States, nearly 73 percent spoke English at home, and many children did not speak any other language.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Ngovo | first=Bernard L. | date=1999 | title=The dominance of English among Liberian children | journal=English Today | volume=15 | issue=4 | doi=10.1017/S0266078400011263 | pages=44–48}}</ref> There are a few reasons attributed to this trend. Two main reasons are intertribal marriages inspiring people across tribes to have a common way to communicate and parents wanting their children to be proficient in English, especially those parents who are educated themselves. There are currently some pushing for native languages to be taught in schools as a way to preserve the culture, but these tribes do continue to have their own impact on how English is spoken across the country.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal | last=Singler | first=John Victor | date=1997 | title=The configuration of Liberia's Englishes | journal=World Englishes | volume=16 | issue=2 | doi=10.1111/1467-971X.00060 | pages=205–231}}
* {{cite book | last=Singler | first=John Victor | editor-last=Smitherman | editor-first=Geneva | chapter=Copula Variation in Liberian Settler English and American Black English | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mYBZR4eALwgC&q=liberian+settler+english&pg=PA129 | title=Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America | year=1986 | publisher=Wayne State University Press | isbn=0-8143-1805-3 | pages=129–164}}
* {{cite book | last1=d'Azevedo | first1=Warren | last2=Gold | first2=Michael | title=Some Terms from Liberian Speech | edition=Revised and enlarged | year=1979 | publisher=Cornell University | url=https://ecommons.cornell.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/d9bf9048-17a8-4698-aa44-e70d42bc56c2/content}}
* {{cite book | last=Singler | first=John Victor | editor-last=McWhorter | editor-first=John | chapter=Optimality Theory, the Minimal-Word Constraint, and the Historical Sequencing of Substrate Influence in Pidgin/Creole Genesis | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jSByTfudlIcC&q=liberian+settler+english&pg=PA335 | title=Language Change and Language Contact in Pidgins and Creoles | year=2000 | publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company | isbn=90-272-5243-2 | pages=335–354}}
* {{cite journal | last=Hancock | first=Ian F. | date=1974 | title=English in Liberia | journal=American Speech | volume=49 | issue=3 | doi=10.2307/3087801 | pages=224–229| jstor=3087801 }}
* {{cite journal | last=Ballah | first=Henryatta L. | date=<!-- 1 March --> 2019 | title=Liberia: A Colonized Nation and the Role of English in that Process | journal=Journal of West African History | volume=5 | issue=1 | issn=2327-1868 | doi=10.14321/jwestafrihist.5.1.0029 | jstor=10.14321/jwestafrihist.5.1.0029 | pages=29–52}}
* {{cite journal | last=Ngovo | first=Bernard L. | date=1998 | title=English in Liberia | journal=English Today | volume=14 | issue=2 | doi=10.1017/S0266078400010191 | pages=46–50}}
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== External links ==

* [https://www.universaloutreachfoundation.org/liberian-english Universal Outreach Liberian English Dictionary] 
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y76c6UqN0dc Wikitongues Video Adolphus Speaking Liberian English]

{{Languages of Liberia}}
{{English dialects by continent}}
{{English official language clickable map}}

[[Category:Languages of Liberia|English]]
[[Category:Dialects of English]]