1 CLASSIFICATION AND WHERE SPOKEN
Krio and Pidgin are English-based creole languages. Krio is spoken in Sierra Leone and also around Banjul in the Gambia, as well as on the island of Ngueyma Byogo in Equatorial Guinea. Pidgin is spoken in Cameroon, the southeast quadrant of Nigeria, Ghana, and Togo.
2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
WTPR (1982) notes 1,014,000 speakers of Krio in Sierra Leone. Hays (1977) also notes 3,000 speakers in The Gambia. Figures for Nigeria, Cameroon, and Ghana are harder to come by; Reinecke (1979) reports that in Ghana (population 8,500,000) Pidgin English "is widespread except in the north, but held in lower repute than in Nigeria and Cameroon." In Nigeria, with its 61.5 million people, Pidgin English is also widespread in the southeastern quadrant and elsewhere "in urban centers and along trade routes," spoken by as many as 10-15 million. In Cameroon (population 5.7 million), Pidgin English is concentrated in what was formerly West Cameroon (population one million) and adjacent areas of former East Cameroon, especially along the coast. This would suggest that Cameroon has more than one million speakers. A mutually intelligible variety of Pidgin English is also spoken on Fernando Po.
3 USAGE
Krio is an official language of Sierra Leone and has wide usage as a second language. Elsewhere, Pidgin is a lingua franca, although there are pockets of first-language speakers in Nigeria and coastal Cameroon. Sierra Leone regularly broadcasts radio and television programs in Krio. Pidgin broadcasts are heard in Nigeria.
4 DIALECT SURVEY
No formal dialect survey of these languages has come to our attention, but Dwyer states (personal communication, 1983) that Krio and the Cameroon and Nigerian Pidgins are mutually intelligible, although they should be definitely taken as separate languages as far as materials are concerned.
5 ORTHOGRAPHY STATUS
Sierra Leone Krio has a dictionary (Fyle and Jones 1980) which is recognized as representing standard Krio spelling. No standard orthography exists for the Pidgins.
1 CLASSIFICATION AND WHERE SPOKEN
Lingala belongs to the Ngala Group of Bantu (Guthrie C36) and is spoken along the Lomami, the Ubangi, and the Zaire rivers as far as Kinshasa in Zaire, as well as up the Sangha River through Congo-Brazzaville and the Central African Republic.
2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
WTPR (1982) notes an exaggerated figure of 8.4 million speakers. Heine (1970), citing Roberts (1962), gives 1.2 million.
3 USAGE
Lingala is primarily a lingua franca throughout the area described above. It is also used in the Zairian army and in schools. Lingala is broadcast in Zaire (La Voix du Zaïre and Radio Candip), in the Congo (La Voix de la Révolution), and in Angola (Radio Nacional de Angola).
4 DIALECT SITUATION
No dialect survey has come to our attention as of this writing. There are many varieties of Lingala. Most materials are prepared in one of two styles, either in classical/literary Lingala or in popular Lingala. It is felt by many that the two varieties are not mutually intelligible.
5 ORTHOGRAPHY STATUS
A standardized orthography exists, although tone is not marked in any books.
1 CLASSIFICATION AND WHERE SPOKEN
Oromo belongs to the Lowland East Cushitic family (Oromo subgroup) and is spoken in the southern half of Ethiopia as well as mostly in Eastern Province, Kenya.
2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
Figures vary greatly:
Variety Country Speakers Source Kenya 100-150,000 Heine & Möhlig Oromo Borana Ethiopia 512,000 UBS Oromo Borana Kenya 80,000 UBS Oromo, western Ethiopia 5.75 million UBS 18 million Gragg 3 USAGE
Oromo is a significant regional first language and is spoken by the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia. It is broadcast over the Voice of Revolutionary Ethiopia, and there is a weekly newspaper, Berisa, in Oromo.
4 DIALECT SURVEY
Some dialect survey work is detailed in Gragg and also in Heine (1980). Gragg (personal communication, 1984) feels that all dialects are "largely mutually intelligible" and that "one Western-based standard, with many Eastern and Southern loan elements, will eventually emerge."
5 ORTHOGRAPHY STATUS
There is no standardized orthography; Oromo is written either with Amharic or Romanized script. Gragg (personal communication, 1984) states that "a written standard using the Ethiopia syllabary is gradually being evolved."
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