Ndyuka

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Ndyuka
Spoken in:	Suriname
Total speakers:	30,000
Language family:	Creole language English Creole Atlantic Suriname Ndyuka
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:
ISO 639-3:	`djk`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Ndyuka or Aukan, also called Ndyuká tongo or Okanisi, is a creole language of Suriname. Many of the 25 to 30,000 speakers live in the interior of the country, which is a part of the country covered with tropical rainforests. Ethnologue lists two related languages under the name Ndyuka.

They proudly identify themselves as Maroon people. The Ndyuka, who are of African descent, were cruelly shipped as slaves to Suriname about 300 years ago and forced to work on the colonial plantations. They escaped from the plantations and went deep into the rain forests where they formed their own unique communities along various rivers in eastern Suriname and in some parts of neighboring French Guiana.

In the last several decades a large number of the Ndyuka people have moved from their ancestral villages in Suriname's interior to the coastal areas of Suriname, especially in and around Paramaribo, the country's capital.

Ndyuka is based on English and African languages, with influences from Portuguese and other languages. It is closely related to the Aluku (or Boni) and Paramaccan languages, and more distantly to Kwinti.

The Afaka script was devised for Ndyuka in 1908.