Datapoint Sranan/Language abandonment

Based on the survey of language use among schoolchildren done by Léglise & Migge (2010), it would seem that Sranan is being abandoned/denied as an L1 quite heavily. Most parents do not speak it to their children. Only some groups such as the Javanese show a strong tendency to have Sranan as an L1 (Bettina Migge pc 2011). Dutch is identified in the survey as the L1 of most children and also as the most widely spoken language (99%), with Sranan second (79%). Sranan is overwhelmingly cited as L2 and L3 (Léglise & Migge 2010). The current situation is very different from that reported by Eersel (1971), who claimed that “the number of truly monolingual Dutch-speaking native adults is negligible”, while “by contrast, monolingualism is very common among Sranan speakers” (Eersel 1971: 318).

Values

Limited

Confidence:
Intermediate