Papiamento

Papiamento is spoken by around 240,000 people, primarily in the ABC Islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), with additional communities in Sint Maarten and the Caribbean Netherlands. A Portuguese-based creole with influences from Spanish, Dutch, African languages, and Arawakan languages, it serves as an official language on the islands and is central to local identity. Written in the Latin alphabet, Papiamento has an analytic grammar and a subject-verb-object word order. An example of its cultural presence is during Aruba’s Carnival, where dazzling costumes, steel drum bands, and spirited Papiamento songs fill the streets with energy and pride.