Bemé: Difference between revisions
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'''Bemé''' (/[[Help:IPA|bəˈmeɪ̯]]/ ''buh-MAY''; ''bemeh'', <small>pronounced</small> [[IPA for Bemé|[bemɛ]]]), also called '''Poccasin Creole''', '''Poccasin Pidgin''' and '''Poccasinese''', is an [[w:English-based creole languages|English creole]] and [[w:Pidgin|pidgin language]] spoken in the Poccasin Archipelago. It is the most spoken language of the Poccasin Archipelago with around 15 million speakers as of 2025; native speakers with Bemé as their mother tongue, primarily inhabiting Cassim Po, number around | '''Bemé''' (/[[Help:IPA|bəˈmeɪ̯]]/ ''buh-MAY''; ''bemeh'', <small>pronounced</small> [[IPA for Bemé|[bemɛ]]]), also called '''Poccasin Creole''', '''Poccasin Pidgin''' and '''Poccasinese''', is an [[w:English-based creole languages|English creole]] and [[w:Pidgin|pidgin language]] spoken in the Poccasin Archipelago. It is the most spoken language of the Poccasin Archipelago with around 15 million speakers as of 2025; native speakers with Bemé as their mother tongue, primarily inhabiting Cassim Po, number around 2.5 million. Bemé is an official language and designated [[w:Lingua franca|lingua franca]] of the [[Poccasin Federation]], and is considered one of two international trade languages of the country alongside [[Poccasin English|English]]. | ||
Bemé gradually developed from a [[Kabao]]-English [[w:Pidgin|pidgin language]] used to communicate between [[w:British Empire|British colonisers]] and the indigenous peoples. Before the British, the [[w:Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] initially colonised Kabao island and established what would eventually become Cassim Po and its oldest ''colonias'' (boroughs); there is evidence that a separate Portuguese-Kabao pidgin was spoken at that time, though its features and vocabulary were probably absorbed into Bemé after the Portuguese left and the British took over. Bemé then coalesced into a fully fledged [[w:Creole language|creole language]] probably around the late 19th century, before being suddenly and rapidly spread across the Poccasin Archipelago by the British colonial administration who operated a meticulous program of transporting primarily slaves from Cassim Po (who could speak close enough to the masters' English to communicate with them, incentivising its use to other Poccasins) to work newly developed plantations across the archipelago, including [[Saint Columban]]. | Bemé gradually developed from a [[Kabao]]-English [[w:Pidgin|pidgin language]] used to communicate between [[w:British Empire|British colonisers]] and the indigenous peoples. Before the British, the [[w:Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] initially colonised Kabao island and established what would eventually become Cassim Po and its oldest ''colonias'' (boroughs); there is evidence that a separate Portuguese-Kabao pidgin was spoken at that time, though its features and vocabulary were probably absorbed into Bemé after the Portuguese left and the British took over. Bemé then coalesced into a fully fledged [[w:Creole language|creole language]] probably around the late 19th century, before being suddenly and rapidly spread across the Poccasin Archipelago by the British colonial administration who operated a meticulous program of transporting primarily slaves from Cassim Po (who could speak close enough to the masters' English to communicate with them, incentivising its use to other Poccasins) to work newly developed plantations across the archipelago, including [[Saint Columban]]. | ||