Limonese Creole (also called Limón Creole English or Mekatelyu) is an English-based creole language spoken in Limón Province on the Caribbean Sea coast of Costa Rica. Limón Coastal Creole is similar to varieties such as Colón Creole, Mískito Coastal Creole, Belizean Kriol language, and San Andrés and Providencia Creole. The number of speakers of Limón Coastal Creole is below 100,000 [1]. Limón Coastal Creole does not have the status of an official language. It is very similar to Jamaican Creole and has borrowed many words from English.

Jamaican Creole was introduced to Limón by Jamaican migrant workers who arrived to work on the banana plantations and on the Pacific railway.

The name Mekatelyu is a transliteration of the phrase "make I tell you", or in standard English "let me tell you".

[edit] See also

• Bahamian Creole
• Bajan
• Bermudian English
• Jamaican English

[edit] Bibliography

• Herzfeld, Ana. Tense and Aspect in Limon Creole. Kansas: The University of Kansas, 1978.
• Wolfe, Terry. An Exploratory Study of the Morphology and Syntax of the English of the Province of Limon, Costa Rica. San José: Universidad de Costa Rica, 1970.
• Wright M., Fernando. Limon Creole: A Syntactic Analysis. San José: Universidad de Costa Rica. 1974.
• Wright M., Fernando. "Problemas y Métodos para la Enseñanza como Segunda Lengua a los Habitantes del Mek-a-tél-yu en la Provincia de Limón". Revista de la Universidad de Costa Rica, March–Sept. 1982.
• Wright M., Fernando. Problems and Methods of Teaching English as a Second Language to Limon Creole Speakers. Lawrence: The University of Kansas, 1979.

[edit] External links

• Jamaican Creole English at Ethnologue
• "¿Qué es el mek-a-tel-yu?" by Dora H. de Vargas (in Spanish)