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Published March 17, 2020
This video was recorded by PCV Volunteer Nathaniel in Lofa, Liberia. Liberian English, also called Kolokwa, Liberian Kreyol and Liberian Pidgin English, is spoken by at least 1.5 million people, primarily in the West African nation of Liberia as a 'lingua franca', the common language between different ethnic groups and cultures. Liberian English is one of several West African Pidgin English varieties, having developed from the confluence of Liberia's Indigenous Niger-Congo languages—Kru, Greba, Loma and Klao, among others—and various North American English dialects spoken by emancipated African Americans and Afro-Caribbean people who emigrated to Liberia over the course of the 19th century. Since the language was last surveyed in 1984, rapid urbanization and the proliferation of English-language education has most likely expanded the population of Liberian English speakers beyond two million to as many as four million people.