Mardijker Creole

Mardijker is an extinct Portuguese-based creole of Jakarta. It was the native tongue of the Mardijker people. The language was introduced with the establishment of the Dutch settlement of Batavia (present-day Jakarta); the Dutch brought in slaves from the colonies they had recently acquired from the Portuguese, and the slaves' Portuguese creole became the lingua franca of the new city. The name is Dutch for "freeman", as the slaves were freed soon after their settlement. The language was replaced by Betawi creole Malay in Batavia by the end of the 18th century, as the Mardijker intermarried and lost their distinct identity. However, around 1670 a group of 150 were moved to what is now the village and suburb of Tugu, where they retained their language, there known as Papiá, until the 1940s.

Not to be confused with Baba language.
Mardijker
Batavian Creole Portuguese
Papiá Tugu
A colorized engraving of a family. The man has a hat, long hair and a stick. The woman holds a baby. In the background there are buildings and palm trees.
Mardijkers in 1704 and in the background, presumably the land granted to them outside Batavia, now Kampung Tugu. The building is possibly the original Tugu Church.[1]
Native toIndonesia
RegionJakarta
EthnicityMardijker people
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
GlottologNone
mala1533  Malacca–Batavia Creole
Linguasphere51-AAC-ahd
IETFidb-u-sd-idjk

The earliest known record of the language is documented in a wordlist published in Batavia in 1780, the Nieuwe Woordenschat.[2] The last competent speaker, Oma Mimi Abrahams, died in 2012, and the language survives only in the lyrics of old songs of the genre Keroncong Moresco (Keroncong Tugu).[3]

References
  1. Burnet, Ian (September 16, 2017). "The Forgotten Mardijkers of Batavia". Spice Islands Blog. Wordpress. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  2. see Nieuwe Woordenschatm uyt het Niederduitsch in her Maleedsch en Portugeesch, zeer gemakkelyk voor de errst op Batavia komen (1780)
  3. "Punahnya Bahasa Kreol Portugis..." [Extinction of the Portuguese Creole Language...]. Kedeputian Bidang Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial dan Kemanusiaan (in Indonesian). 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2020-05-10.

Bibliography
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