Liberian English
Online Resources for Liberian English
Language Learning Resources: Liberian English is very difficult to study and understand outside of the communities that speak it. To make matters more challenging, there is also a scarcity of available resources online. This blogpost attempts to accumulate various resources to aid in the understanding and study of Liberian English.
Videos: This section posts a few videos (mainly music videos) that use Liberian English.
Music Videos:
Parables in Liberian English:
Why Monkey never Builds a House
An Ancient Animal Parable Against Racism
Books and Written Resources:
An Introduction to Liberian English: An old Peace Corps document from 1981 written by John V. Singler, an expert in pidgin and creole language who has written and published widely on Liberian English. This is an excellent resource to receive an overview of Liberian English, as it provides a nice history, analysis of grammar and pronunciation, and examples and explanations of Liberian English words and terms.
Cracking the Code-The Confused Traveler’s Guide to Liberian English: A decent, short read, that provides a brief history of the language, cultural context of the language, features of Liberian English, and a short dictionary. Useful for beginners.
Blogs: There are several blogs that provide a short overview or lesson on Liberian English, what follows are just a few examples.
Liberian English 101: A short clip using and describing Liberian English. Not the best video, but is useful for listening and pronunciation. The blog also has a short explanation of some Liberian English terms.
The Reeds in Liberia: Provides a very basic explanation of pronunciation and some sample sentences, with American English translation.
The Black Love Project: Similar to other blogs provides a brief explanation of language and its pronunciation, along with some quick vocabulary and key terms.
Sites of Liberia: Presents a very basic overview of Liberian English, with a few examples, and an explanation of the origin and evolution of the language over the years.
Dictionary: There really isn’t a dictionary for Liberian English, but the following resources provide lists of key terms and words with some explanation.
Liberian English Dictionary-Universal Outreach: Provides some very basic common terms and how they are used in Liberian English.
Some Terms from Liberian English: Another old document, written in 1979 that provides a short overview of the cultural view of Liberian English, along with explanations of some very basic terms.
