Mardijker Creole

Not to be confused with Papia language.
Mardijker
Batavian Creole Portuguese
Papiá Tugu
Native to Indonesia
Region Jakarta
Ethnicity Mardijker people
Extinct 1940s; some competency until 1978 with the death of Joseph Quiko
Portuguese Creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Glottolog None
mala1533  (Malacca–Batavia Creole)[1]
Linguasphere 51-AAC-ahd

Mardijker is an extinct Portuguese-based creole of Jakarta. It was introduced with the Dutch settlement of Batavia; 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 means "freeman" in Dutch, 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. The last competent speaker, Joseph Quiko, died in 1978, and the language survives only in the lyrics of old songs of the genre Keroncong Moresco (Keroncong Tugu).


  1. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Malacca–Batavia Creole". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
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