Republic of Suriname: Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. And the other five that don't have a foreign relationship with the Republic of Suriname as yet: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia. Matawai The Matawai tribe has its own language which is related to the Saramaka language. The language is derived from Plantation Creole which is nowadays known as Sranan Tongo, however the branches diverged around 1700, and evolved separately. Matawai is spoken in the villages in Kwakoegron and Boven Saramacca, however code switching with Sranan Tongo, other Maroon languages, and Dutch is common. The language is considered endangered. Phonology Vowels Each oral vowel also has a corresponding nasal vowel. There are also three vowel lengths: "red", "belly," "bread." Consonants are more specifically dorso-postalveolar, but the palatal fricative is dorso-palatal. Tone The language has two surface tones: high and low. Stress in European words is replaced by high tone in Saramaccan. Orthography Vowels a - [a] e - [e] ë - [ɛ] i - [i] o - [o] ö - [ɔ] u - [u] Long vowels are doubled or tripled. Consonants b - [b] d - [d] dj - [ɟ] g - [g] gb - [ɡ͡b] h - [h] j - [j] k - [k] kp - [k͡p] l - [l] m - [m] mb - [mb] n - [n] nd - [nd] nj - [ɲ] p - [p] s - [s] t - [t] tj - [ç], [c]? v - [v] w - [w] Lexicon Saramaccan's vocabulary is 30% derived from English, 20% from Portuguese. It is one of the few known creoles to derive a large percentage of its lexicon from more than one source (most creoles have one main lexifier language). Also, it is said to be both an English-based creole and a Portuguese-based creole. About 50% of the vocabulary of Saramaccan is of African origin, the largest percentage of any creole in the Americas. Source languages for these words include Kikongo, Gbe languages, and Twi. Examples To English-speakers who are not familiar with it, Saramaccan's English basis is almost unrecognizable. Here are some examples of Saramaccan sentences that are taken from the SIL dictionary: De waka te de aan sinkii möön."They walked until they were worn out." U ta mindi kanda fu dee soni dee ta pasa ku u."We make up songs