Bahamas

Summary

Official Name

The Commonwealth of the Bahamas

International Conventions

CPPDCE (2014), CSICH (2014), ICCPR (2008), UNCRPD (2015), UNDRIP (2007)

Population

386,000

Principal Languages

English

Literacy Rate

96% (Roser and Ortiz-Ospina 2018)

General References

Hall 1966, Holm 1989

Language Counts

The number of established languages listed for Bahamas is 3. All are living languages. Of these, 1 is indigenous and 2 are non-indigenous. Furthermore, 1 is institutional and 2 are vigorous. Also listed are 2 unestablished languages.

Languages

American Sign Language ase: Scattered. Users: 400 in Bahamas (2021 SIL). Estimated, based on 0.1% of the total population. Status: 6a* (Vigorous). Alternate Names: ASL Classification: Sign language, Deaf community sign language
Bahamas English Creole bah: Widespread. Users: 328,000 (2018). Status: 6a* (Vigorous). De facto language of national identity. Alternate Names: Bahamian Dialect, Bahamian English Creole Classification: Creole, English based, Atlantic, Eastern, Northern
English eng: Users: 36,300 in Bahamas (2018). Status: 1 (National). De facto national language. Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, English
Haitian Creole hat: Users: 15,400 in Bahamas (2018). Status: Unestablished. Classification: Creole, French based
Jamaican English Creole jam: Users: 6,180 in Bahamas (2018). Status: Unestablished. Classification: Creole, English based, Atlantic, Western