No, it is NOT
an acceptable name to use because other languages are
also spoken widely in Surinam such as
Saramaccan,
Is an inland language not commonly used outside the jungle areas that
Saramaccaners live in. Not a nationally widely spoken language
Aukan,
Aucaners same situation as
Saramacaners.
Guyanese,
Definately not spoken in most of
Surinam and as the name suggest it is not
a Surinamese language.
Javanese,
Only spoken by people of Indonesian background and as the name suggest it
is not a Surinamese language.
Chinese,
Only spoken by people of Chinese background and as the name suggest it is
not a Surinamese language.
and Native American languages.
There are about 10.000 of those, they are not even acknowledged in the
Surinamese flag with its five points which stand for the five most
important ethniticities.
These are just as much "Surinamese" as
Sranan.
No they are not. Sranan is what binds most of the population together with
Dutch .... so what is next you are going to call Moroccan a Dutch language
because people in the Netherlands speak Moroccan? Or Dutch a Thai language
because there are Dutch people in Thailand? All of these languages are not
Surinamese. They happen to be spoken in the country of Surinam yes. There
is but one Surinamese and that is Sranan Tongo.
So while "Sranan" does indeed mean
"Surinamese", the name "Sranan" is also
used in English to distinguish it from other languages of Surinam.
Well I am not a native Oxford-English or American-English or whatever
English speaker but I still have my doubts about that.
I must say Walter is right in saying all of these languages do not qualify
for the name "surinamese", and Sranan may. There is one other language that
might, namely Sarnami (also meaning "Surinamese"), but that's an abbrevation
of "Sarnami Hindi". However, we could better be as cautious as not to call
Sranantongo Surinamese, for it could insult speakers of other languages.
Just like "Filipino" or "Indonesian".
Wouter
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