Guyanese Creole, more commonly referred to by its native speakers as Creolese, is the mother tongue of the majority of the over 700, 000 inhabitants of the Republic of Guyana on the north-east shoulder of South America. It is a widely-used vernacular language variety which co-exists with Standard Guaynese English, the sole official language, which is normally acquired through formal schooling. Additionally, it is spoken by several hundred thousand other Guyanese, who live in the diaspora communities worldwide. This language variety has a high degree of variability, primarily caused by ongoing contact with its major contributing lexifier, English. Other contributing languages include Arawak (Lokono), Carib (Karina), Bhojpuri, Akan, Kikongo, Yoruba and Dutch. Linguists such as Bickerton (1975) and Rickford (1987) have previously described this language variety as existing on a continuum which has conservative or basilectal Guyanese Creole on one end and acrolectal Standard Guyanese English on the other end.