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Negerhollands ('Negro-Dutch', also known by the contemporary and more neutral name Virgin Islands Creole Dutch) was a Dutch-based creole language that was spoken in the Danish West Indies, now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands. Dutch language was its superstrate language with Danish language, English language, French language, Spanish language, and African elements incorporated. Notwithstanding its name, Negerhollands drew primarily from the Zeelandic and probably also from the closely related West Flemish, rather than the Hollandic, dialects of Dutch.
From 1732 onwards, Moravian Church missionaries began visiting the Virgin Islands, who introduced an version of the language, called Hoch Kreol. From 1765 till 1834, many texts were produced in this language, which gives Negerhollands an almost unparalleled amount of source texts among creole languages. In 1770, Moravian missionaries printed a primer and a small Lutheran catechism, followed in 1781 by a translation of the New Testament into Hoch Kreol.
/ref> The service in the Lutheran church was held in Hoch Kreol for the native congregation until the 1830s. As younger generations learned English as a native language, use of Hoch Kreol, whose use became limited to church services, was slowly abandoned, having been replaced by the English-based Virgin Islands Creole. It did, however, survive by the Moravian Orphanage at Nyherrenhut near Tutu well into the twentieth century. As older former orphans were volunteers the old Creole dialect persisted around the orphanage with the encouragement of the elders of the denomination. There was a television special on WBNB in the 1970s which had some former orphans who were by that time quite old.
A collection of folk recordings from the US Virgin IslandsCD. Zoop Zoop Zoop: Traditional Music and Folklore of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John, released on New World Records in 1993. contains one very short song in Negerhollands: "Twee Shishi" or anglified "Tway She She". It was recorded from Mrs. Gerda Benjamin (1925 - 1983) in 1980. She was not a native speaker, but had learned this song from her mother who did speak the language. The recording is available on Spotify.
Alice Stevens, likely the last native speaker, died in 1987.
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