Editing United States Virgin Islands (section)

===Languages===
[[File:Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral - St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 07.JPG|thumb|227x227px|English and Spanish sign at the Catholic Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul]]
[[File:USVI St. Thomas Charlotte Amalie Danish streetname.JPG|thumb|right|A Danish street name in Charlotte-Amalie]]
English is the predominant language. As of 2010, [[Spanish language|Spanish]]<ref name="www2.census.gov" /> is spoken by 17.2% of the population age five and older, French or French Creole is spoken by 8.6%, and other languages are spoken by 2.5%.<ref name="www2.census.gov">U.S. Census Bureau. 2013. "[https://www2.census.gov/census_2010/10-Island_Areas_Detailed_Cross_Tabulations/Virgin_Islands/USVI_2010_Census_Detailed_Crosstabulations_Part1_v3.xlsx USVI 2010 Census Detailed Crosstabulations Part1 v3.xlsx] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220708032347/https://www2.census.gov/census_2010/10-Island_Areas_Detailed_Cross_Tabulations/Virgin_Islands/USVI_2010_Census_Detailed_Crosstabulations_Part1_v3.xlsx |date=July 8, 2022 }}" (spreadsheet tab 2-9). Retrieved from https://www2.census.gov/census_2010/10-Island_Areas_Detailed_Cross_Tabulations/Virgin_Islands/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220708032347/https://www2.census.gov/census_2010/10-Island_Areas_Detailed_Cross_Tabulations/Virgin_Islands/ |date=July 8, 2022 }}</ref>

[[Virgin Islands Creole|Virgin Islands Creole English]], an English-based creole locally known as "dialect", is spoken in informal situations. The form of Virgin Islands Creole spoken on St. Croix, known as ''Crucian'', is slightly different from that spoken on St. Thomas and St. John.<ref>Plata Monllor, Miriam R. 2008. ''[https://www.proquest.com/openview/369ee80a01bc1b23da102f852163d45a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750 Phonological features of Crucian Creole. Doctoral Dissertation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117164311/https://www.proquest.com/openview/369ee80a01bc1b23da102f852163d45a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750 |date=January 17, 2023 }}''. Doctoral dissertation, University of Puerto Rico. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.</ref><ref>Vergne Vargas, Aida M. 2017. ''[https://www.proquest.com/openview/d153f5d0ad8e13e10b0f2042f4accf76/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y A Comparative Study of the Grammatical Structures of Crucian Creole and West African Languages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117164311/https://www.proquest.com/openview/d153f5d0ad8e13e10b0f2042f4accf76/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y |date=January 17, 2023 }}''. Doctoral dissertation, University of Puerto Rico. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.</ref> Because the U.S. Virgin Islands are home to thousands of immigrants from across the Caribbean, [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and various [[French-based creole languages|French creole]] languages are also widely spoken. Spanish is mostly spoken by Puerto Ricans in St. Croix;<ref name="Feliciano-2009">Villanueva Feliciano, Orville Omar. 2009. ''[https://www.proquest.com/openview/272a2f934bbb815bfdbf5dcc6ba9c82c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750 A Contrastive analysis of English Influences on the Lexicon of Puerto Rican Spanish in Puerto Rico and St. Croix] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707215507/https://www.proquest.com/openview/272a2f934bbb815bfdbf5dcc6ba9c82c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750 |date=July 7, 2022 }}''. Doctoral dissertation, University of Puerto Rico. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.</ref> Puerto Rican migration was prevalent in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, when many Puerto Ricans relocated to St. Croix for work after the collapse of the sugar industry.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} In addition, the [[U.S. Navy]] purchase of two-thirds of the nearby Puerto Rican island of [[Vieques]] during [[World War II]] resulted in the displacement of thousands of ''Viequenses'', many of whom relocated to St. Croix because of its similar size and geography. Puerto Ricans in St. Croix, most of whom have lived on the island for more than a generation, have kept their culture alive while integrating it into the native Crucian culture and society.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} For example, in informal situations, many Puerto Ricans in St. Croix speak a unique [[Spanglish]]-like combination of [[Puerto Rican Spanish]] and the local Crucian dialect of creole English.<ref name="Feliciano-2009" />

English has been the predominant language since 1917, when the islands were transferred from Denmark to the United States. Under Danish rule, the official language was [[Danish language|Danish]], but it was solely the language of administration and spoken by Danes, a tiny minority of the overall population that primarily occupied administrative roles in colonial Danish West Indian society. Place names and surnames of Denmark–Norway origin are still common.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} Although the U.S. Virgin Islands was a Danish possession during most of its colonial history, [[Danish language|Danish]] never was a spoken language among the populace, black or non-Danish white, as the majority of plantation and slave owners were of [[Dutch people|Dutch]], [[English people|English]], [[Scottish people|Scottish]], [[Irish people|Irish]], or [[Spanish people|Spanish]] descent.<ref>An introduction to pidgins and creoles – John A. Holm</ref>

Even during Danish ownership, Dutch, another [[germanic languages|Germanic language]] like Danish, was more common, at least during some of those 245 years, specifically on St. Thomas and St. John, where the majority of the European settlers were Dutch. In St. Croix, English was the dominant language. St. Croix was owned by the French until 1733 when the island was sold to the Danish West Indian and Guinea Company. By 1741, there were five times as many English on the island as Danes. English Creole emerged on St. Croix more so than the Dutch Creole, which was more popular on St. Thomas and St. John. [[Negerhollands]], a [[Dutch-based creole languages|Dutch-based creole language]], was formerly spoken on St. John, St. Croix, and St. Thomas. The creole emerged on plantations in the late 17th century or early 18th century; but its prevalence began to decline in the early-mid 19th century as the usage of English and Virgin Islands Creole English increased.<ref name="The Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online">{{Cite web |title=APiCS Online - Survey chapter: Negerhollands |url=https://apics-online.info/surveys/27 |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=The Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online |archive-date=October 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007133517/https://apics-online.info/surveys/27 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Robbert van Sluijs">Robbert van Sluijs. 2013. Negerhollands. In: Michaelis, Susanne Maria & Maurer, Philippe & Haspelmath, Martin & Huber, Magnus (eds.) ''The survey of pidgin and creole languages. Volume 1: English-based and Dutch-based Languages.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199691401</ref> The last speaker of Negerhollands died in 1987, and the language is now considered extinct.<ref name="The Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online" /><ref name="Robbert van Sluijs" /> Other languages spoken in the Danish West Indies included Irish, Scots, Spanish, and French, as well as Virgin Islands English Creole.<ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2016 |title=Virgin Islands Language |url=http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/culture/virgin-islands-language/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407184055/http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/culture/virgin-islands-language |archive-date=April 7, 2016 |access-date=July 6, 2016 |website=Vinow |publisher=VI Now |quote=St. Croix was owned by the French until 1733 when the Danes bought it. By 1741 there were five times as many English on the island as Danes. English Creole emerged on St. Croix more so than Dutch Creole, which was more popular on St. Thomas and St. John until the 1800s.}}</ref>