Migge, BettinaBettinaMigge2016-09-082016-09-082016Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languageshttp://hdl.handle.net/10197/7912The creoles of Suriname have figured prominently in research on creole languages. However, one variety, Matawai, has to date remained completely unresearched. This paper attempts to address this lacuna. It discusses its history and selected areas of grammar in order to assess the place of Matawai among its sister languages and its development. The linguistic analysis draws on recordings from 2013 and the 1970s. The paper provides evidence to support the view that Matawai is most closely related to Saamaka. However, there are also features that are unique to Matawai and those that appear to be due to either patterns of language contact with the other creoles of Suriname or common inheritance. The paper argues that systematic corpus-based analysis of lesser-used varieties provides new insights into existing debates.en© 2017 John Benjamins. This is the author's version of an article which has been published in the Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 32 (2), 233–262. Re-use of this material in any form is subject to permission granted from the publisher.Creoles of SurinameMatawaiLanguage contactDiachronic changeCopulaFutureJournal Article32223326210.1075/jpcl.32.2.02mig2016-08-18https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/