Cape Verdean Creole

Cape Verdean Creoleis aPortuguese-based creole languagespoken on the islands ofCape Verde.It is the native creole language of virtually all Cape Verdeans and is used as a second language by theCape Verdean diaspora.
The creole has particular importance forcreolisticsstudies since it is the oldest living creole.It is the most widely spoken Portuguese-based creole language.
The full, formal name is Cape Verdean Creole (kabuverdianu), but in everyday usage the creole is simply called "Creole" (kriolu/kriol) by its speakers.
The history of Cape Verdean Creole is hard to trace due to a lack of written documentation and to ostracism during the Portuguese administration of Cape Verde.
There are presently three theories about the formation of Cape Verdean Creole.Themonogenetic theoryclaims that the creole was formed by the Portuguese by simplifying the Portuguese language in order to make it accessible to enslaved African people. That is the point of view of authors like Prudent, Waldman, Chaudenson and Lopes da Silva. Authors like Adam and Quint argue that Cape Verdean Creole was formed by enslaved African people using the grammar of Western African languages and replacing the African lexicon with the Portuguese one. Linguists likeChomskyandBickertonargue that Cape Verdean Creole was formed spontaneously, not by enslaved people from continental Africa, but by the population born in the islands, using the grammar with which all human beings are born; this would explain how creoles located many miles apart havesimilar grammatical structures, even though they have a different lexical basis.
According to A. Carreira,Cape Verdean Creole was formed from a Portuguesepidgin, on the island of Santiago, starting from the 15th century. That pidgin was then transported to the west coast of Africa by thelançados. From there, that pidgin diverged into two proto-creoles, one that was the base of Cape Verdean Creole, and another that was the base of theGuinea-Bissau Creole.
Cross-referencing information regarding the settlement of each island with the linguistic comparisons, it is possible to form some conjectures. The spreading of Cape Verdean Creole within the islands was done in three phases:
In spite of Creole being thefirst languageof nearly all the population in Cape Verde,Portugueseis still theofficial language. As Portuguese is used in everyday life (at school, in administration, in official acts, in relations with foreign countries, etc.), Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole live in a state ofdiglossia,and code switching occurs between the creole and standard Portuguese in informal speech. Due to this overall presence of Portuguese, adecreolizationprocess occurs for all the different Cape Verdean Creole variants.
Check in this fictional text:
In this text, several cases of decreolization / Portuguese intromission can be noted:
The same text "corrected":
As a consequence there is a continuum betweenbasilectalandacrolectalvarieties.
In spite of Creole not being officialized, a 2005 government resolutionput forth the necessary conditions for the officialization of Creole, which in turn has been superseded by a 2015 resolution.Thisofficializationhas not yet occurred, mostly because the language is not yetstandardized, for several reasons:
That is the reason why each speaker when speaking (or writing) uses their owndialect, their ownsociolect, and their ownidiolect.
To overcome these problems, some Creole advocatespropose the development of two standards: a North (Barlavento) standard, centered on the São Vicente variant, and a South (Sotavento) standard, centered on that of Santiago. If so, Creole would become apluricentric language.
There exists no complete translation of the Bible. However, the "Asosiason Kabuverdianu pa Traduson di Bíblia" was established with the goal of translating the entire Bible in Kabuverdianu-Sotaventu and Kabuverdianu-Barlaventu.They have translated approximately 40% of theNew Testamentin the Kabuverdianu-Sotaventu, and they have published Luke and Acts. The publication of Luke has won two awards in Cape Verde.  Sérgio Frusoni translatedBartolomeo Rossetti's version of theRomanesco ItalianpoemEr Vangelo Seconno Noantri, which is a poem based on theFour Gospels. Frusoni translated the poem in the São Vicente Creole,Vangêle contód d'nôs móda.
The only writing system officially recognized by the authorities in Cape Verde is called theAlfabeto Unificado para a Escrita da Língua Cabo-verdiana(ALUPEC,lit.'Unified Alphabet for the Writing of the Cape Verdean Language'), which was approved for official use on an experimental basis in 1998 by Decree-Law No. 67/98.In 2009, Decree-Law No. 8/2009 officially institutionalized the use of the ALUPEC.In spite of having been officially recognized by the government, the ALUPEC is neither required nor mandatorily used.
In spite of being the only system officially recognized, the same law allows the use of alternative writing models, "as long as they are presented in a systematic and scientific way". As not all users are familiarized with ALUPEC or theIPA, in this article a slightly different system will be used to make it easier for the reader:
The vocabulary of Cape Verdean Creole comes mainly from Portuguese. Although several sources do not agree, the figures oscillate between 90 and 95% of words from Portuguese. The remaining comes from several languages from Western Africa (Mandingo,Wolof,Fulani,Temne,Balanta,Mandjak, etc.), and the vocabulary from other languages (English, French,Latin) is negligible.
Cape Verdean Creole's phonological system comes mainly from 15th-through-17th-century Portuguese. In terms of conservative features, Creole has kept theaffricate consonants/dʒ/and/tʃ/(written "j" (in the beginning of words) and "ch", in old Portuguese) which are not in use in today's Portuguese, and the pre-tonic vowels were not reduced as in today'sEuropean Portuguese. In terms of innovative features, the phoneme/ʎ/(written "lh" in Portuguese) has evolved to/dʒ/and the vowels have undergone several phonetic phenomena.
There are eight oral vowels and their corresponding nasal counterparts, making a total of sixteen vowels:
The personal pronoun that represents the subject form of the first person singular has a variable pronunciation according to the islands.
This pronoun comes from the object form of the first person singular in Portuguesemim, and it is phonetically reduced to the sound[m].
This pronunciation is nowadays found in the Barlavento variants. In the Sotavento variants that consonant[m]was reduced to a simple nasality[n̩]. For example:m' andâ[n̩ɐ̃ˈdɐ]('I have walked'),m' stâ tâ sintí[n̩stɐtɐsĩˈti]('I am feeling'),m' labába[n̩lɐˈbabɐ]('I had washed'). Before plosive or affricate consonants this nasality becomeshomorganicnasal of the following consonant. For ex.:m' bêm[mbẽ]('I came'),m' têm[ntẽ]('I have'),m' tchigâ[ɲtʃiˈɡɐ]('I arrived'),m' crê[ŋkɾe]('I want').
Speakers who are strongly influenced by the Portuguese language tend to pronounce this pronoun as a nasal vowelúm[ũ]instead ofm'[m].
Before some forms of the verbsêrthis pronoun takes back its full formmí[mi], in whatever variant:mí ê[mie]('I am'),mí éra[miˈɛɾɐ]('I was').
In this article, this pronoun is conventionally writtenm', no matter the variant.
Even though over 90% of Cape Verdean Creole words are derived from Portuguese, the grammar is very different, which makes it extremely difficult for an untrained Portuguese native speaker even to understand a basic conversation. On the other hand, the grammar shows a lot of similarities with other creoles, Portuguese-based or not (seesyntactic similarities of creoles).
The basic sentence structure in Creole is Subject – Verb – Object. Ex.:
When there are two objects, the indirect object comes first while the direct object comes after, and the sentence structure becomes Subject – Verb – Indirect Object – Direct Object. Ex.:
A feature that makes Cape Verdean Creole closer to other creoles is the possibility ofdouble negation(ex.:Náda m' câ atchâ.liter. "Nothing I didn't find."), or sometimes even triple negation (ex.:Núnca ninguêm câ tâ bába lâ.liter. "Never nobody didn't go there."). Although double negation is common in Portuguese (e.g. "Nunca ninguém foi lá"), triple negation is a little bit uncommon.
Only the animated nouns (human beings and animals) have gender inflection. Ex.:
In some cases the distinction between sexes is made putting the adjectivesmátchu"male" andfémia"female" after the nouns. Ex.:
The nouns in Creole have number inflection (plural marks) only when they are well determined or known in the context. Ex.:
When the noun refers to something in general that noun does not have number inflection. Ex.:
If in a sentence there are several grammatical categories, only the first bears the plural marker. Ex.:
According to their function, the pronouns can be subject pronouns or object pronouns. Furthermore, in each of these functions, according to the position within the sentence the pronouns can be unstressed or stressed.
The unstressed subject pronouns generally bear the function of the subject and come before the verb. Ex.:
The stressed subject pronouns bear the function of some kind of vocative and usually are separated from the verb (disjunctive pronouns). Ex.:
The object pronouns, as the name shows, bear the function of the object (direct or indirect). The unstressed object pronouns are used with the present-tense forms of verbs. Ex.:
The stressed object pronouns are used with the past-tense forms of verbs, when they are the second pronoun in a series of two pronouns, and after prepositions (prepositional pronouns). Ex.:
When there are two object pronouns, the indirect pronoun comes first while the direct pronoun comes after, and the sentence structure becomes Subject – Verb – Indirect Pronoun – Direct Pronoun.
There are no reflexive pronouns. To indicate reflexivity, Creole uses the expressioncabéça("head") after the possessive determiner. Ex.:
There are no reciprocal pronouns. To indicate reciprocity, Creole uses the expressioncumpanhêru("companion"). Ex.:
The verbs have only minimal inflection (two forms). They have the same form for all the persons, and the notions of tense, mood and aspect are expressed through the presence (or absence) of certain morphemes (called "verbal actualizers" by Veiga), as in the majority of creoles.
The verbs are generally reduced to two base forms, one for the present, another for the past. The form for the present is the same as the form for the infinitive (exception:sêr"to be"), that in turn comes, in the majority of the verbs, from the infinitive in Portuguese but without the finalr. Ex.:cantâ/kɐ̃ˈtɐ/(from Portuguesecantar),mexê/meˈʃe/(from Portuguesemexer),partí/pɐɾˈti/(from Portuguesepartir),compô/kõˈpo/(from Portuguesecompor),*lumbú/lũˈbu/(from Portugueselombo). The form for the past is formed from the infinitive to which is joined the particle for the past~ba. Ex.:cantába/kɐ̃ˈtabɐ/,mexêba/meˈʃebɐ/,partíba/pɐɾˈtibɐ/,compôba/kõˈpobɐ/,*lumbúba/lũˈbubɐ/(in the Barlavento variants, the particle for the past~va(or~ba) is joined to the imperfective actualizer, and not to the verb). It is noteworthy that the Upper Guinea creoles (Cape Verdean Creole andGuinea-Bissau Creole) put the past tense marker after the verbs, and not before like the majority of creoles (checksyntactic similarities of creoles).
It is important to mention that in the Santiago variant, the stress goes back to before the last syllable in the present tense forms of the verbs. Therefore, we have:cánta/ˈkãtɐ/instead ofcantâ/kɐ̃ˈtɐ/,mêxe/ˈmeʃe/ormêxi/ˈmeʃi/instead ofmexê/meˈʃe/,pârti/ˈpɐɾti/instead ofpartí/pɐɾˈti/,cômpo/ˈkõpo/orcômpu/ˈkõpu/instead ofcompô/kõˈpo/,búmbu/ˈbũbu/instead ofbumbú/bũˈbu/. In the pronominal forms, however, the stress remains on the last syllable:cantâ-m'/kɐ̃ˈtɐ̃/,mexê-bu/meˈʃebu/,partí-'l/pɐɾˈtil/,compô-nu/kõˈponu/,bumbú-'s/bũˈbuz/.
As said before, the regular verbs are reduced to a form for the present tense and a form for the past tense, and the notions of mood and aspect are expressed through verbal actualizers.
The following table shows a paradigm of the indicative mood with the verbdâ"to give" in the first-person singular:
The perfective aspect of the present is used when the speech refers to present situations, but that are finished, that are complete. Ex.:
The imperfective aspect of the present is used when the speech refers to present situations, but that are not finished yet, that are incomplete. Ex.:
The progressive aspect of the present is used when the speech refers to present situations that are happening in a continuous, uninterrupted way. Ex.:
There is no specific form for the future. The future of the present may be expressed through three resources:
Theperfective aspectof the past is used when the speech refers to past situations that were finished, or complete. Ex.:
Theimperfective aspectof the past is used when the speech refers to past situations that were not finished yet, or incomplete. Ex.:
The progressive aspect of the past is used when the speech refers to past situations that were happening in a continuous and uninterrupted way. Ex.:
There is no specific form for the future. The future of the past may be expressed through three resources:
The remaining moods – subjunctive, conditional (not the same as "conditional" in English), eventual – do not have different aspects, only present and past tense, except the injunctive (imperative) mood which has only the present tense.
There is a group of verbs that do not follow the paradigmatic model presented above. They are the auxiliary verbssêr/seɾ/"to be",stâ/stɐ/"to be",têm/tẽ/"to have" andtenê/teˈne/"to have", and the modal verbscrê/kɾe/"to want",sabê/sɐˈbe/"to know",podê/poˈde/"can",devê/deˈve/"must" andmestê/mesˈte/"to need".
There exist two registers for these verbs.
In thefirst register(in older speakers, in rural areas speakers or in speakers with little exposure to Portuguese) there are only two forms for the verbs: one for the present (ê/e/,stâ/stɐ/,têm/tẽ/,tenê/teˈne/,crê/kɾe/,sabê/sɐˈbe/,podê/poˈde/,devê/deˈve/,mestê/mesˈte/) and one for the past (éra/ˈɛɾɐ/,stába/stabɐ/,têmba/tẽbɐ/,tenêba/teˈnebɐ/,crêba/kɾebɐ/,sabêba/sɐˈbebɐ/,podêba/poˈdebɐ/,devêba/deˈvebɐ/,mestêba/mesˈtebɐ/). However, on the contrary of regular verbs, when the base form is used alone it represents the imperfective aspect and not the perfective aspect. Therefore,mí ê,m' têm,m' crê,m' sabêmean "I am, I have, I want, I know", and not "I've been, I've had, I've wanted, I've known", as it would be expected. Parallelly,mí éra,m' têmba,m' crêba,m' sabêbamean "I was, I had, I wanted, I knew", and not "I had been, I had had, I had wanted, I had known", as would be expected.
In thesecond register(among younger speakers, in urban areas or in speakers with more exposure to Portuguese) the system has been enriched with other forms influenced by Portuguese. Therefore, we have:
There is a parallelism between the pair of the verbssêr/stâ"to be" and the pair of the verbstêm/tenê"to have".
Cape Verdean Creole has two voices. The active voice is used when the subject is explicit. The passive voice is used when the subject is indeterminate or unknown. There is also two forms for the passive. The form for the present is made with the infinitive to which is joined the particle~du. The form for the past is made with the infinitive to which is joined the particle~da. Ex.:
To negate a verb, the negative adverbcâ/kɐ/is used after the subject and before any verbal actualizer. Ex.:
In the Santo Antão variant, the negative adverb isn'/n/. Ex.:
In imperative sentences the negative adverbcâ/kɐ/is always in the beginning. Ex.:
And in the Santo Antão variant:
Adjectives in Creole almost always come after the noun. Only the animated nouns (human beings and animals) demand gender inflection in their adjectives. Ex.:
The adjectives for unanimated nouns have the same form as the masculine adjectives. Ex.:
In general the plural marker does not appear on adjectives since it comes in a preceding grammatical category.
In Creole there are no definite articles. If it is absolutely necessary to determine the noun, thedemonstrativedeterminers are used instead.
For the indefinite articles there are two forms, one for the singular, another for the plural:
The possessive determiners have number inflexion, but the plural refers to the objects possessed, and not to the owners. Ex.:
The demonstrative determiners have only two degrees of proximity: close to the speaker (êss"this, these") and away from the speaker (quêl"that",quês"those").
Creole possesses a special grammatical category for presenting or announcing something. It appears in two forms, one to present something near, (alí.../ɐˈli/) and another to present something far (alâ.../ɐˈlɐ/). Ex.:
In spite of Cape Verde's small size, each island has developed its own way of speaking Creole. Each of these nine ways (there are 10 islands, one of which is uninhabited) is justifiably a differentdialect, but the scholars in Cape Verde usually call them "variants". These variants can be classified into two branches: in the South there are the Sotavento Creoles, which comprise theBrava,Fogo,SantiagoandMaiovariants; in the North there are the Barlavento Creoles, which comprise theBoa Vista,Sal,São Nicolau,São VicenteandSanto Antãovariants.
Since somelexicalforms of Cape Verdean Creole can be different according to each variant, the words and the sentences in this article will be presented in compromise model, a kind of "middle Creole", in order to ease the understanding and in order not to favor any variant. Whenever it will be necessary thephonemic transcription(or sometimes thephonetic transcription) will be shown immediately after the word.
For the writing system, check the sectionWriting system.
From a linguistic point of view, the most important variants are the Fogo, Santiago, São Nicolau and Santo Antão ones, and any deep study of Creole should approach at least these four. They are the only islands that have received slaves directly from the African continent, that possess the most conservative linguistic features, and that are the most distinct from each other.
From a social point of view, the most important variants are the Santiago and São Vicente ones, and any light study of Creole should approach at least these two. They are the variants of the two bigger cities (PraiaandMindelo), the variants with the greatest number of speakers, and the variants with aglottophagisttendency over the neighboring ones.
These variants have significant literature:
The Sotavento Creoles are spoken in theSotavento Islands. Some characteristics:
Brava Creole is spoken mainly onBrava Island.  One of the least spoken being seventh place and one of the firsts to have written literature, in whichEugénio Tavareswrote some of his poems.
Besides the main characteristics of Sotavento Creoles, Brava Creole has the following:
Fogo Creole is spoken mainly in theFogoofCape Verde.
Besides the main characteristics of Sotavento Creoles, Fogo has the following:
Maio Creole is spoken mainly onMaio Island. It numbers the entire island population which includes a small part which also speaks Portuguese.
It is one of the least spoken Cape Verdean Creole and is afterBravaand ahead ofBoa Vista.
Besides the main characteristics of Sotavento Creoles, Maio Creole has the following:
Santiago Creole is spoken mainly on theSantiagoIsland ofCape Verde, including the capital of the country,Praia.
Besides the main characteristics of Sotavento Creoles, Santiago Creole has the following:
The Barlavento Creoles are spoken in theBarlavento Islands. Some characteristics:
Boa Vista Creole is spoken mainly in theBoa Vista Island. It is the least spoken form of Creole in the language. Literature is rarely recorded but one of the speakers who was born on the island isGermano Almeida.
Besides the main characteristics of Barlavento Creoles, Boa Vista Creole has the following:
Sal Creole is spoken mainly in the island ofSal.
Besides the main characteristics of Barlavento Creoles, Sal Creole has the following:
Santo Antão Creole is spoken mainly in theSanto Antão Island. It is ranked third of nine in the number of speakers and it is before Fogo and after the neighbouring São Vicente.
Besides the main characteristics of Barlavento Creoles, Santo Antão Creole has the following:
São Nicolau Creole is spoken mainly in theSão Nicolau Island.
Besides the main characteristics of Barlavento Creoles, São Nicolau Creole has the following:
São Vicente Creole is spoken mainly in theSão Vicente Island. It is spoken primarily in the São Vicente island, but also in a large segment of the Cape Verdeandiasporapopulation. It is the second most widely spoken Cape Verdean dialect. It has produced literature from many writers and musicians includingSergio Frusoniand many more.
Besides the main characteristics of Barlavento Creoles, São Vicente Creole has the following:
For more examples, see theSwadesh List of Cape Verdean Creole(in Portuguese).
Excerpt of the lyrics ofDôci Guérrafrom Antero Simas. The full lyrics may be found (with a different orthography) inCABOINDEX » Blog Archive » Doce Guerra.
Excerpt of the lyrics ofNôs RáçafromManuel d' Novas. The full lyrics may be found (with a different orthography) inCap-Vert :: Mindelo Infos :: Musique capverdienne: Nos raça Cabo Verde / Cape Verde.
Free translation of the 1st article of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights.