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| Name | |
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The current designation of this language is "Cape Verdean Creole", but in everyday use the language is simply called "Creole" by its speakers. The names "Cape Verdean" (cabo-verdiano in Portuguese, kabuverdianu in Cape Verdean Creole) and "Cape Verdean language" (língua cabo-verdiana in Portuguese, língua kabuverdianu in Sotavento Creole and língua kabverdian in Barlavento Creole) have been proposed for whenever the language will be standardized.
[edit] Tags:Cape Verde,Portuguese,Standardized, | |
| Internal classification | |
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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 different dialect, 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 the Brava, Fogo, Santiago and Maio variants; in the North there are the Barlavento Creoles, which comprise the Boa Vista, Sal, São Nicolau, São Vicente and Santo Antão variants. For more details check the articles about each variant.
The Cape Verdean Creole
Sotavento Creoles
Brava | Fogo | Maio | Santiago
Barlavento Creoles
Boa Vista | Sal | Santo Antão | São Nicolau | São Vicente
The linguistic authorities in Cape Verde consider Creole as one language, and not as nine different languages.
Since some lexical forms 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 the phonemic transcription (or sometimes the phonetic transcription) will be shown immediately after the word.
For the writing system, check the section Writing 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 (Praia and Mindelo), the variants with the greatest number of speakers, and the variants with a glottophagist tendency over the neighboring ones.
These variants have significant literature:
Brava: Eugénio Tavares
Fogo: Elsie Clews Parsons
Santiago: Carlos Barbosa, Tomé Varela da Silva, Daniel Spínola
São Vicente: Sérgio Frusoni, Ovídio Martins
Santo Antão: Luís Romano Madeira de Melo
Cape Verdean Creole differences
Sotavento Creoles
Barlavento Creoles
English
Fogo
Santiago
São Nicolau
São Vicente
Santo Antão
Ês frâ-m’.
[es fɾɐ̃]
Ês flâ-m’.
[es flɐ̃]
Ês fló-m’.
[es flɔm]
Ês dzê-m’.
[eʒ dzem]
Ês dzê-m’.
[eʒ dzem]
They told me.
Bú câ ê bunítu.
[bu kɐ e buˈnitu]
Bú câ ê bunítu.
[bu kɐ e buˈnitu]
Bô câ ê b’nít’.
[bo kɐ e bnit]
Bô câ ê b’nít’.
[bo kɐ e bnit]
Bô n’ ê b’nít’.
[bo ne bnit]
You are not beautiful.
M’ câ sabê.
[ŋ kɐ sɒˈbe]
M’ câ sâbi.
[ŋ kɐ ˈsɐbi]
M’ câ sabê.
[m kɐ saˈbe]
M’ câ sabê.
[m kɐ saˈbe]
Mí n’ séb’.
[mi n sɛb]
I don’t know.
Cumó’ qu’ ê bú nômi?
[kuˈmɔ ke bu ˈnomi]
’Módi qu’ ê bú nómi?
[ˈmɔdi ke bu ˈnɔmi]
Qu’ manêra qu’ ê bô nôm’?
[k mɐˈneɾɐ ke bo nom]
Qu’ manêra qu’ ê bô nôm’?
[k mɐˈneɾɐ ke bo nom]
Qu’ menêra qu’ ê bô nôm’?
[k meˈneɾɐ ke bo nom]
What is your name?
Bú podê djudâ-m’?
[bu poˈde dʒuˈdɐ̃]
Bú pôdi djudâ-m’?
[bu ˈpodi dʒuˈdɐ̃]
Bô podê j’dó-m’?
[bo poˈde ʒdɔm]
Bô podê j’dá-m’?
[bo poˈde ʒdam]
Bô podê j’dé-m’?
[bo poˈde ʒdɛm]
Can you help me?
Spiâ lí!
[spiˈɐ li]
Spía li!
[spˈiɐ li]
Spiâ li!
[spiˈɐ li]
Spiá li!
[ʃpiˈa li]
Spiá li!
[ʃpiˈa li]
Look at here!
Ê’ cantâ.
[e kɒ̃ˈtɐ]
Ê’ cánta.
[e ˈkãtɐ]
Êl cantâ.
[el kɐ̃ˈtɐ]
Êl cantá.
[el kɐ̃ˈta]
Êl cantá.
[el kãˈta]
He/she sang.
Bú tâ cantâ.
[bu tɐ kɒ̃ˈtɐ]
Bú tâ cánta.
[bu tɐ ˈkãtɐ]
Bô tâ cantâ.
[bo tɐ kɐ̃ˈtɐ]
Bô tâ cantá.
[bo tɐ kɐ̃ˈta]
Bô tâ cantá.
[bo tɐ kãˈta]
You sing.
M’ stâ cantâ.
[ƞ sta kɒ̃ˈtɐ]
M’ sâ tâ cánta.
[ƞ sɐ tɐ ˈkãtɐ]
M’ tâ tâ cantâ.
[m tɐ tɐ kɐ̃ˈtɐ]
M’ tí tâ cantá.
[m ti tɐ kɐ̃ˈta]
M’ tí tâ cantá.
[m ti tɐ kãˈta]
I am singing.
Screbê
[skɾeˈbe]
Scrêbi
[ˈskɾebi]
Screbê
[skɾeˈbe]
Screvê
[ʃkɾeˈve]
Screvê
[ʃkɾeˈve]
To write
Gossím
[ɡɔˈsĩ]
Góssi
[ˈɡɔsi]
Grinhassím
[ɡɾiɲɐˈsĩ]
Grinhassím
[ɡɾiɲɐˈsĩ]
Grinhessím
[ɡɾiɲeˈsĩ]
Now
Pôrcu
[ˈpoɾku]
Pôrcu
[ˈpoɾku]
Pôrcu
[ˈpoɾku]
Tchúc’
[tʃuk]
Tchúc’
[tʃuk]
Pig
Conxê
[kõˈʃe]
Cônxi
[ˈkõʃi]
Conxê
[kõˈʃe]
Conxê
[kõˈʃe]
Conxê
[kõˈʃe]
To know
Dixâ
[diˈʃɐ]
Dêxa
[ˈdeʃɐ]
D’xâ
[tʃɐ]
D’xá
[tʃa]
D’xá
[tʃa]
To leave
Dixâ-m’ quétu!
[diˈʃɐ̃ ˈkɛtu]
Dexâ-m’ quétu!
[deˈʃɐ̃ ˈkɛtu]
D’xó-m’ quêt’!
[tʃɔm ket]
D’xá-m’ quêt’!
[tʃam ket]
D’xé-m’ quêt’!
[tʃɛm ket]
Leave me alone!
Dôci
[ˈdosi]
Dóxi
[ˈdɔʃi]
Dôç’
[dos]
Dôç’
[dos]
Dôç’
[dos]
Sweet
Papiâ
[pɒˈpjɐ]
Pâpia
[ˈpɐpjɐ]
Papiâ
[pɐˈpjɐ]
Falá
[fɐˈla]
Falá
[faˈla]
To speak
Cúrpa
[ˈkuɾpɐ]
Cúlpa
[ˈkulpɐ]
Cúlpa
[ˈkulpɐ]
Cúlpa
[ˈkulpɐ]
Cúlpa
[ˈkulpɐ]
Fault
Nhôs amígu
[ɲoz ɒˈmiɡu]
Nhôs amígu
[ɲoz ɐˈmiɡu]
B’sôt’ amígu
[bzot ɐˈmiɡu]
B’sôt’ amíg’
[bzot ɐˈmiɡ]
B’sôt’ emíg’
[bzot eˈmiɡ]
Your (plural) friend
Scúru
[ˈskuru]
Sucúru
[suˈkuru]
Scúr’
[skur]
Scúr’
[ʃkur]
Scúr’
[ʃkur]
Dark
Cárru
[ˈkaru]
Cáru
[ˈkaɾu]
Córr’
[kɔʀ]
Córr’
[kɔʀ]
Córr’
[kɔʀ]
Car
Lébi
[ˈlɛbi]
Lébi
[ˈlɛbi]
Lêb’
[leb]
Lêv’
[lev]
Lêv’
[lev]
Light (Weight)
For more examples check the Swadesh List of Cape Verdean Creole (in Portuguese).
[edit] Tags:Dialect,Sotavento Creoles,Brava,Fogo,Santiago,Maio,Barlavento Creoles,Boa Vista,Sal,São Nicolau,São Vicente,Santo Antão,Lexical,Phonetic Transcription,Praia,Mindelo,Glottophagist,Elsie Clews Parsons,Swadesh List Of Cape Verdean Creole, | |
| Origins | |
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Mornas – cantigas crioulas by Eugénio Tavares,
one of the first books with creole texts.
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 exist presently three theories about the formation of Creole.[2] The monogenetic theory claims that the creole was formed by the Portuguese by simplifying the Portuguese language in order to make it accessible to African slaves. That is the point of view of authors like Prudent, Waldman, Chaudenson, Lopes da Silva. Authors like Adam and Quint argue that Creole was formed by African slaves using the grammar of Western African languages and replacing the African lexicon with the Portuguese one. Linguists like Chomsky and Bickerton argue that Creole was formed spontaneously, not by slaves 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 localized several miles away have similar grammatical structures, even though they have a different lexical basis.
According to A. Carreira,[3] Cape Verdean Creole was formed from a Portuguese pidgin, on the island of Santiago, starting from the 15th century. That pidgin was then transported to the west coast of Africa by the lançados. From there, that pidgin diverged into two proto-Creoles, one that was the base of all Cape Verdean Creoles, and another that was the base of the Guinea-Bissau Creole.
Cross referencing information regarding the settlement of each island with the linguistic comparisons, it is possible to conjecture some conclusions. The spreading of Cape Verdean Creole within the islands was done in three phases[4]:
In a first phase, the island of Santiago was occupied (2nd half of the 15th century), followed by Fogo (end of the 16th century).
In a second phase, the island of São Nicolau was occupied (mostly in the 2nd half of the 17th century), followed by Santo Antão (mostly in the 2nd half of the 17th century).
In a third phase, the remaining islands were occupied by settlers from the first islands: Brava was occupied by population from Fogo (mostly in the beginning of the 18th century), Boa Vista by population from São Nicolau and Santiago (mostly in the 1st half of the 18th century), Maio by population from Santiago and Boa Vista (mostly in the 2nd half of the 18th century), São Vicente by population from Santo Antão and São Nicolau (mostly in the 19th century), Sal by population from São Nicolau and Boa Vista (mostly in the 19th century).
[edit] Tags:Mornas,Monogenetic,Chomsky,Bickerton,Pidgin,Lançados,Proto-creoles,Guinea-bissau Creole, | |
| Status | |
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Diglossia: announcement (law) in Portuguese; commercial in Creole.
In spite of Creole being the mother tongue of nearly all the population in Cape Verde, Portuguese is still the official 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 of diglossia.[5] Due to this overall presence of Portuguese, a decreolization process occurs for all the different Cape Verdean Creole variants.
Check in this fictional text:
Santiago variant:
Quêl mudjêr cú quêm m’ encôntra ónti stába priocupáda púrqui êl sqêci dí sês minínus nâ scóla, í cándu êl bâi procurâ-’s êl câ olhâ-’s. Alguêm lembrâ-’l quí sês minínus sâ tâ pricisába dí material pâ úm pesquisa, entõ êl bâi encontrâ-’s nâ biblioteca tâ procúra úqui ês cría. Pâ gradêci â túdu quêm djudâ-’l, êl cumêça tâ fála, tâ flâ cômu êl stába contênti di fúndu di curaçãu.
São Vicente variant:
Quêl m’djêr c’ quêm m’ encontrá ônt’ táva priocupáda púrq’ êl sq’cê d’ sês m’nín’s nâ scóla, í cónd’ êl bái procurá-’s êl câ olhá-’s. Alguêm lembrá-’l qu’ sês m’nín’s táva tâ pr’cisá d’ material pâ úm pesquisa, entõ êl bâi encontrá-’s nâ biblioteca tâ procurá úq’ ês cría. Pâ gradecê â túd’ quêm j’dá-’l, êl c’meçá tâ fála, tâ dzê côm’ êl táva contênt’ d’ fúnd’ d’ curaçãu.
Translation to Portuguese:
Aquela mulher com quem eu encontrei-me ontem estava preocupada porque ela esqueceu-se das suas crianças na escola, e quando ela foi procurá-las ela não as viu. Alguém lembrou-lhe que as suas crianças estavam a precisar de material para uma pesquisa, então ela foi encontrá-las na biblioteca a procurar o que elas queriam. Para agradecer a todos os que ajudaram-na, ela começou a falar, dizendo como ela estava contente do fundo do coração.
Translation to English:
That woman with whom I met yesterday was worried because she forgot her children at school, and when she went to seek them she didn’t see them. Someone reminded her that her children were needing some material for a research, and so she found them at the library searching what they needed. To thank to everyone who helped her, she started speaking, telling how she was glad from the bottom of her heart.
In this text, several situations of decreolization / Portuguese intromission can be noted:
cú quêm / c’ quêm – Portuguese order of words com quem;
encôntra / encontrá – Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more commonly átcha / otchá;
priocupáda – Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more commonly fadigáda;
púrqui / púrq’ – Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more commonly pamódi / pamód’;
sês minínus / sês m’nín’s – Portuguese influence (plural marker on both words);
procurâ-’s / procurá-’s – Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more commonly spiâ-’s / spiá-’s;
olhâ-’s / olhá-’s – Portuguese phonetics (intromission of the phoneme /ʎ/);
quí / qu’ – Portuguese lexicon, the integrant conjunction in Creole is ’mâ;
sâ tâ pricisába / táva ta pr’cisá – Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more commonly sâ tâ mestêba / táva tâ mestê;
material, pesquisa, biblioteca – words pretty uncommon in a basilect; if they are Portuguese words used when speaking Creole they should be pronounced in Portuguese and written in italic or between quotation marks;
úqui / úq’ – intromission of Portuguese o que;
gradêci â / gradecê â – wrong preposition, the Portuguese preposition “a” does not exist in Creole;
fála – this form (from contemporary Portuguese falar) is only used in São Vicente and Santo Antão, in the other islands the word is papiâ (from old Portuguese papear);
cômu / côm’ – intromission of Portuguese como;
curaçãu – Portuguese phonetics (reduction of the phoneme /o/ to /u/ and Portuguese pronunciation /ɐ̃w/ instead of Creole /õ/);
The same text “corrected”:
Santiago variant:
Quêl mudjêr quí m’ encôntra cú êl ónti stába fadigáda pamódi êl sqêci sês minínu nâ scóla, í cándu quí êl bâi spiâ-’s êl câ odjâ-’s. Alguêm lembrâ-’l ’ma sês minínu sâ tâ mestêba «material» pâ úm «pesquisa», entõ êl bâi atchâ-’s nâ «biblioteca» tâ spía cusê quí ês cría. Pâ gradêci pâ túdu quêm quí djudâ-’l, êl cumêça tâ pâpia, tâ flâ módi quí êl stába contênti di fúndu di coraçõ.
São Vicente variant:
Quêl m’djêr qu’ m’ encontrá má’ êl ônt’ táva fadigáda pamód’ êl sq’cê sês m’nín’ nâ scóla, í cónd’ êl bái spiá-’s êl câ oiá-’s. Alguêm lembrá-’l ’mâ sês m’nín’ táva tâ mestê «material» pâ úm «pesquisa», entõ êl bâi otchá-’s nâ «biblioteca» tâ spiá c’sê qu’ ês cría. Pâ gradecê pâ túd’ quêm qu’ j’dá-’l, êl c’meçá tâ fála, tâ dzê qu’ manêra qu’ êl táva contênt’ d’ fúnd’ d’ coraçõ.
As a consequence there is a continuum between basilectal and acrolectal varieties.
In spite of Creole not being officialized, there exists a governmental directive[6] that puts forth the necessary conditions for the officialization of Creole. This officialization has not yet occurred, mostly because the language is not yet standardized, for several reasons:
There is significant dialectal fragmentation. Speakers are reluctant to speak a variant that is not their own.
Absence of rules to establish which is the right form (and also the right spelling) to be adopted for each word. For example for the word corresponding to the Portuguese word algibeira (“pocket”), A. Fernandes[7] records the forms algibêra, agibêra, albigêra, aljubêra, alj’bêra, gilbêra, julbêra, lijbêra.
Absence of rules to establish which are the lexical limits to be adopted. It is frequent for speakers of Creole, when writing, to join different grammatical classes.[8] For ex.: pâm... instead of pâ m’... “for me to...”.
Absence of rules to establish which are the grammatical structures to be adopted. It is not just about dialectal differences; even within a single variant there are fluctuations. For ex.: in the Santiago variant, when there are two sentences and one is subordinated to the other, there is a tense agreement in the verbs (bú cría pâ m’ dába “you wanted me to give” – both cría and dába are past tense), but some speakers do not practice it (bú cría pâ m’ dâ – past then present – or bú crê pâ m’ dába – present then past).
The writing system (ALUPEC) has not been well accepted by all Creole users.
The language levels (formal, informal, scientific, slang, etc.) are not well differentiated yet.
That is the reason why, each speaker when speaking (or writing) uses his/her own dialect, his/her own sociolect and his/her own idiolect.
To overcome these problems, some Creole advocates[9] propose 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 a pluricentric 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 (see http://www.AKTB.org). They have translated approximately 40% of the New Testament in the Kabuverdianu-Sotaventu, and they have published Luke and Acts. The publication of Luke has won two awards in Cape Verde. Sérgio Frusoni translated Bartolomeo Rossetti's version of (Er Vangelo Seconno Noantri) in Rome dialect, which is a poem based on the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Frusoni translated the poem in the São Vicente Creole, titled: Vangêle contód d'nôs móda.
[edit] Tags:Mother Tongue,Official Language,Diglossia,Basilectal, | |
| Writing system | |
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Main article: ALUPEC
The only writing system officially recognized by the authorities in Cape Verde is called ALUPEC. In spite of having been officially recognized by the government, the ALUPEC is neither officially nor mandatorily used, instead used only by enthusiasts.
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 the IPA, in this article a slightly different system will be used to make it easier for the reader:
The sound [s] will be represented in an etymological way (“s” when in Portuguese is “s”, “ss” when in Portuguese is “ss”, “c” when in Portuguese is “c”, “ç” when in Portuguese is “ç”) instead of ALUPEC always “s”.
The sound [z] will be represented in an etymological way (“s” when in Portuguese is “s”, “z” when in Portuguese is “z”) instead of ALUPEC always “z”.
The sound [tʃ] will be represented by “tch” instead of ALUPEC “tx”.
The sound [ʃ] will be represented in an etymological way (“x” when in Portuguese is “x”, “ch” when in Portuguese is “ch”) instead of ALUPEC always “x”.
The sound [ʒ] will be represented in an etymological way (“j” when in Portuguese is “j”, “g” when in Portuguese is “g”) instead of ALUPEC always “j”.
The sound [k] will be represented in an etymological way (“c” when in Portuguese is “c”, “qu” when in Portuguese is “qu”) instead of ALUPEC always “k”.
The sound [ɡ] will be represented in an etymological way (“g” when in Portuguese is “g”, “gu” when in Portuguese is “gu”) instead of ALUPEC always “g”.
The nasality of the vowels will be represented by an “m” after the vowel, when this vowel is at the and of the word or before the letters “p” and “b”. In the other cases the nasality will be represented by the letter “n”.
The words will always have a graphic accent. This will be an overwhelming use of accents, but it is the only way to effectively represent both the stressed syllable and vowel aperture.
To show an elided vowel in certain variants an apostrophe ’ will be used.
[edit] Tags:Ipa, | |
| Vocabulary | |
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The vocabulary of Cape Verdean Creole comes mainly from Portuguese. Although the several sources do not agree, the figures oscillate between 90 to 95% of words from Portuguese. The remaining comes from several languages from Western Africa (Mandingo, Wolof, Fulani, Temne, Balant, Mandjak, etc.), and the vocabulary from other languages (English, French, Latin) is negligible.
[edit] Tags: | |
| Phonology | |
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Cape Verdean Creole's phonological system comes mainly from 15th-through-17th-century Portuguese. In terms of conservative features, Creole has kept the affricate 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’s European Portuguese. In terms of innovative features, the phoneme /ʎ/ (written “lh” in Portuguese) has evolved to /dʒ/ and the vowels have suffered several phonetic phenomena.
[edit] Tags: | |
| Vowels | |
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There are eight oral vowels and their corresponding nasal counterparts, making a total of sixteen vowels:
Front
Central
Back
oral
nasal
oral
nasal
oral
nasal
Close
i
ĩ
u
ũ
Close-mid
e
ẽ
o
õ
Open-mid
ɛ
ɛ̃
ɐ
ɐ̃
ɔ
ɔ̃
Open
a
ã
[edit] Tags: | |
| Consonants and semi-vowels | |
| 3>
Labial
Dental/
Alveolar
Postalveolar/
Palatal
Velar
Uvular
Nasal
m
n
ɲ
ŋ
Plosive
p
b
t
d
k
ɡ
Affricate
tʃ
dʒ
Fricative
f
v
s
z
ʃ
ʒ
(ʁ)
Tap
ɾ
Trill
(r)
ʀ
Approximant
w
j
Lateral
l
ʎ
Note: The sounds [r], [ʁ] and [ʀ] are variants of the same phoneme /ʀ/.
[edit] Tags: | |
| First-person singular | |
| 4>
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 Portuguese mim, 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 [ƞ]. For example: m’ andâ [ƞ ɐ̃ˈdɐ] ('I have walked'), m’ stâ tâ sintí [ƞ stɐ tɐ sĩˈti] ('I am feeling'), m’ labába [ƞ lɐˈbabɐ] ('I had washed'). Before plosive or affricate consonants this nasality becomes homorganic nasal of the following consonant. For ex.: m’ bêm [m bẽ] ('I came'), m’ têm [n tẽ] ('I have'), m’ tchigâ [ɲ tʃiˈɡɐ] ('I arrived'), m’ crê [ŋ kɾe] ('I want').
Speakers who are strongly influenced by the Portuguese language tend to pronounce this pronoun as a nasal vowel úm [ũ] instead of m’ [m].
Before some forms of the verb sêr this pronoun takes back its full form mí [mi], in whatever variant: mí ê [mi e] (‘I am’), mí éra [mi ˈɛɾɐ] (‘I was’).
In this article, this pronoun is conventionally written m’, no matter the variant.
Some linguistic books about the creole.
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| Grammar | |
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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 (check syntactic similarities of creoles).
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| Sentence structure | |
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The basic sentence structure in Creole is Subject – Verb – Object. Ex.:
Êl tâ cumê pêxi. “He eats fish.”
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.:
Êl tâ dâ pêxi cumída. “He gives food to the fish.”
A curiosity that makes Cape Verdean Creole closer to other creoles is the possibility of double 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.”), in forms not allowed in Portuguese.
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| Gender inflection | |
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Only the animated nouns (human beings and animals) have gender inflection. Ex.:
inglês / inglésa “Englishman / Englishwoman”
pôrcu / pórca “pig (male) / pig (female)”
In some cases the distinction between sexes is made putting the adjectives mátchu “male” and fémia “female” after the nouns. Ex.:
fídju-mátchu / fídju-fémia “son / daughter”
catchôrr’-mátchu / catchôrr’-fémia “dog (male) / dog (female)”
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| Number inflection | |
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The nouns in Creole have number inflection (plural marks) only when they are well determined or known in the context. Ex.:
Minínus dí Bía ê bêm comportádu. (“The children of Bia are well behaved.”)
When the noun refers to something in general that noun does not have number inflection. Ex.:
Minínu devê ruspetâ alguêm grándi. (“Children must respect grown up people.”)
If in a sentence there are several grammatical categories, only the first bears the plural marker. Ex.:
minínus (“boys”)
nhâs minína (“my girls”)
minínus bunítu (“beautiful boys”)
nhâs dôs minína buníta í simpática (“my two kind and beautiful girls”)
Further reading: Manuel Veiga. "5.2 – Flexões dos substantivos". Introdução à Gramática do Crioulo (2nd ed.). pp. 139–141. (Portuguese)
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| Personal pronouns | |
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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 the come before the verb. Ex.:
Nú crê. “We want.”
The stressed subject pronouns bear the function of some kind of vocative and usually are separated from the verb (disjunctive pronouns). Ex.:
Mí, m’ stâ lí, í bô, bú stâ lâ. “Me, I am here, and you, you are there.”
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.:
M’ odjá-’l. “I have seen it.”
M’ tâ bejá-bu. “I kiss you.”
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.:
Ês tâ odjába-êl. “They saw it.”
Bú dâ-m’-êl. “You gave it to me.”
M’ stâ fártu dí bô! “I’m fed up of you!”
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 expression cabéça ("head") after the possessive determiner. Ex.:
Ês mordê sês cabéça. “They have bitten themselves.”
There are no reciprocal pronouns. To indicate reciprocity, Creole uses the expression cumpanhêru ("companion"). Ex.:
Ês mordê cumpanhêru. “They have bitten each other.”
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| Verbs | |
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The verbs do not have inflection. 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[9]), 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 to 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 final r. Ex.: cantâ /kɐ̃ˈtɐ/ (from Portuguese cantar), mexê /meˈʃe/ (from Portuguese mexer), partí /pɐɾˈti/ (from Portuguese partir), compô /kõˈpo/ (from Portuguese compor), *lumbú /lũˈbu/ (from Portuguese lombo). 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 and Guinea-Bissau Creole) put the past tense marker after the verbs, and not before like the majority of creoles (check syntactic similarities of creoles).
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