Cape Verdean Creole Kriolu, Kriol
Spoken in:	Cape Verde; also Angola, Brazil, France, Germany, Guinea-Bissau, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Senegal, Spain, USA
Total speakers:	926,078[1]
Language family:	Creole language  Portuguese Creole   Afro-Portuguese Creole    Upper Guinea Creole     Cape Verdean Creole
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	cpp
ISO 639-3:	kea
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. The Republic of Cape Verde ( Portuguese: Cabo Verde, 'kabu 'veɾdɨ is a Republic located on an Archipelago in the Macaronesia Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (República de Angola Pronounced ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈgɔlɐ Repubilika ya Ngola is a country in south-central |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The Republic of Guinea-Bissau (ˈgɪni bɨˈsaʊ República da Guiné-Bissau ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɐ giˈnɛ biˈsau is a country in Western Africa, and one of the smallest Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Senegal (le Sénégal officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable Language that originates seemingly as a nativized Pidgin. This article is about Portuguese-based Creole languages See Creole peoples for the Portuguese Creole ethnicity ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

Cape Verdean Creole is a language spoken on the islands of Cape Verde. The Republic of Cape Verde ( Portuguese: Cabo Verde, 'kabu 'veɾdɨ is a Republic located on an Archipelago in the Macaronesia It is a creole language of Portuguese basis, it is the mother tongue of nearly all Cape Verdeans, and it is used as a second language by descendants of Cape Verdeans in other countries. A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable Language that originates seemingly as a nativized Pidgin. This article is about Portuguese-based Creole languages See Creole peoples for the Portuguese Creole ethnicity

Contents 1 Name and relevance 2 Internal classification 3 Origins 4 Status 5 Writing system 6 Vocabulary 7 Phonology 7.1 Vowels 7.2 Consonants and semi-vowels 7.2.1 Note about the first person singular 8 Grammar 8.1 Sentence structure 8.2 Nouns 8.3 Personal pronouns 8.4 Verbs 8.4.1 Regular verbs 8.4.2 Irregular verbs 8.4.3 Passive 8.4.4 Negative 8.5 Adjectives 8.6 Determiners 8.7 Designatives 9 Examples of Cape Verdean Creole 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 External links

Name and relevance

The correct designation of this language is “Cape Verdean Creole”, but in everyday use the language is simply called “Creole” by its speakers. The name “Cape Verdean” (cabo-verdiano in Portuguese, cabuverdiánu in Cape Verdean Creole), or “Cape Verdean language” (língua cabo-verdiana in Portuguese, língua cabuverdiánu in Cape Verdean Creole) has been proposed for whenever the language will be standardized.

Cape Verdean Creole has particular importance for creolistics studies since it is the oldest (still spoken) creole, the Portuguese-based creole with the greatest number of native speakers, the most studied Portuguese-based creole, and one of the few creoles to become an official language. Creolistics, or Creology is the Scientific study of Creole languages and as such is a subfield of Linguistics.

Internal classification

In spite of the smallness of the country, each island has developed its own way of speaking Creole. Each of these nine ways is justifiably a different dialect, but the scholars in Cape Verde usually call them “variants”. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of These variants can be classified into two branches: at South there are the Sotavento Creoles, which comprises the Brava, Fogo, Santiago and Maio variants; at North there are the Barlavento Creoles, which comprises the Boa Vista, Sal, São Nicolau, São Vicente and Santo Antão variants. Sotavento Creoles is the name given to the group of Cape Verdean Creoles spoken in the Sotavento islands of Cape Verdean Islands. Santiago ( Portuguese for “ Saint James ” or Santiagu in Cape Verdean Creole, is the largest island of Cape Verde Maio of MAIO can refer to Maio Cape Verde, an island in Cape Verde Maio Guinea-Bissau, and island in Guinea-Bissau Barlavento Creoles is the name given to the group of Cape Verdean Creoles spoken in the Barlavento islands of Cape Verdean Islands. Sal ( Portuguese for “ Salt ” — from the mines at Pedra de Lume) is an island in Cape Verde. Many toponyms in Portuguese speaking countries are named after Saint Vincent, São Vicente in Portuguese: In the North Atlantic, off There are parishes that have the name Santo Antão ( Portuguese for " Saint Anthony " In Cape Verde Africa Santo Antão 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. Sotavento Creoles is the name given to the group of Cape Verdean Creoles spoken in the Sotavento islands of Cape Verdean Islands. Brava Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Brava Island of Cape Verde. Fogo Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Fogo of Cape Verde. Maio Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Maio Island of Cape Verde. Santiago Creole is the name given to the Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly on Santiago Island of Cape Verde. Barlavento Creoles is the name given to the group of Cape Verdean Creoles spoken in the Barlavento islands of Cape Verdean Islands. Boa Vista Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Boa Vista Island of Cape Verde. Sal Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the island of Sal of Cape Verde. Santo Antão Creole, is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Santo Antão Island of Cape Verde. São Nicolau Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the São Nicolau Island of Cape Verde. São Vicente Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the São Vicente Island of Cape Verde.

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. The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU Phonetic transcription (or phonetic notation) is the visual system of symbolization of the sounds occurring in spoken human Language.

For the writing system, check the section Writing system. Cape Verdean Creole is a language spoken on the islands of Cape Verde.

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. Praia (pronunciation in IPA: /'pɾajɐ/ meaning “ Beach ” in both Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole) is the Capital For the parish in Portugal, see Mindelo Portugal Mindelo ( Mindel’ in In Linguistics, language death (also language extinction, linguistic extinction, and sometimes pejoratively as linguicide) is a process

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

Fogo Creole	Santiago Creole	São Nicolau Creole	São Vicente Creole	Santo Antão Creole	English
Ês frâ-m’. Elsie Clews Parsons ( November 27, 1875 - December 19, 1941) was an American Anthropologist, Sociologist, Fogo Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Fogo of Cape Verde. Santiago Creole is the name given to the Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly on Santiago Island of Cape Verde. São Nicolau Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the São Nicolau Island of Cape Verde. São Vicente Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the São Vicente Island of Cape Verde. Santo Antão Creole, is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Santo Antão Island of Cape Verde. [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 ʤuˈdɐ̃]	Bú pôdi djudâ-m’? [bu ˈpodi ʤuˈdɐ̃]	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’ [ʧuk]	Tchúc’ [ʧuk]	Pig
Conxê [kõˈʃe]	Cônxi [ˈkõʃi]	Conxê [kõˈʃe]	Conxê [kõˈʃe]	Conxê [kõˈʃe]	To know
Dixâ [diˈʃɐ]	Dêxa [ˈdeʃɐ]	D’xâ [ʧɐ]	D’xá [ʧa]	D’xá [ʧa]	To leave
Dixâ-m’ quétu! [diˈʃɐ̃ ˈkɛtu]	Dexâ-m’ quétu! [deˈʃɐ̃ ˈkɛtu]	D’xó-m’ quêt’! [ʧɔm ket]	D’xá-m’ quêt’! [ʧam ket]	D’xé-m’ quêt’! [ʧɛm 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 ɒˈmigu]	Nhôs amígu [ɲoz ɐˈmigu]	B’sôt’ amíg’ [bzot ɐˈmiɡ]	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

For more examples check the Swadesh List of Cape Verdean Creole (in Portuguese).

Origins

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 eurogenetic 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, Chaudesenson, Lopes da Silva. The afrogenetic theory claims that Creole was formed by African slaves, using the grammar of Western African languages and replacing the African lexicon by Portuguese lexicon. That is the point of view of authors like Adam and Quint. The neurogenetic theory claims 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. That is the point of view of authors like Chomsky and Bickerton, and would explain how creoles localized several miles away have similar grammatical structures, even though they have a different lexical basis (check syntactic similarities of creoles). Avram Noam Chomsky (noʊm ˈtʃɑmski born December 7 1928 is an American linguist, Philosopher, cognitive scientist, Political Derek Bickerton (born March 25, 1926) is a linguist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawaii, Manoa The best that can be said is that none of these theories has been conclusively proven.

According to A. Carreira^[3], Cape Verdean Creole was formed from a Portuguese pidgin, on the island of Santiago, starting from the 15th century. A pidgin is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common in situations such as Trade That pidgin was then transported to the west coast of Africa by the lançados. The Lançados (literally the thrown out ones) were settlers and adventurers of Portuguese origin in Senegambia, the Cape Verde Islands 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. Bissau-Guinean Creole or (native name kriol or kiriol varying with dialects crioulo da Guiné in Portuguese) is a language spoken by 60%

Crossing information regarding the settlement of each island with linguistic comparison, 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 (2^nd 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 2^nd half of the 17th century), followed by Santo Antão (mostly in the 2^nd 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 1^st half of the 18th century), Maio by population from Santiago and Boa Vista (mostly in the 2^nd half of the 18th century), São Vicente by population from Santo Antão and São Nicolau (mostly in the the 19th century), Sal by population from São Nicolau and Boa Vista (mostly in the the 19th century).

Status

In spite of Creole being the mother tongue of nearly all the population in Cape Verde, Portuguese is still the official language. A first language (also mother tongue, native language, arterial language, or L1) is the language a human being learns from birth Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory 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]. In Linguistics, diglossia is a situation where in a given society there are two (often closely-related languages one of high prestige, which is generally used Due to this overall presence of Portuguese, a decreolization process occurs for all the different Cape Verdean Creole variants. Decreolization is a hypothetical phenomenon whereby over time a Creole language reconverges with one of the standard languages from which it originally derived

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. Due to the relationship between a Creole language and its superstrate language that is a language that is very closely related and whose speakers assert social political and economic Due to the relationship between a Creole language and its superstrate language that is a language that is very closely related and whose speakers assert social political and economic

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. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory A standard language (also standard dialect, standardized dialect, or standardised dialect) is a particular variety of a Language that Speakers are reluctant to speak a variant that is not his/her own.
• Absence of rules to establish which is the right form (and also the right spelling) to be adopted for each word. For ex. : 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 Alfabeto Unificado para a Escrita do Caboverdiano (Unified Alphabet for Cape Verdean Writing commonly known as ALUPEC, is the Alphabet that was officially
• 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. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of In Linguistics, a sociolect is the variety of language characteristic of a social background or status An idiolect is a variety of a Language unique to an individual

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. A pluricentric language is a Language with several standard versions both in spoken and in written forms. However, Sérgio Frusoni produced a New Testament in the São Vicente Creole, Vangêle contód d'nôs móda, translated from Bartolomeo Rossetti's version in Rome dialect (Er Vangelo Seconno Noantri). Romanesco is a Romance language spoken in Rome, Italy. It is one of the Central Italian dialects, and considered close to Tuscan

Writing system

Main article: ALUPEC

The only writing system officially recognized by the authorities in Cape Verde is called ALUPEC. The Alfabeto Unificado para a Escrita do Caboverdiano (Unified Alphabet for Cape Verdean Writing commonly known as ALUPEC, is the Alphabet that was officially The Alfabeto Unificado para a Escrita do Caboverdiano (Unified Alphabet for Cape Verdean Writing commonly known as ALUPEC, is the Alphabet that was officially 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 International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic
• 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 [ʧ] 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.

Vocabulary

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. The Mandinka language, sometimes referred to as Mandingo is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The The Fula language is a language of West Africa, spoken by the Ful{{IPA|ɓ}}e (Fula or Fulani people from Senegambia and Guinea to Temne (also known as 'Themne' or 'Timne' t̪emnɛ is a language of the Atlantic subfamily of languages spoken in Sierra Leone by about 2 ), and the vocabulary from other languages (English, French, Latin) is negligible. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome.

The page Etimologias from this Cape Verdean — Portuguese on-line dictionary gives a glimpse of the different origins of Creole vocabulary.

Phonology

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 /ʤ/ and /ʧ/ (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 /ʤ/ and the vowels have suffered several phonetic phenomena.

Vowels

In Cape Verdean Creole we can find 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

Consonants and semi-vowels

In Cape Verdean Creole we can find the following consonants and semi-vowels:

	Labial		Dental/ Alveolar		Postalveolar/ Palatal		Velar		Uvular
Nasal	m		n		ɲ		ŋ
Plosive	p	b	t	d			k	ɡ
Affricate					ʧ	ʤ
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/. A front vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far forward A central vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between A back vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as A close vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in many spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as A close-mid vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds The open-mid vowels make a class of Vowel sounds used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned An open vowel is a Vowel sound of a type used in most spoken Languages The defining characteristic of an open vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far as Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips ( bilabial articulation or with the lower lip and the upper teeth ( labiodental articulation In Linguistics, a dental consonant or dental is a Consonant that is articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth such as /t/ /d/ /n/ and Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior Alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets Postalveolar consonants are Consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the Alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth Uvulars are Consonants articulated with the back of the Tongue against or near the uvula, that is further back in the mouth than Velar consonants A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Affricate Consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or) but release as a fricative (such as or or occasionally into Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together In Phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of Consonantal sound which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (such as the In Phonetics, a trill is a Consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the Place of articulation. Approximants are speech sounds ( Phonemes) that could be regarded as intermediate between Vowels and typical Consonants In the articulation of approximants Laterals are "L"-like Consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both

Note about the first person singular

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. In Articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a Consonant is the point of contact where an Obstruction For ex. : m’ bêm [m bẽ] ('I came'), m’ têm [n tẽ] ('I have'), m’ tchigâ [ɲ ʧiˈgɐ] ('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.

Grammar

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).

Sentence structure

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. A double negative occurs when two forms of Negation are used in the same sentence. : 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.

Nouns

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)”

The nouns in Creole have number inflection 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”

Personal pronouns

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. 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’ odjâ-’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. 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. ”

Verbs

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). Bissau-Guinean Creole or (native name kriol or kiriol varying with dialects crioulo da Guiné in Portuguese) is a language spoken by 60%

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 of cantâ /kɐ̃ˈtɐ/, mêxe /ˈmeʃe/ or mêxi /ˈmeʃi/ instead of mexê /meˈʃe/, pârti /ˈpɐɾti/ instead of partí /pɐɾˈti/, cômpo /ˈkõpo/ or cômpu /ˈkõpu/ instead of compô /kõˈpo/, búmbu /ˈbũbu/ instead of bumbú /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/.

Regular verbs

As was 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 annunciative (indicative) mood with the verb dâ “to give” in the first-person singular:

	Present Tense	Past Tense
Perfective Aspect	M’ dâ	M’ dába
Imperfective Aspect	M’ tâ dâ	M’ tâ dába
Progressive Aspect	M’ stâ tâ dâ	M’ stába tâ da

The perfective aspect of the present is used when the speech refers to present situations, but that are finished, that are complete. Ex. :

M’ dâ. [m dɐ] “I gave. / I have given. ”

It corresponds roughly, according to context, to the past tense or present perfect tense in English.

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. :

M’ tâ dâ. [m tɐ dɐ] “I give. ”

It corresponds roughly to the present tense in English.

The progressive aspect of the present is used when the speech refers to present situations that are happening in a continuous, uninterrupted way. Ex. :

M’ stâ tâ dâ. [m stɐ tɐ dɐ] “I am giving. ”

It corresponds roughly to the present continuous tense in English.

Note: Actually, this model doesn’t exist anymore. It has evolved to M’ stâ dâ. [ƞ stɐ dɐ] in Brava Fogo and Maio, to M’ sâ tâ dâ. [ƞ sɐ tɐ dɐ] in Santiago, to M’ tâ tâ dâ. [m tɐ tɐ dɐ] in Boa Vista, Sal and São Nicolau and to M’ ti tâ dá. [m ti tɐ da] in São Vicente and Santo Antão.

There is no specific form for the future. The future of the present may be expressed through three resources:

1. Using the imperfective of the present but bearing the function of the future. Ex. : M’ tâ dâ manhã. [m tɐ dɐ mɐˈɲɐ̃] liter. “I give tomorrow. ”
2. Using the auxiliary verb “to go”. Ex. : M’ tâ bái dâ. [m tɐ baj dɐ] liter. “I go to give. ”
3. Using a periphrasis showing an eventuality. Ex. : M’ ál dâ. [m al dɐ] “I will give. ”

It corresponds roughly to the future tense in English.

The perfective aspect of the past is used when the speech refers to past situations that were finished, or complete. Ex. :

M’ dába. [m ˈdabɐ] “I had given. ”

It corresponds roughly to the past perfect tense in English.

Note: This form does not exist in the Barlavento variants.

The imperfective aspect of the past is used when the speech refers to past situations that were not finished yet, or incomplete. Ex. :

M’ tâ dába. [m tɐ ˈdabɐ] “I gave. / I use to give. ”

It corresponds roughly to the past tense in English.

Note: In the Barlavento variants the particle for the past is joined to the imperfective actualizer and not to the verb: M’ táva dâ. [m ˈtavɐ dɐ]. In São Nicolau, alongside with M’ táva dâ also subsists the older form M’ tá dába [m ta ˈdabɐ].

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. :

M’ stába tâ dâ. [m ˈstabɐ tɐ dɐ] “I was giving. ”

It corresponds roughly to the past continuous tense in English.

Note: Actually, this model only exists in Brava and Fogo. It has evolved to M’ sâ tâ dába. [ƞ sɐ tɐ ˈdabɐ] in Santiago and Maio and to M’ táva tâ dâ. [m ˈtavɐ tɐ dɐ] in Boa Vista, Sal, São Nicolau, São Vicente and Santo Antão.

There is no specific form for the future. The future of the past may be expressed through three resources:

1. Using the imperfective of the past but bearing the function of the future. Ex. : M’ tâ dába manhã. [m tɐ ˈdabɐ mɐˈɲɐ̃] liter. “I gave tomorrow. ”
2. Using the auxiliary verb “to go”. Ex. : M’ tâ bába dâ. [m tɐ ˈbabɐ dɐ] liter. “I went to give. ”
3. Using a periphrasis showing an eventuality. Ex. : M’ ál dába. [m al ˈdabɐ] “I would give. ”

It corresponds roughly to the conditional in English.

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.

Irregular verbs

There is a group of verbs that do not follow the paradigmatic model presented above. They are the auxiliary verbs sêr /seɾ/ “to be”, stâ /stɐ/ “to be”, têm /tẽ/ “to have” and tenê /teˈne/ “to have”, and the modal verbs crê /kɾe/ “to want”, sabê /sɐˈbe/ “to know”, podê /poˈde/ “can”, devê /deˈve/ “must” and mestê /mesˈte/ “to need”.

Note. : The designation “auxiliary verbs” is not consensual.

There exist two registers for these verbs.

In the first 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, for 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’ sabê mean “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’ sabêba mean “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 the second register (in 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:

• ê /e/, stâ /stɐ/, têm /tẽ/, crê /kɾe/, sabê /sɐˈbe/, podê /poˈde/, devê /deˈve/, mestê /mesˈte/ for the imperfective of the present;
• fôi /foj/, stêvi /ˈstevi/, têvi /ˈtevi/, crís /kɾis/, sôbi /ˈsobi/, púdi /ˈpudi/ for the perfective of the present;
• éra /ˈɛɾɐ/, stába /ˈstabɐ/, tínha /ˈtiɲɐ/, cría /ˈkɾiɐ/, sabía /sɐˈbiɐ/, pudía /puˈdiɐ/, divía /diˈviɐ/, mistía /misˈtiɐ/ for the imperfective of the past;
• sêrba /ˈseɾbɐ/, stába /ˈstabɐ/, têmba /ˈtẽbɐ/, crêba /ˈkɾebɐ/, sabêba /sɐˈbebɐ/, podêba /poˈdebɐ/, devêba /deˈvebɐ/, mestêba /mesˈtebɐ/ for the perfective of the past;

Note. : Some authors^[10] call these verbs “stative verbs” and to these verbs they add others: gostâ, conxê, merecê, morâ, tchomâ, valê. However that designation is contested: not all those verbs are in fact stative; not all those verbs are irregular (for ex. morâ); some of those verbs are regular in some variants (m’ tâ gostâ — imperfective of the present with tâ), and irregulars in other variants (m’ gostâ — imperfective of the present but without tâ).

There is a parallelism between the pair of the verbs sêr / stâ “to be” and the pair of the verbs têm / tenê “to have”.

• The verb sêr is a copulative verb that expresses a permanent quality. Ex. :

Mí ê úm ómi. /mi e ũ ˈɔmi/ “I am (I’ve always been and I will always be) a man. ”

• The verb stâ is a copulative verb that expresses a temporary state. Ex. :

Êl stâ trísti. /el stɐ ˈtɾisti/ “He is (in this precise moment) sad. ”

• The verb têm is a possessive verb that expresses a permanent quality. Ex. :

M’ têm péli scúru. /m tẽ ˈpɛli ˈskuɾu/ “I have (I had and I will always have) dark skin. ”

• The verb tenê is a possessive verb that expresses a temporary possession. Ex. :

M’ tenê úm canéta nâ bôlsu. /m teˈne ũ kɐˈnɛtɐ nɐ ˈbolsu/ “I have (in this precise moment) a pen in the pocket. ”

	permanent	temporary
copulative verbs	sêr	stâ
possessive verbs	têm	tenê

Note. : The verbs stâ and tenê do not have the progressive aspect: forms like *m’ stâ tâ stâ or *m’ stâ tâ tenê do not exist. The verb tenê does not exist in the Barlavento variants. In São Vicente and Santo Antão the verb stâ has the form stód’ for the infinitive, tâ for the imperfective of the present, tív’ for the perfective of the present, and táva for the imperfective of the past.

Passive

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. :

• Tâ papiádu inglês nâ Mérca. /tɐ pɐpiˈɐdu ĩɡˈlez nɐ ˈmɛɾkɐ/ “It is spoken English in America. ”
• M’ inxinádu tâ andâ. /m ĩʃiˈnadu tɐ ɐˈdɐ/ “I was taught to walk. ”
• Úm vêz, tâ cumêda tchêu mídju. /ũ vez tɐ kuˈmedɐ ʧew ˈmiʤu/ “Once, one used to eat a lot of corn. ”

Note. : In the Barlavento variants the form for the past does not exist.

Negative

To negate a verb, the negative adverb câ /kɐ/ is used after the subject and before any verbal actualizer. Ex. :

• Nú câ tâ bebê. /nu kɐ tɐ beˈbe/ “We don’t drink. ”
• Êl câ tâ odjába. /el kɐ tɐ oˈʤabɐ/ “He didn’t see. ”
• Bú câ bái. /bu kɐ baj/ “You haven’t gone. ”

In the Santo Antão variant, the negative adverb is n’ /n/. Ex. :

• Nô n’ dâ bibê. /no n dɐ biˈbe/ “We don’t drink. ”
• Êl n’ dáva o’á. /el n davɐ oˈa/ “He didn’t see. ”
• Bô n’ bé. /bo n bɛ/ “You haven’t gone. ”

In imperative sentences the negative adverb câ /kɐ/ is always in the beginning. Ex. :

• Câ bú bái! /kɐ bu baj/ “Don’t go!” (you — singular)
• Câ nhôs fazê! /kɐ ɲoz fɐˈze/ (Sotavento), Câ b’sôt’ fazê! /kɐ bzot fɐˈze/ (Barlavento) “Don’t do!” (you — plural)

And in the Santo Antão variant:

• N’ bô bé! /n bo bɛ/ “Don’t go!” (you — singular)
• N’ b’sôt’ fezê! /n bzot feˈze/ “Don’t do!” (you — plural)

Adjectives

Adjectives in Creole almost always come after the noun. Only the animated nouns (human beings and animals) demand gender inflection in their adjectives. Ex. :

• ómi fêiu / mudjêr fêia “ugly man / ugly woman”
• bódi prêtu / cábra préta “black buck / black goat”

The adjectives for unanimated nouns have the same form as the masculine adjectives. Ex. :

• bistídu bráncu “white dress”
• camísa bráncu “white shirt”

In general the plural marker does not appear on adjectives since it comes in a preceding grammatical category.

Determiners

In Creole there are no definite articles. If it is absolutely necessary to determine the noun, the demonstrative determiners are used instead. Demonstratives are deictic words (they depend on an external frame of reference that indicate which entities a speaker refers to and distinguishes those entities from others

For the indefinite articles there are two forms, one for the singular, another for the plural:

• úm… /ũ/ “a, an (singular)”, úns… /ũz/ “a, an (plural)”

The possessive determiners have number inflexion, but the plural refers to the objects possessed, and not to the owners. Ex. :

• nhâ cárru “my car”
• nhâs cárru “my cars”
• nôs cárru can be either “our car” or “our cars”

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”).

Note. : Only the São Vicente and Santo Antão Creoles make a phonetic distinction between the singular êss /es/ (“this”) and the plural ês /eʒ/ (“these”).

Designatives

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. :

• Alí nhâ fídju. “Here is my son. ”
• Alá-’l tâ bái. “There he goes. ”

Examples of Cape Verdean Creole

Example 1 (Santiago variant)

Creole	IPA transcription	translation to English
Ôi Cábu Vêrdi, Bô qu’ ê nhâ dôr más sublími Ôi Cábu Vêrdi, Bô qu’ ê nhâ angústia, nhâ paxõ Nhâ vída nâce Dí disafíu dí bú clíma ingrátu Vontádi férru ê bô nâ nhâ pêtu Gôstu pâ lúta ê bô nâ nhâs bráçu Bô qu’ ê nhâ guérra, Nhâ dôci amôr Stênde bús bráçu, Bú tomâ-m’ nhâ sángui, Bú rêga bú tchõ, Bú flúri! Pâ térra lôngi Bêm cába pâ nôs Bô cú már, cêu í bús fídju N’ úm dôci abráçu dí páz	/oj ˈkabu ˈveɾdi bo ke ɲɐ doɾ mas suˈblimi oj ˈkabu ˈveɾdi bo ke ɲɐ ɐ̃ˈɡustiɐ ɲɐ pɐˈʃõ ɲɐ ˈvidɐ ˈnɐse di dizɐˈfiw di bu ˈklimɐ ĩˈɡɾatu võˈtadi ˈfɛʀu e bo nɐ ɲɐ ˈpetu ˈɡostu pɐ ˈlutɐ e bo nɐ ɲɐz ˈbɾasu bo ke ɲɐ ˈɡɛʀɐ ɲɐ ˈdosi ɐˈmoɾ ˈstẽde buz ˈbɾasu bu toˈmɐ̃ ɲɐ ˈsãɡi bu ˈʀeɡɐ bu ʧõ bu ˈfluɾi pɐ ˈtɛʀɐ ˈlõʒi bẽ ˈkabɐ pɐ noz bo ku maɾ sew i buz ˈfiʤu nũ ˈdosi ɐˈbɾasu di paz/	Oh Cape Verde, It is you who are my most sublime pain Oh Cape Verde, It is you who are my anguish, my passion My life was born From the challenge of your ungrateful climate The will of iron is you in my chest The taste for the fight is you in my arms It is you who are my war, My sweet love Stretch your arms, Take my blood, Water your ground, And blossom! In order to distant land Come to an end for us You with the sea, the sky and your sons In a sweet hug of peace

Excerpt of the lyrics of Dôci Guérra from Antero Simas. The full lyrics may be found (with a different orthography) in » Blog Archive » Doce Guerra.

Example 2 (São Vicente variant)

Creole	IPA transcription	translation to English
Papái, bêm dzê-m’ quí ráça quí nôs ê, óh pái Nôs ráça ê prêt’ má’ brónc’ burníd’ nâ vênt’ Burníd’ nâ temporál dí scravatúra, óh fídj’ Úm geraçõ dí túga cú africán’ Ês bêm dí Európa farejá riquéza Ês vendê fídj’ dí África nâ scravatúra Carregód’ nâ fúnd’ dí porõ dí sês galéra D’bóx’ dí chicôt’ má’ júg’ culuniál Algúns quí f’cá pralí gatchód’ nâ rótcha, óh fídj’ Trançá má’ túga, ês criá êss pôv’ cab’verdián’ Êss pôv’ quí sofrê quinhênt’s ón’ di turtúra, ôi, ôi Êss pôv’ quí ravultiá tabánca intêr’	/pɐˈpaj bẽ dzem ki ˈʀasɐ ki noʒ e ɔ paj noʒ ˈʀasɐ e pɾet ma bɾɔ̃k buɾˈnid nɐ vẽt buɾˈnid nɐ tẽpoˈɾal di ʃkɾɐvɐˈtuɾɐ ɔ fiʤ ũ ʒeɾɐˈsõ di ˈtuɡɐ ku ɐfɾiˈkan eʒ bẽ di ewˈɾɔpɐ fɐɾeˈʒa ʀiˈkɛzɐ eʒ vẽˈde fiʤ di ˈafɾikɐ nɐ ʃkɾɐvɐˈtuɾɐ kɐʀeˈɡɔd nɐ fũd di poˈɾõ di seʒ ɡɐˈlɛɾɐ dbɔʃ di ʃiˈkot ma ʒuɡ kuluniˈal ɐlˈɡũʒ ki fka pɾɐˈli ɡɐˈʧɔd nɐ ˈʀɔʧɐ ɔ fiʤ tɾɐ̃ˈsa ma ˈtuɡɐ eʒ kɾiˈa es pov kabveɾdiˈan es pov ki soˈfɾe kiˈɲẽtʃ ɔn di tuɾˈtuɾɐ oj oj es pov ki ʀɐvultiˈa tɐˈbãkɐ ĩˈteɾ/	Daddy, come tell me which race are we, oh dad Our race is blacks and whites melted in the wind Melted in the storm of slavery, oh son A generation of Portuguese with Africans They came from Europe to scent richness They sold sons of Africa in slavery Loaded deep in the hold of their ships Under the whip and colonial yoke Some that remained by here hidden in the mountains, oh son Mixed with the Portuguese, and created this Cape Verdean people This people that has suffered five hundred years of torture, oh, oh This people that has rebelled completely

Excerpt of the lyrics of Nôs Ráça from Manuel d’ Novas. Manuel d' Novas (born February 24 1938) is a Cape Verdean poet and composer The full lyrics may be found (with a different orthography) in Cap-Vert :: Mindelo Infos :: Musique capverdienne: Nos raça Cabo Verde / Cape Verde.

Example 3

Creole	IPA transcription	translation to English
Túdu alguêm tâ nacê lívri í iguál nâ dignidádi cú nâ dirêtus. Ês ê dotádu cú razõ í cú «consciência», í ês devê agí pâ cumpanhêru cú sprítu dí fraternidádi.	/ˈtudu ɐlˈɡẽ tɐ nɐˈse ˈlivɾi i iˈɡwal nɐ diɡniˈdadi ku nɐ diˈɾetus ez e doˈtadu ku ʀɐˈzõ i ku kõʃsiˈẽsiɐ i ez deˈve ɐˈʒi pɐ kũpɐˈɲeɾu ku ˈspɾitu di fɾɐteɾniˈdadi/	All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Free translation of the 1^st article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly ( 10 December 1948 at Palais

References

Bibliography

Linguistic books and texts about Creole

• Os dialectos românicos ou neo-latinos na África, Ásia e América (Coelho, F. Adolpho — 1880; capítulo 1: "Crioulo da Ilha de Santiago")
• O crioulo de Cabo Verde. Breves estudos sobre o crioulo das ilhas de Cabo Verde (Botelho da Costa, Joaquim Vieira & Custódio José Duarte — 1886)
• A Parábola do Filho Pródigo no crioulo de Santiago, do Fogo, da Brava, de Santo Antão, de S. Nicolau e da Boavista: O crioulo de Cabo Verde (Botelho da Costa, Joaquim Vieira & Custódio José Duarte — 1886)
• Dialectos crioulos-portugueses. Apontamentos para a gramática do crioulo que se fala na ilha de Santiago de Cabo Verde (Brito, A. de Paula — 1887)
• O dialecto crioulo de Cabo Verde (Silva, Baltasar Lopes da — 1957)
• Cabo Verde. Baltasar Lopes da Silva ( Caleijão, São Nicolau, 23 April 1907 - São Vicente, 28 May 1989) was a writer poet Contribuição para o estudo do dialecto falado no seu arquipélago (Duarte, Dulce Almada — 1961)
• O dialecto crioulo - Léxico do dialecto crioulo do Arquipélago de Cabo Verde (Fernandes, Armando Napoleão Rodrigues — 1969)
• The Creole dialect of the island of Brava (Meintel, Deirdre — 1975) in Miscelânea luso-africana coord. Marius F. Valkhoff
• A linguistic approach to the Capeverdean language (Macedo, Donaldo Pereira — 1979)
• O crioulo de Cabo Verde - surto e expansão (Carreira, António — 1982)
• Left-dislocation and topicalization in Capeverdean creole (Braga, Maria Luiza: Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania — 1982)
• Variation and change in the verbal system of Capeverdean crioulo (Silva, Izione Santos —1985)
• O crioulo da ilha de S. Nicolau de Cabo Verde (Cardoso, Eduardo Augusto — 1989)
• Kabuverdianu: Elementaria seiner TMA-Morphosyntax im lusokreolischen Vergleich (Thiele, Petra. Kabuverdianu — 1991)
• "O princípio da parcimónia em crioulo de Cabo Verde" (Pereira, Dulce — 1992: in Actas do II. Colóquio sobre Crioulos de base lexical portuguesa, pp. 141–151)
• O crioulo de Cabo Verde: Introdução à gramática (Veiga, Manuel — 1995)
• Dicionário Caboverdiano-Português, Variante de Santiago (Quint(-Abrial), Nicolas, Lisboa: Verbalis — 1998)
• Bilinguismo ou Diglossia (Duarte, Dulce Almada — 1998)
• Le créole du Cap-Vert. Etude grammaticale descriptive et contrastive (Veiga, Manuel — 2000)
• Le Cap-Verdien: Origines et devenir d'une langue métisse (Quint, Nicolas — 2000)
• Grammaire de la langue cap-verdienne: Étude descriptive et compréhensive du créole afro-portugais des Iles du Cap-Vert (Quint, Nicolas — 2000)
• Dictionnaire Cap-Verdien/français (Quint, Nicolas — 2000)
• Dicionário do Crioulo da Ilha de Santiago (Cabo Verde) com equivalentes de tradução em alemão e português (ed. por Jürgen Lang: Tübingen — 2002)
• Kurze Skizze der Grammatik des Kreols von Santiago (Kapverde) (Jürgen Lang - 2000 in: Neue Romania 23 , 15-43)
• The syntax of Cape Verdean Creole. The Sotavento Varieties (Baptista, Marlyse — 2002)
• Dicionário Prático Português-Caboverdiano/Disionári Purtugés-Berdiánu Kiriolu di Santiagu Ku Splikasom di Uzu di Kada Palábra (M. Mendes, N. Quint, F. Ragageles, A. Semedo, Lisboa: Verbalis — 2002)
• O Cabo-verdiano em 45 Lições (Veiga, Manuel — 2002)
• Parlons capverdien : Langue et culture (Nicolas Quint, Aires Semedo — 2003)
• Le créole capverdien de poche (Nicolas Quint, Aires Semedo, Chennevières-sur-Marne: Assimil — 2005)
• Crioulos de base portuguesa (Pereira, Dulce — 2006)

Literature in Creole

• Os Lusíadas (estâncias 8 e 9 do Canto V) Teixeira, A. Os Lusíadas, pron. uʃ lu'ziɐdɐʃ (usually known by the title The Lusiads in English is a Portuguese epic poem da Costa — 1898
• Folk-Lore from the Cape Verde Islands (Parsons, Elsie Clews — 1923: Capeverdian Stories; book 1: English, book 2: Creole)
• Mornas - Cantigas Crioulas, Tavares, eugénio — 1932
• Renascença de uma civilização no Atlântico médio (Melo, Luís Romano de Madeira — 1967: Collection of poems and stories in Portuguese and in Creole)
• 100 Poemas — Gritarei, Berrarei, Matarei, Não vou para pasárgada Martins, Ovídio, 1973 — Poems in Portuguese and in Creole
• Negrume/Lzimparin (Melo, Luís Romano de Madeira — 1973: Stories in Creole with Portuguese translation)
• "Textos crioulos cabo-verdianos" (Frusoni, Sérgio — 1975) in Miscelânea luso-africana coord. Eugénio de Paula Tavares (born 18 October, 1867 in the island of Brava; died 1 June, 1930) was a Cape Verdean poet Luís Romano de Madeira Melo (born 10 June 1922) is a bilingual poet novelist and folklorist who writes in Portuguese and the Capeverdean Crioulo Ovídio de Sousa Martins ( September 17, 1928 &ndash April 29, 1999) was a famous Cape Verdean Poet and journalist Sergio Frusoni (also Sérgio Frusoni, born August 10, 1901 on the island of São Vicente, died May 29, 1975) was a poet Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Valkhoff, Marius F.
• Vangêle contód d'nôs móda (Frusoni, Sérgio : Fogo — 1979; Novo Testamento)
• A Poética de Sérgio Frusoni - uma leitura antropológica (Lima, Mesquitela; Lisboa — 1992)

External links

Note: Ethnologue considers Cape Verdean Creole one language, and names it Kabuverdianu, although this name is not used by native speakers or others to refer to the language.

Linguistic texts about Creole

• Kabuverdianu Ethnologue report on Cape Verdean Creole.
• Criol language
• Creole grammars and dictionaries from Cape Verde
• A Perspective on Capeverdean Crioulo by Robert French
• Santiago Creole
• Literaturas Africanas (African literatures in the Portuguese language and Portuguese creoles, pdf: in Portuguese)
• Student Survey 2000 about teaching Crioulo in the high school.
• Language Policy in Cape Verde: A Proposal for the Affirmation of Kriolu, by Manuel Veiga.
• Priberam dictionary of Cape Verdean Creole
• Initiation au Créole Capverdien

Literature in Creole

• "Morna aguada" by Eugénio Tavares (Creole of Brava)
• Extracts from "Os Lusíadas" in the creole of Santo Antão
• Poetry of Sérgio Frusoni, in Creole of São Vicente
• Adriano Gominho (Creole of São Nicolau)
• Santo Antão
• Poetry in Creole

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