![Outdoor_Desparasitacao_(Sal,_Cabo_Verde)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Outdoor_Desparasitacao_%28Sal%2C_Cabo_Verde%29.JPG)
Cape Verdean Portuguese ( pt, Português cabo-verdiano) is the variety of
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
spoken in
Cape Verde.
Status
While
Cape Verdean Creole
Cape Verdean Creole is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken on the islands of Cape Verde. It is also called or by its native speakers. It is the native creole language of virtually all Cape Verdeans and is used as a second language by t ...
is the
mother tongue of nearly all the population in Cape Verde, Portuguese is the
official language
An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...
. Creole is, therefore, used
colloquial
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...
ly, in everyday usage, while Portuguese is used in official situations, at schools, in the media, etc. Portuguese and Creole live in a state of
diglossia
In linguistics, diglossia () is a situation in which two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled ...
, meaning that Portuguese is usually used in formal situations, in the media, business, education, judicial system and legislature, while Creole is preferred for informal situations as a
vernacular language
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
in day-to-day life and daily activities.
Portuguese is not spoken uniformly in Cape Verde. There is a ''continuum'' that reveals several aspects: greater or lesser education, greater or lesser exposure to Portuguese, greater or lesser frequency in Portuguese usage, etc.
There is no institution that regulates the usage of Portuguese in Cape Verde. Nevertheless, there are some empiric concepts about what is "correct" or "incorrect" concerning the way of speaking, resulting from:
# consensual models among people that are the more educated and/or more exposed to Portuguese;
# consensual models among scholars, language teachers, etc.
# when some linguistic phenomena occur in a systematic and regular way, they are no longer considered deviance to the standard, but rather a genuine expression of a regional community;
Another interesting phenomenon is that, if by one side the Portuguese in Cape Verde has developed some specificities, on the other side, during the years of colonization the paradigmatic models were from
European Portuguese
European Portuguese ( pt, português europeu, ), also known as Portuguese of Portugal (Portuguese: português de Portugal), Iberian Portuguese (Portuguese: português ibérico), and Peninsular Portuguese (Portuguese: português peninsular), refer ...
, and as of today, the reference works (grammars, dictionaries, school manuals, etc.) are from Portugal. Therefore, we are in the presence of two movements in opposite directions that happen simultaneously: on one side the Portuguese spoken in Cape Verde moves toward a development of its own characteristics, and on the other side the
European Portuguese
European Portuguese ( pt, português europeu, ), also known as Portuguese of Portugal (Portuguese: português de Portugal), Iberian Portuguese (Portuguese: português ibérico), and Peninsular Portuguese (Portuguese: português peninsular), refer ...
standards are still making some pressure that slows down the development of a typically Cape Verdean variety.
Other regions where this version of the Portuguese language is spoken are
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
,
Switzerland, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
(especially in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
), and purportedly,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, specifically
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...
(especially in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
), and
Northern Spain
Spain is a country located in southwestern Europe occupying most (about 82 percent) of the Iberian Peninsula. It also includes a small exclave inside France called Llívia, as well as the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Isla ...
, including
Galicia (see also:
Cape Verdeans in Portugal
In 1995, it was estimated that there were 50,000 people of Cape Verdean descent or national origin in Portugal. By 2000, this estimation rose to 83,000 people, of which 90% resided in Greater Lisbon." In 2008, Portugal’s National Statistics I ...
,
Cape Verdeans in Belgium,
Cape Verdeans in France,
Cape Verdean Luxembourger,
Cape Verdean Swiss,
Cape Verdean Americans
Cape Verdean Americans are an ethnic group of Americans whose ancestors were Cape Verdean. In 2010, the American Community Survey stated that there were 95,003 Americans living in the US with Cape Verdean ancestors.
Immigration waves
Prior to ...
, and
Cape Verdean Spanish
Cape Verdean Spaniards are residents of Spain whose ancestry originated in Cape Verde.
In 2012, it was estimated that there were 65,000 people of Cape Verdean descent in Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat ...
).
Characteristics
The Portuguese spoken in Cape Verde is based on the
European Portuguese
European Portuguese ( pt, português europeu, ), also known as Portuguese of Portugal (Portuguese: português de Portugal), Iberian Portuguese (Portuguese: português ibérico), and Peninsular Portuguese (Portuguese: português peninsular), refer ...
. That's not too surprising, due to the historical relationship between the two countries, and by the fact that the language standardizing instruments (grammars, dictionaries, school manuals) are based on standards from Portugal. However, there are differences that in spite of being small are enough to set Cape Verdean Portuguese apart from European Portuguese. Despite some minor differences in the pronunciation by speakers of the northern and southern islands (see below), due to the small size of the territory one cannot say that there are dialectal divisions in the Portuguese spoken in Cape Verde, making up the Cape Verdean Portuguese on its whole a
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
al variety of Portuguese.
Phonetics
The phonetics of the Cape Verdean Portuguese and European Portuguese are close to each other. Here are the most striking differences:
# Consonants
##
In Cape Verdean Portuguese is laminal dental , i.e., it is pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching the upper teeth. It is similar to the "l" sound in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
,
French or
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
.
The "l" sound in European Portuguese is velarized alveolar , i.e., it is pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching the alveolar ridge, well behind the upper teeth, with the tongue making a curve with the concavity pointing up, and the back of the tongue approaching the vellum. It is similar to the in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
.
##
has the same variability as in European Portuguese. It is either pronounced as an alveolar trill (more frequent in the Southern Islands) or either as an uvular trill , voiced uvular fricative or voiced velar fricative (more frequent in the Northern Islands).
## Intervocalic , and
In Portugal, these are realized as the fricatives , and . In Cape Verde they are always pronounced as plosives , and .
# Vowels and diphthongs
## Unstressed open vowels
In European Portuguese there are cases when the unstressed is pronounced open :
- when it originates etymologically from (''sadio'', ''Tavares'', ''caveira'', etc.);
- when a final is followed by an initial (''minha amiga'', ''casa amarela'', ''uma antena'', etc.);
- when the is followed by a preconsonantal (''alguém'', ''faltou'', etc.);
- other cases harder to explain (''camião'', ''racismo'', etc.)
In Cape Verdean Portuguese there is the tendency to realize these as close :
- ''vadio'', ''caveira'', ''minha amiga'', ''uma antena'', ''alguém'', ''faltou'', are all pronounced with ;
Note that in the educated register some instances of the unstressed are pronounced open : ''baptismo'', ''fracção'', ''actor'', etc.
## Unstressed initial
In Cape Verde, the unstressed initial is always pronounced close .
## Unstressed initial
In Portugal the written unstressed initial is pronounced . In Cape Verde, according to the word (and the speaker) it’s either pronounced or . Probably, the natural tendency is to pronounce (in a parallel way to the initial "o") being the pronunciation resulting from European Portuguese pressure. Many Cape Verdean speakers clearly distinguish in the pronunciation certain word pairs: ''eminência'' \ ''iminência'', ''emita'' \ ''imita'', ''emigrante'' \ ''imigrante'', ''elegível'' \ ''ilegível'', ''emergir'' \ ''imergir'', etc.
## Unstressed initial "e" before "s" + consonant
In Portugal the unstressed initial "e" before "s" + consonant is pronounced . In Cape Verde, this "e" is not pronounced at all, beginning the word by a voiceless palatal fricative (''estado'', ''espátula'', ''esquadro'') or by a voiced palatal fricative (''esbelto'', ''esganar'').
##
Some Cape Verdean speakers haves some trouble pronouncing the unstressed sound, pronounced in European Portuguese (''revelar'', ''medir'', ''debate''). This trouble is solved in two different ways:
### speakers from the Southern Islands pronounce it as ;
### speakers from the Northern Islands delete it (check point 7 farther below);
Nevertheless, an epenthetic is never inserted after final and , as it is the case for some speakers in Portugal. Thus, in Cape Verde, ''normal'', ''barril'', ''cantar'', ''beber'' are never pronounced ''normale'', ''barrile'', ''cantare'', ''bebere''.
## Unstressed /i/ and /u/
In Cape Verde there is no dissimilation of two /i/ or /u/ like it happens in Portugal. Words like ''medicina'', ''vizinho'' are actually pronounced ''me-di-ssi-'', ''vi-zi-'' and not ''me-de-ssi-'', ''ve-zi-'' like in Portugal. Words like ''futuro'', ''Sofia'' are actually pronounced ''fu-tu-'', ''su-fi-'' and not ''fe-tu-'', ''Se-fi-'' like in Portugal.
## Unstressed , ,
Speakers from the Northern Islands frequently delete these vowels.
Nevertheless, either what is mentioned in this point as what was mentioned on point 5 are considered pronunciation errors by Cape Verdeans themselves.
## Diphthongs
In standard European Portuguese the orthographical sequence "ei" is pronounced , while the sequence "ou" is pronounced . In Cape Verde these diphthongs are pronounced as the writing suggests: is pronounced , while is pronounced .
In the same way, the sequence is pronounced , and not like in standard European Portuguese.
## Stressed "e" before palatal sounds
In the same way as the previous point, the stressed "e" before the palatals ) is pronounced and not like in standard European Portuguese.
## The sequence
The sequence in the word is pronounced as an oral diphthong , rather than a nasalized diphthong .
Morphology and syntax
In the morphology there are not big differences towards European Portuguese, being noted however the preference for some forms. The syntax reveals now and then some Creole structures that are transposed to Portuguese.
# In Portugal there are several ways for the 2nd person treatment that are expressed by "you (familiar)", "you (respectful)", "sir", "madam", "Doctor" (or any other professional title), calling the person by its name but using the 3rd person (e.g., "Manuel would do this for me, please"), etc. Each of those ways corresponds to several levels of intimacy, levels of respect, hierarchy levels, etc.
The treatment for the 2nd person in Cape Verde is simpler, there are only two levels: "you" (intimacy, familiar or same age treatment) and "you" (respectful treatment) that can be used indistinguishably from "sir" or "madam".
# In Creole there is no specific form for the future tense. The future in Creole is expressed with the auxiliary verb "to go". That is probably the reason why Cape Verdeans prefer using a composite form for the future in Portuguese instead of a simple form ( "I am going to do instead of "I will do").
The same happens with the conditional ( "if it rained I was not going to leave" instead of "if it rained I wouldn’t leave").
# Frequent usage of the interrogative in the negative form, especially when someone offers something: "Don’t you want a cup of coffee?"; "Don’t you need my help?".
# In Creole there are no definite articles. That is probably the reason why the definite article is sometimes not used. Ex.: instead of "Pedro went").
# The first person of the plural in the past in verbs from the first conjugation is not pronounced with an open (even if the orthography requests that!). , , pronounced with closed .
# Since there is no verbal inflexion in Creole, the usage of personal pronouns is mandatory. That is probably the reason why in Cape Verdean Portuguese the omission of the personal pronouns is rare. Ex.: more frequently than "I go down the stairs".
# Also because the inflexion of words in Creole is weak, the word order is more rigid. Creole does not allow the flexibility, the inversions and word order changes that Portuguese allows.
In every day usage, it is not natural to a Cape Verdean speaker, when speaking Portuguese, to use inversions and word order changes. For example, what in Portugal could be said (literally "hope I that one day there you arrive"), to a Cape Verdean speaker would be more natural to say (literally "I hope that you arrive there one day").
Nevertheless, it is not an impeachment to, at literary level, be used the flexibility mentioned before.
# Some frequent mistakes in Portugal, such as (instead of ), (instead of ), (instead of ), (instead of ), etc. are not registered in Cape Verde.
Lexicon and semantics
In the lexicon and in the semantics one can notice strong influences from Creole. But the frontier between a Creole substratum in Cape Verdean Portuguese and a Creole superstratum in Cape Verdean Portuguese is not clear. Since nearly all the words in Creole originate from Portuguese, the usage of certain forms is not clear if they are Portuguese archaisms that have remained in Cape Verdean Portuguese, or if they are Creole words that were introduced in Portuguese.
In some other cases, even when speaking Portuguese, is more frequent to use a Creole word than the corresponding Portuguese one.
# Some words are specific and reveal some particularities of the fauna, the flora, the ethnography, the cuisine, the climate, etc.
## (
gooseberry) instead of ;
## (
aloe vera) instead of ;
## (
platter) instead of ;
## (
meringue
Meringue (, ; ) is a type of dessert or candy, often associated with Swiss, French, Polish and Italian cuisines, traditionally made from whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or cream o ...
) ;
## (
baobab
''Adansonia'' is a genus made up of eight species of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). They are placed in the Malvaceae family, subfamily Bombacoideae. They are native to Madagascar, mainland Africa, and Australia.Trop ...
) instead of ;
## (
marbles
A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. They vary in size, and most commonly are about in diameter. These toys can be used for a variety of games called ''marbles'', as well being placed in mar ...
) instead of ;
## (
french toast) instead of ;
## (
accordion) instead of ;
## (
dew
Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening due to condensation.
As the exposed surface cools by radiating its heat, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate greater than that at wh ...
) instead of ;
## (
chilli pepper
Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for t ...
) instead of, but the word
malagueta is also used in the Portuguese-speaking world;
## (
peanut
The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and ...
) instead of ;
## understood as
sugarcane honey; the bee
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
is known as ;
## (
kingfisher
Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...
) instead of ;
## (
tamarind
Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs to the family Fabaceae ...
) instead of ;
## (
sparrow) instead of ;
## (
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
) same usage in Brazil, but different in Portugal ();
# Other objects, ideas or expressions are expressed differently. Ex.:
## one picks up the phone saying , and not or as in Portugal, but the same in Brazil;
## what in Portugal is called indiscriminately , in Cape Verde has several denominations accordingly to the object: "suitcase", "briefcase", "purse", "lady's handbag", "trunk", etc.;
## on the other side, what in Portugal can be called "overcoat", "coat", "jersey", "anorak", , etc., in Cape Verde is simply called ;
## is used (and not "calculator"), (and not “Xerox machine”), (and not "ink cartridge");
# Because the closer neighboring countries of Cape Verde are francophones, in diplomatic environment or in environments more in contact with foreigners some neologisms appear, strongly rejected by scholars and purists in Cape Verde. For ex.: (from French ), (from French ), meaning “address” (is it from French or from English “address”?). However, the fact that in Creole is pronounced “''tchanci''” makes one believe that the usage of the word ''chance'' (in Cape Verdean Portuguese) is an Anglicism (English “chance”), and not a Gallicism (French );
# In spite of some words being used with exactly the same meaning of European Portuguese, they are also used with the meaning in Creole. Ex.:
## , rebel, unsubmissive, instead of rude;
## , desperation, instead of outrage;
## , exclamation meaning “of course!”
## , mountain, instead of rock
## , naïf, instead of innocent;
# Some meanings in Portugal are simply not known in Cape Verde. Ex.:
## is only known with the meaning of “to shake”, and not with the meaning of “to leave”;
## is only known with the meaning of “islet”, and not with the meaning of “island inhabitant”;
## is only used for the sport “tennis”, the shoes “sneakers” are known as (a meaning mostly only employed in the Lisbon region and the south of Portugal);
Orthography
Cape Verde has participated on the works towards the elaboration of the ''
Acordo Ortográfico'' — with a delegation composed of the linguist Manuel Veiga
and by the writer Moacyr Rodrigues — and has ratified the document. In 1998 Cape Verde was the host of the II
CPLP
The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese: ''Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa''; abbreviated as the CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth (''Comunidade Lusófona''), is an international organization and poli ...
Summit, held in
Praia, where the first ''“Protocolo Modificativo ao Acordo Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa”'' was signed, which removed from the original text the original date of enforcement (1994). Cape Verde has ratified this document, as well as the ''“Segundo Protocolo Modificativo”'' (April 2005), being the second country (after Brazil) to complete the entire procedure for the enforcement of the Spelling Agreement.
According to Prime Minister
José Maria Neves
José Maria Pereira Neves (; born 28 March 1960) is a Cape Verdean politician who is currently the president of Cape Verde, having previously served as the Prime Minister of Cape Verde from 2001 to 2016. He is a member of the African Party for th ...
, Cape Verde is in favor of a “spell approach” between the existing variants in Portugal and Brazil and sees Portuguese as “an important tool for the development of Cape Verde”.
Despite of the Spelling Agreement 1990 having become effective on October 1, 2015,
in the country the rules of Spelling Agreement of 1945 continues to prevail.
See also
*
Guinean Portuguese
Guinean Portuguese ( pt, Português Guineense) is the variety of Portuguese spoken in Guinea-Bissau, where it is the official language.
Prevalence
Guinea-Bissau is unique among the African member states of the Community of Portuguese Language ...
*
Papiamento
*
São Tomean Portuguese
São Toméan Portuguese ( pt, português santomense or ) is a dialect of Portuguese spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe.
It contains many archaic features in pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, similar to Angolan Portuguese. It was ...
*
Portuguese language in Africa
Portuguese is spoken in a number of African countries and is the official language in six African countries: Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea. There are Portuguese-speaking communities ...
*
ECOWAS
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of , and in ...
*
RTC (Cape Verde)
References
External links
Cátedra "Português Língua Segunda e Estrangeira" — Bibliografia sobre o Português de Cabo Verde. Cátedra de Português Língua Segunda e Estrangeira. — Bibliography on Cape Verdean Portuguese
O Português na África – Cabo Verde www.linguaportuguesa.ufrn.br
{{Cape Verde topics
Portuguese dialects
Languages of Cape Verde
Portuguese language in Africa