Manuel Veiga (born 27 March 1948) is a Cape Verdean writer, a
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
with references in the national and international level and a politician. He was
minister of culture of his country from 2004 to 2011.
As a specialist he did the largest studies and works of appreciation of the
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 ...
, an
Upper Guinea Upper Guinea is a geographical term used in several contexts:
# Upper Guinea (french: Haute-Guinée) is one of the four geographic regions of the Republic of Guinea, being east of Futa Jalon, north of Forest Guinea, and bordering Mali. The popula ...
n form of
Portuguese Creole
Portuguese creoles are creole languages which have Portuguese as their substantial lexifier. The most widely-spoken creoles influenced by Portuguese are Cape Verdean Creole, Guinea-Bissau Creole and Papiamento.
Origins
Portuguese overseas ...
. He was born in
Santa Catarina on the island of
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...
.
Life and career
His first primary school studies was in the municipal seat of his birthplace,
from 1957 to 1961. He frequently attended the Catholic seminary of S. José (St. Joseph) in the city of Praia, capital of Cape Verde (then provincial) between 1962 and 1974.
He studied at Instituto Superior de Estudos Teológicos (Higher Institute of Theological Studies) in
Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of .
The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...
, Portugal between 1971 and 1974. He had received a degree in general linguistics and applied to the
University of Aix-en-Provence in southern France between 1975 and 1978, he returned again same university between 1994 and 1997 and a year later, he attended
University of Aix-Marseille I in 1998 under the direction of
Robert Chaudenson on a doctorate thesis titled .
He also took part in other public and technical functions of his country, one of them was a professor of Cape Verdean Creole at Escola Superior de Educação (Educational High School), an institution now known as
Faculty of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts which is part of the
University of Cape Verde
The University of Cape Verde ( pt, Universidade de Cabo Verde, abbreviated "Uni-CVV") is the only public university of Cape Verde. The main campus is in Palmarejo, Praia, but there are also institutes in Mindelo, Assomada and São Jorge dos Ór ...
, where received a graduation in Cape Verdean Creole.
He was Minister of Education at the linguistic department, he was also
Director-General of Culture (or Ministry of Culture) of Cape Verde from September 2004 to 2011,
the position was later taken by
Mário Lúcio, Director-General of the Cultural Heritage and President of the National Cultural Institute. He had been member of the International Committee of Creole Studies representing Cape Verde.
Other functions included the president of the National Commission of the standardization of the Cape Verdean Creole alphabet.
As minister of culture, he awarded Nelson Nunes Lobo the Medal of Merit in 2009 for the artist's contemporary art paintings.
Award
He was awarded the medal of the
French Order of Merit in 2000.
Works
* (Portuguese: ''Descrição structural da língua cabo-verdiana, English: Structural Description of Cape Verdean Creole''); essay, 1982, ICL
* ''Odju d'agu'', novel, 1987
* ''A sementeira'', essay, 1994
* ''O crioulo de Cabo Verde: introdução à gramática'' (''Cape Verdean Creole: Grammar Introduction''), 1995
* ''Diário das Ilhas'' (''Diary of the Islands''), novel, 1995
* ''Introdução à gramática do Crioulo de Cabo Verde'' (''Grammar Introduction of the Cape Verdean Creole''), 1996
* '' Insularité et littérature aux îles du Cap-Vert'', Karthala, 1997 – written in French, translated into Portuguese by Elisa Silva Andrade
* ''O Caboverdiano em 45 lições : estudo sociolinguístico e gramatical'' (''Cape Verdean (Creole) in 45 Studies: Sociolingustic and Grammar Studies''), INIC, 2002
* ''A construção do bilinguismo'' (''The Construction of Bilingualism''), 2004
* ''Dicionário Caboverdiano-Português'' (Cape Verdean Creole: ''Disionáriu Kabuberdianu-Portugêz'', English: Cape Verdean Creole-Portuguese Dictionary''), 2011
See also
*
Alfabeto Unificado para a Escrita do Caboverdiano (ALUPEC)/Alfabetu Unifikadu para a Skrita du Kabuverdianu (ALUPEK)
*
Tomé Varela da Silva
References
External links
Government of Cape Verde – Ministry of Culture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veiga, Manuel
1950 births
Living people
Cape Verdean male writers
Linguists from Cape Verde
Writers in Cape Verdean Creole
Culture ministers of Cape Verde
People from Santa Catarina, Cape Verde
Cape Verdean novelists
Male novelists
20th-century novelists
20th-century linguists
21st-century linguists
University of Provence alumni
20th-century male writers
Linguists of pidgins and creoles