São Vicente Creole is the name given to the variant of

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 ...

spoken mainly in the São Vicente Island of

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

. It belongs to the Barlavento Creoles branch. This form of the Cape Verdean Creole has about 80,000 to 100,000 speakers primarily in the São Vicente island, but also in a large segment of the Cape Verdean

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

population. It is the second most widely spoken Cape Verdean creole. It has produced literature from a lot of writers and musicians including Sergio Frusoni and many more.

Characteristics

Besides the main characteristics of Barlavento Creoles the São Vicente Creole has also the following ones: * The progressive aspect of the present is formed by putting ''tí tâ'' before the verbs: ''tí'' + ''tâ'' + V. * The sounds and are palatalized to and when they are at the end of syllables. Ex.: ''fésta'' “party” pronounced instead of , ''gósga'' “tickles” pronounced instead of , ''más'' “more” pronounced instead of . * The stressed final sound is pronounced . Ex.: ''já'' instead of ''djâ'' “already”, ''lá'' instead of ''lâ'' “there”, and all the verbs that end by ''~â'', ''calcá'' instead of ''calcâ'' “to press”, ''pintchá'' instead of ''pintchâ'' “to push”, etc. * The sound (that originates from Portuguese , written “lh”) is represented by the sound : ''bói’'' instead of ''bódj’'' “dance (noun)”, ''ôi’'' instead of ''ôdj’'' “eye”, ''spêi’'' instead of ''spêdj’'' “mirror”. When it is after the sound , the sound remains: ''fídj’'' “son”, ''mídj’'' “corn”. When it is immediately after a consonant, the sound remains: ''m’djôr'' “better”, ''c’djêr'' “spoon”. * The sound (that originates from old Portuguese, written “j” in the beginning of words) is totally represented by . Ex. ''já'' instead of ''djâ'' “already”, ''jantá'' instead of ''djantâ'' “to dine”, ''Jõ’'' instead of ''Djõ’'' “John”. * Existence of a certain kind of vocabulary (also existing in Santo Antão) that does not exist in the other islands. Ex.: ''dançá'' instead of ''badjâ'' “to dance”, ''dzê'' instead of ''flâ'' “to say”, ''falá'' instead of ''papiâ'' “to speak”, ''guitá'' instead of ''djobê'' “to peek”, ''ruf’ná'' instead of ''fuliâ'' “to throw”, ''stód’'' instead of ''stâ'' “to be”, ''tchocá'' instead of ''furtâ'' “to steal”, ''tchúc’'' instead of ''pôrc’'' “pig”, etc.

Vocabulary

Grammar

Phonology

Alphabet

Examples of São Vicente Creole

External links

Criol de Soncente
a page with sample poems
How do we talk in São Vicente
with a French dictionary

Guidelines for writing the São Vicentean dialect of Criol
pdf - version

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sao Vicente Creole Cape Verdean Creole