SãO VICENTE CREOLE

'São Vicente Creole' is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the São Vicente Island of Cape Verde. 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 segement of the Cape Verdean diaspora population. It is the second most widely spoken Cape Verdean dialect. It has produced literature from a lot of writers and musicians including Sergio Frusoni and many more.

Contents

Characteristics

Vocabulary

Grammar

Phonology

Alphabet

Examples of São Vicente Creole

External links

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 /s/ and /z/ are palatalized to [ʃ] and [ʒ] when they are at the end of syllables. Ex.: ''fésta'' “party” pronounced [ˈfɛʃtɐ] instead of [ˈfɛstɐ], ''gósga'' “tickles” pronounced [ˈɡɔʒɡɐ] instead of [ˈɡɔzɡɐ], ''más'' “more” pronounced [maʃ] instead of [mas].

★ The stressed final sound /ɐ/ is pronounced /a/. Ex.: ''já'' /ʒa/ instead of ''djâ'' /ʤɐ/ “already”, ''lá'' /la/ instead of ''lâ'' /lɐ/ “there”, and all the verbs that end by ''~â'', ''calcá'' /kɐlˈka/ instead of ''calcâ'' /kɐlˈkɐ/ “to press”, ''pintchá'' /pĩˈʧa/ instead of ''pintchâ'' /pĩˈʧɐ/ “to push”, etc.

★ The sound /ʤ/ (that originates from Portuguese /ʎ/, written “lh”) is represented by the sound /j/: ''bói’'' /bɔj/ instead of ''bódj’'' /bɔʤ/ “dance (noun)”, ''ôi’'' /oj/ instead of ''ôdj’'' /oʤ/ “eye”, ''spêi’'' /ʃpej/ instead of ''spêdj’'' /speʤ/ “mirror”. When it is after the sound /i/, the sound /ʤ/ remains: ''fídj’'' /fiʤ/ “son”, ''mídj’'' /miʤ/ “corn”. When it is immediately after a consonant, the sound /ʤ/ remains: ''m’djôr'' /mʤoɾ/ “better”, ''c’djêr'' /kʤeɾ/ “spoon”.

★ The sound /ʤ/ (that originates from old Portuguese, written “j” in the beginning of words) is totally represented by /ʒ/. Ex. ''já'' /ʒa/ instead of ''djâ'' /ʤɐ/ “already”, ''jantá'' /ʒɐ̃ˈta/ instead of ''djantâ'' /ʤɐ̃ˈtɐ/ “to dine”, ''Jõ’'' /ʒõ/ instead of ''Djõ’'' /ʤõ/ “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

Main articles: Cape Verdean Creole#Vocabulary

Grammar

Main articles: Cape Verdean Creole#Grammar

Phonology

Main articles: Cape Verdean Creole#Phonology

Alphabet

Main articles: Cape Verdean Creole#Writing_system

Examples of São Vicente Creole

Kriol de Soncente	English
aont	yesterday
aoj, hoj'	today
manhã	tomorrow
plurim	market
Soncente	São Vicente
Mindel	Mindelo
Morada	Mindelo's historic centre
praça	square
praia	beach
rua	street
'm / mi	I / me
bo	you
bossê	you (polite)
el	he/she
nô / nôs	we / us
bzôt / bossês	you (plural)
ês	they
bá, bai	to go
krê	to want
sabê	to know
andá	to walk
spiá	to look, to search
El ka sabê	He/she doesn't know
Um oiá-'l aont na Praça Nova	I saw him yesterday at Praça Nova ( Mindelo's main square)
arroz	rice
monte	mountain

External links

★ Criol de Soncente, a page with sample poems

★ How do we talk in São Vicente with a french dictionnary