Santo Antão Creole

Santo Antão Creole, is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Santo Antão Island of Cape Verde. It belongs to the Barlavento Creoles branch. It is ranked third of nine in the number of speakers and it is before Fogo and after the neighbouring São Vicente.

Characteristics

Besides the main characteristics of Barlavento Creoles the Santo Antão 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 adverb of negation used with verbs, adverbs and adjectives is "n’". Ex.: "Mí n’ crê" instead of "M’ câ crê" “I don’t want”.
* 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] , "més" “more” pronounced [mɛʃ] 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" /kalˈka/ instead of "calcâ" /kɐlˈkɐ/ “to press”, "pintchá" /pĩˈʧa/ instead of "pintchâ" /pĩˈʧɐ/ “to push”, etc.
* Palatalization of the stressed /a/ sound (oral or nasal) to /ɛ/ in words that use to end by the sound /i/. Ex.: "ént’s" /ɛ̃tʃ/ instead of "ánt's" /ãtʃ/ “before”, "grénd’" /ɡɾɛ̃d/ instead of "gránd" /ɡɾãd/ “big”, "verdéd’" /veɾˈdɛd/ instead of "verdád’" /veɾˈdad/ “truth”. Also with pronouns: "penhé-m’" /peˈɲɛm/ instead of "panhá-m’" /pɐˈɲam/ “to catch me”.
* Palatalization of the pre-tonic /ɐ/ sound (oral or nasal) to /e/ when the stressed syllable possesses a palatal vowel. Ex.: "essím" /eˈsĩ/ instead of "assím" /ɐˈsĩ/ “like so”, "quebéça" /keˈbɛsɐ/ instead of "cabéça" /kɐˈbɛsɐ/ “head”. Velarization of the pre-tonic /ɐ/ sound (oral or nasal) to /o/ when the stressed syllable possesses a velar vowel. Ex.: "cotchôrr’" /koˈʧoʀ/ instead of "catchôrr’" /kɐˈʧoʀ/ “dog”, "otúm" /oˈtũ/ instead of "atúm" /ɐˈtũ/ “tuna”.
* The diphthong /aj/ (oral or nasal) is pronounced /ɛ/. Ex.: "pé" /pɛ/ instead of "pái" /paj/ “father”, "mém" /mɛ̃/ instead of "mãi" /mɐ̃j/ “mother”. The diphthong /aw/ (oral or nasal) is pronounced /ɔ/. Ex.: "pó" /pɔ/ instead of "páu" /paw/ “stick”, "nõ" /nõ/ instead of "nãu" /nɐ̃w/ “no”.
* 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”. Between vowels that sound /j/ disappears: "vé’a" /ˈvɛɐ/ instead of "bédja" /ˈbɛʤɐ/ “old (feminine)”, "o’á" /oˈa/ instead of "odjâ" /oˈʤɐ/ “to see”, "pá’a" /ˈpaɐ/ instead of "pádja" /ˈpaʤɐ/ “straw”. When it is immediately after a consonant, it is represented by /lj/: "m’liôr" /mljoɾ/ instead of "m’djôr" /mʤoɾ/ “better”, "c’liêr" /kljeɾ/ instead of "c’djêr" /kʤeɾ/ “spoon”.
* The sound /j/ disappears when it is between vowels. Ex.: "go’áva" /ɡoˈavɐ/ instead of "goiába" /ɡoˈjabɐ/ “guava fruit”, "mê’a" /ˈmeɐ/ instead of "mêia" /ˈmejɐ/ “sock”, "papá’a" /paˈpaɐ/ instead of "papáia" /pɐˈpajɐ/ “papaw”.
* 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" /ʒãˈta/ instead of "djantâ" /ʤɐ̃ˈtɐ/ “to dine”, "Jõ’" /ʒõ/ instead of "Djõ’" /ʤõ/ “John”.
* Some speakers pronounce the phonemes /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ as labialized [ʃʷ] and [ʒʷ] .
* Existence of a certain kind of vocabulary (also existing in São Vicente) 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

External links

* [http://membres.lycos.fr/pontadosol/pontadosol/presentsite.htm a bilingual bar-pub site] in Santo Antão Crioulo and French.