Santiago Creole

Santiago Creole is the name given to the Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly on Santiago Island of Cape Verde. It belongs to the Sotavento Creoles branch of Creole.

Santiago Creole is the linguistic entity of the most important island of Cape Verde, and the linguistic entity of the capital of the country, Praia, situated in the same island.

Characteristics

Besides the main characteristics of Sotavento Creoles the Santiago Creole has also the following ones:
* The progressive aspect of the present is formed by putting "sâ tâ" before the verbs: "sâ tâ" + V.
* In the verbs, the stress goes back to the before the last syllable in the forms for the present. Ex.: "cánta" /ˈkãtɐ/ instead of "cantâ" /kɐ̃ˈtɐ/ “to sing”, "mêxe" /ˈmeʃe/ or "mêxi" /ˈmeʃi/ instead of "mexê" /meˈʃe/ “to move”, "pârti" /ˈpɐɾti/ instead of "partí" /pɐɾˈti/ “to leave”, "cômpo" /ˈkõpo/ or "cômpu" /ˈkõpu/ instead of "compô" /kõˈpo/ “to fix”, "búmbu" /ˈbũbu/ instead of "bumbú" /bũˈbu/ “to put on the back”.
* Some speakers pronounce the voiced sibilants as voiceless. Ex. "cássa" /ˈkasɐ/ instead of "cása" /ˈkazɐ/ “house”, "ôxi" /ˈoʃi/ instead of "ôji" /ˈoʒi/ “today”.
* Some speakers pronounce the sound /ʀ/ as /ɾ/. Ex.: "cáru" /ˈkaɾu/ instead of "cárru" /ˈkaʀu/ “car”, "féru" /ˈfɛɾu/ instead of "férru" /ˈfɛʀu/ “iron”, "curâl" /kuˈɾɐl/ instead of "currál" /kuˈʀal/ “corral”.
* The sound /ɾ/ is slightly aspirated [ɾʰ] .
* The sounds /n/, /t/ and /d/ are pronounced as alveolars [n͇] , [t͇] , [d͇] and not as dentals [n] , [t] , [d]
* The nasal diphthongs are de-nasalized. Ex.: "mâi" /mɐj/ instead of "mãi" /mɐ̃j/ “mother”, "nâu" /nɐw/ instead of "nãu" /nɐ̃w/ “no”.
* The stressed sound /a/ is pronounced /ɐ/ when it is before the sound /l/ at the end of words. Ex.: "curâl" /kuˈɾɐl/ instead of "currál" /kuˈʀal/ “corral”, "mâl" /ml/ instead of "mál" /mal/ “bad”, "Tarrafâl" /tɐɾɐˈfɐl/ instead of "Tarrafál" /tɐʀɐˈfal/ “Tarrafal” (place name).

Vocabulary

Grammar

Phonology

Alphabet

External links

* [http://www.priberam.pt/dcvpo/dcvpo.aspx Dicionário Caboverdiano Português On-Line] A Santiago Creole / Portuguese on-line dictionary. (in Portuguese)