This index was compiled by Nicolas Quint, head of research on African linguistics for the CNRS, within the project Langage, Langues et Cultures d’Afrique Noire (LLACAN, INaLCO/CNRS-UMR 8135), 2010. Nicolas Quint specialises in kordofanian languages (Koalib, Tira, Ko, Werni), Portuguese-based Creoles (Cape Verdean and other Afro-Portuguese Creoles from Western Africa) and Romance languages (Occitan, Aragonese).

Additional sources coleected and contributed by the Latin Union, engaged to promote the cultural heritages of their 37 member states.

Data on Cape Verdean:

Alternative names: Cape Verdean Creole, Cape Verde Creole, Kabuverdianu, Caboverdiano.

Classification: Portuguese-based Creole language, Western African Afro-Portugese Creole language family, which includes Cape Verdean, Bissau-Guinean (Guinea-Bissau), Casamance Creole (Senegal), and Papiamentu (Netherlands Antilles).

Main dialects:

There are two main Cape Verdean dialectical groups:

• the Leeward Islands (islands of Brava, Fogo, Maio, Santiago, where 70% of Cape Verdean speakers live).

• the Windward Islands (islands of Boa Vista, Sal, Saint-Antoine, Saint-Nicolas, Saint-Vincent, where 30% of Cape Verdean speakers live).

The two most spoken insular variations of Cape Verdean are the Santiagean (spoken by 55% of the Cape Verdean population) and the Saint-Vincentian (spoken by 18% of the Cape Verdean population).

Area:

• On the Cape Verde archipelago off the coast of Western Africa, Cape Verdean is the majority language, and is spoken by 500 000 of its inhabitants (representing 90% of the population).

• In addition, following a significant Cape Verdean diaspora, large Cape Verdean-speaking communities can be found in the United States (at least 200 000 speakers), in Portugal (over 100 000), in France (50 000) and in the Netherlands (50 000), in Senegal and in Angola (a few thousand speakers in each), and to a lesser extent in Brazil, in Italy and in Spain.

Number of speakers:

• According to Quint, 1 000 000 speakers (including the inhabitants of Cape Verde and the members of the Cape Verdean diaspora).

• According to SIL, 920 000 speakers.

Language status:

In Cape Verde:

• No official status. Portuguese is the official language of Cape Verde, and is used within the administration.
• National and common language in Cape Verde.
• Not taught in schools: Portuguese is the only language used in the education system.

Within the diaspora, Cape Verdean is treated as an ethnic minority language. It is taught in certain schools in the United States, alongside English.

Vitality & transmission:

In Cape Verde, Cape Verdean is by far the majority language, and its oral usage shows no signs of decreasing. In fact, in order to integrate into normative social life in Cape Verde, allophone immigrants (often of continental African or of Chinese origin) learn to speak Cape Verdean instead of Portuguese. On the other hand, in its lexicon, its morphology and its syntax, modern urban Cape Verdean is increasingly influenced by Portuguese.

In the Cape Verdean emigrant communities, the Cape Verdean of younger generations is gradually being replaced by the languages of the host countries. The rate of retention of Cape Verdean is nevertheless relatively high. For example in the suburbs of Lisbon (notably, Amadora), in certain neighbourhoods with a Cape Verdean ethnic majority, Santiagean Cape Verdean is a local necessity for daily communication among the younger generations, even for those from non-Cape Verdean backgrounds.

Media & education:

Cape Verdean is widely used in locally produced television broadcasts, including interviews shown during newscasts.

Some radio stations broadcast exclusively in Cape Verdean (Praia FM). Equally, the vast majority of songs from Cape Verde are written and performed in Cape Verdean.

On the other hand, Portuguese is dominant in the written language, with most of Cape Verdean literature written in Portuguese. The Cape Verdean education system is conducted entirely in Portuguese, and only Portuguese language textbooks are used in schools.

Historical observations:

1974: In April, “Carnation Revolution” in Portugal accompanied by protests on the streets of Cape Verde. In December, Cape Verde is granted internal autonomy.

1975: In July, Cape Verde obtains its independence.

Ethnographic observations:

The majority of the Cape Verdean population is of mixed race (Portuguese and West African descent), and Catholic (90% of the population).

Generally speaking, Cape Verdean culture combines varying degrees of European (in particular Portuguese) and West African elements.

Linguistic observations:

Cape Verdean is a relatively analytical language, with a S-V-O (Subject-Verb-Object) pattern.

Over 95% of the Cape Verdean lexicon is drawn from Portuguese. However, it has also been strongly influenced by West-African languages (notably Wolof and Mandinka), especially in regards to verbal morphology and semantic structure.

Sources & bibliography:

Sources collected by Nicholas Quint:

BAPTISTA, Marlyse. 1997. The morpho-syntax of nominal and verbal categories in Capeverdean Creole [PhD thesis]. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University.

BAPTISTA, Marlyse. 2002. The syntax of Cape Verdean Creole. The Sotavento Varieties. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

CARDOSO Eduardo Augusto (1989), O crioulo da ilha de S. Nicolau de Cabo Verde, Lisboa/Praia: Instituto de Cultura e Língua Portuguesa/Instituto Caboverdiano do Livro.

DE PAULA BRITO, A., 1967 [1885], “Apontamentos para a gramática do crioulo que se fala na Ilha de Santiago de Cabo Verde”, in J. Morais Barbosa (dir), Estudos Linguísticos Crioulos, Lisbonne, Academia Internacional da Cultura Portuguesa, 329-403.

DELGADO Carlos Alberto (2008), Crioulo de Cabo Verde, Situação Linguística da Zona do Barlavento, Praia: Instituto da Biblioteca Nacional e do Livro.

FERNANDES Armando Napoleão (1991), Léxico do Dialecto Crioulo, do Arquipélago de Cabo Verde, Mindelo: Ivone L. R. FERNANDES RAMOS.

Grupo para a Padronização do Alfabeto (2006), Proposta de Bases do Alfabeto Unificado para a Escrita do Cabo-verdiano, Praia: Instituto da Investigação e do Património Culturais.

LANG Jürgen (2002), Dicionário do Crioulo da Ilha de Santiago (Cabo Verde), Tübingen: Gunter Narr.

LANG, J. (2007), “O problema da nasalidade no crioulo de Santiago (Cabo Verde) : uma resposta”, in M. Schrader-Kniffki, L. Morgenthaler García (dir), La Romania en interacción : entre historia, contacto y política, Madrid / Francfort, Vervuert-Iberoamericana, 515-535.

LANG, Jürgen (2009) Les langues des autres dans la créolisation, Théorie et exemplification par le créole d’empreinte wolof à l’île Santiago du Cap-Vert. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.

LOPES DA SILVA Baltasar (1957), O Dialecto Crioulo de Cabo Verde, Lisboa: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar/Centro de Estudos Políticos e Sociais.

MENDES Mafalda, QUINT Nicolas & RAGAGELES Fátima “Apresentação do dicionário bilingue caboverdiano-português”, in : Actas do XV Encontro Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, Braga, Éditions Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, 2000, Vol. II, pp. 183-198.

MENDES Mafalda, QUINT Nicolas, RAGAGELES Fátima & SEMEDO Aires (2002), Dicionário Prático Português-Caboverdiano, Lisbonne, Éditions Verbalis, 485 p.

OLIVEIRA ALMADA Maria Dulce de (1998), Bilinguismo ou Diglossia?, Praia: Spleen-Edições.

PEREIRA Dulce (2006), Crioulos de base portuguesa, Lisboa: Caminho.

QUINT Nicolas, “A realização do sujeito em português do Brasil : deriva versus crioulização”, in : FIORIN, José Luiz & PETTER, Margarida (dir.), África no Brasil, São Paulo, Contexto, 2008, pp. 75-88.

QUINT Nicolas, “As formas divergentes em cabo-verdiano santiaguense”, Português em contato (dir. Ana Carvalho), Francfort / Madrid : Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2009 (ISBN 978-84-8489-410-0), pp. 67-85.

QUINT Nicolas, “Contacts, échanges, créolisations : le cas du capverdien”, in : Les langues néo-latines, Paris, Éditions Société des Langues Néo-Latines, 2002, nº320, Mars, pp. 63-80.

QUINT Nicolas, “Coordination et parataxe en capverdien moderne (dialecte santiagais ou badiais)”, in : CARON Bernard (dir.), Subordination, dépendance et parataxe dans les langues africaines, Louvain / Paris : Peeters, 2008, pp. 29-48.

QUINT Nicolas, “Interacções morfológicas entre verbo e objecto no crioulo da ilha de Santiago (República de Cabo Verde)”, in : Papia, Brasília, 2004, Nº14, pp. 71-83.

QUINT Nicolas, “La langue capverdienne en France et au Cap-Vert”, in : Codification des langues de France, Actes du colloque «Les langues de France et leur codification.» Écrits divers-écrits ouverts, Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, 2002, pp. 443-456.

QUINT Nicolas, “Langues créoles, diachronie et procédés de reconstruction”, in : Bulletin de la société linguistique de Paris, Paris, Éditions Peeters, 2001, Tome XVI, Fascicule 1, pp. 265-284.

QUINT Nicolas, “Le capverdien, la langue du Cap-Vert”, in : Muzart-Fonseca dos Santos Idelette, Manuel Da Costa Esteves José & Rolland Denis (dir.), Les îles du Cap-Vert : langues, mémoires, histoire, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2007, pp. 23-38.

QUINT Nicolas, “Les Apontamentos de António de Paula Brito (1887) ou la naissance d’une tradition grammaticale capverdienne autochtone”, HEL (Histoire Épistémologie Langage), Paris, SHESL, 2008, Nº30/1, pp. 127-153.

QUINT Nicolas, “Les créoles portugais ou l’autre frontière de la lusophonie : un aperçu de la dimension créole de l’œuvre de Paul Teyssier”, in : Lisbonne, atelier du lusitanisme français [Actes du colloque organisé par le CREPAL les 23 et 24 janvier 2004 à l’Université Paris 3 – Sorbonne Nouvelle], Paris, Éditions Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2005, pp. 123-134.

QUINT Nicolas, “Línguas crioulas num contexto de globalização – o caboverdiano : uma língua mundial”, in : Papia, Brasília, 2005, Nº15, pp. 18-31.

QUINT Nicolas, “Norme, langue et normalisation au Cap-Vert et ailleurs”, in : Travaux et Documents, Staudacher-ValliamÉe Gillette (dir.), Méthodes et problèmes de la collection des données : tradition orale créole, Saint-Denis (Réunion), Université de la Réunion, Nº27, Juin 2006, pp. 39-54.

QUINT Nicolas, “O crioulo de Santiago (República de Cabo Verde) ”, in : Actas do XV Encontro Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, Braga, Éditions Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, 2000, Vol. II, pp. 167-181.

QUINT Nicolas, “Un bref aperçu des racines africaines de la langue capverdienne”, in : Cabo Verde, Origens da sua Sociedade e do seu Crioulo [Actes du Colloque International Erlangen-Nürnberg, 23-25 Septembre 2004], Tübingen, Gunter Narr, 2006, pp. 75-90.

QUINT Nicolas, “Vowels as a morphological tool in Santiago Creole Portuguese (Cape Verde)”, in : Journal of African Languages and Linguistics (JALL), Leiden, Éditions Walter de Gruyter, 2001, nº22-1, pp. 69-80.

QUINT Nicolas, Dicionário de caboverdiano-português, CD-rom and paper, Lisbonne, Éditions Verbalis, 1.998, 120 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Dictionnaire cap-verdien-français, préfacé par Monsieur le Président de la République du Cap-Vert et Monsieur le Secrétaire Général du Haut Conseil à la Francophonie, Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, 1999, 352 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Dictionnaire français-cap-verdien, Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, 1997, 100 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Grammaire de la langue cap-verdienne, préfacée par Monsieur le Président de la République du Cap-Vert et Monsieur le Secrétaire Général du Haut Conseil à la Francophonie, Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, 2.000, 436 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Kapverdisch (Kiriolu) Wort für Wort, Bielefeld, Éditions Reise Know-How, 2.007, 192 p.

QUINT Nicolas, L’élément africain dans la langue capverdienne / Africanismos na língua caboverdiana, Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, 2.008, 134 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Le cap-verdien: origines et devenir d’une langue métisse, préfacé par Monsieur le Président de la République du Cap-Vert et Monsieur le Secrétaire Général du Haut Conseil de la Francophonie, Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, 2.000, 364 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Le créole capverdien de poche, Chennevières-sur-Marne, Éditions Assimil, 2.005, 203 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Lexique créole de Santiago-français, Praia, République du Cap-Vert, Édition de l’auteur, Janvier 1.996, 140 p.

QUINT Nicolas, O Caboverdiano de bolso, Chennevières-sur-Marne, Éditions Assimil, 2009, x + 197 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Parlons capverdien, langue et culture, Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, 2.003, 300 p.

SANCHES Maria de Fátima (2005), Atitude de alguns Cabo-verdianos perante a língua materna, Praia: Instituto da Biblioteca Nacional e do Livro.

SEMEDO Aires (traduit par QUINT Nicolas et RAGAGELES Fátima), Gó ki pórka dja torsi rábu / Le cochon qui tord la queue / Agora é que a porca torce o rabo, Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, 2007, 16 p.

SEMEDO Aires (traduit par QUINT Nicolas), Lobu ku Xibinhu ku Nhordés / Compère loup, Compère lièvre et le Bon Dieu, Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, 2.005, 16 p.

SEMEDO Aires (traduit par QUINT Nicolas), Lobu, Xibinhu ku Nha Tiâ Gánga / Le loup, le lièvre et la sorcière Tia Ganga, Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, 2.005, 16 p.

VEIGA, Manuel (1995), Introdução à Gramática do Crioulo, Praia: Instituto Caboverdiano do Livro e do Disco.

VEIGA, Manuel (2002), O Caboverdiano em 45 Lições, Praia: INIC.

VEIGA, Manuel, 2000, Le créole du Cap-Vert, Étude grammaticale descriptive et contrastive, Paris / Praia, Karthala / Instituto de Promoção Cultural (I.P.C.).

Sources supplied by the Latin Union:

CHAUDENSON, Robert (1992), Les créoles, PUF, Que sais-je ?.
CHAUDENSON, Robert (2001), “Le cas du français”, in R. Chaudenson (éd.), L’Europe parlera-t-elle anglais demain ?, actes du colloque international de Bordeaux, Goethe Institut / INTIF, mars 2001 ; Institut de la Francophonie / L’Harmattan, coll. Langues et développement, pp. 13-42.
CHAUDENSON, Robert (2002), “Le cas des creoles”, in Hérodote, revue de géographie et de géopolitique, n° 105, pp. 60-72.
MONTEIRO DA VEIGA, Manuel (1998), “Le créole du Cap-Vert : étude grammaticale descriptive et constrastive”, doctorat de Sciences du Langage, sous la direction de R. Chaudenson, Aix-en-Provence.