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 instead of cantâ âÂÂto singâÂÂ, mêxe or mêxi instead of mexê âÂÂto moveâÂÂ, pârti instead of partàâÂÂto leaveâÂÂ, cômpo or cômpu instead of compô âÂÂto fixâÂÂ, búmbu instead of bumbú âÂÂto put on the backâÂÂ.
- Some speakers pronounce the voiced sibilants as voiceless. Ex. cássa instead of cása âÂÂhouseâÂÂ, ôxi instead of ôji âÂÂtodayâÂÂ.
- Some speakers pronounce the sound as . Ex.: cáru instead of cárru âÂÂcarâÂÂ, féru instead of férru âÂÂironâÂÂ, curâl instead of currál âÂÂcorralâÂÂ.
- The sound is slightly aspirated .
- The sounds , and are pronounced as alveolars , , and not as dentals , ,
- The nasal diphthongs are de-nasalized. Ex.: mâi instead of mãi âÂÂmotherâÂÂ, nâu instead of nãu âÂÂnoâÂÂ.
- The stressed sound is pronounced when it is before the sound at the end of words. Ex.: curâl instead of currál âÂÂcorralâÂÂ, mâl instead of mál âÂÂbadâÂÂ, Tarrafâl instead of Tarrafál âÂÂTarrafalâ (place name).
Vocabulary
Grammar
Phonology
Alphabet
External links
References
Further reading
- A Parábola do Filho Pródigo no crioulo de Santiago, do Fogo, da Brava, de Santo Antão, de S. Nicolau e da Boa Vista: O crioulo de Cabo Verde (Botelho da Costa, Joaquim Vieira & Custódio José Duarte, 1886)
- Dicionário Caboverdiano-Português, Variante de Santiago (Quint(-Abrial), Nicolas, Lisboa: Verbalis, 1998)
- Dicionário Caboverdiano-Português, Variante de Santiago (Quint(-Abrial), Nicolas, Lisboa: Verbalis-Priberam, CD-ROM, 1998)
- Dicionário do Crioulo da Ilha de Santiago - Alemão (Lang, Jürgen; Tübingen, 2002)
- O Cabo-verdiano em 45 Lições (Veiga, Manuel; Praia: INIC, 2002)
- Crioulo de Cabo Verde â Situação LinguÃÂstica da Zona do Barlavento (Delgado, Carlos Alberto; Praia: IBNL, 2008)
- A Grammar of Santiago Creole (Cape Verde) = Gramática do Crioulo da Ilha de Santiago (Cabo Verde) (Jürgen Lang; Erlangen 2012 https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/frontdoor/index/index/docId/2372)
- A Grammar of Santiago Creole (Cape Verde) = Gramática do Crioulo da Ilha de Santiago (Cabo Verde) (Jürgen Lang; Erlangen 2012 https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/frontdoor/index/index/docId/2372)
- Les langues des autres dans la créolisation : théorie et exemplification par le créole d'empreinte wolof àl'île Santiago du Cap Vert (Jürgen Lang; Tübingen: Narr, 2009)