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 segment of the Cape Verdean diaspora population. It is the second most widely spoken Cape Verdean creole. It has produced literature from a lot of writers and musicians including Sergio Frusoni and many more.

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 /dʒɐ/ “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 /pĩˈtʃa/ instead of pintchâ /pĩˈtʃɐ/ “to push”, etc.
• The sound /dʒ/ (that originates from Portuguese /ʎ/, written “lh”) is represented by the sound /j/: bói’ /bɔj/ instead of bódj’ /bɔdʒ/ “dance (noun)”, ôi’ /oj/ instead of ôdj’ /odʒ/ “eye”, spêi’ /ʃpej/ instead of spêdj’ /spedʒ/ “mirror”. When it is after the sound /i/, the sound /dʒ/ remains: fídj’ /fidʒ/ “son”, mídj’ /midʒ/ “corn”. When it is immediately after a consonant, the sound /dʒ/ remains: m’djôr /mdʒoɾ/ “better”, c’djêr /kdʒeɾ/ “spoon”.
• The sound /dʒ/ (that originates from old Portuguese, written “j” in the beginning of words) is totally represented by /ʒ/. Ex. já /ʒa/ instead of djâ /dʒɐ/ “already”, jantá /ʒɐ̃ˈta/ instead of djantâ /dʒɐ̃ˈtɐ/ “to dine”, Jõ’ /ʒõ/ instead of Djõ’ /dʒõ/ “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

Grammar

Phonology

Alphabet

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 dictionary

References

The Cape Verdean Creole
Sotavento Creoles Brava | Fogo | Maio | Santiago
Barlavento CreolesBoa Vista | Sal | Santo Antão | São Nicolau | São Vicente