São Nicolau Crioulo language

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São Nicolau
Spoken in:	on São Nicolau Island Cape Verde
Total speakers:	around 15,000
Language family:	Portuguese Creole
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`cpp`
ISO 639-3:	`kea` — Kabuverdianu
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

The São Nicolau Crioulo (crioulo de São Nicolau in Portuguese, Kriolu di San Nikolau in ALUPEC/ALUPEK) is the variant of Capeverdean creole spoken in the Brava Island of Cape Verde. It belongs to the Barlavento (Criol) branch of the phylum. The speakers of this form of Capeverdean Crioulo are 15,000 and is the fifth most spoken form of Crioulo in the language. Literature is rarely recorded but the form of the Capeverdean Crioulo has been recorded in music, one of them is on caboverde.com on the page featuring this island.

[edit] Vocabulary

Approximately 90 to 95% of the vocabulary originates from the Portuguese language, about 5 to 10% are from various African languages, notably Bantu and Kwa substrates. The structure is the easiest is rarely the same as the Brava and São Vicente Creoles. The comparison is very difficult especially in speaking, its phonetics are half difficult to link with Portuguese. The words are less than 40% the same as Portuguese but around 40% in pronunciation, the structure is about 40% Africanized and the remainder being of Portuguese origin.