Boa Vista Creole

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Boa Vista Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Boa Vista Island of Cape Verde. It belongs to the Barlavento Creoles branch. The speakers of this form of Cape Verdean Creole are 5,000[citation needed] and is the least spoken form of Creole in the language. Literature is rarely recorded but one of the speakers who was born on the island is Germano Almeida.

Contents

[edit] Characteristics

Besides the main characteristics of Barlavento Creoles the Boa Vista Creole has also the following ones:

  • The progressive aspect of the present is formed by putting tâ tâ before the verbs: tâ + tâ + V.
  • In the verbs that end by ~a, that sound /ɐ/ is represented by /ɔ/ when the verb is conjugated with the first person of the singular pronoun. Ex.: panhó-m’ /pɐˈɲɔm/ instead of panhâ-m’ /pɐˈɲɐm/ “to catch me”, levó-m’ /leˈvɔm/ instead of levâ-m’ /leˈvɐm/ “to take me”, coçó-m’ /koˈsɔm/ instead of coçâ-m’ /koˈsɐm/ “to scratch me”.
  • The stressed e is always open /ɛ/. Ex.: bucé /buˈsɛ/ instead of bocê /boˈse/ “you (respectful form), drét’ /dɾɛt/ instead of drêt’ /dɾet/ “right”, tchobé /ʧoˈbɛ/ instead of tchovê /ʧoˈve/ “to rain”. The stressed o is always open /ɔ/. Ex.: bó /bɔ/ instead of bô /bo/ “you”, compó /kõˈpɔ/ instead of compô /kõˈpo/ “to fix”, tórrt’ /tɔʀt/ instead of tôrt’ /toɾt/ “crooked”.
  • The sound /ɾ/ at the end of syllables is pronounced /ʀ/. Ex.: furrtâ /fuʀˈtɐ/ instead of furtâ /fuɾˈtɐ/ “to steal”, m’djérr /mʤɛʀ/ instead of m’djêr /mʤeɾ/ “woman”, pórrt’ /pɔʀt/ instead of pôrt’ /poɾt/ “harbor”.
  • The sound /z/ that originated from the junction of /l/ and /s/ is represented by the sound /ʀ/. Ex.: cárr /kaʀ/ instead of cás /kaz/ “which ones”, érr /ɛʀ/ instead of ês /ez/ “they”, quérr /kɛʀ/ instead of quês /kez/ “those”.
  • The sound /ʤ/ (that originates from old Portuguese, written j in the beginning of words) is partially represented by /ʒ/. Ex. jantâ /ʒɐ̃ˈtɐ/ instead of djantâ /ʤɐ̃ˈtɐ/ “to dine”, jôg’ /ʒoɡ/ instead of djôgu /ˈʤoɡu/ “game”, but in words like djâ /ʤɐ/ “already”, Djõ /ʤõ/ “John” the sound /ʤ/ remains.

[edit] Vocabulary

Main article: Cape Verdean Creole#Vocabulary

[edit] Grammar

Main article: Cape Verdean Creole#Grammar

[edit] Phonology

Main article: Cape Verdean Creole#Phonology

[edit] Alphabet

Main article: Cape Verdean Creole#Writing_system
The Cape Verdean Creole
Sotavento Creoles
Brava | Fogo | Maio | Santiago
Barlavento Creoles
Boa Vista | Sal | Santo Antão | São Nicolau | São Vicente
Languages