Lanc-Patuá creole

Lanc-Patuá is a creole language spoken in the state of Amapá in Brazil, primarily now around the capital, Macapá. It is a French-based creole language, spoken by local Indians and immigrants from French Guiana, the Caribbean and other areas of Brazil, and their descendants. It has some English and Portuguese influence on its vocabulary, but its grammar is clearly similar to the French-based creole languages of the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean.

Lanc-Patuá is derived from Karipúna Creole spoken by indigenous Amerindians. The substratum language of Karipúna Creole was the now-extinct Tupian language Karipúna. The name comes from the French Langue Patois, meaning simply dialectal language.

Lanc-Patuá creole typically refers to what is spoken in Macapá, the capital of Amapá state, whereas Amapá French creole refers to the French-lexified creoles in the Uaça Indian Reservation: Karipúna French creole (KFC) and Galibi-Marwono French creole (GMFC).

History

In Brazil, there are two Creolophone groups that speaks two creole languages: one French-lexifed and the other Portuguese-lexifed. The Portuguese-lexicon creole is spoken in the state of São Paulo, while the French-lexified creole is spoken in the state of Amapá in North Eastern Brazil, the Brazilian state bordering French Guiana.

Lanc-Patuá is said to be spoken by descendants of French Guiana and French Creole-speaking immigrants from the French Antilles who number approximately 25,000. The southern variety, Lanc-Patúa, shows some English influence because of a relatively large number of migrants from St. Lucia and Dominica. It is a variety of the French Guianese Creole.

See also

• French Guianese Creole
• Antillean creole
• Karipúna French Creole

References

• Andrade, Julieta de. 1984. Cultura Crioula e Lanc-Patuá no Norte do Brasil. Escola de Folclore, S. Paulo.
• Anonby, Stan. 2007. A report on the creoles of Amapá. SIL Electronic Survey Report. SILESR 2007-020.
• Nimuendajú, Curt. 1926. Die Palikur-Indianer und ihre Nachbarn. Elanders Boktryckeri Aktiebolag, Göteborg.
• Tobler, Alfred W. 1987. Dicionário crioulo karipúna/português português/karipúna. Summer Institute of Linguistics, Brasília, DF.
• Tobler, S. Joy. 1983. The grammar of karipúna creole. Série Lingüística Nº 10: 1-156. Summer Institute of Linguistics, Brasília.
• Wittmann, Henri. 1987. "Substrat et superstrat dans le français créole des Indiens Karipouns." Paper, 7th Annual Congress of the Association québécoise de linguistique, University of Ottawa, May 19–22. Abstract in: Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 6:1.26.