Sotavento Creoles
| Cape Verdean Creole | |
|---|---|
| Kriolu | |
| Native to | Cape Verde, Cape Verdean diaspora |
|
Native speakers
|
1.2 million (date missing) |
|
Portuguese Creole
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | kabu1256 |
| Linguasphere | 51-AAC-aa |
Cape Verdean Creole is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken on the islands of Cape Verde. It is the native language of virtually all Cape Verdeans and is used as a second language by the Cape Verdean diaspora.
The language has particular importance for creolistics studies since it is the oldest (still-spoken) creole. It is the most widely spoken Portuguese-based creole language.
The current designation of this language is "Cape Verdean Creole". However, in everyday usage the language is simply called "Creole" by its speakers. The names "Cape Verdean" (cabo-verdiano in Portuguese, kabuverdianu in Cape Verdean Creole) and "Cape Verdean language" (língua cabo-verdiana in Portuguese, língua kabuverdianu in Sotavento Creole and língua kabverdian in Barlavento Creole) have been proposed for whenever the language will be standardized.
The history of Cape Verdean Creole is hard to trace due to a lack of written documentation and to ostracism during the Portuguese administration of Cape Verde.
There are presently three theories about the formation of Creole. The monogenetic theory claims that the creole was formed by the Portuguese by simplifying the Portuguese language in order to make it accessible to African slaves. That is the point of view of authors like Prudent, Waldman, Chaudenson, Lopes da Silva. Authors like Adam and Quint argue that Creole was formed by African slaves using the grammar of Western African languages and replacing the African lexicon with the Portuguese one. Linguists like Chomsky and Bickerton argue that Creole was formed spontaneously, not by slaves from continental Africa, but by the population born in the islands, using the grammar with which all human beings are born; this would explain how creoles localized several miles away have similar grammatical structures, even though they have a different lexical basis.
According to A. Carreira, Cape Verdean Creole was formed from a Portuguese pidgin, on the island of Santiago, starting from the 15th century. That pidgin was then transported to the west coast of Africa by the lançados. From there, that pidgin diverged into two proto-Creoles, one that was the base of all Cape Verdean Creoles, and another that was the base of the Guinea-Bissau Creole.
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