Portuguese Creole

: This article is primarily about the languages. See also a summary in the context of the other creole people.

Portuguese-African Creoles

Spoken in Africa, the Guinean Creoles, are divided by those of High-Guinea, spoken in Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Gambia. These creoles are the most ancient Portuguese Creoles. There is also the Creoles of Gulf of Guinea, spoken in São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea.

Related Topics:
Cape Verde - Guinea-Bissau - Senegal - Gambia - São Tomé and Príncipe - Equatorial Guinea

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Kriol

The Creole of Guinea-Bissau and Senegal, Upper Guinea Creole, is often known as Kriol or "Kriulo" or even "Crioulo da Guiné." It originated from the Kriol that was spoken in the 16th century, mainly in Portuguese Praças [[(Plazas) such asCacheu, Ziguinchor and Geba located in Sierra Leone and Senegal. The Creole of Guinea is among the first Portuguese Creoles that came to exist. Portuguese merchants and settlers started to mix with locals almost immediately, this became a rule among Portuguese explorers and the main reason for the large number of Portuguese Creoles throughout the world. A small body of settlers called Lançado|Lançados (launched), contributed to the spread of the Portuguese language and influence by being the intermediaries between the Portuguese and natives. There are three main dialects of this Creole in Guinea-Bissau and Senegal: "Bissau and Bolama", "Batafa" and "Cacheu-Ziguinchor". The Creole's substrate language is the language of the local peoples: Mandingas, Manjacos, Pepéis and others, but most of the lexicon (around 80%) comes from Portuguese.

Related Topics:
Guinea-Bissau - Senegal - Kriol - 16th century

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The Creole is used as lingua franca in Guinea-Bissau; it is spoken by 60% of the population. Portuguese itself is spoken by 12-14%. There are 159,000 first language speakers in Guinea-Bissau (1996) and more that 0.6 million that use it as second language.

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The dialect of Casamance (Ziguinchor), similar to the one of Cacheu (Guinea-Bissau) has some influence of French; Fijus di Terra (Port. Filhos da Terra, Eng. Land?s Children) and Fijus di Fidalgu (Port. Filhos de Fidalgo, Eng. Noble?s Children) speak it, all of them are known, locally, as Portuguis because they adopt European habits, are catholics and speak a Portuguese Creole. They are descendants of Portuguese men and African women. Most of them still have Portuguese surnames, such as da Silva, Carvalho or Fonseca. Ziguinchor was, in fact, formed by Portugal in 1645, its name is derived from the Portuguese, Cheguei e choram (Eng. I came and they cry), because the natives assumed that they had come to enslave them. However the Portuguese implemented a base for trade and started to intermarriage with African women. The former Kingdom of Casamance made a friendship alliance with the Portuguese and the local king adopted European lifestyle and there were Portuguese in his court . In 1899, the city was ceded to France and in the middle of the 20th century, the language spread to the surrounding area. After Senegal's independence from France, the Creole people were seen as friends of the French, and discrimination by the more numerous northern Wolof speaking community started, which has caused Casamance to struggle for independence since 1982. Today, although they continue to struggle, the movement is more placid and learning Portuguese became popular in Senegal because they see it has a link to their past. In Senegal, the Creole is the first language of at least 46,500 people (1998), it is mainly spoken in Ziguinchor but also there are speakers in other Casamance cities and in The Gambia.

Related Topics:
Casamance - French - European - Catholics - 1645 - 1899 - France - 20th century - Wolof - 1982 - The Gambia

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Crioulo (Creoles of Cape Verde)

Each inhabited island of Cape Verde has its own creole (crioulo). The greatest differences are between the creole of Santiago and Santo Antão.

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• The Sotavento Creoles: Creole (Kriolu) of Santiago, Maio, Fogo and Brava.
• The Barlavento Creoles: Creole (Criol) of São Vicente (Criol de Soncente), São Nicolau, Sal, Boavista and Santo Antão

see also the external link: A Perspective on Capeverdean Crioulo by Robert French

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Angolar

"Lungua N'golá" (or "Língua Angolar", in Portuguese) is mainly spoken in south of the São Tomé Island (main island of São Tomé and Príncipe) and by some people on the coast of the same island by Angolar fishermen. The Creole uses, as a substrate, a dialect of Umbundo, a Bantu language from inland Angola, but is extensively influenced by Portuguese, mainly in lexicon level. This is not a major São Tomean Creole.

Related Topics:
São Tomé - São Tomé and Príncipe - Bantu language - Angola - Portuguese

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Annobonnese

The Creole of the island of Ano Bom (Equatorial Guinea) acknowledged as "Falar de Ano Bom" (Fá d'Ambô or even Fla d'Ambu) is analogous to Forro, spoken by 9,000 people in Ano Bom and Fernando Póo Islands. In fact, Fá d'Ambô is derived from Forro as it shares the same structure (82% of its lexicon). When the island was discovered by Portugal in the 15th century it was uninhabited, but in the 18th century, Portugal exchanged it and some other territories in Africa for Uruguay with Spain. Spain wanted to acquire territory in Africa, and Portugal wanted to further enlarge the territory that they saw as the "New Portugal" (Brazil). Nevertheless, the populace of Ano Bom was against the shift and was hostile toward the Spaniards. This, combined with the isolation of mainland Equatorial Guinea and the proximity of São Tomé and Príncipe — just 400 km from the island — has assured the maintenance of its identity.

Related Topics:
Ano Bom - Equatorial Guinea - Fá d'Ambô - Fernando Póo - Portugal - Spain - São Tomé and Príncipe

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Fá d'Ambô has gained some words of Spanish origin (10% of its lexicon), but some words are of dubious origin because both Spanish and Portuguese are based on the same language (Spoken or Vulgar Latin).

Related Topics:
Spanish - Vulgar Latin

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Forro

São Tomé is an island of the Gulf of Guinea, discovered by the Portuguese in the 15th century. It was uninhabited at the time, but Portuguese settlers used the island as a center of the slave trade, and there was a need for slaves in the island. Since both parties needed to communicate, a pidgin was formed. The substrate languages were from the Bantu and Kwa groups. With the arrival of several settlers from Portugal, there was a need for women and the Portuguese quickly began having affairs with free African women. The presence of children helped helped the Portuguese pidgin to become a stable, systematic and structured creole language.

Related Topics:
Slave - Bantu - Kwa

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Although the São Tomean Creole had (and still has) a restricted contact with Portuguese (seen as a prestigious language), it did preserve a larger number of the substrate languages elements, more than the Creoles of Cape Verde, that preserve fewer traces. Roughly 93% of São Tomean Creole lexicon is from Portuguese and 7% of African origin. The São tomean Creole is most known as "Forro"1, language of the freed slaves or Crioulo Santomense, not to confuse Crioulo Santomense with Santomense (a variety and dialect of Portuguese in São Tomé and Príncipe). Portuguese is the main language for children until their early 20's, when they relearn Forro. The rich São Tomean culture also preserves an unique mixture of Portuguese and African cultures.

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Lunguyê

"Lunguyê" is from Portuguese and means Language of the Island (Port. Língua da Ilha), it is sometimes called as Principense. Lunguyê presents many similarities with Forro, the substrate language are the same (Bantu and Kwa). Lunguyê Creole can be seen as a dialect of Forro. This specific Creole is only spoken in Principe Island in São Tomé and Príncipe. This creole is only spoken by some elder people, mainly women.

Related Topics:
Dialect - Principe Island

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