Fogo Creole Explained
Fogo Creole is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Fogo of Cape Verde. It has around 50,000 speakers or nearly 5% of Cape Verdean Creole speakers including the diaspora's second language speakers. It belongs to the Sotavento Creoles branch. The rankings of this form of Cape Verdean Creole is fourth after Santo Antão and ahead of Sal.
Characteristics
Besides the main characteristics of Sotavento Creoles the Fogo Creole has also the following ones:
- The progressive aspect of the present is formed by putting stâ before the verbs: stâ + V.
- The sound that originates from Portuguese pronounced as //ɐ̃w// (written ão) is represented by pronounced as //ɐ̃// instead of pronounced as //õ//. Ex. coraçã pronounced as //koɾɐˈsɐ̃// instead of coraçõ pronounced as //koɾɐˈsõ// “heart”, mã pronounced as //mɐ̃// instead of mõ pronounced as //mõ// “hand”, razã pronounced as //ʀɐˈzɐ̃// instead of razõ pronounced as //ʀɐˈzõ// “reason”.
- The sound pronounced as //l// switches to pronounced as //ɾ// when it is at the end of syllables. Ex. ártu pronounced as //ˈaɾtu// instead of áltu pronounced as //ˈaltu// “tall”, curpâ pronounced as //kuɾˈpɐ// instead of culpâ pronounced as //kulˈpɐ// “to blame”, burcã pronounced as //buɾˈkɐ̃// instead of vulcõ pronounced as //vulˈkõ// “volcano”.
- The sound pronounced as //ɾ// disappears when it is at the end of words. Ex.: lugá’ pronounced as //luˈɡa// instead of lugár pronounced as //luˈɡaɾ// “place”, midjô’ pronounced as //miˈdʒo// instead of midjôr pronounced as //miˈdʒoɾ// “better”, mudjê’ pronounced as //muˈdʒe// instead of mudjêr pronounced as //muˈdʒeɾ// “woman”.
- The diphthongs (oral or nasal) are in general pronounced as vowels. Ex.: mã’ pronounced as //mɒ̃// instead of mãi pronounced as //mɐ̃j// “mother”, nã’ pronounced as //nɐ̃// instead of nãu pronounced as //nɐ̃w// “no”, pá’ pronounced as //pɒ// instead of pái pronounced as //paj// “father”, rê’ pronounced as //re// instead of rêi pronounced as //rej// “king”, tchapê’ pronounced as //tʃɐˈpe// instead of tchapêu pronounced as //tʃɐˈpew// “hat”.
- The pre-tonic sound pronounced as //a// is velarized near labial or velar consonants. Ex.: badjâ “to dance” pronounced pronounced as /[bɒˈdʒɐ]/, cabêlu “hair” pronounced pronounced as /[kɒˈbelu]/, catchô’ “dog” pronounced pronounced as /[kɒˈtʃo]/.
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