Santo Antão Creole Explained
Santo Antão Creole, is the name given to the variant of Cape Verdean Creole spoken mainly in the Santo Antão Island of Cape Verde. It belongs to the Barlavento Creoles branch. It is ranked third of nine in the number of speakers and it is before Fogo and after the neighbouring São Vicente.
Characteristics
Besides the main characteristics of Barlavento Creoles the Santo Antão Creole has also the following ones:
- The progressive aspect of the present is formed by putting tí tâ before the verbs: tí + tâ + V.
- The adverb of negation used with verbs, adverbs and adjectives is n’. Ex.: Mí n’ crê instead of M’ câ crê “I don’t want”.
- The sounds pronounced as //s// and pronounced as //z// are palatalized to pronounced as /[ʃ]/ and pronounced as /[ʒ]/ when they are at the end of syllables. Ex.: fésta “party” pronounced pronounced as /[ˈfɛʃtɐ]/ instead of pronounced as /[ˈfɛstɐ]/, gósga “tickles” pronounced pronounced as /[ˈɡɔʒɡɐ]/ instead of pronounced as /[ˈɡɔzɡɐ]/, més “more” pronounced pronounced as /[mɛʃ]/ instead of pronounced as /[mas]/.
- The stressed final sound pronounced as //ɐ// is pronounced pronounced as //a//. Ex.: já pronounced as //ʒa// instead of djâ pronounced as //dʒɐ// “already”, lá pronounced as //la// instead of lâ pronounced as //lɐ// “there”, and all the verbs that end by ~â, calcá pronounced as //kalˈka// instead of calcâ pronounced as //kɐlˈkɐ// “to press”, pintchá pronounced as //pĩˈtʃa// instead of pintchâ pronounced as //pĩˈtʃɐ// “to push”, etc.
- Palatalization of the stressed pronounced as //a// sound (oral or nasal) to pronounced as //ɛ// in words that use to end by the sound pronounced as //i//. Ex.: ént’s pronounced as //ɛ̃tʃ// instead of ánt's pronounced as //ãtʃ// “before”, grénd’ pronounced as //ɡɾɛ̃d// instead of gránd pronounced as //ɡɾãd// “big”, verdéd’ pronounced as //veɾˈdɛd// instead of verdád’ pronounced as //veɾˈdad// “truth”. Also with pronouns: penhé-m’ pronounced as //peˈɲɛm// instead of panhá-m’ pronounced as //pɐˈɲam// “to catch me”.
- Palatalization of the pre-tonic pronounced as //ɐ// sound (oral or nasal) to pronounced as //e// when the stressed syllable possesses a palatal vowel. Ex.: essím pronounced as //eˈsĩ// instead of assím pronounced as //ɐˈsĩ// “like so”, quebéça pronounced as //keˈbɛsɐ// instead of cabéça pronounced as //kɐˈbɛsɐ// “head”. Velarization of the pre-tonic pronounced as //ɐ// sound (oral or nasal) to pronounced as //o// when the stressed syllable possesses a velar vowel. Ex.: cotchôrr’ pronounced as //koˈtʃoʀ// instead of catchôrr’ pronounced as //kɐˈtʃoʀ// “dog”, otúm pronounced as //oˈtũ// instead of atúm pronounced as //ɐˈtũ// “tuna”.
- The diphthong pronounced as //aj// (oral or nasal) is pronounced pronounced as //ɛ//. Ex.: pé pronounced as //pɛ// instead of pái pronounced as //paj// “father”, mém pronounced as //mɛ̃// instead of mãi pronounced as //mɐ̃j// “mother”. The diphthong pronounced as //aw// (oral or nasal) is pronounced pronounced as //ɔ//. Ex.: pó pronounced as //pɔ// instead of páu pronounced as //paw// “stick”, nõ pronounced as //nõ// instead of nãu pronounced as //nɐ̃w// “no”.
- The sound pronounced as //dʒ// (that originates from Portuguese pronounced as //ʎ//, written “lh”) is represented by the sound pronounced as //j//: bói’ pronounced as //bɔj// instead of bódj’ pronounced as //bɔdʒ// “dance (noun)”, ôi’ pronounced as //oj// instead of ôdj’ pronounced as //odʒ// “eye”, spêi’ pronounced as //ʃpej// instead of spêdj’ pronounced as //spedʒ// “mirror”. Between vowels that sound pronounced as //j// disappears: vé’a pronounced as //ˈvɛɐ// instead of bédja pronounced as //ˈbɛdʒɐ// “old (feminine)”, o’á pronounced as //oˈa// instead of odjâ pronounced as //oˈdʒɐ// “to see”, pá’a pronounced as //ˈpaɐ// instead of pádja pronounced as //ˈpadʒɐ// “straw”. When it is immediately after a consonant, it is represented by pronounced as //lj//: m’liôr pronounced as //mljoɾ// instead of m’djôr pronounced as //mdʒoɾ// “better”, c’liêr pronounced as //kljeɾ// instead of c’djêr pronounced as //kdʒeɾ// “spoon”.
- The sound pronounced as //j// disappears when it is between vowels. Ex.: go’áva pronounced as //ɡoˈavɐ// instead of goiába pronounced as //ɡoˈjabɐ// “guava fruit”, mê’a pronounced as //ˈmeɐ// instead of mêia pronounced as //ˈmejɐ// “sock”, papá’a pronounced as //paˈpaɐ// instead of papáia pronounced as //pɐˈpajɐ// “papaw”.
- The sound pronounced as //dʒ// (that originates from old Portuguese, written “j” in the beginning of words) is totally represented by pronounced as //ʒ//. Ex. já pronounced as //ʒa// instead of djâ pronounced as //dʒɐ// “already”, jantá pronounced as //ʒãˈta// instead of djantâ pronounced as //dʒɐ̃ˈtɐ// “to dine”, Jõ’ pronounced as //ʒõ// instead of Djõ’ pronounced as //dʒõ// “John”.
- Some speakers pronounce the phonemes pronounced as //ʃ// and pronounced as //ʒ// as labialized pronounced as /[ʃʷ]/ and pronounced as /[ʒʷ]/.
- Existence of a certain kind of vocabulary (also existing in São Vicente) that does not exist in the other islands. Ex.: dançá instead of badjâ “to dance”, dzê instead of flâ “to say”, falá instead of papiâ “to speak”, guitá instead of djobê “to peek”, ruf’ná instead of fuliâ “to throw”, stód’ instead of stâ “to be”, tchocá instead of furtâ “to steal”, tchúc’ instead of pôrc’ “pig”, etc.
External links
