6 research outputs found
Cape Verdean Creole – Santo Antão: what we know so far
The Santo Antão variety (SA) of Cape Verdean Creole (CVC) is not only very little studied but the existing publications, overwhelmingly in Portuguese, are not well known among a wider linguistic audience. This is particularly surprising if we
consider that from the first Cape Verdean census, in 1731 (Carreira 1984), until the
1970s Santo Antão has been the second most populous island of the archipelago. The article presents a review of the literature from historical sources aboutthe settlement of Santo Antão, which then serves as a base from which to reconsider current debates about the genesis of CVC. Linguistic data, mainly of phonological
nature, from conversations recorded during a short field trip to Santo Antão (Cabo
da Ribeira and Vila das Pombas), complemented by existing data on other varieties of CVC, are used to support the proposed hypotheses
Cape Verdean Creole of São Vicente: Its genesis and Structure
Although the Santiago variety of Cape Verdean Creole (CVC) has been the subject of
numerous linguistic works, the second major variety of the language, i.e. the São Vicente variety
of CVC (CVSV), has hardly been described. Nevertheless this lack of studies and given its
striking differences, on all linguistic levels, from the variety of Santiago (CVST), the implicit
explanation for such divergences, echoed for decades in the literature on CVC, has been the
presumably decreolized character of CVSV.
First, this study provides a comprehensive fieldwork-based synchronic description of
CVSV major morpho-syntactic categories in the intent to document the variety. Second, it aims
to place the study of CVSV within a broader scope of contact linguistics in the quest to explain
its structure. Based on analyses of historical documents and studies, it reconstructs the
sociohistorical scenario of the emergence and development of CVSV in the period of 1797-
1975. From the comparison of the current structures of CVSV and CVST, the examination of
linguistic data in historical texts and the analysis of sociohistorical facts it becomes clear that the
contemporary structure of CVSV stems from the contact-induced changes that occurred during
the intensive language and dialect contact on the island of São Vicente in the early days of its
settlement in the late 18th and ensuing early 19th century development, rather than from modern
day pressure of Portuguese. Although this dissertation argues for multiple explanations rather
than a single theory, by showing that processes such as languages shift among the first
Portuguese settlers, L2 acquisition, migration of the Barlavento speakers and subsequent dialect
leveling as well as language borrowing at a later stage were at stake, it demonstrates the
usefulness of partial-restructuring model proposed by Holm (2004).Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Lisbon nº SFRH/BD/8129/200
The Cape Verdean Creole of São Vicente: its genesis and structure
Tese de doutoramento em LÃngua Portuguesa, no ramo de Investigação e Ensino, apresentada à Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de CoimbraAlthough the Santiago variety of Cape Verdean Creole (CVC) has been the subject of
numerous linguistic works, the second major variety of the language, i.e. the São Vicente variety
of CVC (CVSV), has hardly been described. Nevertheless this lack of studies and given its
striking differences, on all linguistic levels, from the variety of Santiago (CVST), the implicit
explanation for such divergences, echoed for decades in the literature on CVC, has been the
presumably decreolized character of CVSV.
First, this study provides a comprehensive fieldwork-based synchronic description of
CVSV major morpho-syntactic categories in the intent to document the variety. Second, it aims
to place the study of CVSV within a broader scope of contact linguistics in the quest to explain
its structure. Based on analyses of historical documents and studies, it reconstructs the
sociohistorical scenario of the emergence and development of CVSV in the period of 1797-
1975. From the comparison of the current structures of CVSV and CVST, the examination of
linguistic data in historical texts and the analysis of sociohistorical facts it becomes clear that the
contemporary structure of CVSV stems from the contact-induced changes that occurred during
the intensive language and dialect contact on the island of São Vicente in the early days of its
settlement in the late 18th and ensuing early 19th century development, rather than from modern
day pressure of Portuguese. Although this dissertation argues for multiple explanations rather
than a single theory, by showing that processes such as languages shift among the first
Portuguese settlers, L2 acquisition, migration of the Barlavento speakers and subsequent dialect
leveling as well as language borrowing at a later stage were at stake, it demonstrates the
usefulness of partial-restructuring model proposed by Holm (2004).FCT - SFRH/BD/8129/200