Kriol language

While Portuguese is Cape Verde's official language, the everyday language of the country's people is the local Creole language, usually known as Crioulo or Kriolu. In São Vicentean dialect, however, the correct designation of the language is Kriol.

Kriol politics and orthography

Several dictionaries and books on grammar and linguistics have been written about Kriol, and an alphabet known as Alupec has been officially approved for the purpose of writing Kriol. However, there is still a long way to go before Kriol becomes established as a written language. To the majority of Cape Verdeans, Kriol exists only in its spoken form. The different academic works usually reflect particular dialects and lack official recognition. Locally produced texts reflect a sort of linguistic anarchy. Differences in dialects are a major barrier for standardizing Crioulo and granting it official status. Most initiatives for official recognition have come from the largest island, Santiago. This has caused considerable scepticism in other parts of the country, where people are anxious about losing their own dialects. On São Vicente, the second most populous island, many people vigorously oppose granting Kriol official status our of fear of being forced to write the Badiu dialect of Santiago. The various dialects can be roughly divided into Barlavento and Sotavento groups, corresponding to the Northern and Southern half of the archipelago. The Sotavento includes Santiago with the capital Praia, while São Vicente is in the Barlavento group. Because São Vicente was settled quite recently, has experienced considerable population inflows from the neighbouring islands, and constitutes the centre of Barlavento islands today, the island's dialect can be seen as a common denominator of the Barlavento dialects. The only major contrast is probably between São Vicente and neighbouring Santo Antão. The other three islands, São Nicolau, Sal and Boavista have dialects that are relatively close to the São Vicentan dialect. A primary purpose of granting Kriol official status is supporting local linguistic expression. The difference between dialects therefore constitutes a major challenge, even if there are underlying linguistic structures that unite the dialects into one language. While I have no firm conviction about what is the best way to meet this challenge, I believe in sensitivity to the importance of local dialects for people's linguistic identity. The officially recognized Alupec alphabet can be used as a starting point for establishing a norm for writing São Vicentean Kriol the way it is spoken. As part of my research on São Vicente, I recorded interview that I subsequently transcribed. Through this work, I developed a set of guidelines for writing São Vicentean Kriol. There will still be considerable room for variation, and I do not claim to have developed an orthographic standard. These are merely principles to guide written representation of the spoken language of São Vicente.

My own research in São Vicente and Santo Antão showed that the majority of students in secondary school disagree to the suggestion that it would be better to use Kriol in class. Support for Kriol seems to be related to socio-economic status, with students from poorer households being more positive. [View graphs]

Kriol links